Tattoos

Lifeafter

I read the article on Vinnie in the New York Times awhile ago, I forget when it was published. I had been shopping around for a tattoo artist to have realistic looking tats, imperfections variations in color, etc. I had multiple images of real nipples on my phone. What people would think if they ever looked in my pic album.. I live in Northern California and going to Vinnie was never an option and I figured he can't be the only one who does these great nipples! So I searched and searched. I saw tattoo artists who told me it would cost anywhere from 700 to 1000 dollars for nipple tattoos. And I don't have visible scar tissue or other things that make tattoos for us difficult. I just have my incision cuts that are right across the middle of my chest (thanks breast surgeon...). Anyway, that just seemed crazy to me. There is one nip pic that I had that was my favorite. The best looking imperfect areola! I went into a local tattoo artist shop and showed him. He said the only person who can do that in California has a shop just north of me in Grass Valley. I thanked him for his honesty and called this other guy up. I went to his shop and was I shocked. It was not your typical tattoo shop. It was immaculate, very very nice shop. The tattoo artist was very soft spoken and such a gentlemen. I went up with my boyfriend because he's got lots of tattoos and he wanted to hear for himself what the guy had to say. It seemed like the other places I went to were just out to take advantage of breast cancer patients and charged up the ying yang! He loved the guy and was really impressed. This guy is a true artist. I mean TRUE artist. What I didn't know is that my boyfriend also read the NY Times article on Vinnie and the video that was with it. He told this guy about Vinnie and the tattoo artist said...yeah, I worked with him. He learned his technique from him. I was like...what the what??? I showed him what I wanted and he showed me what he'd done. Wow! This must have been divine intervention making me wait as long as I did and not just go with whoever. I made an appointment to have mine done that next week. I go back in a couple weeks for some color tweaking and more imperfections added in. It's been a month since I had them done. Time for them to heal.

His name is Cory Norris. I highly suggest anyone looking for REALISTIC areolas to go see this guy!!! He has a website corynorrisart.com. It's got your typical tattoo type artwork. No nipples are on there but you can see the detail he puts into his work. Just amazing. And cost...he charged me $80 a boob!

If anyone would like to see pics, I'll be happy to show you! I cried after looking at them. My boyfriend was so happy for me and completely amazed with what he did. He was with me the whole time holding my hand and rubbing my head (I have a lot more feeling than I thought I did!) I didn't look at them right away. I was afraid, when you've had as many surgeries as I've had and all the problems with reconstruction you don't get your hopes up too much. I was at a point that I didn't think I was ever going to get tats. I was just too afraid. My god...who knew how whole I would feel again after. I feel like I real woman again. I actually get a little shy undressing in front of my boyfriend. My bashfulness is back! I feel like I have something to 'hide' again versus eh...there just surgeon made bumps and nipples. They just served a purpose of not having a concaved chest so my shirts and dresses would fit like they should. I feel like I actually have real boobs again. Instead of Vinnie's...I got Cory's!

I can't say enough about this guy. Go check him out.

Moderators

GREAT referral, Lifeafter! Thanks for sharing your story

Lifeafter

Thanks and all true...he is just amazing. It's so hard finding a network of good drs and tattoo artists for breast cancer patients. You don't have to settle for band aid circle tats from your plastic surgeon! There are tattoo artists out there who care about making women feel whole again and Cory is one of them! :-)

farmerlucy

Lifeafter - that is excellent news! Be sure to tell Cory to get listed on pinkinkproject.com if he is not on.

PinkHeart

Lifeafter,

Thanks so much for posting your happy ending story!

Does Corey do the 3D nipple tats?

Can you please ask him if he knows anyone with equal talent who does tats near Charleston?

exbrnxgrl

Sasha Merritt of Dragonfly Ink in San Francisco does amazing 3D nipple tattoos. Check out their website for photos of her work.

Lifeafter

PinkHeart - I will ask him if he knows anyone in that area when I see him on the 14th. He does do 3D, even though I had nipples reconstructed, they aren't big. He really knows how to work the needle to make what I had come alive so to speak. Don't be fooled by the 3D part when it comes to areola tattoos. They should all be 3D...not just the illusion of the nipple if you didn't get that reconstructed. 

exbrnxgrl - Sasha Merritt is one of the people I saw. She is also one of the tattoo artists that quoted the enormous price tag. I went through her whole portfolio and she showed me and my girlfriend (who also was going for a consult for the same thing) tats she designed and did on herself and they looked very amateur. Her colors ran or were off and there wasn't great detail. She seemed like a nice person but I was not impressed with her shop or work at all. Absolutely no comparison to Cory Norris and well the price... When I told him of the prices I was being quoted especially from her and others, he wasn't shocked and said that happens a lot with these things. Unless there is significant scarring and other issues, the time involved does not justify that pricing. I don't mean to demean your suggestion. She may work for some women but honestly, absolutely no comparison when you see what they can and should really look like.

kfinnigan

Lifeafter, thanks for this post!  I'm in Lincoln, CA and work in Roseville, where is his shop?  I looked at his website but didn't see an address.

Lifeafter

kfinnigan - The address to the shop is:

115 South Church Street

Grass Valley CA 95945

530-273-6499

The shop is right in the heart of old downtown Grass Valley. Make an appointment for a consult and take pictures of what you're looking for. I'm going to have him take pictures of mine so he can put them in his portfolio.

He also has an Instagram account: corynorrisart. Most of his pics are classic graphic tattoo designs but the detail is amazing. This is a man who takes great care with his craft.

kfinnigan

Thank you!

exbrnxgrl

lifeafter,

Weird! I had the exact opposite experience with Sasha.