Let's Talk Tattoos

With Jacob sharing his D&D piece, it's made me realize that here's actually a topic we may not have gone into.

So, who's got'em?

I've got three and all are tastefully done and generally good work (one could be touched up due to age). My wife likes 'em, I like 'em and have considered getting another.

However, to be honest, there are occasions where I wish I didn't have any. Those feelings usually come up when I'm at a pool, beach or some other public place where many humanoids have skin showing. There's some bad work out there and some generally ugly people (in attitude not looks), so I wonder if the kids see me with tats, see these folks with tats, and in their little minds equate the two.

I dunno. Like most things I probably overthink it, but sometimes I wish I wasn't 'another tatted guy' at the pool. Ya dig?

I'm sure it all has to do with having kids, but maybe it's like that line Lars says in 'The Other F Word'...when thinking about his kid. (paraphrasing) 'Maybe I shouldn't have gotten those tattoos on my face'...

I have one. I would say the quality is decent but not much more than mediocre. It's the family coat of arms and motto on my left shoulder.

It's funny, I would *LOVE* to get more work done, but two things restrict me:

1) I think finding a tattoo artist is a very scary process, because you think second guessing is bad with purchases... next time I've told myself I'm going to drive down to Austin and really pay some money for an artist who knows what the fuck they're doing. But that also means that doing it would be a miserable amount of work meeting people, looking through portfolios, etc

2) More importantly, I'd love more ink but I don't really know exactly what I want. I think the most likely would be some more abstract art deco design, probably on the left arm.

My wife really wants a large piece of work and knows exactly what she wants. But its expensive and she doesn't know an artist. I'm always surprised she hasn't done it yet.

I only care about my forearm tattoo showing in very certain occasions relating to business. Notwithstanding that, I couldn't care less what other people think. I got mine because I wanted to, and while in retrospect I think maybe it was a dumb idea, each one of my tats has an epic tale behind them, and to me, it's worth it for that reason.

Yes, White, people are judging you on a regular basis because of your ink. Just like people used to judge me when I had long hair. It's a decision you make when you decide to get a visible tattoo and all that comes with that.

I don't have any but this winter was the closest I've come to wanting one. So I did what I always said I would do when I get the urge for one, and will be what I tell my little girl when she gets older (her mom has ink everywhere, so this will be a challenge), "write down the idea you have and put it away for a year or two. Then you open it up and if the idea still strikes you as good, you probably have a good idea". Since people's moods and likes change like the wind. Most teenagers quickly regret getting Tweety Bird on their shoulder.

Anyway, the idea I have is so insanely stupid and pathetic that I'm sure to throw it out when I think about it next November or December for the second time.

Also, getting tattoo'd was cool back in the day cuz almost nobody was doing it. You had bikers, some military folk, that's about it. It was special. Now every single mallrat has some stupid thing on their ankle or lower back. It's become the opposite of cool, it's fully trendy and is no longer special. When it goes out of fashion, it'll become cool again.


Every person with ink says they don't give a rat's ass what people think but eventually it gets tired having people judging you all the time I would think. My former sister-in-law got her face tattoo'd and her hands fully inked and all that. She was all tough for a long time but now hates being out in waiting rooms or other places where people just stare at her. She's tired of being rejected from so many work places because of the way she looks. She's become super bitter at society and it's just your basic cause and effect. She's more of a recluse now and can only socialize with like-minded people (jugaloos and such).

I think non-visible tattoos are just fine since those are just for you and they don't ever close doors. When you're more of an adult, this stuff gets way less important anyway. You can do what you want since you know who you are and what you want.

Pretty racist that only white people judge you.

When I was 18 I got a tat on the shoulder from a Hell's Angels tattoo artist and old friend of my dad's. To the best of my knowledge it's the last one he did before he died. It's imperfect, but I got it for free from an interesting person and I was a whippersnapper who had no business making good decisions for myself so I can't complain, all things considered.

The most annoying thing about having a tattoo is that people always ask what it means. I don't think it's rude or wrong to ask any more than if I was wearing it on a T shirt, since I'm the one who is displaying something on my body. I just get tired of talking about it. On that note...

I have three.




And one that says "PAX ET DISCORDIA" on my inside left forearm. No picture of that.

Pretty nerdy, but I generally like them. Sometimes I have regrets, like the money would've better been spent elsewhere. I generally don't like other people's tattoos -- like barbed wire, or "tribal" horseshit on Joe Trailerpark.

I also have a yellow sign tattoo, but much smaller, and on my upper, inner forearm.

- Rorschach inkblot
- HR Giger abstract bird skeleton
- Kiki and Gigi on the broom
- Brian Froud Crumb Fairy
- Wife's name in Tsalagi (Cherokee alphabet)
- Bats and a moon

The bat thing is my only mistake- it was a good idea but it looks terrible. It's also the only one that doesn't mark a particular time or concept in my life.

I have two right now, black symbols on either shoulder.

My next one is a back piece -- a map of the Minnesota Territory with its (intended) motto*.

My wife is doing her next one soon -- An arm piece silhouette of Darth Vader in the carbon freezing chamber, done in black, with blue and orange highlights.


* In 1849, when the Minnesota Territory was carved out of the Louisiana Purchase, the motto was written, and handed off to someone to translate into Latin. It should have been "Quae Sursum Volo Videre": "I wish to see what is beyond" -- an awesome motto! Unfortunately, they got some jive turnip to do the translation, and what he used doesn't actually translate into English properly. The closest would be "I cover to see what is above".

I remember when I got my tattoo I was living on Welfare, busking and hanging at the library all day. I lived next door to a drug dealer/tattoo artist and he did the work on me... (shared bathroom for three apartments living above a used clothing store) it looked pretty good at first but the years have not been kind. God I was a desolate nobody in those days... way more so than now. Welfare... I can't believe I was on welfare... so horrible.

The first day of work (it took several days) I passed out in the chair and he kept working for a little while. It was horrendous and embarrassing. By the third session I was actually enjoying myself. I don't know who else has this experience but I would be sitting there hearing that never ending buzzzzzzzzzzzzzz and then I could take the pain and make it a different sensation. I would focus on walking down the street in the sunshine. I would focus on feeling my heel hit the sidewalk and roll slowly forward until my toe was touching... over and over and it really felt like that. I didn't even notice the needle after awhile and I think I could have become addicted to the needle if I had of kept going (what a nightmare that would be).

I forget I have it all the time. That's the nice thing about it being on my back. Sometimes when I go to the pool I worry people are judging me but I'm with my son so no one really gives a fuck. But before I had a kid I used to hang out at the pool alone and that was not good.

Imagine this, you're sitting in the hot tub, all is fine, suddenly a group of young boys (or even worse, girls) come up to you to chat. I had really long hair and a giant tattoo on my back, sometimes a beard too... living in Alberta in the 90's (the redneck province in Canada) good lord I received so many stares of death there, sometimes I'd be mildly high while this happened and then the paranoia would creep in.. Jesus that was uncomfortable. Otherwise it's never been an issue, people judge... you bet, I judge them too, so be it.

I've been saving up to get this one cleaned up and I have two additions I'm planning on as well. One is to make it hinged to my skin and the other is to fill in the background. Not with demons like on the book but just with empty space.. black with some stars and maybe a bit of gas... simple.

Looks I forgot to mention what mine are. In order:

A cross with thorns in the middle of my upper back. Between the shoulder blades. The thorns branch out horizontally across the shoulder blades. I think the meaning is self explanatory, but I did decide to commit to it after a period of flirting with other ideologies. It's also done in a more latin style. I got it when I was enrolled in a pro-wrestling school and keyed into the lucha libre culture.

A black and white checkered armband around my left bicep. I got this shortly after moving to Austin in '99. Obviously, it's a nod to 2-tone ska. When I moved here in '99 I didn't know a soul, but being plugged into the ska scene I was able to almost instantly have a group of folks to hang with. Feeling part of a larger, worldwide scene/movement was appealing, and I think the tattoo looks sharp (heh). Unfortunately, it's the hardest one to explain to folks. I usually get asked if I'm a checkers/chess or Nascar fan.

The third is a set of dogs knotted up Book of Kells style on my upper left arm...above the armband, where the arm joins with the shoulder. I got this right before my first child was born.

What I'd like my fourth, and final, piece to be is one of those frankenstein looking jobs where it looks like a limb has been cut off, but sewn back on. I think I first saw this on one of the Misfits guys in the 90s. I'd like to get it where my left arm meets the shoulder. It looks cool, and it'd represent how sometimes I'd like to sever the tattooed limb. The wife is _not_ a fan of this idea though, so it's on hold....for the time being.

I've always had this crazy idea that infants need tattoos of hair placed on their heads so when they grow into adults it might cover up potential male-pattern-baldness as they age.

note to self: don't ask stoic to babysit

I have four, all on my arms, which makes my left arm almost sleeved and my right inner forearm covered.

Most of my work was done by this guy: www.adambforman.com/ when he was still in Ann Arbor. He's doing pretty well in LA now (art design for film, etc.) and spent a little time on LA Ink, as I recall. Very good guy. None of my work shows up on his site because I haven't had any done since he left, which was around 2004. I keep meaning to get more, but I like big pieces, which require money and I've been dealing with other things. I've also been kind of put off by the prospect of finding someone knew, since Adam and I were on the same page from the moment we met.

The first one is a Wiccan design showing a pentacle with the point of the star emerging from the circle and then beginning to writhe like tentacles. The star is black and there are two small eyes in the center pentagon. I had that one done by Suzanne of Creative Tattoo in AA. She passed away shortly after completing it.

Everything else was done by Adam. The right arm piece is a Marxist design that I had fleshed out in my head when I came to him on the recommendation of a friend. It's a fist held aloft with black and red images of people inside it, also holding their fists in the air. The big fist is crushing a $ and there are two banners at the top and bottom, reading "Justice" and "Equality", respectively. He loved the idea as soon as I described it, saying "We'll do this Diego Rivera-style!" He was totally into it and we hit it off.

Then he did a version of the Hanged Man from Aleister Crowley's tarot deck taking up much of my left inner wrist. The man looks like he's made of faceted jade and his foot hangs from an ankh which Adam suspended from the bottom of the pentacle. I could tell when he was doing the work that he wasn't as enthused. I'd given him a copy of the card and he basically just duplicated it. I had kind of expected that he's put his own spin on it but he didn't.

My next idea was the head of a Japanese dragon with its tongue becoming a scroll with the 7 kanji of bushido on it, but it was only about half-formed, unlike the Marxist piece, and I told him to run with it and get back to me. He called me a couple days later and said: "We're gonna have to go bigger, man." I said: "You're the artist." So it became a whole Japanese dragon that covers most of my arm from shoulder to wrist, with the scroll winding past and around its body. We did it in two six-hour sessions which, in retrospect, was kind of stupid, as we were both exhausted by the end of both. But it turned out great and he later told me that it was the piece that really taught him how to tattoo, which was cool to hear.

I have all kinds of plans for more, including one that's going to take up the entirety of my right lower leg. Just have to put aside the money and find someone new that I trust.