Diary of a Tattoo Virgin - The Hackney Tattoo Parlour

Well hey there! Let’s go round and introduce ourselves.

My name is Aspen and I’m a tattoo virgin.

Well correction. I WAS a tattoo Virgin.

I had been thinking about getting a good inking for a while and about a year ago I had an oovy groovy design idea. I decided if was meant to happen the right artist would come along; if the universe wanted it to happen it would!

Then it happened. With the help of social media some awesome designs by Natasha Erotokritou popped up on my news feed and I was sold! I got in touch, and excited to be on the receiving end of a creative project Tattoo Nat drew me up a beaut!

The big day arrived, and with a couple of mates in tow for moral support plus a supply of cookies we headed down to The Hackney Tattoo in Clapton.

Nat had a stencil at the ready and pasted it on my pasty bod (damn you winter!) in apparently one of the most painful places to have it, the dreaded ribs!

To be honest it wasn’t hideous, yet I couldn’t really say it was a pleasant walk in the park and I enjoyed it. It was bearable…except there one one point under my bosom where I wasn’t sure how long I could hold a grimace. Buuuut Nat was super lovely, and it made us all chuckle when an old rocker lady came in and asked about getting some facial piercings 😀

I was out within the hour supporting an uber cool yet slightly pink new tat.

A month later? All healed and smooth as a babies bottom annnnnddddd…….I still love it! Super happy with my decision.

If I’m honest for me a tattoo was always going to have to mean something, I couldn’t have done it on a whim. A jazzed up version of Newton’s second law (I’m an science-y person) for upward motion. In a nutshell it means if you put in an infinite amount of work in there is no limit on what you can achieve, but remember to have some pressure relief. Have fun, laugh, dance, party and enjoy the journey. Basically work hard, play hard.

Check out some of Nat’s awesome designs and drop her a line if anything takes your fancy. She was awesome and I will recommend her wherever I go!