Tattoo!!!

Kia Ora! I can't believe I forgot to write about my tattoo! I was planning on getting a tattoo while I'm here. I had been looking around and finally decided on the Manaia, which is the Maori spiritual guardian. I was planning on getting it under my shoulder blade kind of on an angle. I went in to the tattoo shop to make a booking. This was on Monday. The first they could get me in was Friday. I had to come back later that day to pay my deposit, and the artist told me he could fit me in in twenty minutes. I said sure, but then I sat down and realized what I was doing and got a bit nervous. It wasn't going to be my first tattoo, but it was still a bit nerve wracking.

The design I chose was a bit of an abstract form of the Manaia. The artist asked if he could change a few things so that I would have a unique tattoo. I easily agreed to this. He then tells me that the way I want it is sort of wrong. He should be standing up not laying down. Umm, okay well I guess I can deal with that. He was Maori so I figured he knew what he was talking about. He then tells me that the back is more of a place for larger tattoos. I said I didn't care because I wasn't planning on getting a big tattoo. Apparently, he chose to ignore this comment. Instead of drawing on paper and then transferring it to my back, he just drew on my back free hand. Super cool. He told me to go take a look before he started. I guess I wasn't really paying much attention when I looked at it. From what I could tell, it looked cool and I told him to get started. It took him about an hour and a half to do the drawing and the tattoo. I had forgotten how much it hurts. He told me to take a look when he finished. This is when I realized I now had a tattoo about twice the size as I thought I was going to get. He also used his artist's license a bit too much, as this design was very different than what I had intended, but not to worry I absolutely love it. The first image is what I was planning on getting.

Until next time...

Kia Ora,
Laura