manta ray – Mr Knitter

Well, as promised, here is the new tattoo. I got it done last Thursday, but have only managed to post it today as I have been busy with work and decorating and more besides. I have booked myself in for 25th January, and with a bit of luck, I may be able to get there in October. Just waiting for Sandra to let me know. She is in north Wales, so it is only a 90 minute drive each way, so not too bad.

It took 7 hours to do with only two 5 minute breaks for coffee and the toilet. The spine was very uncomfortable, but the neck was a killer, however, she had warned me about the neck and that was the last part she did which took an hour in itself. I am very pleased with it and looking forward to adding to it with other sea creatures. If you look at it you will see within the Manta Ray is a smaller one and there are two turtles within too as well as the palm trees.

I have planned for what I will be getting to cover three of my old tattoos which are 30 years old, one of which is ugly, another two you cannot really tell what they are now, and there is another tribal one that I will get her to go over and add to it to look modern.

I have been wanting to get my back tattooed for a long time. I do have a small one on the base, but it is nothing special, just a last minute thought when M was getting his first and only tattoo. I booked the session with the tattooist back in April, and have chopped and changed my mind on what I am gong to get. I always wanted the crucifixion scene, not that I am religious at all, but I like the iconography. Another was a Chinese tribal face that adorns Jean Michel Jarre’s album The Concerts in China, an image that I have loved since the 80’s when I got the album. Another thought was a Japanese dragon and coi carp, but in the end that seemed almost cartoonish, so that was out.

I have always loved Polynesian art as well as Celtic and Maori tribal art, and that was where my vision seemed to have landed. After months of searching, I have finally found the image I want on my back. It will go from shoulder to shoulder and from my neck, just above my tee shirt line down to my waistline. What is the image? It is a Manta Ray with turtles and other ethnic elements in it.

Currently I have 6 tattoos, the first I got when I was just 18, that is 33 years ago, all but one I am happy to have covered with Polynesian designs, the one that I will not get covered is M’s name.

Other tattoos I have found and like, and again are Polynesian designs are of sea turtles, sharks and one of my favourite animals a Hammerhead Shark. There are lots of geometric designs too that I like, however, these things are not cheap to have done, and I do not know anyone that is a budding tattoo designed who needs a human canvas to work on for practice, otherwise I would be first to volunteer my body.

I am booked in for it three weeks tomorrow, and will reveal what I have had done once I get back from Wales, yes, I am going back to my ancestral homelands to have it done. Not for any other reason than she is a good artist and is very reasonably priced. We have a few tattooist not far from here, but the good ones are mega expensive, and the others are expensive and in my eyes not very good as I have seen their work, and if it is to be on my body for the rest of my life then I want it to look good, and not like a drawing that a child has done.

So, three weeks and counting.

Until next time…