This interview called Wonderful Christmas Time was originally published in issue 5 The Celebration Issue of Things&Ink magazine (December 2013).
Samanatha Sorci, 38, works in social media and lives in Caerphilly with her husband, Brim (of Nu Rose Tattoos), and their little boy Loki. Here she tells us about her festive sleeve…
‘My Christmas sleeve is a celebration of one of my favourite times of the year. Christmas has always been magical for me. When I was little, I’d go to bed on Christmas Eve after putting out a tray of ginger biscuits and a glass of milk for Santa and our house would look the same as always.
‘Then I’d wake up in the morning and there’d be a stocking at the end of my bed, a little white tree on my chest of drawers and the rest of the house had been decorated. The biscuits and milk would be gone, so the only logical answer is that Santa had brought Christmas with him, and that kinda magic definitely needs celebrating!
‘When I had decided on the theme for my tattoo, I took my time to find the ideal artist and settled on Gary Weidenhof of Inkredible Kreations, Perth, Scotland. We started the sleeve around eight years ago at the Peterlee convention. That was a flippin’ awesome day. It was March 25th (my birthday!) and I turned up to find Gary’s booth all decorated with a Christmas tree, tinsel, and presents, and everyone was wearing Christmas hats. It was the best start to a sleeve ever.
‘Over the following months, I had sessions at other conventions as well as two consecutive days at Gary’s studio. I’m still not quite finished, I need a gingerbread man popped in at some point, but I’ll get there.
‘I still totally love my sleeve and I think that’s because I chose a theme that’s so special to me– as well as an artist who is so good. Now I just need to make sure that all of my future Christmases are magical for my little man, Loki Ramone.’