Tattoos...your thoughts?
 

Myself and a friend were having this discussion and realized that this a topic that gets varying opinions quite often....Personally, I'm not a fan of them. I don't care for them....my friend recently got one lol.

So, what are your thoughts? Love them, like them, indifferent, dislike?

-Will

I have five tattoos and seven piercings... but I think I'm done. I ran out of inconspicuous places to put them all :p

I don't mind them, if they are tasteful, which I do realize is a matter of perspective. I don't think they look all that great when a person is completely covered in them. I'm actually thinking about getting one eventually.

I love them, and encourage people to have them done if there is meaning behind it, not just on a whim, or because they like the design.

I have 6 tats and Im not done yet...so I guess that means I love them.

I love to see some really well done ones, not some crap thrown on your body (ie the ozzy across the knuckles that was popular when i was in high school lol)

I think they're boss, but coming to a decision that you'll be okay with for the rest of your life (or until you have a big burn mark) is tough.

I enjoy tattoos. Tasteful ones placed carefully, at least. I really enjoy full and half-sleeves, and I've seen a lot of well-placed, well-done, meaningful tattoos that I really admired. I've also seen a lot of poorly-placed, poorly-done, distasteful tattoos as well.

I still don't have one myself, but I've finally got a design in mind that I can actually SEE instead of just having an idea I can't express. Thanks, I'm going to go email the artist I want now. ;)

I wouldn't mind getting a tattoo... but I can't think of anything that I want to put on my body that I know I'll still want 10 years from now.

love em, love em, love em. I have three myself and they all have meaning or tell a story from a chapter in my life. I prolly wont get any more tho because I don't want to be that woman who is covered in tats! No disrespect to women who are covered, my hat is off to you, your confidence is inspiring.

I will say that while I love tats some people just go over board....I honestly cant stand looking at Kat Von D (from L.A. Ink) because she has turned her body into a graffiti board (anyone who watches the show knows she lets people tattoo what they want where they want on her sometimes) and its disgusting to look at

Not my thing. I've seen too many, years later.

It ain't pretty.

Have em, love em, want more.. many many more.

Kat Von D is a babe. Sure she's a bit overboard.. but damn..

I think I would like one, something small, but it is a no-no for Jews (outside of holocaust numbers where it wasn't optional), so can not.

oh Im not at all saying she's not hot....she is....but what she's done to her body is a shame

I'm not that into them, but I think one or two smallish, unobtrusive tats is probably fine. My ex had a small flower which was actually a dragon swallowing its own tail, very stylized and discreet above her ankle. Not bad. And I have a good friend who's a druid, who has a small Celtic knot between his shoulders, and a line of ogham wrapped around his upper arm, spelling out an invocation to his favorite gods. Neither looks at all bad.

On the other hand, I think big-ass tattoos, or having a zillion of them, and any facial tattoos, are all really unappealing. And for God's sake, if you're gonna get a tattoo, have the common sense for it to be something artistic and timeless. One of the first guys I knew to get one, in high school, got the Def Leppard "Pyromania" cover done big on his bicep, and I thought it was the stupidest thing I'd ever seen him do, which was saying something.

I'm pretty sure the first three rules of tattooing ought to be: no band names or album covers, no names of people you're shagging, no pop-culture catchphrases or political statements.

Comon, levite, I know you want one of these:
http://blog.case.edu/zachary.rubin/2...8/doz0214p.jpg

I like big, solid black tattoos in places not prone to stretching out.

My tattoos will look roughly the same 75 years from now.

I think all you need is a good strong conviction, bro.

If you want a PacMan tat on your scrotum? Go for it.

I love em, I haven't been able to commit to something yet because while I'd love to have one custom designed for me (I'm thinking like a fallout style gas mask with the number 127 emblazoned on it) I dont know anyone talented enough to draw it in a way that would look good as a tattoo

(reference: http://www.fantom-xp.com/wallpapers/...ut_Tactics.jpg )

127 is the maximum value of a midi signal
that art style is so steampunk industrial tech and has always appealed to me.
it's like merging technology with mankind.

yeah, anyways, nuff outta me.

Actually, I'd hate to have to break it to the brother who got that eye-catching little piece of body art, but technically, Jewish Law says that we're not supposed to get tattooed. According to Jewish Law, you don't own your body, God does: you're supposed to return in to the earth out of which it was made as close to unmarked by permanent defacement as possible. So that means no tattooing, no deliberate scarring or burning, and not too much piercing for jewelry.

If you ever wondered why you never saw that many rabbis with ink, or couldn't figure out why that Hasid you just passed wasn't running right out to get a Prince Albert...now you know....

...which is exactly why I posted it! It'd be like seeing a tattoo of Joseph Smith or the tablets on a Mormon's arm.

And for the ones that didn't already know...


Yes, that is my back.

Hey Levite, one of my Jewish friends has his name tattooed across his back in Hebrew. He always says that whenever he dies they'll just cut it off before placing him in a Jewish cemetery. Perhaps you should give that star a second thought.

I've got 2 tattoos that I'm really proud of because I put over a year into deciding exactly what I wanted and where I wanted it. The stigmas aren't nearly as rigid as they used to be so if you find something that you think you can commit to - why not?

In a few weeks I'll have something based upon this covering the upper half of my left arm:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...RL._AA240_.jpg

(not all album covers are stupid)

Sorry, dude. Your friend's right, they will do that, but it's still kinda bending the rules to the breaking point. And I personally prefer to be strict about stuff like body art, and instead do my rule-bending with stuff like interpreting the rules of kashrut (dietary restrictions) a little flexibly, or, you know, being a little flexible about all the sex I like to have....

Just a question of priorities, you know?

Kat Von D ... tks for the info. Janine Lindemulder ... hmmm ...now to convince my wife...lol...not really. Tatts are a personal thing, but I am thinking about temps for valentines day for her!!! Me ... a pissed off looking Donald Duck coz it suited the time ...and as for the 'when u get old' thing ... forget about it...something to tell the grandkids

I agree with Manic, when the time and effort are put into the decision, then it's well worth it. People will respect a great piece of work, not so much for spontaneous or questionable ones.

So does being inked mean that when I go I won't be able to get my deposit back?

Also, the above makes my views clear. If you want one (or more) and have a design that you know will work for you, go for it.

You know, I never cared much for them for the longest time. I could appreciate other peoples', and that was fine, but I could never imagine putting one on myself, and anytime lurkette mentioned getting a tattoo, I was sort of against it.

Then I found this:

http://www.thekua.com/rant/wp-conten.../12/WuWei1.jpg

I know, I know, everybody's got chinese on them. I know.

That pair of symbols is "wu wei". After the notion of the Tao itself, wu-wei is probably the second most central concept of Taoism. Literally it translates to "no-action", and it expresses a way of being at one with one's surroundings and allowing one's actions to be given by and expressions of that oneness.

I'm not a Taoist exactly, but it's probably as close to what I'm working to create myself as as anything else commonly practiced by any world culture. And wu-wei is as close to what I'm out to bring myself into the world as as anything else I've ever seen.

Okay, now that's classy. This is what I meant by one timeless thing. Not just visually pleasing, but excellent meaning, and something deeply important to you.

Yeah, that's awesome, dude. More power to you.

How about this?
http://z.about.com/d/tattoo/1/0/q/1/aodtat2.jpg
This is classy.

Hail to the king, baby.

Subtle. Although it might have saved ink and room to just get tattooed with a label reading, WARNING: Small Penis.

Wait, so having a tattoo of Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams is shorthand for 'I have a small penis?'

Well, crap, that's my next design out the window.

Seriously, levite is the first TFPer to make me cry.

I never wanted any tatoos myself. As far as other, to each their own.
Piercings are another matter. I love piercings.

excellent detail. how many tattooists can do that though? thats what I worry about when it comes to getting one.

if done badly it'll be 2 stick figures fucking off.

I used to love mine. I still love most of mine.
Just remember, no matter how much fun you had and how you never want to forget a trip of a lifetime, the Swedish flag is really, really hard to find a cover-up design for. Especially on your spine.

Funny, I love watching London Ink so much more because the focus is on the art when it comes to the tattoos. I trashed my last effort at designing a coverup. I don't know what to do, now.

It would be good to get the opinion of a native Chinese speaker, but that looks like 無為, which is Japanese for idleness/inactivity (possibly with the same Taoist implications as the Chinese you mention). I did a search and found that the traditional Chinese characters for wu wei are 無爲, slightly different. Either would probably be understandable, but it always helps to fact check before taking the plunge :)

Dave had a chinese symbol he wanted, but it seemed that when we researched we could never settle on the correct one....hehehehe so he went to China and got it done there to make sure to get the right one

Don't see the point.

They fade, they don't make you look better, and they make you unique in that non-conformist conformist sort of way.

I don't have a problem with people who want to do it, or think less of them, but I don't think its the best decision you can make.

A good friend of mine had a small tattoo over her right breast in college done. Now in her later 30's you are lucky to tell its not a bruise.