Arrival to walking out, at Rocky Mountain Tattoo, 532 Bernard Ave, Kelowna.
You are greeted and seated in the waiting area with a consent form to fill in. Coffee or water if you want it.
Once the form is done I come out and sit down with you.
We go through the finalised design together. I walk you through how it will be tattooed, and one part of that matters more than the rest: the drawing is assembled from reference, so it will not translate to skin one-for-one. Shading gets evened out. Levels of detail get blended where the references disagree with each other. Better to know that sitting down than to notice it halfway through.
Changes are welcome here. I draw on an iPad, so a last-minute change is a real option rather than a favour. Say what you are thinking.
Then measurements and last notes. I go back through to print the stencil at the right size and finish the setup, and you come in after me. Quick chat, any questions, stencil on, and you get positioned.
I tattoo with headphones on. Not rudeness — the work takes hours and I want all of it going into your piece rather than into conversation. Say so if you would rather chat and I will take them off.
First break lands somewhere after the first hour or two, depending on the position you are held in, since that decides how long I can hold focus. Breaks are short. Ten minutes at the outside.
Stop me whenever you need to. Break, toilet, breather, no reason required — you do not have to wait for me to offer.
Almost always the same thing: someone is unsure and does not say so. Not the design, not the pain, not the length of the sitting — silence. If something is bothering you, comment on it. I would far rather stop and change something than tattoo past a doubt.
Before you go I take you through aftercare for the piece you have just got. It may not match what you have read elsewhere. Aftercare depends on what was tattooed, and I adjust it accordingly.
Full-day pieces leave with a tube of Inkeeze aftercare cream, on me. The general guide lives on the aftercare page, but what I tell you on the day takes priority over it.