Eeeek! I’ve been wanting to share Part Deux with you for ages!!
Even before I was sent the text to support her tattoo.. I wanted to share the start to Red’s tattoo as soon as she sneak peeked me an image!

So on this wonderful Thursday afternoon, I’m going to hand you straight over to the lady herself.. Here the tale continues..

Every tat has a tale to tell. Skin can double-up as a birth or death register, provide storage space for a special memory or offer a canvas for that grand gesture. My latest addition definitely falls into the latter, but instead of wearing my heart on my sleeve it’s well and truly etched across my back! As you may remember from my very first guest post on Marry Me Ink last December, I was the girl blethering about my plans to physically narrate a very special time in my life with a wedding tattoo! So, the marvellous Rachael kindly invited me back to spill the ink on my latest session with the needle…

After three months of eager anticipation (and frantic saving) my three hour appointment in the chair with Captain Kev Younger of Lucky Cat Tattoo Parlour happened one drizzly Saturday afternoon in February. Stepping foot into the decadent parlour was like hitching a lift with Bill and Ted in their excellent phone booth, landing somewhere between the renaissance and early twentieth century Japan, all with a touch of Parisian opulence thrown in for good measure! Confused? Let’s just say the decor was more than a little impressive. Greeted by a collection of Maneki Neko’s (or ‘Lucky Cats’) beckoning me with their friendly little paws as I entered the grand reception area, the adrenaline and excitement really kicked in, stimulated further by the luxurious red colour adorning the walls.

After the necessary form-filling was finished and en route to where the magic happened I rubbed the big-bellied Buddha at the door for luck and wished with every bone in my body that this wouldn’t be sorer than any other time I’d been drawn on.

I’d only seen parts of my design over email so wasn’t really sure how my ideas had transpired on paper, but straight away Kev suggested he transfer them onto my skin to see how the pieces would fit together. Half an hour later and the result literally took my breath away! Not only did I love it, but he’d somehow managed to take my confused and rambling explanation of what I wanted (which went something like this: “errrmmmm, I’d like it to be feminine, and have lace and birds, and be feminine…and, errrmmmm….”) and design something more perfect than I ever thought was possible from my garbled imagination.

Not to be overly sycophantic here, but Kev epitomises the definition of ‘cool’. His eclectically dapper exterior lets you know he takes what he does very seriously, but it’s certainly not a case of style over substance. An old school gentleman at the core, he was once described in a newspaper article on tattoos as ‘quiet and intense’…mesmerizingly mellow, I’d go as far to say. His gentle voice and calming eyes makes you feel that you’re in a safe place as his customer – something that’s so important when putting your precious skin in hands holding a very scary needle!

And knowing his hands house the actual digits that tattoo Scotland’s most talented (and hottest) music export, Simon Neil, was almost too much for this humungous Biffy fan to handle (*swoon*)! Which better fine line artist to etch my favourite lyrics (“Nothing lasts forever, except you and me” Mountains, by Biffy Clyro) onto my back? I just about managed to contain myself. Well, except the part where I nearly weed at seeing Simon’s signature sprawled on the wall after his last visit only a fortnight previous…

Being the world’s biggest wuss, I brought along my lovely friend Caz to distract me from the buzz and the burn, and she more than lived up to her duties. Two and a half hours, a lot of random banter (and delirious chatterings in my pained state), and a fairly numb arse later, I had the bulk of the prettiest tattoo I ever did see, done!

Was it sore? F*ck yes! But was it worth it? F*CK YES! I’ve got another two hour sesh booked in for the beginning of April (he’s a man in demand) and I can’t bloody wait to get this bad boy shaded.

The beauty below is my attempt at signifying the immeasurable and all-consuming love I have for the remarkable man I plan to marry in six months time.

In our eight years together he’s already done more than most in the better and worse, richer (less of this bit) and poorer, sickness and health, times. No amount of ink could show him how insanely thankful I am to be in his life.

Love you to Jupiter and back beb.

So, what’s the story behind your own little piece of uniqueness, I’m literally itching (well, my back is!) to know? 🙂

Red xo