Marquesan-styled Chest Tattoo
On
Sunday, May 22nd 2005, Daniel DiMattia, the owner of Calypso
Tattoo in Liege, Belgium tattoo'd a custom designed piece onto my
chest. I'd wanted this type of work on my legs for many years and when
the opportunity came up for placing this style on my chest, I jumped at
it. I met up with Dan at the NYC
Tattoo Convention to see the sketch he drew up and we booked the appointment
a few days later.
The work took about one hour to draw and position and four plus hours to tattoo. Did it hurt? Some parts were pretty bad, but innit purty? The swelling in the picture is intense, but it subsided shortly after we finished.
This style of tattoo originated on the Marquesas Islands. 750 miles northeast of Tahiti. There's a story embedded in my design. Maybe one day I'll post more about it but I'll probably keep it private.
We plan on completing the right
hand side sometime within the next few months and then will most likely
pull the design onto my ribcage and down to my groin. That may lead to
some
pubic area work, but I'm not sure. The outline of the second proposed
motif is in the picture to the right. That work will be Hawaiian in origin
and surround the abstract boar that I currently wear.
You can learn
more about this style
of tattoo on these sites:
Air
Tahiti Magazine N°24
www.polynesia.com
Marquesan
hand tattoos
If
you haven't checked out the story of my
Japanese-styled backpiece of a
large koi, check that out here: www.nootrope.net/koi.