I’ve only got one tattoo on my back, that was done in 2,5 hours time…
It sure wasn’t enjoyable or anything, but most of it was very bearable. The bits that are going more towards my actual ribcage were very very sensitive, and the few that are going towards my spine too. Anything in between, I’ve got enough flesh to serve as a buffer;). The only bits where I almost had to bite my tears away, were the bits that are going up towards my armpit. 2,5 hours were certainly do-able for me, but I must say I was really glad it was over, too. The breaks he took in between were helpful, too (first drew all the fine lines, pause, then filled them up, pause, then shading). Also didn’t feel much difference between the drawing of the outlines and the shading – but then my shading isn’t that extensive.
The weird thing is, that I now don’t really remember much of that time – it’s more of a blur, actually. I tried to be as calm and relaxed as possible during the session, and I sortof put my mind in another place – thinking that it only gets worse if you focus on the pain. I also had slept and eaten normally (‘coz no food = very cranky Fairy), and I never felt any nausea or anything coming up.
@Butterfly_kisses: the itch also drove me up the walls after a week into the healing proces… In my case, it helped to put some greasy bodymilk on it; the more you feed your skin, the less it will get irate. At that moment, all crusts had fallen of already, and my skin had already gotten pretty smooth, too… So I figured it could do no harm. And it didn’t…
