Body art.....

last sunday, jon and i left the meatshop for a while and went to SKINWORKZ at cartimar in pasay city to have our latest tattoos done. the shop is owned by ricky sta. ana who is the present president of the PHILTAG (Philippine Tattoo Artists Guild); as such, we are assured that the methods and procedures performed there adhere to the department of health's guidelines on running a tattoo shop and doing tattooing..... because as a microbiologist myself i'm pretty much aware of the dangers of getting tattoos from unsanitary places and untrained personnel!!!

here are some pics (in proper sequence) of how my latest tattoo came about..... for those who do not wish to see such photos, you may close this window now!

1. drawing the design by ballpen and stencil:

2. the finished design:

3. tattoing the outline with black ink:

4. the finished outline in black:

5. Putting in the colors - blue:

6. putting in the colors - red:

7. the finished tattoo:

the tattoo i got is what i have envisioned it to be. i'm very much satisfied with it.... and compared to my first tattoo (which is a green gecko to cover up a rather big appendectomy scar) this one was not as painful even though this was entirely against bone! the reason for this maybe because tattoing technology has improved since i had the first one 3 years ago.... for instance, tattoing needles used nowadays are finer than say 3 years ago.... and therefore results in less tissue damage and less scarring.

footnote: i got my first tattoo from AVATAR in Malate, Manila, the shop owned by the then president of PHILTAG.