Epiphany: Small Tattoos Sometimes Mean the Biggest

I am a tattoo snob.

I know this.

I accept it.

 I'm proud of it.

I myself, am still learning and developing but I can look at a tattoo and know if it's actually a good tattoo or a complete crap. If they are happy with it, why ruin their day, so I keep to myself. Usually.

 As I've worked and been around the industry I've grown a distaste for people that "just want something small". I can't tell you how many college girl come in just wanting some tiny stupid flower or they want an entire paragraph condensed to the size of a business card.

You try to explain to them that eventually the words will bleed out a little and if it's to small you won't be able to read it. Sometimes they listen, sometimes they don't.  You can't save them all.

Naturally, when I got into tattooing all I wanted to do is massive awesome tattoos with color and detail that would make me look like a rock star artist that I could put in magazine and eventually be be accepted into the body art community.

No such luck on the beach.

People here want small souvenir tattoos, not sleeves. I felt I was degrading myself to my full potential. Then I started to notice what I was doing...

One couple came in. They've been married 20 years but never got to have a honeymoon. Finally here they were! And they wanted to get their wedding dates, 2-15-92, tattooed where their bands are. The girl in me got all gushy...

A few days later another newlywed couple came in. They both serve for the U.S. Navy and were on their honeymoon and wanted to get matching tiny anchors on their wedding fingers. Such a simple tattoo made them so happy, and again, I felt I'd done something good.

Then yesterday, a grandmother and granddaughter came in. They wanted to get matching hearts on their shoulders. Grandma was in her 70s, never had ink done before, and was terrified, but she love her granddaughter so much, she decided to go for it. Her granddaughter was in 7th heaven. It was beautiful and reminded me the bond I have with my own grandmother.

So in conclusion. These tattoos won't get me in magazines or win awards. They won't make me name-worthy or make me much money. However at the ends of the day I don't feel like I just slapped some ink on a idiot college kid spending his student loan money (ok I'm guilty of doing that in my college days), I actually bettered lives in some small way, and helped create memories. And that made all the headaches and uncertainties of this career worth it.