A former Spice Girl got her latest tattoo at a Rickmansworth studio last Friday, but the artist who designed and created the masterpiece said the relaxed session was "more like two mums at work having a chat".
Two became one when Mel Chisholm (Mel C) opted to have a large feather incorporated into her famous Celtic band tattoo that encircles her right bicep.
However, to Renaissance Tattoo owner, Amanda Sissons, the two and a half hour session with Sporty Spice was no different than it would be with any other customer.
The 40-year-old said: "I take people as I find them and I wasn’t fazed by the fact that she’s a celebrity.
"Conversation just flowed and we were really chatty. We just talked about normal stuff and it was nice and relaxed.
"Her birthday is just a couple of weeks before mine and we both have children of a similar age so it was more like two mums at work having a chat."
Ms Sissons, who co-owns the business with partner, Adie Kitachi, has been a tattoo artist for 17 years.
The mother-of-three, who lives in Berry Lane, said The X Factor winner, Matt Cardle, is a regular client of hers at the Station Road studio and that this is how Mel C found out about her work.
Ms Sissons said: "She (Mel C) said that Matt Cardle spoke really highly of us and that she saw his tattoos and wanted to get hers done at our studio.
"I hadn’t met her before she came in to get the tattoo, we just spoke on the phone and she described what she wanted, which was a delicate feather and I suggested hooking it in the band.
"It’s a massive compliment when someone just wants to come in when they haven’t met you before so I was really honoured."
Ms Sissons described the former Spire Girl as "the perfect client", adding: "She had the tattoo in quite a sore place where it’s really sensitive and she was as good as gold, she didn’t grimace at all."
She explained: "We had quite a laugh and it was just a really nice, relaxed session. She was really cool and she did brilliantly."
Ms Sissons said she was given some artistic freedom with the feather and that she knows the reason why Mel C chose the delicate design, yet she feels it is not her place to reveal what it symbolizes as it’s a private matter.
She added: "Tattoos are very personal to people and I don’t think it’s for me to reveal what the feather represents to her."
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