Well after 6 years of deliberation and a month of designing, I finally took the plunge and got a tattoo. Overall, I couldn’t be happier with the results. Not only do I love the design but the fact that I made it from scratch makes it that much better. So what is this mysterious tattoo you ask? It is an alchemical circle with symbols that represent the 4 elements, sun, earth and some minerals that make up the human body. To me it represents how the elements came together to make me and how they will return to the earth when I am no longer here. The funniest thing about the design of this tattoo is that it was designed in Microsoft Word. Whenever I tell people that, I usually get the response; “Microsoft Word? Really?” Which is understandable because I often have to fight to get a document indented correctly let alone design a tattoo. Once the tattoo was designed and I was determined to get it, I then had to find an artist that was up to the challenge. My friend suggested a great tattoo shop that did a great job on his tattoo six years earlier so I decided to go with them. Upon arriving and proposing my design, I received looks of nervousness. Everybody though the design was amazing, but told me that perfectly symmetrical circles were a tattoo artists worst nightmare. Originally I wanted to get the tattoo put on my chest but I was told that with such a design, trying to properly draw it there would be difficult. So I opted to get it at the top of my arm. Cliche, I know but still OK since it won’t always show. After a bit of pondering, sizing and resizing, the artist was finally confident that he could complete my masterpiece. The process itself was relatively painless (contrary to popular stigma) and took about an hour and twenty minutes. Overall I was amazed at the level of perfection that the artist was able attain. With a design like that, if one circle or line is off, the whole tattoo would have been ruined. All things said, I had a great experience and I’m very happy with the results.
