Clair

Published: 19 November, 2009 - Featured in Skin Deep 144, April, 2007

I first met Clair on the Skin Deep forum and over a period of time arranged to go up to Perth to see her and do a photo shoot, this I duly done and the following article is the result of my couple of days up in Perth, which is a lovely part of the UK.

 

Can you start by telling about your background, including where you were born and grew up, about your family including brothers, sisters etc and about your illness in as much detail as you feel comfortable with.

Born in 1979 in and lived in Edinburgh till I was 5 when my Mum and Dad split up and my Mum and I moved to Birkenhead. We moved back to Edinburgh about 5 years later when my half sister Kirsty was born, a year later I moved in with my Dad and Step Mum in the Scottish borders. When I was 15 I moved into a shared flat in Edinburgh and set out on my own, so to speak! Over the years I’ve had several operations as I was born with rare intestinal/stomach disorder. Unfortunately as it was so rare there was no set procedure to remedy this problem and over the years my Surgeon has done a fantastic job at keeping me alive, fit and healthy!!

If in early years you had any dealings with any form of body-art, e.g. dad, uncle etc had any tattoos or piercings and if they had any sort of influence on you please mention.

I have very vague memories of my Granddad having some old blurry navy tattoos but I never really took interest
in them.

Please tell about what you did both personally and work wise when you left school.

School wasn’t particularly enjoyable for me. I went to 2 High Schools, 1 in Edinburgh and 1 in the Scottish Borders. In both of them, how much money your parents made, what kind of cars they had and how normal/popular you were, were by far the most important “qualities” you had. So coming from a family where we didn’t have much (we weren’t very poor, we just didn’t have money to throw around) and the fact that I was seen as different/weird didn’t help much. This along with the fact that I had a serious problem with authority, contributed to me leaving very early without any qualifications.

Since I left school I’ve gained a lot of qualifications (more than I would have if I had stayed at school) in several different areas. 

Please state when and how you got your first tattoo and was it something you wanted or just spur of the moment and have you still got it or has it been covered.

I got my first tattoo at the age of 15 (naughty, naughty), which is a tiny bit of flash (a gothic style cross). To be honest, like many people with their first tattoo I didn’t give much thought to it and simply picked something off the wall that looked pretty. I still have it and will probably keep it as it reminds me of being that young, and also that it’s okay to make mistakes now and then!

 

Tell how your interest in body-art developed and what other work you had done and at roughly what age and if poss. why you got what you did.

I’ve always been interested in body modification; I think it started when I was very young. I spent a considerable amount of time in hospital as a child where I realized that everyone is very, very different from everyone else. I loved comparing my scars with other kids, after a while they had begun to seem like trophies, something to be proud of, but that was only to us weirdo’s stuck in hospital beds I suppose!     

By the time I hit my teens my scars had become an embarrassment. It seemed that girls weren’t meant to have scars or any imperfections at all; we were all supposed to be little fluffy, clear-skinned things with perfect figures. So it’s not a great surprise to anyone that I became a bit of a tomboy. No matter where I went (I moved house a lot, still do!) I was always the weird one; no one quite knew what to do with me.    

At 15 I moved back to Edinburgh, I spent time with like-minded people who were all a good bit older than me and helped me realize that I could and should be myself and ignore the comments such as “ oh my god, she’s got pink hair!” People point at, stare at and fear (therefore ridicule) anything different because they don’t understand it.     

Branding - I remember watching an awful hammer horror movie when I was about 11 in which a girl branded herself with a crucifix and I found it really interesting. There was something really basic and beautiful about it. When I was 17 I got my branding, I love it and would love another!   

Piercing - I love my piercings and couldn’t live with out them.  I have had 13 over the years. They are very much part of me and I hate taking them out when I go for surgery, putting them back in is the first thing I do when I come round!    

Tattoos - My second tattoo took a lot of thought and was quite a bit bigger than my first little bit of flash. For my 18th birthday I had a large custom fairy in shades of blue, green and aqua done. Unfortunately it didn’t come out exactly as I had planned as she has no hands!!! So she’s going to be covered up by a large Raven in the near future.   

My third tattoo (very soon after my 2nd) is a small praying mantis on my tummy. I chose this one for a few reasons. Firstly it was an image from an inlay of a single by one of my favorite bands, God Lives Underwater, which I was listening to almost constantly at the time. Another reason for choosing the praying mantis was that I was quite badly behaved at the time (less said the better I think!).   

My fourth tattoo was a present from my son for my first mother’s day. A chaos star on my right shoulder (since been redone and incorporated into my sleeve). I felt this was the perfect to symbolize my becoming a mother, as the birth didn’t go to plan, to say the least. Also motherhood if anything epitomizes chaos!   

My fifth tattoo is a Norse protection wheel on my left shoulder.    

My sixth was another chaos star, this time on my right wrist, which has been reworked a few times and since I’m still not 100% happy with it am going to have it removed.    

My seventh was the beginnings of my sleeve.   

My eighth was a single perfectly straight line down my 3rd finger on my left hand. I dreamt this and although I haven’t really thought about it I have my suspicions that subconsciously it has something to do with my new start with Jason.   

My ninth and latest is 2 comedy fangs on the insides of my index fingers. Everyone should have at least 1 comedy tattoo!!

 

Talk about how you met and got together with Jason and how long you’ve been together.

I stalked him ruthlessly for 3 weeks and he eventually gave in! Seriously though, things were difficult when Jason and I got together. We had both just come out of long-term relationships and didn’t think we were ready to get involved so soon, especially with me having a child. Chaos or fate or whatever you want to call it took over and we’ve been together for a year and a half now. We got engaged secretly last June, kept it to ourselves till February 2006 and we plan on getting married in a few years time. We have a lovely relaxed relationship, we don’t fight, we haven’t argued yet and we seem to totally understand each other without even trying. Jason is fantastic with Alex (my 5 yr old), they have a great time together and Alex sometimes draws up sheets of flash for Jason to take into work!

Tell the story behind your sleeve and what you’ve got planed for the future and by whom.

I love M.C. Escher’s work and have done for years. I also seem to be drawn to chaos so when I was thinking about options for my sleeve these were the things I felt should be included. I wanted a full sleeve but I didn’t want every inch of skin from wrist to shoulder to be inked, I wanted there to be a fair amount of negative space.    

After asking around for a few years I finally found someone who thought my idea was possible. Jason and I did some serious chatting and he suggested that I put together a mood board to give him ideas for the chaos stars as there were to be 8 of them and they were all to be different.

The original idea for the sleeve was Chaos and order. With part of M C Escher’s Metamorphosis winding around my arm and 8 chaos stars placed at various points.  This left a fair amount of space, which we wanted to fill without making the whole sleeve too complicated or busy. At this point Jason suggested putting echo’s around the stars and some sunrays coming out from the star on my elbow all done in a very pale sumi.  Although I wanted a full sleeve I sill wanted to see some skin in between the ink and for it all to be quite delicate so the sumi shading is perfect for me.    

I’ve really enjoyed having this work done and I’ll be a little sad when it’s completely finished. The atmosphere at Inkredible makes all the difference, it’s such a relaxing place to be with the wonderful. Ali is always there to help you with anything and get you cups of tea!!   

Future tattoos – Cover up on my back. A large black Raven will cover my badly done blue fairy in the next few months. This will eventually develop in to a full back piece of Ravens gradually getting smaller and more numerous as they get further down my back. I would like to have a black and grey sacred heart done on my chest and both legs done in a similar style to my sleeve. Jason Zig Zag has bagsied the majority of my naked skin so he’ll be doing all of that work.

 

10 quick fire questions:

Favorite colour?  Red
Favourite food?  Sushi
Favourite film?  Clockwork Orange (hence
Alex’s Name)
What was the last book you read?  KPAX 2
The artist you’d most like to be tattooed by? 
French Thomas (but no dots!)
Favourite band or singer?  Pitchshifter
Favourite song of all time?  Un-Umited
Kingdom by Pitchshifter or Amphetamine
by Everclear
Smoothies or Gin?  Gin Smoothies silly!!
The best decade in the last 100 years?
For me, it would have to be this one!!
Favourite car?  Top of the range Chrysler Crossfire (in red please with all the extras in chrome!)

Credits

Text and Photos: Paul Callaby

Related

Magazines: 
Skin Deep 144 1 April 2007 144
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