Oil & Ink

Chapter 14: Sara's First Tattoo

The next few days were a blur with customers. On one hand, it was exhausting, but on the other hand, it was a sign of relief. Back-to-back customers made the days fly by and it meant that Charlie would be able to pay his way to California for the competition.

On Sunday evening when the shop was quiet, Charlie booked the Airbnb for himself, Sara, Amanda and Cody. It was a guesthouse that had bunk beds and a pullout couch. It would do for a few nights.

What Charlie really wanted to know was, who else was going to be at this competition? He was familiar with some of the more popular — celebrity tattoo artists — but he still wondered who he would be up against.

On that original Instagram post for the content, there was a hashtag with the competition's name. He tapped on it to see if any other posts came up. There were several — some of them were from years prior — and he started scrolling through them.

This was a rabbit hole he knew he was about to venture down. He tapped on each individual post that was tagged with #BlueJarTattooContest and then tapped again to look at the person's profile. Some of the posts looked a little spammy, but some of them were other artists saying they were going. There were a few posts that were pictures of people's registration.

Charlie came across tattoo artists from all over. And, after getting lost in some of their profiles, they were all artists with different levels of experience. It truly was a mix of talent. Charlie followed some of the artists that would be at the competition — maybe he would see them there. He also thought it would be a good idea if he posted with the hashtag at some point, too.

Of course, he wanted to win, but even if he didn't place, he wanted to be able to meet other people and expand his network. He knew there probably wouldn't be many others there — if any — from South Dakota. But with everything that happened on social media these days, he could still meet people and spread the word.

***

The next day, Charlie got to the shop early. He knew Sara would be working and they needed to figure out what tattoo he was going to give her as his entry to the competition.

He pulled into Tucker's and was surprised to see several cars there already. He walked in and saw the usual: people getting snacks and filling up drinks. As long as there was no one waiting by his corner, which there wasn't, he didn't need to rush.

He went to his corner and opened up his sketchbook. He'd finished up several of his classic sailor sketches, with just a few more left to polish. He wanted to put the series of sketches into his portfolio and set it out during the competition. Even if he didn't place, he wanted people to know the kind of artist he was.

He'd had a new batch of business cards printed up to have at his tattoo station as well. You just never knew who was going to be there and who might want to contact him for a tattoo. He got to work shading on a portrait.

Just a few minutes before 9 am, Sara walked in for her shift. Charlie still had his head down, blending, when she came in. She had a few people to ring up right away, and then made her way over to his corner when the coast was clear.

"What are you working on?" Sara asked him.

"Just some sketches," he said. "I'm going to put them on display at the competition."

"Oh, that's a good idea," she said. "So, there are going to be people there walking around?"

"Yeah," he said, finally looking up at her. "They actually get to vote, too."

"What?!" she said, surprised. "That's a little bit of pressure."

"The whole thing is a lot of pressure," he said. "Speaking of pressure... We have to figure out what your tattoo is going to be."

Sara sighed and acted like she was fainting to the ground, ducking behind the short wall.

"Oh, come on," he said. "It's not that big of a deal."

"Yes, it IS a big deal," she said, popping back up to standing. "This is my first tattoo."

"I know," he said. "But you have to trust that I'm going to do a good job."

"But what if this is my ONLY tattoo?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"It's not going to be your only tattoo," he said.

"You don't know me," she said with a smile.

"Whatever," Charlie said. "Let's figure out what you want to get."

"Believe it or not," she started. "I've been thinking about it."

"Ok, great," he said. "What do you have in mind?"

"Let me grab my phone," she said. "I've got some pictures."

Charlie raised his eyebrows. He was a little surprised that she was actually prepared. Well, he had to see what kind of pictures she had. He wanted the tattoo to be meaningful for her, of course, but it also needed to reflect his style in some way.

Sara returned from grabbing her phone behind the register. She was scrolling through photos to find the ones she was looking for. Her brows were furrowed with focus.

"Okay," she said. "I looked on your Instagram to see what kinds of stuff you've done in the past."

Charlie nodded.

"So, these are the ones I saved," she said, facing the phone so Charlie could see the screen.

She'd saved a picture of a large ship, an anchor, and various sea life images that were not Charlie's.

"Okay, what's with the fish?" he asked.

"So, I want it to be the ship on top of the water," she started. "But the focus of the tattoo could be what's underneath."

"Oh, I see," Charlie said, warming up to the idea. "Maybe the ship would be smaller, in the distance and the underwater part larger?"

"Yes," Sara said. "I think that would be cool. I just wanted it to be that idea of the glacier. What you see on the surface is only a small part of it."

Charlie nodded. This was a cool idea. He thought of that moment on the cruise ship, when he was looking out over the sea, realizing he had no idea what was beneath them. The unknown was terrifying, but it was also full of opportunity.

"Okay," Charlie said, definitively. "This gives me something to work with. Let me sketch it and then I'll see what you think."

"Yes!" Sara said, clapping her hands together.

Charlie smiled. This was going to be good.