My Racquel Natividad Experience Part 2

It's a crisp Wednesday morning and Coco and I are on our way again to Rakel Tattoo Shop at Sta. Cruz, Laguna. We've already considered the shop one of our new found homes because of how welcome we felt coming from the hospitality of Ms. Racquel and Sir Macus. So, the 3-hour trip from Manila wasn't so bad.


After checking out the outlines from the previous session, Ms. Racquel and Sir Macus set up the familiar station that was to be my hot seat for the next 12 hours. Ms. Racquel began tattooing the upper half of my sleeve, starting with the pine tree. She told me that in order for her to get all the color combinations right, she has to tattoo the colors in layers which means that she was going back to some spots and tattoo them all over again. I didn't even think of the pain that will cost me because I have committed myself to this project and hence would gladly accept everything that it entails. 


While I was being tattooed, Ms. Racquel talked a lot about her career. She told me the story of how she got into tattooing, how she started, and the likes. Like most great artists and their careers, hers came unbelievably naturally. I admire the way she talked about her dedication to her art and profession, that in tattooing, you never stop learning how to improve your techniques. It's one thing to improve in the skill of tattooing, and it's another to never stop learning.


Just like in all aspects of life, there also exists the element of ethics in tattooing. Being ethical in one's professionalism in tattooing is vital in the longevity of a tattoo artist's career. There's cleanliness and sanitation that one must take into the utmost importance to avoid the risk of cross-contaminations. There's also the professional relationship between artist and the client as well as amongst artists themselves. All of these I learned from Ms. Racquel. So as I was sitting there listening to her talk about all these things, I felt so lucky to be able to grab all of these first-hand. It was like reading an interview of her in a tattoo magazine. It all the more made me feel so lucky to be able to work with her, to get my very own Racquel Natividad sleeve.


The whole tattoo session lasted for 12 hours, the upper half of the sleeve already done and me getting strength from 1 liter of Milo and 4 tablets of mefenamic acid. I didn't mind the killer pain because whenever I looked at my tattoo in the mirror, I can't help but smile at the sight of a new masterpiece on my arm. I didn't think it would look this beautiful, all of my expectations exceeded exponentially. I cannot wait for my sleeve to finish, but with all things created in perfection, my artwork simply cannot be hurried. Here are some pictures from second session, enjoy!

work station/area

media center

ink and supplies station

My Racquel Natividad Experience Part 1

It's November 2nd, 6am and Coco and I are on a bus to Sta. Cruz, Laguna. It's a cloudy day which is a good thing because I didn't have to worry about the sun getting on my arms. We didn't get much sleep the night before probably because I was hella excited of my first of three to four tattoo sessions with none other than the first female professional tattoo artist in the Philippines, Ms. Racquel Natividad. 

Ms. Racquel Natividad

Finally we arrived at Sta. Cruz and headed straight to Racquel's shop after having breakfast. When we entered her shop, I could not stop staring at everything because the entire room was beautifully decorated with a lot of cool stuff, cool merchandises, cool artworks and the coolest plaques of her winning different sorts of tattoo competitions. The shop was a huge room with a mezzanine that creates a second floor. Downstairs is for purchasing merchandises and for bookings while upstairs would be the main tattoo area where all the magic happens. 

Rakel Tattoo, Sta. Cruz, Laguna

Finally we were called upstairs to start the whole process. We met Sir Macos who was Racquel's husband/manager/assistant. Both of them worked on the design that was going to be my tattoo. The design contained nature-inspired bio organic artworks from both Racquel and Macos and from a drawing that my cousin, May Ann Licudine, made for me. 

From my previous tattoos, I was used to having the design stenciled onto my skin before tattooing it but in this case, the design is, er. . .designed to follow the contours of my arm to make it flowy and beautiful. Meaning, Racquel freehanded the design onto my arm using pink and blue ballpoint pens. It took about more than 2 hours to draw the whole thing onto my arm.

Once I heard the buzzing sound of the tattoo machine, I just felt that natural high of getting a tattoo. It is painful but you don't think about the pain specially when you dedicate yourself to the art. And this type of commitment is vital in the valuation of the art of tattooing. The first session was just to finish all the guide lines or the outlines and then the following sessions would be to fill in the color and other important details. Can't wait for this tattoo to be finished. It will surely be a masterpiece!