This post has been a LOOOONG time coming, but I only just now had a fire lit under my ass to actually start the documentation process. First, a little backstory...
Seattle has an awesome local paper called
The Stranger, who, starting in the Fall of 2013, set up a
Worst Tattoo contest, where the winner of Seattle's most godawful tattoo receives a free laser tattoo removal with the more advanced Picosure machine at
Seattle Skin & Laser. I missed out on the deadline for the first year, so I patiently waited until November 2014 to enter the second round. As you may have guessed, I won. What was it that confused and horrified an entire metro area of readers? This guy:
 |
| OG Zophar |
Awful, right? An old friend very aptly named him/her Zophar, but that's another story for another time. The story behind the tattoo
itself isn't as crazy as people wanted to believe. It was 2004 and I was 19, working very briefly as a piercing apprentice in a tattoo shop in Everett. One particularly slow summer day, the tattoo apprentice and I were bored and he told me to pick out a big tattoo so he could get some practice in. I don't know what it was about the flash (YES, IT WAS FLASH!), but I picked this thing. IDIOT. I dearly wished I could have had this guy tattoo me years later, because he is a really amazing artist now. Just my luck!
Being young, extremely naive, and only having four smaller tattoos at the time, of course I loved it. It wasn't until I started getting comments about the perceived sexuality of it that I started to regret it. I eventually planned to have it covered with something big and floral, but could never really come up with the money to begin a new piece. Plus, a lot of artists recommended that I have it lightened a bit because of all the harsh lines. Luckily, I happened upon the contest and entered immediately. According to Kelly O of The Stranger, I was the first official entrant D:
So after the winner was chosen (according to popular vote), I was hooked up with a consult with Seattle Skin & Laser's U-Village location with Joanie. I got a prescription for a tube of lidocaine and was sent on my merry way, eagerly anticipating the arrival of December 2nd.
(Potentially graphic photos after the jump!)