Tainan County resident Li Chiu-wang, who is said to resemble the animated character Squidward Tentacles in SpongeBob SquarePants, endured a month of pain by having an octopus tattooed on his head in order to win his girlfriend’s heart. This alternative proposal struck the right note and touched her so much that she decided to marry him.
The 25-year-old man is a metal worker by occupation and works in the same company as his girlfriend. They had known each other for a long time before they started dating. After going out for a year, the couple fell in love with each other and Li decided to propose to his girlfriend by getting a tattoo on his head.
Li was nicknamed after Squidward Tentacles because of his resemblance to the character. As his girlfriend loves the name, he had his head shaved and spent more than NT$20,000 getting a tattoo of an octopus on the back of his head. Originally, he wanted to have the cartoon character tattooed on his head, but his tattoo artist Chung Kun-jui instead suggested tattooing a real octopus out of aesthetic concerns.
Li’s hair grew back so fast that he had to shave his head before every tattoo session. Because of the unbearable pain of tattooing, Chung decided to do the tattoo in several sessions, which took almost one month to complete. The design of a gigantic crimson deep-sea octopus with its tentacles curling all over and its mouth ejecting blackish ink portrays the domineering role of the maritime creature.
During the tattoo sessions, Li yelled with pain and made his tattoo artist stop many times, saying his head was going to explode. Sometimes it was so painful that he lay down on a chair crying. Many people laughed at him and said he was out of his mind. But in order to please his girlfriend, Li decided to persevere to the end.
In the hope of giving his girlfriend a surprise, Li didn’t see his girlfriend for a month, giving the excuse that he was too busy with work.
When the tattoo was done, a colorful octopus vividly spread across his shaved head, looking even more dazzling than dyed hair. At first, his girlfriend was dumbfounded and even upset with the full scalp tattoo. But after understanding Li’s original intention and courage, she completely forgave him and loved him even more.
However, tattooist Chung says that head tattooing is extremely painful as the head is not like other parts of the body, where muscle tissue is underneath the skin. He says that people need courage to get a head tattoo and that it is harder for color to stay on the scalp.
Chung says that head tattooing is scarce in this country. Having worked as a tattoo artist for 15 years, it was his first time to do such a large tattoo. He says as long as the artist is professional enough, tattoos will not damage hair follicles, so Li’s hair is still likely to grow back.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY THEODORE YANG)
台南縣男子李秋旺長相酷似卡通「海綿寶寶」裡的「章魚哥」,為討女友歡心,忍受一個月的扎針疼痛,在腦袋瓜紋上章魚圖樣;這招苦肉計果真奏效,對方相當感動,已考慮要嫁給他。
二十五歲男子李秋旺擔任鐵工,與女友原是公司同事,認識已久,正式交往才一年多,雙方情投意合,為了與愛人共結連理,李秋旺上演這段刺青求婚記。
李秋旺有個章魚哥的綽號,這綽號連女友都很喜歡,他特地理個光頭,花了兩萬多元,請刺青師傅鍾昆叡在他後腦紋上章魚圖案。原本要紋卡通造型的「章魚哥」,後來接受建議,改為寫實版,兼具藝術性。
由於李秋旺頭髮長得很快,刺到哪、理到哪,加上雕繪時會讓人疼痛難耐,鍾昆叡採分段雕繪,歷時約一個月才完成,只見深海裡的紅色大章魚,揮舞觸角、口吐墨汁,構圖展現出水中霸主的威猛。
雕繪過程中,李秋旺多次疼得大叫,直喊頭要爆掉了,喝令師傅暫停工作,有時還禁不住掉下男兒淚,甚至趴在躺椅上痛哭,不少人都譏笑「頭殼」壞去,但為討女友歡心,他決定堅持下去。
而進行刺青的一個月期間,李秋旺騙女友工作忙、要加班,暫不見面,就是希望能給愛人驚喜。
等到章魚爬上了李秋旺的光頭後,五顏六色的章魚,比染髮更炫,一開始女友真的嚇到了,且對這「滿腦子」的刺青頗為生氣,但瞭解他初衷與勇氣後,完全釋懷,兩人愛情指數差點破表。
不過鍾昆叡指出,腦袋不像身體其他部位,皮層下有肌肉組織,因此「紋頭」是件很痛的事,當事人需要勇氣,且因不易上色,雕繪難度頗高。
他表示,「紋頭」國內罕見,從業十五年來,也是首度在腦袋瓜進行這麼大面積的刺青,只要師傅功夫夠,並不會破壞毛囊,李秋旺未來還是有機會留長髮。
(自由時報記者吳俊鋒)
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