I stumbled upon an iPhone app called “Idea Mix” that helps trigger creative… responses. At least that’s what I’m using it for. It offers a new creative challenge every day. Useful for those days I can’t think of something to blog about, which is most days.
Yesterday’s challenge: “Accept and share out loud a mistake you have committed.”
There have been many. How to choose just one?
My most recent mistake I hesitate to share, actually. But it happened last week and it’s still fresh on my mind. It’s a lesson for me to learn from.
And it involved a tattoo.
A client was getting the word “Princess” tattooed on her back, in pink ink.
Somehow, something happened to the stencil during the process, and the “c” received a line across it that unfortunately made it look like an “e”. An unfortunate something I didn’t notice.
And that’s what I tattooed.
I realized what happened as soon as I did it. At which point I stopped and explained to the client what happened, and what I could do in an attempt to correct it. And that I wouldn’t charge her for the tattoo either.
She was surprisingly awesome about the whole thing. I really don’t know how I would have reacted had it been me.
I know I felt like crap for my mistake though. A mistake that could potentially be permanent.
So I abraded the area with a salt water mixture to help draw out the ink in the area, which also helped to create a little extra scabbing that could be picked at as it healed to also pull out any excess ink.
The client came in yesterday and we pulled off what scab was there, and the majority of the line was gone. We will repeat the process again next week to pull out what little is left.
I still feel horrible about it.
Ugh.
Until next time...
I’ve seen sooooo many tattoos that were mistakes, IMHO. If that’s the biggest one you’ve made, rest easy.
Two of my doozies spring to mind:
The HUMONGOUS mistake I made was staying with my first partner for over a decade after moving 600 miles to be reunited with him. He moved “temporarily” not too long after we began our relationship and then after 3 years away decided he didn’t want to come back. I remember being at the new place the morning after I’d driven in and the absolute sickening feeling I got in my gut at seeing that there literally was no room for me in his new home or in his life. He hadn’t even cleared out his barn to receive the U-Haul full of mostly-his stuff that I had painstakingly packed and driven. But I stuck it out for 10+ more years trying to change him into what I expected him to be. Big mistake. BIG mistake.
My other ginormous FU was staying in an Electrical Engineering degree program until the second semester of my senior year – the final semester I transferred into Arts and Sciences and eventually graduated with a Comp Sci degree, thank GOD. Three and a half years wasted on feeling like a total idiot.
Hon, *those* are mistakes.
It’s definitely not my biggest, but it’s my most recent. And still weighing on my mind. And the fact that it could have been a permanent mark on someone else didn’t help.
I too have seen some both good and badly done tattoos that I think were bad ideas, but everyone had their moment. 😉
And I agree: those are definitely some doozies.
You’re right – I did jump in with “my mistakes are way worse than yours” 😉 But I still think that I tend to take the short bus to my daily lessons at the School of Life.
And I’m sitting right behind you on the short bus because I get on at the stop right before yours. 😉
The thing about this mistake is that you were able to recognize it during the process and were honest with the client and took efforts to correct it. Very cool on your part. Don’t beat yourself up too much.
Thank you, but it’s hard not to do. I guess in the time I’ve been doing this something was bound to happen eventually.
Having someone make a mistake with my tattoo is one of my worst nightmares, I don’t know how I would have reacted if it were me. You were very fortunate that she was so cool about it.
As a tattooist it is my absolute worst nightmare to make a mistake on someone’s tattoo. Which is why this bothers me so much. I’m so glad she was okay about it.
It’s a darn good thing I want you to tattoo an obscure arabic design on me– nobody will be able to read that shit!
Besides, you should have just left it– that’s what she gets for getting “princess” tattooed on her!
You handled what could have been a potentially negative situation very well. By admitting the error, compensating her for it, and providing a potential means to correct it — I hate to say it, but many people may not have done that. You are to be commended.
Thank you. It helps to hear other people tell me that. It’s always hard to hear those things yourself when you’re “in the middle” of the moment.