So,I got inked yesterday. My first tattoo. I had a very positive experience and wanted to share the story here because it bears on my post.
I had written last week asking if someone could recommend a Jewish tattoo artist in the LA or OC area. Despite some nice responses, I basically struck out and became resigned to just finding the best local artist I could, irrespective of religion. That was disappointing to me, since I had thought long and hard about this and strongly preferred a Jewish artist. But, after many months of searching, it became clear that I was after a unicorn and that it was time for Plan B.
Between Yelp and some word-of-mouth recommendations, I settled on Outer Limits Tattoo (Orange location), a shop not far from my house. Jenn Davis came exceptionally highly recommended with statements like “If you let anyone else put ink in your body besides Jen … and you live within any reasonable distance of Orange, CA, you are a freaking idiot.” So, I headed down to talk to Jenn. The shop looks like any other strip-mall tattoo shop, but seemed cleaner and less seedy. This statement probably comes from ignorance and stereotypes, but I expected the shop and its folks to me more gruff and tough. Nope. Sweet and helpful as could be.
Sparing the backstory, I showed her the art I had of my son’s name in Hebrew cursive. She responded, “Wow, that’s really beautiful. I would love to do this for you. But, although I’m Jewish, I can’t really read Hebrew. I would recommend one of our other artists, L. She’s Jewish and can read better than I can.”
Umm…yeah….imagine my surprise to hear this. I search for a while, post in multiple forums, basically give up on finding someone Jewish, settle on a place down the street, and, BAM!, end up with a choice between two fantastic artists, both Jewish, one partially Hebrew-literate. Without any hesitation, I booked an appointment with L.
L was a pleasure to work with. More than anything, working with her affirmed that I was not crazy to want someone who had basic Hebrew literacy. We rapped about it being a couple hours before Yom Kippur, noting the irony. And she said that she really enjoyed doing Hebrew on Jews — that it felt special to her. At one point, the pain increased considerably and I must have screwed up my face in response. She said, “Yeah, we’re on the Reysh, so we’re getting closer to the armpit. That’s a tender area.” Hearing her say “Reysh,” made me realize that she did in fact see each letter as a letter (and ones that she recognized), rather than as just drawings. At the end, she said, “I’m just doing some touch-up on the Aleph — we’ll be done in a second.” Same feeling. That’s EXACTLY what I wanted!
I’ll try to post pictures when everything is healed, but, based on the quick glimpse I got before she wrapped it up, the tattoo came out great. I can’t so much comment on L’s artistic skill (as the art I gave her was very simple), but I can say that she and the whole shop was a pleasure to work with.
I would highly encourage anyone getting a tattoo with letters/characters to find someone who understands them, and doesn’t just treat them like art. It made my experience so much richer.
