As the title says, I'm from NC-40, married for almost 13 years, addicted to art and design of every kind.

I'm definitely not one of those who thinks, "I can paint, sketch, sculpt, etc., so I'll be able to tattoo."
I do paint, sketch, sculpt, etc., but the I know that with the art of tattooing, your canvas is a person's skin, and your 'brush' is a machine that is going to pierce that skin and deposit pigment that is going to there forever-makes it an entirely different ballgame.

No intent to go 'live' for a while.

Anyway, my husband had a couple of tattoos when we met and has gotten a couple more since. He has been trying to get me to learn tattooing (and I definitely do want to learn even if I never make it a business), but I work full time so an apprenticeship is not an option for me right now) since we got together and finally just surprised me with a kit.

I'm really happy that he did because it is something I've always wanted to learn, but I've had to convince him that it would not be a good idea for me to start working on him any time soon.

So, for now, I'm practicing on pigskin, grapefruit, bananas, etc, and I'm learning from every good source I can find; this forum, books(downloaded Madhatter's black book, btw-), videos (the Huck Spaulding was really helpful), wherever I can find them.
I know that this is not the best way to learn, but I also don't want to just set my kit aside and add tattooing to the list of things I wish I'd tried.

I'll want to post some of my 'fruittoos' later in the week-for constructive criticism/ripping apart. I've been lurking and reading for a few weeks, so I'm braced for whatever gets thrown at me ;-).

welcome to the trails !

Well having a solid background in art is definetly a good starting point to learn to tattoo, and you're in the right place.There a plethora of information here, so readreadread. thiers some great links on JDs sig to get you going in the right path on cleanliness and tons of other great people here to learn and share with!!! welcome.

howdy, welcome to trails

Thanks!
@steal-readreadread is definitely in my plan & I'll check out those links.
I worked for several years as a hairstylist/nail tech (now there's a tiny canvas), so cleaning/sterilization are almost second nature.

My biggest problem is going to be forcing my husband to wait while I learn.

Here's the conversation:

Him: "But I want you to try one. Just do one where no one will see it but you."
Me: "Then I'll be obsessing about the crappy job I did on your tattoo every time I see you naked. I think you'd like me to be thinking about something other than that."
Him: "Good point."

Welcome. click >>here and >>here

very nice to meet you :-) welcome