advice for sitting through a long tattoo?

[JamieH]

looks like you've got more sessions to go! so i'm sure you've got it figured out by now, but just in case.

my tips are to make sure you get a very good sleep the night beforehand. take some melatonin if you have to (it's natural and won't give you that gross groggy/chemical-y feeling in the morning)

DON'T DRINK ANY ALCOHOL, because as others have said, you'll bleed. alcohol things your blood, and bleeding means the ink is also leaving your skin, so you'll end up with a patchy looking tattoo. and if you drank for your tattoo, you can bet your boots the artist won't be offering you free touch-ups.

don't sleep during the tattoo!!! i really hope that the artist does not let you sleep. imagine jolting awake while the needles are in your skin, then you'd have a really awful "oopsy doopsie." every artist i've ever been tatted by/spoke with says they do not let their clients sleep.

keeping your bloodsugar up definitely helps so bring some Werthers or something, and make sure you eat a nice big meal beforehand.

when i had my ribs tattooed, i found that being cold made it much worse. it seemed to hurt a lot more the first 2 sessions, because the studio was cold. also i did 2 consecutive sessions of tattoos, and didn't get much sleep before the second. so yeah, torture. the next 2 sessions were done out of my artists house, where it was nice and warm and it was a breeze. i think trying to hold back shivers really wears you out, so if you're cold mention it and hopefully they can crank up the heat.

here's my masterpiece, i'm sure some of you have already seen it, i think there's a tattoo thread on bp.net already.

This is EXACTLY the tattoo I want, like to a T.
I guess Ill have to make some adjustments to mine so it doesnt look like I copied yours.

Awesome piece!

[Robyn@SYR]

Don't fall asleep! I went in to get a sweet barb wire tattoo around my guns, fell asleep, and woke up with these. That'll learn me...

[Quickone4u]

Don't fall asleep! I went in to get a sweet barb wire tattoo around my guns, fell asleep, and woke up with these. That'll learn me...

If that's the case then how are they on the same leg in the same general area?!

[lance]

bring candy lol and a friend to BS with or a book, psp, any sort of entertainment will suffice for a long tattoo my last tattoo session was 9 hours and my tattoo artist has a flat screen in front of me so I watched Nirvana live at reading and good stuff like that.

Lance

[fishmommy]

I just scheduled the first sitting for my half sleeve to do the outline. it's a complicated design so I'm told to expect to be in the chair from 10:30 to 5!
Should be quite an experience~
I've arranged for a ride home since 6+ hours is supposed to mess ya up good.
So pumped! Monday the 8th~!

[Rickys_Reptiles]

anyone have any tips or advice for being able to sit up to 10 hours to get my back piece started?

if you have them i would love to see pics. especially "in progress" pics!

thanks

wow, umm. enjoy it! The first 20-30 minutes is painful (depending where you're getting it), but after that the endorphins start to kick in and it's like a natural high!

[fishmommy]

this site has the same basic advice, though badly translated from some other language. the later comments are quite hilarious!
http://tattoobody.info/bodytattoo/6964

[cecilbturtle]

im going in this sunday for some more work on it

[fishmommy]

[Robyn@SYR]

If that's the case then how are they on the same leg in the same general area?!

I have two right legs, duh!