A FIRST for me: I am thrilled to have finally done a knotwork sleeve on a WOMAN! This Canadian chef made the big trek down from Alberta for this classic embellishment. With her flaming red hair and commanding presence, honed by years in charge of the kitchen and cooking for pack trips, she now adds to her air of competent control with a warrior's gauntlet. For those interested in the process, this much tattooing was all done in 6 hours yesterday. Two hours to get the pre-existing pattern adjusted to her measurements, 2 hours to fit it perfectly to her arm, then 6 hours to ink in the lines and background. In 6-8 weeks she will return to double-black the background and add shading and tune up lines. If I had needed to create an original piece from scratch you could add 6 hours of drawing time up front, but fortunately she picked one for sale in my online image source.
Celtic knotwork hero sleeve design and tattoo by Pat Fish