The healing journey of a widowed, unschooling badass in Delaware.
We had a successful day catching up on weekend messages, booking clients, and creating art…until a snag.
Now, instead of blogging, I’m tracking down an email bug that has our main communication medium frozen.
For now, enjoy the initial peony additions (double line cleanup to come) Kristen worked on today:
When we opened By Her Hand Tattoos in May of 2023, Kristen brought an amazing core of clients with her from Dover to Wilmington. In Delaware, it is no small feat to convince someone to drive 60 minutes out of their way for anything but french fries on the boardwalk.
We’re slowly building a local reputation and the number of people getting their first tattoos from Kristen has been remarkable.
We haven’t leaned into social media, except for the fact that Instagram is the perfect platform to show off Kristen’s creations.
As our main outlet, it was exciting to approach a milestone like 1,000 followers. At 999, I made a short request on my personal Facebook page to recruit a couple more friends to follow. Most of my FB friends are real and local and it was encouraging to see our number pop up to 1,007 (the banner pic is already archival).
We’re not obsessed with metrics, but we are proud of an organic growth that is bringing us to light in the community.
This year has been a parade of novice excursions: business ownership, living in a blended family, continuing my white belt journey in jiu-jitsu, and taking on goaltending as a primary position in soccer.
It’s an exciting place to be as I approach my mid 40s. New challenges are constantly arising: fixing a clothes dryer, installing a dishwasher, and various other repairs were other first-times this year.
The process is rarely comfortable and never smooth, but the results compound to make me more capable to face the next obstacle.
Most of my process for choosing my first tattoo is composed of all the tattoos I don’t want.
I didn’t find any great ideas in this book about literary tattoos, but the story about a woman getting Eric Carle to draw his Very Hungry Caterpillar on her is cute.
Disclosure: The link below is an affiliate link, meaning I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase, with no additional cost to you.
We have cute, wonky coffee cups.
We do not have cute coasters.
EDIT: We found some very cool, silver coasters and I discovered that where I place my coffee is way more important to me than I had known.
Stay tuned for pictures.
We’ve got our space.
It was a busy and rewarding day as we positioned the furniture and supplies that we’ve been gathering for months.
There’s much yet to do, but we feel so close to our dream of owning and operating our own business.
Kristen and I have been discussing what her own tattoo studio would look like for years.
A year ago we started looking at properties in our desired area. Prejudices met us at every phone call and email. We weren’t ready to reach out to our social circles and we felt isolated and frustrated.
We paused in our searching and concentrated on devising creative solutions. We reached out to arts groups and business-owning friends, but still there was little to encourage us.
At the beginning of this year, we both felt that we were poised for the next chapter of our lives. Co-owning a business felt so right that we decided to again dive into the world of commercial realty to see what we could discover. We found more properties, sent more emails, made more calls, filled out more web forms, and carefully pushed when we met resistance. Over and over we were turned away or ignored. It was frustrating, but signs started to appear. They were vague, but it was clear that we were meant to keep pushing. My mantra became, “This place wasn’t right for us, we were blessed to be rejected.”
Then, a few weeks ago, Reneé from Elevated Studios texted me. They were moving their school to a larger location and there was an open space adjacent to the one they were considering. She connected me directly with the landlord and the puzzle started to fall together.
The number of coincidences, synchronicities, and signs that followed is too great to list here. It has had a to-good-to-be-true feel as each new challenge is resolved with ease.
However, after a productive day of setting up hardware and software needs, an old concern from an earlier search of this same neighborhood resurfaced. There was a tattoo shop in a shopping center right around the corner that had slipped our minds. It wouldn’t stop us from our plans, but how would we be received? Should we introduce ourselves? Try to befriend them? Ignore the proximity and do our thing?
As I thought about the possible approaches, I sought out their social media feeds to get a feel for their attitude, hoping to find a mutual friend or other connection to facilitate communication.
That’s when the WTF moment hit.
The other shop moved this week. This week. Our nearest competitor just moved farther away. God is making room for us.
What The Fuck? Each confusion is followed by greater clarity and encouragement. God has had my back many times in my life. Never have I been so aware of, and affirmed by, the signs.
Tomorrow we get the keys and start moving in. We’re working hard, but the path is being laid out before us with ease. We are blessed.
We’ve decided on our location and now feeling the ecstatic mix of fear and hope of soon-to-be patents.
Fittingly, our children joined us for their first look at the space. There’s remarkably little we have to do to prepare it for operation. Paint the walls, install a hand sink, tidy a few things…I’m sure we will uncover more necessary tasks, but it all feels achievable within our timetable.
They have their ideas too. Mostly horrible ones and mostly from my older son. I won’t be surprised if he sets up his own business around the corner before our lease is up for renewal.
This visit was later in the day, but light pours into both rooms. Kristen is excited to tattoo in natural light and the modest square footage is amplified by sunlight.
We’re opening a tattoo studio. Kristen is an amazing artist and we’re driven to build a business that showcases her talent while helping people to express themselves with unique pieces of art.
A lot of the pieces are in place. Licensing and location are nearly locked down. My living room is full of supplies and our next journey is set to launch.
I’ll be sharing the adventure here. It may not all be strictly in the #30DaysOfArtChallenge category, but it will all be in the service of art.
Kristen Steele will give me my first tattoo.
That’s a sentence I never thought I would type. I was anti-tattoo for a long time. I’ve always had changing attitudes and interests, I didn’t want to be marked with something permanent.
Then I learned that nothing is permanent.
Even tattoos change. Their meaning can change. Their color and shape changes. They grow with you.
This tattoo will mark a new chapter in my life. After five years managing my household alone, Kristen will be joining me to expand our lives in innumerable ways. This one work of art will symbolize the many creations we are to bring into being.
That’s a lot to fit into one design. Focusing on beauty and art this month is part of that journey.