A Walk on the Wild Side

To celebrate our three year stay in Calgary, Jim decided to get a small tattoo of a maple leaf. He started out thinking he would have it put on the back of his calf, but then he decided that it might be prudent to have this tattoo in a less conspicuous place..... like say his shoulder.  Our neighbor Marianna McNeil designed the initial drawing for the tattoo.

Jim had a consultation with the tattoo artist, and an appointment was set to get the tattoo. Yesterday was the day. The outline of the final rendition of the design is put through a thermal fax machine and a stencil comes out that is applied to the arm.

Now it's time to get down to business and apply the outline and shading in black ink. Jim cranked up his iTunes and settled in for about an hour and a half of tattooing.

Next the color is applied, red, green, blue, gray, and white.

The final product. Jim's small tattoo is slightly larger than he had thought it would be.

A lovely bandage was applied and he was sent home with instructions about how to care for his new tattoo!