Tattooing over scars

I have an appointment today to start a rather large project that centers around a very large scar.  A lady I've tattooed before had back surgery and has been left with a scar that wraps around her waist like a belt as well as about 4 inches added on to her butt crack.  She has very dark skin and the scar is not very noticeable , but she has insisted on going forward with this project , in spite of the fact that I've estimated the final cost to be well over $1000 and potentially 4 sessions (or more depending on how she sits).  Today we will start the outline.

I've had very good luck with tattooing over scars, but it's always a gamble.  There is never any guarantee that the pigment will hold the way it should and that makes things very tricky.  We're going to be putting big, stylized flowers and vines ~ like a beautiful garden ~on her and I am hoping to be able to use a bit of color, if only red and green.  I won't know until I'm actually into it.  I hate not being able to promise her what the end result will be, but that's the nature of scar tissue.  Fickle and unpredictable.

I do have some photos of her scars and w/her permission, I'll post here and show updates.

Cherry blossoms and sunsets. So bittersweet.

This week is bittersweet.  I'm working on 2 large pieces whose themes I love... one is a cherry blossom branch and the other is a tropical beach/sunset/floral scene.  So, why am I bitter? Because I'm cleaning up someone else's mess.  Both pieces were started by other people and neither one is quality work, so it's a challenge to fix them and have the end result be pleasing to my eye.

The cherry blossom branch is almost done.  We've done 2 sittings so far and have one more to go.  The tropical piece will be started today and I expect it will take at least 3 sittings.  I don't understand why the previous artist did things the way they did.  They seem to be an OK tattooer as opposed to the cherry blossom artist who was a flat out scratcher.  Fixing pre-existing tattoos is such a catch22 for me~ I want people to feel good about themselves, so I want to make them "pretty", but picking up where someone else left off is not easy, especially when you don't understand their thought process.  It's so much more cut and dry when it's a crappy tattoo and all you have to do is make it better.  The tropical tattoo appears to be a nearly finished black and grey piece, yet the client tells me that the artist intended on the finished product being very vibrant colors.  Sigh. Wish me luck!