My two friends both got their work done before I did but it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Technically tattoos are illegal here unless done by a doctor, so I thought that finding an artist would be near impossible without speaking Korean. I was completely wrong. There are all sorts of groups and such dedicated to getting inked in Korea and it is easy to find competent artists here. The complications came with finding someone that we all liked. I was the pickiest person. My friends both liked this one artist (and subsequently each got a tattoo from him) but he was too dark for me. I wanted a more whimsical tattoo. After we agreed, we all set our times and got inked. Though our tattoos are different, we know that they are meaningful and special because of our time together in Korea.
I was the last to get her tattoo and waited until Mom came to actually get the tattoo done because I wanted her to see what it was like. It was not really different from back home. I had been texting the artist for about a month, fine tuning my idea of a rabbit. Once I got to the studio, we sat down for about 30 minutes and finalized the concept and details. It was perfect and interesting because it was done in broken English and translation apps but it worked out perfect in the end. The tattooing process was normal and went by pretty fast. I got a smallish piece done and it took about 2 hours from arriving to finished product and photos.
I absolutely love my tattoo and am thinking about getting another piece done soon, but for now, I need to get the color touched up on my newest addition. The entire process has been easy and very simple. I honestly was worried but had absolutely no reason to be worried. Korea still has things that surprise me, even after being here for almost 3 years.
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