Another year of tattooing is in the books for Horizakura and me. We had a couple milestones in there. We crossed 200 hours of tattooing and finished the outline of my bodysuit. We are also maybe two or three appointments away from being finished with all the bokashi.

In 2023, I had 19 appointments with Horizakura and racked up 34 hours of tattooing. This ties my record for number of appointments in a year (2017) which is extra upsetting if you recall that I spaced out and missed an appointment over the summer. I could have broken the record! On a brighter note, I did log two more total hours this year than I did in 2017 (32 hours). This is likely a function of the outline being mostly complete so less time was spent drawing during appointments this year.

I think this year moreso than other years, I have been struck by the number of doors this tattoo has opened for me. I have had the opportunity to meet many of my tattoo heroes and many tattooers that are new to me. I’ve been allowed to walk through some incredible tattoo shops just to take in the history on the walls. I was honored to wear the fabrics of wuhao newyork Tenugui Art for a photo shoot. I was almost as honored to recreate this fantastic meme with Dan and Joe. I had a great time talking with Jean at Waboripedia about my tattoo experience over the last ten years. Many, many people are quick to thank me for sharing so much of this tattoo process with the world. The truth is that even if nobody had any interest at all in this blog or my tattoo, I would still keep track of it for myself. It’s important to me to have something I can look back on to remember these appointments and this journey. That said, this year has made me realize this isn’t a totally selfless endeavor. I believe I have received more from the tattoo community than what I have given by sharing these pictures of my gut and butt. Just having the opportunity to say “Yes!” to so many of these experiences is more than I ever could have hoped would come out of this tattoo. I never imagined that people would care so much or show as much authentic interest in the work as they have, and I certainly never expected that care to manifest itself in these different experiences. I know that I haven’t done anything besides show up and that the real hero of our story is Horizakura. It’s a mutual love for his work and this style of tattoo that has brought all of this to my doorstep. It is a great privilege to be able to share that work with whomever wants to see it. Thanks again for another great year!

(This was my first time ever tying a real fundoshi, so don’t give me any shit for my sloppy work here.)

My 133rd appointment with Horizakura was 1.5ish hours of tebori on my right wrist. This appointment finished the final edge of my bodysuit, meaning my ankles, writsts, and neckline are totally shaded. Feels like good progress and fits the overall vibe of the process lately. Feels like every appointment is a signficant one these last few weeks.

This appointment took place on Dec 10th, and as we were looking forward in the calendar, we realized that because of travel and holidays our next appointment would have been on January 21st. Except even that appointment would have to be cancelled because Horizakura was going to be taking his apprentice to the Star of Texas Tattoo show in Austin, TX that weekend. That would put our next appointment in the first week of February which filled me to the brim with sorrow. So I decided that I would go to the convention in Texas so I could keep my appointment in January. Possibly one of the more insane tattoo related decisions I have ever made, but I had enough miles to get the flights for free so I decided to pull the trigger. I have never had the opporunity to be tattooed at a convention and I don’t know if I will ever have the opportunity again with Horizakura. So yeah. I’ll be in Austin mid January for my next appointment. Please look forward to it.

I forgot to take pictures after Session 132. You might be noticing a pattern here lately of me forgetting to take these photos in a timely fashion. I’ve decided I’m going to stop apologizing for that. It’s certainly not how I want to run things here. I think this blog, as a resource to others, is at its best if I can provide timely progress photos in a consistent way. Unfortunately I’m at a point in my life where that is proving to be particularly challenging. I’m commited to continuing to do the absolute best job I can here, but I have to make peace with the fact that it may not always live up to the ideals I have in mind.

The manifestation of my busy schedule conflicting with my desire for neat, concise updates on this blog was the following picture, taken it a panic in Horizakura’s studio right before Session 133 was about to begin.

As we were getting ready to start, I realized I had never taken a picture for this blog post and so I whipped out my phone and haphazardly snapped this pic. As luck would have it, Session 133 ended up being on my wrist, so I was able to take actual photos of the progress from 132 without any confusion. My 132nd appointment with Horizakura was 1.5ish hours of tebori extending my half sleeve by Horishun towards my elbow. These are all easy appointments, so there’s not much more to say regarding the work itself. Here is a proper, significantly less panicked, photo: