Author Topic: Your tattoo stories  (Read 2746 times)

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dallas10086

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Your tattoo stories
« on: Aug 22, 2011, 10:45 pm »
I'm turning 32 (tomorrow!) and I'm getting my first tattoo. I'm a tad of a late bloomer, as a previous post on tattoos in the workplace made me realize. I've thought about getting this tattoo for the past five years, which leads me to believe after that length of time I shouldn't regret it. Fingers crossed.

The plan is to get the word 'gypsy' on my right wrist, very small, in white ink, in attractive lettering, maybe in greek (I lived in Athens years ago). I've moved consistently since I was 3 weeks old, so there's that aspect behind the word; the other is to remind me that home isn't necessarily four walls and a roof, which tends to be comforting during the crazy times.

What's the story behind your tattoo(s)? Let's share them all - the good, the bad, the ugly and the drunken oh-my-sweet-lord-why-did-I-get-that-THERE?! stories. Attached pictures get extra credit  ;)

Tempest

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Re: Your tattoo stories
« Reply #1 on: Aug 23, 2011, 11:58 am »
I have three tattoos, all of which I designed myself.
The largest is a loose celtic knot, in the abstract shape of a bird, that spans my whole lower back.  I did the design and tweaked at it for two years before I actually had it done.  It's big for a first tattoo, but I knew I wanted it, and if I found I couldn't stand the tattoo process, at least I'd have that one.  The impetus to finally get it?  The realization that I was actually better off without the fiancee who had dumped me the year before, so the bird was a celebration of freedom.
Second tattoo had a much shorter planning period.  As an assignement in a college art class, we had to come up with a personal symbol, and I came up with a candle nextled in a crescent moon; and really really liked it.  The next semester, I got it inked on my calf a few hours before curtain on opening night of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" which I both SMed and Master Carpentered my senior year.  Sort of a "Congratulations, you survived!" treat.
The third is the spiral triskele from the Newgrange Passage Tomb, encircled in vines, at the base of my neck.  The artist did a great job of matching the colors of the bird.
If I wear work appropriate clothes, none of them are visible, except perhaps tiny glimpses of the triskele through my hair, and even if they were visible, they're all tasteful, abstract geometry.  I've had my oldest tattoo for ten years, and I've never regretted a one of them.  They make me happy to think about.
But, I do think that's in a large part because I did the design work on all of them, taking my body shape, aging, weight loss and gain, and pale skin into consideration (only the moon has any black in it.)  I know I wouldn't be so pleased with them, still, if I had picked them out of a book, and I thought about all of them for at least a few months before I went under the needle.
Jessica: "Of course I have a metric size 4 dinglehopper in my kit!  Who do you think I am?"

missliz

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Re: Your tattoo stories
« Reply #2 on: Aug 23, 2011, 12:35 pm »
Next month I'll actually be getting my first tattoo, the Penguin Books logo. I've been an avid reader since I was little, and also have a fondness for penguins. :) I am still undecided if I'll be getting it black and white or with the red background inside the circle (the logo reserved for plays). It'll be going on the side of my hip, like the spine of a book.
I personally would like to bring a tortoise onto the stage, turn it into a racehorse, then into a hat, a song, a dragon and a fountain of water. One can dare anything in the theatre and it is the place where one dares the least. -Ionesco

Bwoodbury

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Re: Your tattoo stories
« Reply #3 on: Aug 23, 2011, 01:38 pm »
I have four, which sounds like a lot. I have two relatively small ones that are nestled into each other on my wrist. My sister and I both have tattoos in each others handwriting that say lybs (which is something we've said to each other all our lives: it stands for love you big sister or love you baby sister, respectively). People either think it's adorable or really silly. The second one that is nested underneath says LB, which stands for little brother in my handwriting, so both siblings were represented.

Then I have a bigger one on my other wrist that says "If life is a bag joke, the only basis of understanding is art" and then has a symbol underneath that I drew for myself that is a kind of stylized drama mask. The quote is from Tristan Tzara's manifesto for theatre.

My last tattoo is on my side and is a single element from Kandinsky's Composition VIII, my favorite painting. If you know the painting, its the big curvy line with the thin line through it.

All of my employers have been cool with my visible tattoos because they represent a passion for what I do and loving my family. Values that clients tend to be pretty cool with, but all I have to do is put on a black sweater and I'm good to go!

I want to get one last tattoo on my foot that's a Vonnegut quote. I just can't quite pick my favorite!

 

riotous