Background and a why ..

Just wanted to create a separate blog to log my conscious journey to getting a tattoo or not.  Again a way to keep myself conscious and go through my journey.  Part of keeping my sanity again.  I thought of getting a tattoo when I went passed my one year Vegan birthday and also was chatting to some mates about tattoos.  I read a really cool book about tattooing called 'The sociogenesis of body art' saying about different reasons such as rites of passags, individuality etc.

I guess mine was just that I'd changed a lot through my personal development group and through becoming Vegan.  I wanted kind of a symbol of the new me so to speak.

I have been to a tattoo place and have explored some designs.  I'm looking into a labyrinth mandala fused with a native american sun symbol.  The labyrinth is a symbol of birth, death, rebirth, evolution and progrss amongst other things such as looking for the way to have the best possible impact on the world. The native american sun is of the healing arts (my counselling) and of a peace loving person (my veganism and other parts of my new life).

I wanted it to look cool too though and would like it on my back.

I took in the two designs and was expecting to hear back first two weeks of August but took longer.  I got a design which looks pretty cool with the labyrinth there and some great dotted artwork for the sun.  The labyrinth could maybe be a better one though and whereas the sun looks great and actually as just a sun symbolises the same as the labyrinth doesn't quite have the essence of the native american sun in there although admittedly that can look a bit dull and I do want it to look cool.  I've sent back to get more ideas.  See above.

I was going to have it as soon as I got back on the monday but due to the delays in getting the design it will now be later.  In fairness I am actually thinking now that due to jetlag and the stress of me getting a first tattoo it could actually be better that it's a bit later.

When I got the design I felt a bit scared as it was getting more real but now I feel pretty cool about it. My folks will likely disapprove but it doesn't matter.  It'll just be one on my back and I'm feeling some symbol of me even not encompassing everything but just where I am right now in life is a cool thing and just something of an experience to have and something to grow old with me as an art on my body.  Kind of like a story in itself which I like.  There's romantic elements to it I think.

Johnny Depp speaks about his well and similarly there's quite a cool page the same as I got my design from which talks about the whole experience of being tattood. Check it out.  My design I've got up to now is below too.

It's now all in process anway. Kind of an exciting journey for me I want to log here. :) See where the design is up to below. :)