True to my word, for my 30th birthday I have got myself a little bit of body art to pay homage to my recent engagement, as well as my love of all things craft.
I decided to go for the top of my foot, despite warnings of it being a pretty gnarly place to get tattooed. I wanted it in a place where I could see it, but still hide it at work yet have it on show in my down-time and for the wedding.
I had some basic ideas around the traditional style of tattooing. I loved the idea of a blue swallow, with swallows representing home (in nautical tattoos they represented this as sailors knew when they were close to land if they saw swallows, as they don’t fly far out to sea), choosing blue so as it can be my ‘something blue’ as I walk down the aisle.
For my birthday ‘the kittens’ bought me a session with the artist to have three hearts tattooed to match three which Mr Monster was having as part of his sleeve. I loved this idea but wanted to put my own stamp on it so incorporated the hearts into the design as buttons, as I have a serious button fetish. I included a tape measure as a tip of the hat to my involvement in fabric art and as something for the swallow to carry, inspired in no small part by the dressmaking woodland creatures in films like Cinderella.
I took my ideas to Cornucopia Studios in Taunton where the lovely Phil drew them up into something totally unique and I was dead chuffed with what he came up with.
I’m not going to lie, it hurt…A LOT, but as I loved the design so much, it made it easier to take and I am thrilled with the result.
After about an hour, the outline was done:
Time to colour it in and I’ll admit that during the shading I did hit the wall. I persevered as I was desperate to see it finished and this is how it ended up:
It’s so pretty and vibrant. It was quite fresh in these photos but now that it is settling, the colour and detail are really starting to show and I love it more every time I look at it. It’s safe to say that I love it!
Mistress of Monsters 