Tat2

About 10-12 years ago I got a tattoo, now at the time (like most people at first, I suppose) I really liked it. Then slowly the color faded and the lines started running together and I noticed that since it was small the details were lost and it just started to look really crummy. I had always thought it was too round, aesthetically it just was not pleasing to me.

I decided it needed sprucing up, and thought about what to do. I thought maybe if I went in the tattoo guy could brighten it up and maybe add something else to it. My friend Julie suggested a guy named Matt at Red Seas in Wichita. Julie and I along with my friend, Kim, drove over to see what he could do. He said he would not recommend just adding to it. I would just be adding a new pretty one to a mess. He also said "brightening" it was not really an option either. Although not really what I was hoping to hear, I was very thankful for his upfront honesty. He suggested either completely covering the old with something new or placing a new one somewhere else.

Well, I had the advantage of the old one being quite small so to get a new one to cover it up wasn't really an issue for me. I told him I had been thinking of a blue bird and we came up with a design. We a few adjustments here and there to the drawing we were ready to roll.

Although it looks like Matt was doing a mad scientist approach, he was very professional and gentle.....- well as gentle as one can be while scratching ink beneath their skin, over and over and over and over... well, you get the point.


About an hour later I had a brand new tattoo and the old one had disappeared. Although I must admit I wasn't anticipating leaving with that big of a piece of art on my shoulder, I am pleased with the result.

After - no visible remains of the old one!