Sep 15 2008
Mapping A Map
Dan's Map Tattoo, Part I--photo by Llalan
I am a Legend!! The Map of Maps is here to stay forever!
My map tattoo has begun. It started as an uncharted adventure with possible potential or disaster. The artist had never done a map tattoo before, and neither had his colleagues. He told me that it is easy to map out a tattoo on a person’s body, but this is tattooing a map. Furthermore, it is a map of maps: it’s not a map of a real place but of geographic forms and names. (It was inspired by a map in The Agile Rabbit Book, one of my favorites.) It was a challenge, with no one to go to for advice.
Needless to say, when I went for my first session he told me that he had practiced…by putting the stencil on his girlfriend for many hours the night before. Apparently he couldn’t get it right. We took the plunge anyway and on the first try he had the stencil on my arm correctly. I was happy, he was happy (and relieved), and we got started. Two and a half hours later I walked out with an outline of what was to come and a smile. Hooray!!
I recently have gone to my second session of the map tattoo (see next photo). As far as I can tell the end of this thing is nowhere in sight. Three hours of shading wasn’t too bad, my arm was a little sore in the end, but I was happy to have more of this done. The shading added a lot of depth and color to the map, and I think it looks great. He said that it was only the base coat…I don’t know what that means really.
The next session is not scheduled yet, but I hope to have more done soon!
Dan's Map Tattoo, Part II--photo by Llalan
Dan is a musician specializing in West African drumming and dancing. Other then drumming for his multiple bands, his favorite hobby is bikes bikes bikes. He also thinks that tattoos are totally sweet.
