This is not something that I entered into lightly, I made my decision quite a while ago, it wasn't anything other than a lack of money and time simultaneously that stopped me for so long.
At A Glance Author shamos mcbundy Contact shamos mcbundy@bme.anon IAM shamos mcbundy When N/A Artist Tom Brazda Studio Electric Tattoo Location Toronto, ON I got paid on Tuesday, and contacted Tom Brazda on iam in regards to the piercing that I wanted, as I had seen much of his work on BME and had always liked the results that I saw. He informed me of the price, and that I may have to book an appointment after the consultation, in the case of custom jewelry being required.
Tuesday night, I couldn't sleep at all, I was wound up like a kid eagerly awaiting Santa Claus' visit.
Wednesday morning, I headed into town and met a friend, and we roamed around downtown talking until the shop opened at noon.Up until this point all I was thinking was about measurements being taken, because with my luck I was pretty sure there was no way the one piece that was in stock was going to fit me, until we arrived in front of the shop. As we were standing there, me having a cigarette before going in, I got a nervous feeling in my stomach and knew that I was going to walk away with what I went for.
We walked up the stairs, and I spoke to the guy at the counter, at which point Tom came over and took me in the back.I felt like an idiot that I was shaking so bad, when at this time there was nothing even going to happen.After inspecting my face and prodding around a little, the verdict was in, " this should work, I've got something else first, go get a good lunch and come back in about an hour."
We went to get something to eat, to try to calm down while things were being prepared back at the shop. This time around walking back up the stairs wasn't nearly as hard, still a bit nervous, but nowhere near what it was.
I filled out the paperwork and waited for a few minutes while he finished up with someone else. The counter guy asked if I had any ID which I kind of got a kick out of, a tattoo shop was the last place I expected to get carded, but I can understand the need for records being kept.
After that we were taken in the back for a very thorough discussion on aftercare, while there were a couple of false starts with the autoclave settings.
Time for the marking, which took a few minutes taking various angles into account for placement. Everything was set to go, just a matter of waiting for a taper and the jewelry to cool.Another time asking if I was sure I wanted no freezing, apparently it doesn't cost extra, but said no again anyway, I knew that the clamps being tight would make it numb enough.Besides that I was asked if I knew what the freezing was for, to which the reply was to "keep you still, it doesn't really do anything for the client, but ease their mind, which makes it easier for me to work. It's going to hurt either way."
As we're sitting there waiting, somebody walks in and has a whole pile of questions about prices, jewelry, aftercare, etc., at which time it seemed he spent about twenty minutes explaining jewelry quality, and aftercare to these people, meanwhile I'm just sitting there nervously waiting and listening to the music playing in the shop, trying to keep calm, but wasn't anywhere near as calm as my friend who was almost falling asleep in the chair.
The clamps go on, and one more time to make sure I'm ready, at which point I felt the cut, not painful in the way that I thought it would be, just a lot of pressure.After probably only 30 seconds or so the first taper went through, and the clamps were taken off, followed by a second taper, which was quickly followed by a third and final one of about the desired size, which was then followed by the jewelry. It sounds easy, but was probably the most painful part of the process, as the cut had to be made to make the jewelry fit tightly, plenty of pressure, but thankfully I could still barely feel my lip.
With everything done, we sat and talked a few minutes while Tom cleaned up, then up to the front to pay. I gave him $200 and we were on our way. I walked out smiling, with a numb, fat lip that felt as if it weighed a ton, and a 1/2 inch piece of solid titanium in it, and would do it again, but thankfully I won't have to.
Three days on now, and healing seems to be going well, swelling has pretty much subsided, still cleaning dry blood 2 or 3 times daily, but there is less and less of it, I expected that, and figure it will be finished doing that in a couple of days. The salt soaks take care of all that anyway, and at least the periodic dull throb is now gone.
All in all, I've known I wanted Tom to do this a long time, and really never considered going somewhere else, and I wasn't disappointed.