Hi Michelle,
I'm new here, too ... and I was an ink virgin until this summer.
I love your design and the significance of it. Very powerful!!
I got a small tat in the middle of my back ... also a symbol of my struggle with my depression. It's about 3" x 3" and it cost me $80. It was my design so I just brought it in to the artist I chose and he made a stencil of it. Now, I thought I had done my homework on the artist, but apparently not good enough. I had a lot of scabbing on part of it even following his aftercare suggestions to the letter. I ended up going to my husband's tattoo artist for a touch-up and paid another $40 for her to fix it. I could have gone back to the original artist for a free touch-up ... but I just didn't trust it. The second healing was totally problem-free.
My DH had a large tribal armband done around the same time by a different artist. He also was an "ink virgin." She drew up his design, so for the artwork and the tat it was $400 (that was for the consultation/placement discussion, the artwork, the tattoo itself and a touch-up 6 weeks later). He spent about 4 hours in her chair the first time and about an hour for the touch-up. Her minimum was $50. She's an "in-demand" artist and the wait for her work was about 2 months!!
Congrats on the weight-loss, too! That is a feat in-and-of-itself!
Take Care,
Dana
