Lost touch

Ok, I have not blogged in a while now, but I was having all this website drama and it is sorta worked out for the most part now...I hope anyway. I am moving the blog back to blogspot since that seems to be more stable. So I plan on writing tidbits again. And I will have time now, since it slows down a bit here in the fall and winter. So, stay connected!
Above is a picture of a finished tattoo of that sketch I posted a few blogs back!

Decompressing...

Wowie! What a week. Or I should say, wowie, what a crazy past few weeks. It has been one tattoo after another. Drawing, tattooing, sterilizing, emails, phone calls, consultations, scrubbing the toilet. Yes, I did that today. Somebody has to do it. Anyway, I have been plugging away. It is a lot, but I live for that shit. Not the toilet bit, though. Maybe I should find someone that will trade for cleaning that for a tattoo.

The past few weeks I have been tattooing a lot, and still lately, a lot of women have been coming in for pretty elaborate work. It is incredible. Last week I started a back piece on a gal, and I think she sat for 4 hours outlining it. That is better than I can do. Fuck sitting for more than 2 hours!

I have been having a great week, enjoying doing the tattoos, and sharing stories with the people that I tattoo. It has been kinda intense. I have heard stories of affairs, anxiety dreams, job losses, Alcoholism... And I can relate. I also am an open book, I say. I chalk it up to- this is normal life stuff. Or typical life stuff. Sharing these stories can only help one another. Can't pretend it's not really happening.

I really do enjoy this closeness, bonding with another human. I think it is better, than to not. That is my outlook on life in general. But I understand that while doing a tattoo on someone, there is a special connection happening. Holy shit! I am so lucky! I can't believe I get to do this everyday. But yes, it is hard. It takes a lot of energy for me. To hold that energy of taking care of someone, for being so responsible of the outcome of their piece and experience while under the needle. I take this seriously, I really do. The clients deserve the best, and if I do not deliver, I will beat myself up for days.

I am trying to stay on track here, and have a focused article here, but I have had a long day, I have not eaten much at all, and to finalize my day I am drinking a stout, and a lot has happened in the past few weeks. It can be a challenge to wrap it up in a nice little package here. Ya, I should be drinking water, since I have been dehydrated and have had a headache for days too. Ha! Whatever. The pain we cause ourselves, or put ourselves through. But, I would like to say that I would not want it any other way. Blessed be. Good nite and I love you!

keeping your tattooed skin healthy

I have some simple tips that will help keep your new tattoo looking fresh and radiant, and some helpful ideas to keep your older ones healthy. It is easier for me to give advice on this than take it for myself, but I hope to set a good example here. So I have been making an effort to preserve my tattoos and I have found some things that really work.

If you have a new tattoo, please follow or read the aftercare instructions I have on the blog here.

Once your tattoo is healed, hopefully, it will live happily ever after in your skin. With all the toxins going around in the world these days, your skin could be the first to react since it is the largest living organ on your body. (maybe your intestines are second? I'm not sure) So anyway back to skin, Always, always wear sunblock. This is important. When you are in the sun all day or even mild sun exposure, make sure to lube up with the sun block. It will keep your tattoos brighter, but since tattoo's that are colored or black, I think they attract more sun rays to your skin, doing more damage to it. It is possible to get skin cancer in your tattoo, so protect it. The best thing is to keep it covered with your clothes, but if that's not an option invest in a good sunblock.

Next, is if you have dry skin over or near your tattoo, which so many of us do, such as eczema,psoriasis, etc. you need to invest in a good lotion. There are some lotions that are awesome for this and I recommend Aveeno, or Curel which are not totally organic, but for all natural and organic spend the money on Alba. Its a blue and white bottle called very emmolient. If your tattoo is dry and itchy, the last thing you want to do is scratch all over the top of it shredding your top layers of skin. It can puff up the lines or various spots on the tattoo causing a raised effect that can come and go during the life of your tattoo. This also can happen due to sun exposure. Another possiblility to keep your skin nice is by taking supplements vitamin E or C. But you need to talk this over with someone to make sure that's the right supplement for you. You can also tone your skin with witch hazel. It's affordable and it works awesome.

Another thing is if you ever get a mosquito or other bug/spider bite or poison oak on a tattoo, the worse thing you can do is scratch at it and mess with it. You need to treat the bite and perhaps cover it and really work on getting it healed. This has happened to me before on my arm. I had gotten bitten and I scratched it and it made my tattoo blow up two inches around the bite. It really pissed off the tattoo. So be sure to treat that right away.

I hope you find this helpful, If you have any questions, or anything to add to this for that matter, please email me.

Thanks, and take care of your tattooed skin!

Art therapy

Some clients/friends call and tell me, they need to get tattooed asap. They say that they need the therapy. Meaning, ( I think) that they enjoy their new piece, it makes them happy, but I think the "therapy" part is because during the tattoo process, most of the conversations between the client and me, end up getting pretty deep. Relationships, family, health, money, etc. most always come up. A lot of relationship/break-up/divorce stuff comes up a lot! They will tell me about their hardships with it, and I listen, but sometimes, I can't help but put my 2 cents in. I have heard it all before many times, and I do have some in put by now... some recommendations for people and their situations...It just depends on how I read it and if I think they are open to it.

There is a certain amount of sharing too. I get emotionally invested with my clients sometimes. Some clients come in every 2-3 weeks for a year or many years at time. We get to know each other after awhile... I too, share with my clients some of my personal endeavors as well. I am pretty much an open book here. During the tattoo process, I believe we are in sacred space. Veils come down. There is a certain amount of vulnerability. But for me and my ever growing opinions, (I think it's just me getting older) I can't help but relate on some levels with them, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. Some of the stories I hear are outrageous, but being in the field of tattooing, I have ran with a wacky crowd at times so nothing surprises me. I can divy out my share of craziness. That is all in the past, of course since I am pretty grounded at this point. I only fly when the Valkyries call! or when I drink to much of my man's home brew.

Anywho, I think people that let their guard down when they get tattooed is a special thing, and I always keep the confidentiality, unless you have such a great story, you might find my writing about it. Sometimes if you are lucky, I will offer you a tarot card reading that might aid in your transformation. Otherwise you can offer me money and I would be happy to read your cards. I am an amateur at it, but It's fun. There is no shortage of witchiness, here at Valkyrie.

I really do think there is a lot to get out of your tattoo session. It's not just an awesome piece of art you will wear till your grave. There is something much deeper happening. I think being in pain is good for people sometimes. It is humbling. It gets you thinking about what really matters. And it is funny to be in pain sometimes. I always tell people not to laugh when they get tattooed and they always ask why would I laugh? Duh, its funny when you are in pain that you subjected yourself to and there is nothing you can do about it.

I think that there is a lot of release you can get through the tattoo process. Either way I enjoy working with people and hearing their stories. I don't mind having light or heavy conversations while tattooing. And once we are done, I won't think you are crazy.

same pants...again...

Man, it's been crazy busy around here, and I have been wanting to write for weeks! I am currently working on a blog about cover ups right now and I really really want to post it, but it is not quite ready and I need to be patient. I am really excited about it, but my photo's are not ready. So that's the hold up with that on that one. I have some other things I want to write about and share too, but it's been so busy around the shop now that summer has kinda bloomed. People are coming in left and right. And you know I love it. I like it when it is hectic. It adds to the challenge of drawing for people, sterilizing the shop, getting a lunch break, consulting with people, petting the cat...etc.

So with all the busyness around here, you know I've been wearing the same pants a few times through out the week. Which reminds me, last week I ruined a pair of pants cause I spilled ink all the way down my leg- purple ink. I was thinking I should just wear scrubs to work. All of my jeans are like scrubs now, I guess anyway. But I think the scrubs would be more comfortable.

So, it's been full around here. people coming in for large pieces, small pieces, foot tattoos... I've done quite a few of those the past couple of weeks.

I think I've been working 10 hour days the past month. Leaving for work at 10:30 am and leaving at 8:30. It has been a good work load, and I am totally enjoying it. The only bummer is that I have not had time to get tattooed myself. But I think hopefully I will get tattooed next week. I will post a pic when that happens. It kinda hurts me now since I have spent many years getting tattooed but we will see how I do!

OK, I am off to think about and write a new article that is actually important.