Once again, I took on a journey to Tartu to continue my back piece with Mooni at Soulmark studio. This time around we agreed to sleep in, since the plan was to have a shorter session anyway. The 6 hours of the previous session were a huge challenge for me and I knew that with colourwork, I wouldn’t be able to last that long.

Last time, the upper right chrysanthemum didn’t get lined, so the stencil had to be put on again and fitted with the existing piece. It scared me a little how long it might take but Mooni, being the professional she is, got it placed perfectly in just a few tries! So we got right to the needling. The linework seemed to go much faster this time, but already I felt my pitiful lack of pain tolerance. Recent higher stress levels had probably also weakened my body and spirit. Knowingly, I had taken my lidocaine-based topical anaesthetic (dr.Numb) which I had Mooni apply on me and cover with film during lunch break. As we started the colourwork, during the first 5 minutes I felt nothing at all and for a second, I allowed myself the hope for a good chance of getting a large portion done. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long: 20 minutes later and I was once again near tears. In the midst of my pity party I marvelled over how I managed to handle it for so long last time and whined to Mooni about tattoo artists themselves being the biggest pussies! Luckily I know other artists whose pain tolerance is nonexistent and we had a nice discussion with Mooni about how lucky we are to mostly have clients with zero issues with pain.

I had pushed through a decent 3 hours when I finally gave up and decided to take the earlier train back to Tallinn. It felt like Mooni had coloured half my back, the reality however was… more real. Have to go back asap!

I’m also using this as an opportunity to test different second-skin products: adhesive medical film which stays on the tattoo for a few days. I got one sheet from TattooMed to try out. I was pleasantly surprised! The film is thin and matte and almost undetectable on the skin. It stuck well and didn’t hurt to take off, nor was there any glue left on the skin nor major redness. I want to try it a few more times and if all my experiences turn out positive, I wouldn’t mind using it on my clients one day.

Which do you prefer: regular or adhesive medical film?