BAD TATTOOS HAVE BECOME WORKS OF ART THAT I PROUDLY WEAR

Finally, that adulthood knocked on my door, and my desire to get a tattoo grew even bigger. I decided to find a few tattoo artists on Facebook who will help me find my ideal tattoo through their work. One of them was the site of the Anubis studio in Osijek. I flipped through their work a bit, liked the page and that was it.

Need to raise money, call, make an appointment…

But in the meantime, a colleague recommends her tattoo artist who had a studio at home. I listened to her recommendation and the two of us headed there together. I opted for four stars from the shoulder to the shoulder blade and one important symbol on the wrist.

My next tattoo idea was two swallows on my arm. A few days later, Žvaki announced that he was doing small tattoos at better prices. I made an appointment, came to Anubis and through the conversation we came to the topic of stars on my shoulder. Žvaki looked at them and was shocked as I was shocked when I saw them.

He asked me if I wanted him to make a cover up for me, for which we would need one eight-hour VIP treatment. I refused because the price was a whole fortune to me at the time.

Shortly afterwards, the first tattoo parlor opened in Vinkovci, my city. Again one colleague comes with a recommendation and a tattoo that turned out very well. So I went to the studio, did some colored flowers over the unfortunate stars, with the artist’s assurance that in the end everything will turn out just right.

And that’s where my tattoo agony begins because I got a tattoo with disgusting flowers under which catastrophic stars could still be seen. Horror!

And that’s how you realize that the saying “how much you pay, that’s how much you get” is true, that it doesn’t matter if someone works illegally or in the studio and that you don’t believe the recommendations until you look at the works and compare them with others.

I had had enough then.

I flipped through the works on the Anubis work several times until I made a final decision.

I accepted a big financial challenge and went to Žvaki for an INKDIVIDUAL consultation. Žvaki’s accessibility and knowledge are at a high level. In an hour of conversation, everything slowly made sense, and we haven’t even started to work yet.

When I came to the scheduled VIP appointment I had no expectations. I believed I would get more than I could imagine if I trusted him.

He offered me three designs and set off on my journey of 23 hours of star and flowers alterations.

We did a total of four VIP appointments. The first two were the most painful, but also the most beloved because progress was seen best. The third was for another color transition, and the fourth for details.

When the remake was over, my happiness was huge because I got everything I learned through the INKDIVIDUAL consultation.

The most important and precious thing I have learned is that everything has its price, one way or another. A tattoo is a luxury you carry all your life and the only luxury you carry with you to the grave.

When everything went so well, why not remake the wrist mark as well? Although he wasn’t as visible to others as to me, it bothered me that something so personal and emotional didn’t turn out the way it should have.

We arranged two new appointments and embarked on another little 10 hour adventure that totally changed me and my life.

My condition was that the design include a chess piece in black & white technique, and I left everything else to Žvaki. Since it was a forearm, the tattoo had to be bigger, but to some extent I could choose the size, unlike the first remake where I had no say in what I wanted and in which size.

When we finished the forearm, I was thrilled once again because there were no more of those baby drawings on my body.

And no, I don’t have new tattoos, but I can proudly say I have works of art on my body.

I am proud and happy because I am the only one in this world who has such tattoos, no one has ever had them before me because we have not copied anyone. And if someone has them after me – it’s his shame. Have character and be unique!

I am proud of myself because I learned a lot from my mistakes and correctly decided to trust Žvaki completely. I am proud of him and grateful to him for the rest of my life because from my first INKDIVIDUAL consultations and through 33 hours of tattooing, he never disappointed me, he respected me and that – believe it or not – changed my life.

Žvaki, thank you for everything. On art, professionalism and friendly advice. You are a great man and artist. Neither the pain nor the financial burden made me regret what I had done.

It would be foolish for a good story not to continue. A little rest from the needle, then we’ll start again from scratch. This time on clean skin. I’m looking forward to it!

P.S. Think What You Ink!

Vlatka Pest