I got my second tattoo yesterday. It's on my right ankle, right down on the knobbly bone on the outside of my ankle.
When I got my first tattoo, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't a particularly painful process. Sure there were some twinges as nerve endings or clusters were hit, but nothing that made me think it was my first and last tattoo. It was like someone drawing a razor blade across the skin - more an annoying irritation than a searing pain.
When I rested my leg on the table for my new tattoo, Clare, my tattooist, warned that this one was going to be a lot more painful than the first one, owing to the fact that we were going to be working on some very bony areas. I braced myself, cos this one has a lot of detail and I really hoped that I would be able to get through it and not end up with half a dragon on my ankle.
So here's the thing. It didn't hurt. Again, some minor irritation, and the occasional nerve twitch, but otherwise all was good. Clare even commented as she was working that she was amazed at how I was coping with the work.
So today I have to affirm that I love my pain threshold. Having had two children and also a rotated vertebrae in my back, I must admit that all pain is not the same. Perhaps it's that I can rationalise this pain with the worst ones I have endured and write it off as a minor inconvenience. Or maybe it's that I've learned to live with some degree of pain in my life (my back will never be what it was in my teenage years ever again, no matter how much strengthening or surgery I have), and these other pains are all just part of something I've accepted.
Either way, with two pieces now complete, I'm planning piece number three. Something on a wrist I think. Design is in the works. Savings are taking place to pay for the artwork. I'm thinking it's about 6 months away, but then who knows...?
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