Alex's Heron Calf Tattoo

Alex, Rachel's husband, began work on his heron calf tattoo today. It's his first ink and the pain was "more than I expected," he says.

Here's Julie applying the first line.



Alex on the chair. The Adorn Arts studio is so pleasant - lots of light, open floor plan, and great tunes.



Mid way through the outline.



Finished, with child who was jealous of all the picture attention given to the tat.



Color will come next after the outline is healed.

Rachel's Louisiana Heron Calf Tattoo

I recently began work (well, Julie did all the work) on a calf piece. It's a Louisiana Heron, chosen for my love of long legged birds, the color purple, and trips to the Southern US. Julie at Adorn Arts drew the heron to fit my body and did incredible shading work to highlight the long feathers on this beautiful bird.

The above picture shows what it looked like at the end of the black and grey session on December 10, 2009. (More pictures in this flickr set.) I will go back for color in a few weeks.

My husband Alex is getting a similiar tattoo of a Great Blue Heron on the back of his calf soon. What love, to share ink.

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Rachel blogs about edible gardening and seasonally eating at Hounds in the Kitchen.

Rachel's Chest Tattoo

My first tattoo was my chest piece. Inspired by a friend's sister and the ample real estate above my very tiny breasts, Naryan at Stained Skin completed my piece in three sessions of about four hours each in October - December 2008. The picture above is after the first coloring.

The violet green swallows are representative of swallows, a family of birds I love watching, and my trip to Alaska. The bottom flower is reminiscent of a trillium, an ancient flower found rarely in Ohio. The central spiral shell is in honor of an ammonite, an extinct cephalopod related to modern nautilus. All speak to my love of nature and the circle of life.

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Rachel blogs about edible gardening and seasonally eating at Hounds in the Kitchen.