To be written in skin

I've been planning my 'books in my blood' tattoo for several months now, and it's just not working out. Although Adventure Girl is working on the artwork, I keep making changes and I'm never 100% sure whether it's going to work out. (I'd initially wanted my Buddy's daughter to do the artwork but she's busy with architecture exams and just hasn't had the time.)

Anyway, I decided to take off on a few Friday afternoons so that I could meet the tattoo artist and start work on the ink itself. I visited Golden Tiki on Saturday, 15 October, and ended up not speaking to Sean - whom I'd initially envisaged, as his style is more realistic and therefore close to what I want - as he was busy inking someone at the time. Actually, none of the others were there, either, so I spoke to Chelsea-Rae, who advised me to go with her husband, Busta (Ryan) Boltoon. Unfortunately, he was in Cape Town so I couldn't speak to him personally.

During the week, I wrote to him and explained my concept, but I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he wasn't the right person for this particular ink, as his style is more cartoony than I wanted. Then on Friday morning, MadCat came home early and we had a chance to sit and takl about it - and he convinced me that I was rushing into the book tattoo and should rather go for my sci-fi back piece - the one with the Stargates.

Bing! And a light went on.

I visited Busta that afternoon and he was uber-cool about it! He gave me some fantastic ideas and also advised that if I want to get in as much detail as possible, I should go for a full back piece and not just the top of my back. So my ideas have undergone a complete 360 and my Stargates aren't going to be linked anymore, but scattered, so that they can be varying sizes and locations, and we can have ships passing by and casting flame or energy highlights on them, or passing behind them, etc.

I also had to give Busta a motivation, and here's what I eventually figured:

So, the Stargates are the gateways to new worlds, new experiences and new challenges; the SG-1 Stargate is the most important since that's where I'm based - the Milky Way galaxy. The Pegasus galaxy (SG Atlantis) is one place I'd like to go and the series is also pretty important to me. The SG Universe gate would be nice to have because that rounds out the trinity of gates, but it's not vital.

Then there's Serenity; she's a major part of my piece because she represents freedom and the family you make yourself. Serenity is equally as important to me as the SG-1 gate and I'd like them both to play a prominent role in the piece, up at the top.

Star Trek and Star Wars are self-explanatory; I grew up with these and they're my full-on geek loves.

I'm a huge Han Solo fan, so the Millenium Falcon is MY ship (I even had one as a kid, but my mom threw it away, more's the pity).

I've chosen the Enterprise-D for my Star Trek piece because my favourite series is The Next Generation, and besides, she was the first ship to reach the end of the universe and to go faster than Warp 10.

I watched Robotech as a kid, and it was one of my first loves for sci-fi. I'd have included Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, but I'm not crazy about that ship, or the Battle of the Planets ship, so I'll use Robotech and its battleoid fighter forms to encapsulate the childhood memories. The VF-1Js is the actual mecha I need, and must be in red, with white markings, as it will be one used by the character Miriya (I don't have any shots of her in action with her battloid, unfortunately - very hard to find).

Farscape is another series - like Serenity - that was cancelled too early. I am keen on Talyn, the red and black ship, although I think he could also be used in conjunction with his mother, Moya.

Talyn is a VERY SEXY ship, with markings that are almost tribal. Moya is lovely and serene and so a juxtaposition between her and her son would be brilliant, if it were possible.

I'm really excited about this piece because I want to get in as much ink as I can before we get married. Okay, so that's only happening in 2015, but that still doesn't leave much time to get my tattoos AND save for an awesome wedding (and, of course, design an outfit that will show off all this lovely work!).

So, there you have it. I'm getting my sci-fi back piece! It's going to take about a year of monthly work, and I'm trying not to think about the pain and the cost, but damn! I'm jonesing for that first prick of the needle and I absolutely cannot WAIT for my ink to start!