Lets talk tatoos.....again

[peregrine]

hi guys. i haven't posted in a really really long time, but i'm glad to be back.

anyway, i want a tatoo, but maybe i'm thinkin' too hard into it and i can't decide what i want. its got to be really meaningful. i don't want it to be casual, or cliche, or a fad. i want it to be like this symbolic, right of passage....coming of age thing...yeah, i'm getting carried away....ha ha!

i also have NO IDEA where to put it. i feel so limited becuase i'm not all skinny.

i was thinkin' at first that i wanted one on my foot, but you'd have to have a tatoo that would look right in that area so that would depend on what i decided on getting.

what do ya'll think? suggestions are VERY welcome!

peace & love to all,
peregrine

[toman]

For ideas, check out www.bmezine.com, but please don't steal someone elses exact tattoo. Do your research and find the best artist you can, regardless of cost; a tattoo is for life. A good artist will be able to draw you a custom piece of art, and advise on what will fit and look good where. Consider also whether the tattoo you get now will integrate with work you might want later on. Finally, foot tattoos are probably not a good choice for a first tattoo; they're painfull, difficult to do, and difficult to heal. Even with the best work and the best aftercare they often don't end up looking right and need a lot of touch up work. Someplace with a little padding and that's easy to deal with is probably a better choice; maybe upper arms, shoulders, back, stomach, etc. Good luck and be sure to post pics!

[CowboyHippy]

toman is right on the money
go to a lot of places, ask to watch
In high school a few of us got together and gave a bunch of designs, tribal, ed roth style and such to the top local place, we spent quite a bit of time there and we'd see people come in, ask for a price and then with a look of shock on their face say somethign to the effect of "what a rip off, we'll go somewhere else..."
the tatoo guy would just say "good luck with that, remember some things there isn't a cure for."

the thing i always found interesting, there were about 6 guys at the shop, one guy was phenominal at faces, id say near photo quality

and there was an animal guy, doing tigers and stuff
a guy that did great comic book type stuff (and iron maiden covers)

If your design is fairly complicated, dont be afraid to ask for a particular artist at the shop

think long and hard

my brother has the tasmanian devil in a redwings jersey (goes well with the mullett) he saved a few bucks and opted for the deranged gerbil in the wings jersey, but he swears it's taz...to top it all of he's got his ex girlfriends name, which i think was done by mrs millers third grade art class armed with blue ball point pens.

I have one for identification purposes, in case I am horribly mutillated
the nature of it and the location keeps it well hidden

[toman]

He has a tattoo on his ass... heeehee!!! :ufo:

[treehugger]

One suggestion on picking a place...I personally wanted my tattoo in a place where the majority of shirts, etc, could cover it, but still be easy to show off if I wanted to.

I got a bunch of those temporary tattoos and tested different spots...wearing a variety of clothes in a variety of activities. I finally settled on a spot about four inches underneath my collar bone.

The closer to bone a tattoo is, the MORE painful it is, to get. I WAS considering getting another one next to my Achilles tendon but after reading Toman's post I'm reconsidering. If I go ahead and do it, it'd be a yin yang symbol about the size of a dime...

Kath

[LIBRA]

I am getting my feet done, something across them both so when they are together its one image, sounds funny but its cool. I tested the water first by getting a little flower on my big toe, it hurt, but for some reason I dont mind it I kinda like it :p
I have a monarch butterfly on my lower back, and a tribal sun in the middle of my back, if I had a digital Id show ya.
I agree with toman too, be original and do research first.

[ladywithafan]

Toman--

Do you have a tattoo on your foot? B/c I was wondering if you would suggest getting one done in the winter or summer? The winter you would have a sock over it all the time. but in the summer you could let it heal and wear sandal. I have wanted to get a star on the top of my foot, and when and if I ever have/adopt children I will get a little star next to the big star.

[LIBRA]

I have a tattoo on my foot, not sure if your asking toman or mistaken my post for his, either way, I did it in the summer and the guy who did it said he thought it be best not to have anything rubbing on it at first, he actually doesnt like doing feet they do need touch up work more often, the skin is so thin and your shoes rub on it all the time.
So I would say summer is better, but I never had it done in the winter so??

[treehugger]

Well, that clinches it for me because I couldn't get away with wearing sandals to work. Hmmm.....

[toman]

Actually, I don't. But I know people who do and I'm pretty familiar with tattooing. I would say it depends on what you're going to be doing. Your best bet, obviously, is going to be to wear no shoes or socks at all. But then you have to deal with keeping your feep clean, which is a problem. My personal advice would be to use an occlusive bandage type aftercare (plastic wrap+ointment) under a sock and a soft, loose fitting shoe or sandal plus very limited movement. Your artist will of course make his own suggestions, but from all I know that would seem to be the best bet.

[Dove]

Tattoofinder.com is pretty cool. They let you set up a free account so that you can have a gallery of tattoos that you are considering. I got one design from there, had to pay $15 for it tho. :mad: It's hard to copy it cuz they have these blurry lines running over the designs so that you can't steal them. But it was worth it cuz it's sweet. Anyway, I agree that tattoos should have some personal meaning to you. My boyfriend got an Om even though he knows nothing about it. He just thought it looked cool. He says it's special because he got it with me. I have my star sign inbetween my shoulders, it's like a celtic knot, looks real cool. And a tiny little dove right below my collar bone. I chose the dove because i strongly believe in peace. I have an interesting book called "The Tattoo Encyclopedia." It has almost every symbol you could think of, and it gives it's meaning. Good luck :D