Tattoos?

[Beth]

Ok. My husband has a shitload of them. My daughter even has two. My BIL is a tattoo artist, so almost everyone I know has them. I want to get a butterfly on my toe and have a vine creep up to my ankle but I am scared of the pain ( but I know my BIL could stay the night here and tat a drunk moi), but I think that I am more scared of carrying the tat to the grave. My generation didn't traditionally have tats.

Why do you have a tat, and did you overcome mental or social obsticals to get it/them?

[Beth]

The butterfly/vine would be in memory of my granma, so it isn't truly vain.

[Demimonde]

From what I understand, alcohol and ink don't mix very well. Something about the booze making you bleed more and the detail being harder to achieve.

I have friends who swear by muscle relaxers though.

I have no ink, but have always been curious about it. My bro hated needles but loves getting work done on his many pieces. I actually love needles but no ink as of yet. I almost once got a fuzzy bumble bee in T shades (imagine giant Roy Orbison glasses) because I thought it was adorable but didn't have the cash to do it. Most likely for the best. Someone I could mention takes issue with the permanence of the imagery and jokes of getting a blank canvas to doodle on.

If I were to get one, I always thought of getting two fancy goldfish. One swimming upstream on my right foot and one downstream on my left foot. I am a pisces and have always loved the metaphor.

[Qingdai]

I have no problem with needles, but I don't have any desire to put anything permanent on my body. They are identifying marks and who knows when I'll have to go underground and blend in!

I just helped a neighbor get rid of a bunch of stuff she'd been packing around for 30 plus years and some sconce lamps she was dying for 30 years ago were the things she was laughing at and embarrassed by, I can only imagine getting the tattoo equivalent those sconce lamps and it just not fitting. Tastes change and tattoo removal is painful, expensive and doesn't work all that well.

[Beth]

Mine would most likely be the cost of a fifth and a bottle of Pepsi and a bed. So it would be really cheap for me. Although I want those sconces, I am unsure that my tastes will always remain the same. And, darn, I really have been looking for sconces. lol

So,are the people who get tatted up brave or are they just impetuous?

[Qingdai]

The tattoos maybe are cheap, removal, not so much.

[Demimonde]

Ill thought out tattoos remind me of a story.

My cousin wanted a tattoo of a meditating Buddha on his calf. A pose where Buddha has his head down in his lap, contemplating the futility of it all. A friend of his, who was an aspiring artist offered to do it for him for his portfolio. It ended up looking, honestly and emphatically, like a pile of shit. It was about five by six inches across.

We had much fun laughing at his poo Buddha, for several months. Finally, he had to save up money to do a full calf piece. It ended up quite nice. A river scene with koi fish swimming up his leg. One of the rocks on the river bank is the spitting image of the poo Buddah, which will be there forever, but looks very much at home now.

[Dingfod]

Poodha.

[Miisa]

I have a skin condition, so never quite mustered the courage to risk a tattoo, though I had very definite plans during a symptomless/remission phase some years ago.

What I have done, though, is temporary tattoos (essentially stickers), and one thing I noticed with them is that even if I put on one I don't like all that much at the time, after a few days or weeks I am totally in love with it and heartbroken when it fades. So I suspect at least I would also grow very fond of almost any tattoo, and wouldn't be surprised if others felt much the same way.

[Dingfod]

When I was in Oregon, my niece put a temporary tattoo on my arm, a pirate LET'S PARRRTY! tattoo. It lasted through a week of showers and swimming before it finally faded. I kind of liked it.

[LadyShea]

Mine are in places that are covered by normal clothing so only Hubby gets to see them

[Ari]

I have a tat of Stitch on my arm, at some point I should take a picture of him. I have a number of friends with tattoos too. The key, unless you know the artist, is the wait from appointment to tat, mine was like 8-10 months. Not only does it suggest your artist is liked and busy but it gives you some time to sit with it and see if you still like the idea a year later.

The actual tattoo gun doesn't hurt too bad, although I hear it's special going over bone. It's much more like a sharp hot scratching feeling than needles, as if someone was running a hot fingernail down your arm. For big projects I've known people who used a rub on lidocaine gel to cut some of the pain. On the other hand I found the buzzing noise the gun makes extremely annoying and had to wear headphone.

[curses]

I have lots. I've always wanted them. I remember being absolutely enthralled by them in a National Geographic magazine we had when I was young.

The first one I got hurt-I turned green and almost passed out. Swore I'd never get another. Then I was back under the gun 8 months later. Then all of my smaller pieces began to merge into larger ones. I have 16 separate tattoos all told. Each one reminds me of a period in my life. I don't feel like I need a story that gets shared with everyone. They're for me. It hurts like hell to get done, then they itch a bit while they're healing, but a well done one is beautiful and worth it to me.

[curses]

Originally Posted by Ari

For big projects I've known people who used a rub on lidocaine gel to cut some of the pain.

Just saw this. Thought I'd throw my $0.02 in. Lidocaine is all well and good until it wears off. I've had someone tell me about using it for a larger piece on their shoulder, it wore of and was twice as painful than if they'd just gone and had it done. Friend of a friend story, but there it is.

[maddog]

I don't see why temporary art won't suffice.

#2943

[Megatron]

Originally Posted by LadyShea

Mine are in places that are covered by normal clothing so only Hubby gets to see them

Same with mine, except the hubby part obviously... although I do show them off sometimes since all I have to do is lift my shirt or roll up a sleeve.

[Kyuss Apollo]

About 20 years ago I decided to go ahead and get a 2" long bass clef on my upper left arm. I figured if it hurt as much or more than I thought it was going to, I'd never get another one, but at least I'd have that.

My last tattoo was my first kid's birth date, 6-18-99, on my left forearm, a cover-up of the acronym DILLIGAF that I put there as part of what was probably tattoo number 11 or 12. I decided that after having him enter my life, I actually do give a fuck. And that was the last one because while tattoos cost piles and piles of cash, they pale in comparison to what it costs to raise a pile of kids lol.

[ImGod]

I had a vivid dream last week that I was in a fire and got burned on my back and right arm. After I healed, I got a tattoo of a fire breathing dragon and knight doing battle. The fire from the dragon was diverted around the knight's sheild and worked its way up through the burn scar.

Weird dream. But that's probably the requirement for me getting a tattoo.

If I ever did get close to getting one, I think I'd want one drawn up and put on temporarily (without needles), so I could see if the sizing, location, colors, etc. worked. Then get the real thing.

[Miisa]

If reality TV has taught me anything, it's that tattoo artist use a transferred image to mark out the outlines first so the client and artist alike both see how it will look.

[evenheathen]

I have a few. It is a little addictive. All of them mean something to me, so I don't regret them at all. I've got my band's logo on my calf, my two son's names as ambigrams on my forearm and my would be regret on my left shoulder, a little ankh. I've got plans for more (just not the cash )

All of them represent a time in my life that I loved and want to remember. Even the ankh, which I got on a dare from my then girlfriend, still a good memory and a reminder of a time when I was young and impetuous.

[Miisa]

Oh, yeah, I have sergeant's stripes carved into my shoulder/arm. Not coloured, though, just scars.


Because I was 20 once.