Ink [Renee]

[Jesse Fforde]

In my experience, I think this is the easier part of the tattooing experience. The needle I use it not just one needle, not really. There several different needles, alternating at lightning speed. The outline is like sliding a knife through skin, whereas the shading is like prolonged gravel rash. The spread of the pain across the skin is evened out, rather than focused. Regardless, Renee has done quite well so far and the tattoo itself isn't so big. There's not long to go now, and I have faith that she will soldier on through, regardless of how her body takes and translates the pain that I am transferring onto it.

I do not think too much about the pain that I may or may not be causing my 'customer'. Instead, I focus on the canvas and making sure that I colour inside the lines; I make sure that there's just enough bleeding of one colour into the next. I stop and start as I change the colours, as I turn the design into a small, succinct, simple masterpiece. The last thing that I do is bring back the black, adding shadows in all the right places, just to make the tattoo pop that little bit more; make it look that tiny bit more three dimensional.

When I think that I am done, I sit back and crack my back.

"What do you think?"