Free 2 B, Nekkid U, Nekkid Me: August 2008

I should explain the forearm band that I showed in detail at the end last week but ran out of time to describe. It was my first tattoo and came out so crummy that I had to have it redone ASAP at a different shop! It is a ropework knot woven around my arm in what is known as a Turk's Head knot which, when smaller and tighter, forms a perfect neckerchief slide for Boy Scouting. I had been an adult Scouter and Scoutmaster for over thirty years when I got this, my first tattoo. Mike of Agony Arts fixed it to look just like I had originally drawn it! Mine is the first part of the pattern of the Turk's Head and winds over and under the other rope parts of the knot like Celtic designs do. (A Scout Turk's Head neckerchief slide has 3 side-by-side trails woven over and under 3 other side-by-side trails all made out of one single, long strand of rope or macrame cord. )Ancient mariners used to tie intricate, mega-multi-trail Turk's Heads around the large masts on ships of old to wile away idle hours while at sea! Until just a few years ago, the US Navy used this fancy ropework to decorate ceremonial furniture & equipment, both shipboard and landside, until some safety monitor determined it was a fire hazard due to the hardened shellac covering placed to preserve the ropes.

You see above on the right, I got color added to my newest AFA tat & I like the Air Force blue! ....Duh! I mean, "Of course!"

This pic was taken right after "finishing" the tat at Agony Arts. I may grow back a little of my trimmed beard that USED to make me look "badder!" (Let me know if you like this or the other beard from last week-Which looks better?)

The 3- and 4-hour sessions in the tattoo chair made my butt numb &, frankly, I need to check my blood sugar at the shop before starting a session. Particularly, to keep my judgement clear about giving feedback & direction to the tattooist! With no mirrors to watch work progress, they only stop half-way through and you have to be assertive to get what you want. Not easy cuz you pay up front & they have their $$ already. These ARE artists and like to do their own thing of creating -- you have a right to get what you want. BUT (and it's a BIG BUT), you really ought to scour his original drawing with a fine tooth comb for anything that does not agree precisely with what you brought him to create the drawing from. THE DRAWING IS WHAT HE WILL MAKE HIS STENCIL FROM AND YOUR TATTOO LINES WILL LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THAT DRAWING -- CORRECT THE DRAWING BEFORE IT GOES TO STENCIL!!!

OK, here is the blow-up altho you may have gotten one by clicking on the pic above. Rob really did a great job on the feathers of my Fighting Falcon (AF Academy mascot is actually a white Arctic Gyrfalcon which is significantly larger than the typical brown prairie falcons of the Colorado Springs area just to the south of the AF Academy.) He put in little flecks of blue which the Arctic Gyrfalcon actually has. Rob highlighted with very straight lines of white in the feathers to make them come alive, but this falcon is unique in its whiteness and far whiter than my pink skin.

So again, I am going to have to pay more for a follow-on session to have a white ink wash tattooed on the breast and upper wings reaching out. I think it will make my bird REALLY FLY like the eagle Rob keeps calling it. Rob's a good guy but WTF would an Army brat know about things Air Force? It's why the AF broke off from the Army in 1947-48! Read all the old General Billy Mitchell stuff before that to see earlier Army-Air Forces internal conflict concerning roles and capabilities. It was the first Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, General Carl "Toeey" Spaatz, who said:

"I guess we considered ourselves a different breed of cat, right in the beginning. We flew through the air and the other people walked on the ground. It was as simple as that!"