hi, everyone. this is my first ever post on reddit, honestly i never thought i would even make a post but i’m desperate for some advice. 

i’m 17, and turning 18 in just under three weeks time. i have wanted a tattoo for a very long time, and booked my very first one a looooooong time in advance, about nine months ago in october 2020. i wanted to make sure i could definitely get an appointment with this particular artist as she is very popular and i just had no idea how the whole process works and how far in advance i would need to book in order to guarantee an appointment. 

she responded to my first message very quickly, was very lovely and put me in her diary for the third of august, 2021. we chatted briefly about the coronavirus situation and she let me know that she wasn’t currently doing face to face consultations, but hopefully the situation would change by the time of my booking. if not, i was welcome to schedule a video call with her to discuss the process and my tattoo. she then said i was welcome to start sending her ideas of what i wanted. so i did. 

but she never answered.  

six months later, this april, she messaged me once lockdown restrictions in the uk were lifted to double check i still wanted my appointment. i replied immediately and told her yes. she said that was great. i then messaged again within five minutes to update the initial idea i had told her. she again did not answer. 

exactly one month later, at the beginning of may, i messaged her once again. i was in two minds about it as i felt like i was being a bother, i really didn’t have any idea of how the whole process worked (and still don’t) but i was also worried that we were getting closer and closer to my appointment and i still had not paid a deposit, had no idea what it was going to cost me, and also didn’t know what my tattoo was going to look like. but i went ahead and messaged with a reference picture, and a short message detailing placement, size, and a few things i wanted to be different. still no answer. 

it’s now just over three weeks until my appointment. the last time i heard from her was in april when she contacted me to make sure i still wanted my booking. i cannot stop thinking about it, and i feel as though i should message her again, but i don’t know what to say. i also feel as though i need to be more patient, she is the professional, she is very popular and extremely busy and she must have a system for how she manages bookings and tattoo plans and drawings and the like. i’m also wondering whether i just cancel although her, as i know it sounds so silly but i wonder if it’s internally causing me more trouble than it’s worth. 

so, could anybody help me? what should i do? 

tldr; my tattoo artist is not responding to my messages. it is three weeks until my appointment and i still don’t know what i am having done or what it will cost. what should i do?