The Picts

Pict, (possibly from Latin picti, “painted”), one of an ancient people who lived in what is now eastern and northeastern Scotland, from Caithness to Fife. Their name may refer to their custom of body painting or possibly tattooing.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-truth-about-the-picts-886098.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/articles/kingdom_of_the_picts/

http://halfmoon.tripod.com/

These are my people.

Monday I got a new tattoo from the lovely and talented Kathryn Moore at Dogstar. (That's what Christmas bonuses are for, right?)

The design was based on this obelisk, which we think is Scandinavian as the knot work is much less formal and more free form than Celtic knot work. You can see where it starts and ends, also not the case with Celtic knot work.

She came up with this:

The stencil is applied.

Just about a week later, it's mostly healed.

The OSD was oddly upset I didn't consult with him; that I hadn't at least commented that I was doing it. Seems saying there will be more was not enough of a warning.

I won't tell you the questions I asked him as qualifiers for having input into what I do with my own body (well okay, one of them was "are you my father?" Another was "do you sign my paycheck?" There was a third, which I will leave to your imagination.).
Kinda funny that an old sailor doesn't have a single tattoo. But then, come to think of it, neither did my father, and he was an old, old sailor.
I informed OSD that I am a Pictish Scandinavian princess and I am having tattoos.

I think I'm done now, but The Boy reminded me that I said that after the Raven tattoo. So...maybe not. 

Consider this your consult, "Mr. Baardsson".

The Tattoo Transformation

I've been enamored with tattoos for a long time. It could be the Pict in me and those blood memories. (here's science to back that up!)

During a day in Oakland, my then husband and I passed by a tattoo shop. The tattoo-er and tattoo-ee allowed us to watch the process. (The then husband had a tattoo.) I was fascinated.

When I turned 35, the bug really bit me; I spent the next three years doing impromptu interviews with anyone who had a interesting tattoo, getting recommendations for artists, and visiting tattoo shops. Three years later, when someone gave me $100 and told me to spend it on something I really wanted, I marched off to the local tattoo artist and got a Celtic knot (did you think it would be anything else?) on my back. Later in Ireland, I got some weird tribal design - all I could get for ten pounds. The two were not related in any way design wise and over the years, the knot closed up and the color faded.

FYI - knots and such need to be fairly large and have lots of space, so that they don't close up over time. The Boy's first tattoo is a good example of what to do.

Several years ago I went as a friend's "tat buddy" when she got her first at Dogstar Tattoo in Durham. I had stopped in Dogstar a few years earlier and had not liked the "vibe"; was pleasantly surprised to find it changed. The artist was the owner, Kathryn. I liked her immediately; she's soft spoken and has a very calm, peaceful manner about her. I also liked her ideas on cover-ups for the two tattoos I had.

I made an loose appointment for March 2010 but that date came and went.
Then last July I had a dream about the raven tattoo.
January 2012 I made another appointment, but no-one called me. I made another one in February - and finally got in for a consultation - in April!
I told Kathryn about the dream and went back in May to see the drawing. The design incorporated the raven, (on the right shoulder as the dream instructed), with seven oak leaves, (one of the seven sacred, or Chieftain, trees of the Irish), and three acorns.

Finally, in June 2012, we started!

The old tattoos

We begin with the stencil.

First session - June 18th

Third session - July 16 (second session July 3, worked on leaves on left)

Fourth session - July 30 - two and a half hours!

Final session - August 20

I go back in a couple of months after it's had a chance to fully heal and see if any touch ups are needed.
It was over what was budgeted, but not by much, and really quite the bargain for a piece of original art.
I'm very happy with it.

Zoos and Tattoos

Last weekend brought a trip to the NC Zoo in Ashboro.

Confession #1: My expectation was pretty low.
Unfairly, the expectation was something along the lines of a gas station zoo with pacing cats, poo flinging monkeys, and bear baiting on the side.
But I was so wrong. There was not one cage. They don't have a plethora of animals, but the ones they have are all in quasi-natural environments, or as close as the North Carolina countryside  can come to a savanna (or savannah) in Africa or the forests of Madagascar. After walking close to seven miles, we still had not seen all of the North American portion of the zoo.
All four gorillas were out; the silverback was a particularly handsome and noble looking fellow. Hanging out in the sun with his three girls.
There seemed to be plenty of zoo folks around to stop ijits (there's always at least one) from annoying the animals with dangling bananas and such.

Confession #2: Some folks don't know a monkey (baboon) from an ape* (gorilla, chimpanzee). Fair enough. But how about someone telling their child to look at the monkey - and it's a LEMUR!?
You know what? I judge them. (okay, I judge those other people too.)

Dear god in heaven - at least read the sign. Don't pass your ignoramus-ness down to your children.


The aviary was fantastic, plus we had a break from hearing about "monkeys". These pictures are from the interwebz, but we saw each of them in the flesh:

Victoria Crowned Pigeon

Scarlett Ibis

Red Capped Cardinal

And these little brilliant green birds:

Blue-winged Leafbird

I would love to go back in the fall when the weather's cooler (and it's not Earth Day) and do the whole thing.

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On the tattoo front, I finally! got in to see Kathryn at Dogstar Tattoo last Tuesday. Paid my $50 drawing fee and go back in a month to see what she's come up with. A raven on a white oak tree branch is the plan.
I am really excited about it.

Tattoo'd Girls by Wylie Hunter & The Cazadores
http://www.myspace.com/music/player?sid=86514321&ac=now

"Oooh Lord you know
I love me some tattooed girls
Between their inkstained skin
and their mischievous grins
You know they're givin' my head a whirl"

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* Did you know the gibbon is the only ape with a tail?