I ASKED FOR A 13, BUT THEY DREW A 31!
Celebrating another trip around the sun with a new artist and new ink, the rockstar that is @shelltattoos!
Looking back at this photo and realising my thighs are too bare! D:
Alright, it’s becoming a pattern: another birthday, another tattoo… or two. I wasn’t intending to get a tattoo, but the more I looked at my leg, I realised, yes, I do want a tattoo. Though the more I get, the more I wish that I paid more attention to size and placement. I didn’t consider gaps in between carefully as a lot of my tattoo ideas can be quite spontaneous. Perhaps a “things I wish I knew before getting tattoos” kind of post would be interesting for this blog… But enough reflecting, let’s move onto this exciting and funny idea of mine!
Scrolling through @shelltattoos, Shell’s style is a little darker, focusing more on clean linework, shading, dot work and accents of colour, and she has a great understanding of contrast too. I was aiming to add a piece underneath my Bleach tattoo, which kind of breaks up the colour everywhere else on my leg, so Shell seemed like a great fit for the style I was in search of!
Thirteen Feet Tattoo has a great spot in Haymarket; plus on top of their Newtown location, they’re also expanding to Circular Quay. They welcome walk-ins but also have an easy online booking system too, so I checked out which artists were available on the day of my birthday. Once I was all booked in, I wouldn’t hear from Shell until the day of the session.
To fill up the gaps on my ankle, I thought a tombstone and a traditional-style revolver (harking back to my RDR2 days) would fit well just above the ankle. I also had this dumb idea one day that I would get the number 31, so I could say “I asked for a 13, but they drew a 31” - if you don’t know the reference, here it is - and it happened to be my 31st birthday, so it made sense to put it in the tombstone. So far, I’ve had several people laugh at it when I told them that I asked for a 13, but they drew a 31, so I would say it was a success!
Shell is also an apprentice tattooer at Thirteen Feet Tattoo (as of March 2023), but it looks and feels like she’s been tattooing for years. Despite the pieces being near a pinchy spot near the ankle, she was very gentle during the linework and shading during the session. I also think because I didn’t have much colour involved, both pieces flew by quite quickly. Once we finished up, Shell complimented that my skin took ink and colour quite well- I’ve heard this from other artists I’ve visited too - and to pop in for a touch-up whenever I was back in town. I’m definitely going back to see Shell! I think she would tattoo an awesome butterfly or snake on me.
Can’t thank you enough Shell for making my birthday super fun!
Artist: Shell Tattoos
Instagram (Main): https://www.instagram.com/shelltattoos/
Shop: Thirteen Feet Tattoo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thirteenfeettattoo/
Locations: Newtown and Haymarket, NSW