Inked

April 2nd, 2015

Guys! Your worries may finally lessen, we've actually had some pretty eventful last few days. Since we left Kelowna I had been thinking about getting some ink while away, because I knew it would be cheaper although, I was also a bit sketched out and unsure.

I opted out in Thailand (since I still wasn't ready), but I never stopped thinking about it and the piece that I had been eyeing down for over a year. After being in Ubud for an extended amount of time and getting to know where some of the local shops were, we started stopping in and inquiring about a few things. 

Here are some things to look out for and ask an artist before getting ink ANYWHERE. 

1) Check if the place is clean or atleast the tattooing area. This is to be looked out for a bit more here in Asia, but back home most shops are super clean.

2) Have a casual chat with the artist and ask them some questions like "How long have you been tattooing?", this doesn't always make a difference but the majority of the time, more years = more experience = better result.

3) When getting ink in Asia make sure to ask where they get their ink from to make sure it's from the USA or somewhere westernized, otherwise it could contain led which you don't want.

4) Look at previous work of theirs, look out for a few things like: 

-Do you like their style?

-If you're getting something with color, are they good with colourful tattoos?

-Or the other way around, if you're getting something black and grey. Or if you're getting something detailed.

-How are their lines looking, are they clean? 

With all this being said I finally found a good place and decided to get my dream piece done on my right quad. It took 6.5 hours and was painful as hell but it turned out absolutely perfect and cost me about 700$ less than at home. SCORE! I'm so happy and pumped that I finally got to get this done and the fact that I'll have a piece of Bali with me forever is extremely meaningful to me.

Vee and I were at the tattoo shop from 9 am to 3:30 pm and we only had a small juice during one of the artist's smoke break, so we were starving. When the session was over we walked over to Taco Casa and devoured some vegan burritos. Other than that we walked a bit then got a ride home with Edi then after cleaning my new ink up we were off to bed early like every other wonderful night.

A bientot,

Janelle Brine