Phantom 8 - Denver, Colorado

Okay folks, I'm a newly de-virginized tattoo-ee, so I must admit that I don't have as much experience with this as a bunch of you might, but I'm excited about my new ink, so damnit, I'm typing!!!

Phantom 8 is a cool little place located in south Denver, just south of Broadway and Hampden to be exact. It's a tremendously friendly place, where you can browse and chill to your heart's content. No-one there rushes you or makes you feel unwelcome because you're not getting any work done. As far as safety goes, they observe the standard autoclaving procedures and use new needles with each client...which made me, the perpetual worry-wart feel perfectly at ease.

Keavin was exceedingly professional and courteous. He worked with me for over an hour to get exactly what I wanted before even sticking the stencil on my skin. Then, even after the stencil was applied, we spent about 20 more minutes doing some finalizing sketches with the skin-friendly marker. Then, when we were both satisfied, it was time to ink.

My final design was a largish six stranded tribal band wrapped around my right arm (yes, all the way around!), with a tribal design shark winding its way through the outside of the band. There are no two ways about it...it's big. The size of the piece meant that it took a while to do...almost three hours, to be exact.

Keavin was fantastic during the entire process. He never rushed the tattoo, and every time my hand/arm fell asleep (which was pretty frequently), he was perfectly willing to let me shake some feeling back into my fingers. After the outlining was done, we took a break and I took a quick walk around the store...then we were back at it.

A couple of hours later, I was done, and without going into specifics, I can safely say that I'm ecstatic about my new tattoo. I highly recommend Keavin and all of the folks at Phantom 8 for those of you in the Denver area that might be interested in getting a tattoo.

Oh yeah, in answer to the inevitable "did it hurt?" question...YES. The inside of your upper arm is VERY sensitive and poking it repeatedly with needles is going to hurt...that's all there is to it! But, it's over and done with, and I managed to survive...and survive with a beautiful new tattoo on my right arm!

-Sharky