Courtney Nelson

Courtney got this tattoo when she was 20 and living in London. She had been sketching this design on a pad for a while and one night when she was a little drunk she decided it was time to make it permanent. She got it at a nasty little shop by Hyde Park and the next day she was more worried about hepatitis than what her parents would say. Instead of gauze they put plastic wrap on it and when she woke up the blood was smeared everywhere. She got it redone about four years later to touch it up and make it look better. She might add to it, but no plans in the immediate future. When she first got it, her friends all told her it would not hurt, but she still feels the pain today.

Monica Choy

I got the birds from Ren Sakurai at Blackbird Tattoo in NE Portland. He does really detailed work and has a really distinct style - kind of hard to tell with my tattoo since it's so simplistic. The tattoo represents my family; the first two are outlines because they're passed. The fourth birdie has a little heart left in it because i'm emo. I'd love to get more work from Ren one day, he tattoos all my guy friends and he does beautiful work.

The second tattoo is from Henry Lewis at Everlasting Tattoo in my native SF. He's really well known for his script and my friend was his assistant at the time, so she fit me in even though his schedule is crazy. It took him about 20 minutes to do and most of it was freehand. He even put some white in it for me to highlight the script. The message "never settle" kind of freaks some people out, but it simply means to not settle for less in life and to search for the best - something my dad instilled in me before sending me off to college.

I was planning on getting a half sleeve from Henry over christmas, but alas, WK12 didn't leave me much funds for extracurriculars like expensive tattoos. I'd really like to get a color tattoo from him though - his color tattoos are really brilliant.