first tattoo 7.29.2021

I got my first ever tattoo earlier this month! I never had much of an urge to get a tattoo. Then, after my son Peter died in 2019, I thought a tattoo would be a good memorial to him. Another way to keep his memory alive. I felt like I had a reason to decorate my skin:) I’d planned to get this tattoo over a year ago, but you know – COVID.

Peter was very interested in medicinal herbs and herbal remedies. And a couple of his favorite herbs were lavender and nettle. He used lavender oil on his skin and in his hair, and he used nettle as a food source, including tea and pesto. So here’s my lavender and nettle tattoo!

It’s on my left forearm, and positioned so that it’s rightside up when I look at it. A few people suggested that I place the tattoo so OTHERS would see it rightside up, but this tatt’s for me:) And I’m told it looks beautiful upside down, too.

A friend saw the tattoo and wrote “Peter is both – calming and irritating. A blessed combo of both.” Which is so true, and I never thought about how the qualities of these herbs – lavender is calming and nettle can be irritating if you don’t handle the plant correctly – match so well the qualities of Peter. It’s a surprising yet wonderful insight about this tattoo.

Here’s a close-up of the lavender buds. See the hearts that Spike surreptitiously added? I LOVE them!

Spike Bieganek from Spike-O-Matic Tattoo was my tattoo artist. He was very responsive to my requested revisions to create exactly the tattoo I wanted, and he was willing to answer all sorts of questions I had as a tattoo first timer. Plus, he’s a great artist and the final drawing he created on my arm is. just. perfect.

These before and after pics of my arm were taken the day I got the tattoo. You can see the smokey wisps are still red. After a couple weeks, the red disappeared, and the whole tattoo faded a bit, making the black a little less intense.

It didn’t hurt like I expected it too. I’d describe it as a hard, deep scratch that lasted over an hour. It peeled for a couple weeks, itched a LOT for a couple days, and now, almost four weeks after I got it, the tattoo seems pretty much healed. I thought for a quick second about asking Spike to add a hint of color to the lavender and nettle, but he suggested I do that at a later date, and in the end, I’m glad I didn’t. I like the black and white simplicity. And I can color it any time I want to with markers!

I love looking at it and remembering my son Peter. It makes me happy.