then I met my wife and decided it was time to get the swallow covered. I made a huge mistake here and rushed the job, I also knew nothing about coverups and picked an "artist" who as a complete cock. This is my only tattoo I am really unhappy with and if I ever have a spare couple of thousand I will get laser removal to the point where I can have a new, big tatt placed on the skin in it's current position.
A couple of years ago before I left the UK I went into a tatt parlour just to browse through the pictures and got chatting to the artist in there. I fancied getting my rose covered but wasn't sure what with. I ended up with Dragon number 2. It was 8 hours work - 4 hours of line work and then a month for it to heal and a further 4 hours of shading and colouring. My shoulder went numbe after 20 minutes and I spent the time watching a rap DVD which completely took my mind off the tatt. I love it and my next piece will be a back job, something based on the sun to reflect my Cornish celtic roots.
Whatever you get, make it something original and meaningful.