My tattoo story: Disney’s Halloween Stitch

Today I wanted to talk about one of my favourite tattoos, my pumpkin Stitch. It’s been a year since I had this tattoo and given that it’s a Halloween tattoo what better time to talk about it and show it off a little! This tattoo was my third tattoo and my favourite one to date. Here’s the story of my Disney Halloween tattoo.

Up to now I have three tattoos and about a million ideas for other tattoos I want. Aside from mentioning them in Happy Lists though I’ve never talked about my tattoos on here. I had my first one done in 2016, the next one done in 2017 then Stitch came along in 2019. I’d always planned to have multiple Disney tattoos but Stitch was definitely booked on a whim. If you read my Halloween at Disney post earlier this week, you’ll already know how much I love those two things so when I saw this design I knew I had to have it.

Even though I’ve never discussed my tattoos before, they are a part of me and seen as I have a Halloween tattoo and it’s almost Halloween now seemed the perfect time to show this one off in the way it deserves. One, because it’s cute and two, because I wanted to talk about the studio I had it done it because I had such a wonderful experience!

Why Stitch and Halloween?

I’d been following a local tattoo artist, Georgia Williams, for a while and her work looked amazing. I’d decided that my next tattoo would be done by her but because I had so many ideas I never got around to making an appointment. Anyway I was on my lunch break one afternoon and noticed she’d uploaded a flash sheet of Halloween designs that included quite a lot of Stitch ones. Now Stitch is my favourite Disney character so I was immediately drawn to the designs. By that evening I’d got myself booked in for a new tattoo!

I love Halloween and I love Disney so it made sense to combine the two. Even though I’d got lots of design ideas buzzing around my head, I couldn’t let this one go to someone else.

Tattoo placement and pain

I know at first glance it’s a little difficult to tell where the tattoo is but it’s on my left leg on the outer side. I already have another tattoo in the same place on my right leg so I knew what the pain was like there. Plus the tattoo on the other side is a Disney one too. I’ll be honest, most of the tattoos I get in the future will probably go on my legs. Not only do I love how tattooed legs look but I don’t really want to tattoo my arms (wrists are O.K. though, I already have one there) just out of personal preference.

Now onto the bit everyone always wants to know. How much did it hurt? I’d consider myself to have a low pain threshold so while tattoos hurt I don’t have any plans to stop getting them which should tell you that I find it bearable. After a year it’s kind of hard to discuss the pain levels as you sort of forget. For a tattoo where this one is, you lay on your side so I always think you have to factor more into tattoo pain than just the needle. It does get a little uncomfortable being laid in the same position for a while and naturally you tense up too on the more painful parts which can make your leg a little stiff.

Personally I find having a lot of colour gets a little uncomfortable as it obviously take a long time and starts to get tender the more the same bit is gone over. I also found the bits of the tattoo that are closer to my shin, calf and ankle more painful than the parts that sit in the middle but I already knew to expect that from my other leg tattoo. I found this tattoo to hurt less then my other leg tattoo though despite this one being more detailed and taking longer. That’s 100% down to the artist though which I’ll get onto in a minute. I will just say though that the amount of leg stiffness I experienced with this one was next to nothing compared to my other leg tattoo though.

The artist and studio

Now here’s one of the big reasons I wanted to do this post. I’ve already mentioned I was tattooed by Georgia who is based at Redfox Tattoo in Chapeltown, South Yorkshire. Each of my tattoos have been done at different studios by different artists but now I’ve visited Redfox and Georgia I honestly won’t go anywhere else for my tattoos.

Part of the reason I’ve never talked about my other tattoos is because my experience at Redfox puts my experience at the other two studios to shame. There is nothing wrong with my other two tattoos and I love them but now I look back they weren’t particularly enjoyable experiences. I’ve mentioned that I was in a lot of pain with my first leg tattoo and after getting my leg tattooed by Georgia I honestly believe it’s because the artist for my first leg tattoo was extremely heavy handed. The Stitch tattoo is a lot more detailed than my other leg tattoo and took longer but the pain I experienced both before and after the tattoo was a lot less than with my first leg tattoo. I suffered with a lot of stiffness with the first one too which made it even more painful. Georgia was amazing and a lot gentler, or as gentle as you can be doing a tattoo!

I found the whole experience at Redfox Tattoo to be nothing short of perfect. It’s a fun and friendly environment and you instantly feel at ease there. Georgia’s designs are amazing but the other artists working there are just as brilliant. Georgia’s just my artist of choice for the lovely Disney stuff she does! The other two studios I’ve had tattoos at were very isolating and a little unfriendly. Redfox Tattoo is an open studio where everyone can chat which I loved. Obviously if you’re have a tattoo in a more private area though there are privacy curtains so don’t worry!

I can’t wait to visit Redfox Tattoo and Georgia again for all my future tattoos. If you’re in or close to South Yorkshire though I cannot recommend this tattoo studio enough.

Do you have any tattoos or plans to get one? Let me know in the comments!