It all started with a link that I placed on the site in early 2001. I was working
on the 'Body Mods' section, and ran across a site that felt, well, somehow...
different... when I visited. I guess it must have been fate... I put a comment
on the link when I added it that said "This is the shop that's going to do Princess's next tatt!" About
7 months later, I was on the phone to Phoenix, of Tattoo Heaven asking him to design a tatt for me, and of course, sending him a sizeable deposit.
Back and forth via E-mail the drawings flew-him sending me new designs, and me sending him photos of things that I had found on the web that I liked elements of. With nerves jittering, I traveled to the booming metropolis of Ukiah, California to go meet Phoenix, and get the tattoo that I had finally approved. Ukiah is about 120 miles north of San Francisco, and is in redwood country. Nothing much to do there except admire the beauty that is all around. Of course, I was not feeling much like doing anything...
We had estimated about 40 hours to complete the back piece, but I kept going
back and forth on the Triskellions on the butt. I had originally intended
this to cover up the old butterfly, but did not feel quite right about
the design. We decided to go ahead with everything that I liked, changing
minor things as we went along. He started by painting the entire design
on with tattoo ink while I stood motionless. Once I approved it, he started
the outline. Ths photo right after the drawing is what I had at the end
of the first day. The next one is the next morning, cleaned up quite a
bit. What a difference a shower makes! Phoenix finished the outline on
the second day, and went to work on the center tribal and the fan near
the neck.
