My Star Tattoo Journey
So I’ve been kinda obsessed with star tattoo designs lately. Saw this badass sailor photo from like the 40s with a full back piece of stars and constellations. Damn. Got me thinking about trying something similar, but smaller. My back? Nah, too chicken for that much ink right now. Started small instead.
First thing I did was grab my sketchbook – the cheap one from the drugstore. Sat at my kitchen table with cold coffee and just started doodling. Drew stars. So many stars. Big ones, little ones, ugly lopsided ones. My hand cramped up bad. Took me forever to get the points kinda even. Pro tip: trace coins for circles first. Saved my butt. Found this crusty old compass I stole from my nephew’s geometry set years ago. Barely worked, but helped sketch cleaner circles.
Research mode kicked in hard. Seriously drowned myself in pics online. Looked at traditional sailor stuff, super geometric designs, even those really delicate dot-work stars. Bookmarked a mountain of images on my phone. Got overwhelmed fast. Closed everything. Brewed more coffee. Filtered it down to three styles I didn’t hate: a classic five-point shading style, a simple outline cluster, and one with little dots connecting them like constellations.
Next day, back to the sketchbook. Redrew those three ideas, trying to fit them onto my shoulder blade area. Measured with my hand – from spine to edge is about the width of my palm. Wanted it tucked away, not super obvious. Took ages adjusting the spacing. Too close? Looked messy. Too far? Like random stickers slapped on. Had to redo the constellation one four times before the dots felt “right”. Brain was fried.
Placement test time. Grabbed some washable markers – the purple ones wash off easier. Leaned awkwardly against the bathroom mirror, trying to reach behind my shoulder. Stabbed myself with the marker cap twice. Looked like I lost a fight with a grape jellyfish. Tried tracing one of the doodles onto my skin. Epic fail. Lines everywhere, looked terrible. Washed it off. Switched tactics – cut a stencil out of baking paper using the sketchbook design. Taped it on. Traced the outline carefully. Looked okay! Like a lopsided starfish, but hey, a start. Tried the cluster design next. Made four different mini-stencils. Poked tiny dots on my skin with the marker for the constellation idea. Felt kinda silly, staring over my shoulder in the mirror.
Decision paralysis hit hard. Stared at the marker ghosts on my shoulder for two days. Showered with my back turned, scared to wash off my “options”. Texted blurry photos to my best friend. Her response? “They all look like freckles from here. Pick one!” Realized the simple outline cluster felt most “me”. Clean, kinda classic.
Nervous as heck walking into the tattoo shop downtown Tuesday. It’s this guy Marco – done my wrist ink before. Good dude. Showed him my crumpled sketchbook page. Laughed at my shaky lines. “Don’t quit your day job,” he says. Helped smooth out my cluster idea right there with a red pencil. Made the spacing way better, fixed a funky point. Thank god. Laid out the stencil pattern on my shoulder blade. Deep breath.
The buzz… oh man. That needle hitting near the shoulder blade bone? Whoa. Not gonna lie, I sweated a bit. Marco jabbed about my “drummer shoulder twitch”. Jerk. Took maybe 30 minutes? Felt like longer zoned out on the weird alien humming sound. Little bit blood, little bit smudgy. Held my breath when he wiped it. And there they were: three clean, simple outline stars on my shoulder. Not symmetrical, not perfect. Real. Loved ’em instantly. Threw on that saniderm cling wrap stuff.
Day three now. Still wrapped up. Itches like crazy. Peeked. Still looks amazing. Small victory. Totally worth the shaky sketches and marker fights. Thinking about where to put constellation dots next…