My Tattoo from Jay Shin of Bang Bang Tattoo
I was considering never writing this article. It isn’t so much an article as it is a story time.
The reason I had no intention of writing this was mainly because I knew it would be hard for me to begin and while this is a place for happy fun times, I feel I can open up to you guys on slightly more personal things happening in my life. I mean I shared my wedding photos with you so…big life events, happy or sad, I feel can be told. And since we are in a time where a lot of people are facing hardships much worse than anything I could imagine, I decided to finally share this journey.
This story time popped back into my mind a couple of weeks ago. It was Osiris’s birthday. The first birthday she isn’t here to celebrate. Osiris is my kitty (고양이- goyangee- cat). Or, I should say, was my kitty. I remember the day I got her like it was yesterday…
We drove two hours to a shelter that only had ONE female kitten available for adoption.
My mom very agitated from the drive said, “This kitten better be the one.”
We were escorted into a room full of cats of all ages, shapes, and sizes. The woman pointed at a timid black fluff ball in the corner. The name was Teri at the time. I called her name and her head popped up. Big bright yellow eyes looked around, frightened. The woman handed me a treat to get her to come but she was nervous and didn’t move from her corner. A bunch of the other cats started coming up to me for the treat but it was for Teri. Me being a kid, who didn’t really get how animals handled people walking up to them, walked up to her and sat on the ground in front of her. She didn’t run away. She just stared at me and I at her. I reached my hand out and pet her head. She didn’t swat, or hiss. She closed her eyes and let me continue petting her.
The woman left the room leaving me with my mom and little Teri. I continued to pet her and when she still had no objections I stood up to grab some toys to try and get her to play with me. When I turned back around I saw she had jumped up on the counter to follow me. I laughed as anywhere I moved, she moved.
My mom left the room almost instantly to sign the papers. As I walked to the door to follow, Teri meowed. I turned back telling her I would be back. When I did come back, she was sat by the door waiting. I took her home and called her Osiris.
Why am I telling you all of this? What is the point? You’re probably thinking, “I thought this was an article about a tattoo artist?”
Well because Osiris, my little baby kitty, after 16 years of being by my side, sadly got terminally ill and I had to put her down. Going to the vet and finding out she only had a few months to live was probably the worst day of my life. I decided to make her last months the best I could. But I also knew my life wouldn’t be the same once she was gone. I still sometimes think I see her coming down the stairs to greet me or feel her climbing onto the bed and curling up next to me.
I wanted to do something to remember her. To keep her at my side always.
I had been contemplating a new tattoo for a while, and when I found out about Osiris, I knew exactly what I wanted and I knew exactly who I wanted to do it.
Jay Shin of Bang Bang Tattoo.
I had been following Jay for a year or so on Instagram because I fell in love with his fine line work. He is a Korean American tattoo artist and what impressed me the most about his work was how talented he is at animal portraits.
I was sold on him. A day or two after Osiris passed, I emailed the company. I anxiously awaited a reply and when I got one, I was surprised to see I had to have Jay approve working with me. Luckily, he did.
Then I had to wait. Two whole months. Man is in high demand. Lol. And three days after Christmas, my husband and I ventured into NYC (I work in the city, my husband hates going in (he hates crowded places), but I convinced him with food. Lol) to get my Osiris memorial.
On the way there we actually ran into Ted Park shooting a music video and I def fangirled a bit, meanwhile my husband rolled his eyes asking if we could get a move on. We did. And we arrived at a building you wouldn’t even suspect held an amazingly gorgeous monochromatic, multi-level, tattoo studio inside.
We checked in and waited patiently. Jay Shin walked over to us and I tried to keep my wits about me but then he spoke and I literally couldn’t form words. He walked us down to this luxurious waiting room where he sat next to me to explain his idea for the tattoo.
To be totally honest I was terrified. He had only drawn a rough sketch of her shaping and I wasn’t totally sold, but I trusted him. I had seen his work and Bang Bang doesn’t eff around when it comes to the talent of their artists. So I agreed to the design. He walked away saying he would be adding some final touches and then would be ready.
I laid down on what looked like a massage table, in the oddest position (of course I chose a weird angle to get my tattoo) and he placed the template making sure I was ok with the location, which I gave him the go ahead on and we were off!
I have gotten tattoos before and while there was a slight sting, they were never extremely painful. With fine line it was even less pain. In fact, it felt like he was drawing on me with a ball point pen. No pain whatsoever.
And in the four hours we spent together we talked. We talked about how long he had been a tattoo artist (close to seven years), about how my next tattoo was going to be in hangul (천천히 – chonchonhee – slowly) and why I liked the phrase (it ended up being one of his favorite things to say to his adorable daughter whom he face timed with during one of our breaks), and about travelling to Korea in general. We talked about why I was getting my tattoo and he offered his condolences. He was so sweet, and calm, that he kept me calm as my nerves continued to run rampant waiting to see the final product.
When I heard him say he was finished, I slowly sat up, my hip feeling like that of a ninety-year-old lady, and hobbled a bit to the mirror to see the final product.
I knew it would be emotional. I knew seeing my pretty little baby looking at me again would have me choke up. But the tears that started streaming down my face like a damn waterfall was not what I was expecting. I don’t think he was either. If anything, I think he might’ve been worried he did a bad job. My husband had to explain that I was happy, and it looked amazing. To me, it was like Jay Shin had brought her back to life for a second.
He took several pictures of the tattoo, and then air dropped it to me so I could have as well. We talked for a little while longer but he had another client coming in so we had to leave. I couldn’t stop bowing and thanking him for the amazing work he did. As we walked out I thought about the amazing experience I had with an amazing artist that I hope to one day see again and when we got home that night, I swear I felt Osiris climb on me as I slept telling me she approved.
