British woman travels to New York

Keen: Lucy Challenger flew to the New York City Tattoo Convention so a famed artist could put the finishing touches on a huge phoenix design on her left buttock 'So I'm it bringing home for the women that, you know, we can sit there and just take it.' The complex creation has cost the 28-year-old thousands of dollars and two trips to Los Angeles and sessions in New York and London. 'It is a big investment. Not everyone can spend that amount of money, but it is once in a lifetime,' she added. The Londoner lay in a t-shirt and not much else while the artist, who had flown in from Los Angeles, perfected the design that stretched from the top of her thigh to her lower back. Worthwhile: The Londoner lay in a t-shirt and not much else while the artist, who had flown in from Los Angeles, perfected the design that stretched from the top of her thigh to her lower back    She had an iPad to distract her while the tattooist worked on the phoenix for eight hours. Challenger was just one of the many women who attended the convention last weekend, which attracted tattoo fans from across the globe. Many travelled to be inked by some of the most famous artists in the world and pay thousands of dollars to go under the tattoo needle. That is what drew Challenger to the show. 'Her work is unbelievable,' she said of her tattooist. 'And I was really attracted to the fact that she's obviously a woman and I really wanted a feminine touch in my tattoo,' she told AFP. The convention saw a rise in females wanting to be inked, reflecting a recent survey, which revealed that 23 per cent of females in the U.S. had tattoos, compared to 19 per cent of men. Brave: A girl shows her tattoos during the 15th Annual Tattooing Convention in Manhattan in New York, on May 19, 2012 Colourful: A tattooist poses during the convention in NYC while displaying her own artwork Worldwide: A tattooist who has travelled from New Zealand works on an attendee at the convention Painful: A tattooed panther is seen on the back of the head of a man during the Manhattan event