Do you have a tattoo?

[Francine]

I'm boring. I've only got a rose on my left ankle.

I've got a red rose and a purple rose on the back of my left calve (calf?) to hide a scar related to childhood diabetes, which made me self-conscious. I need to go back in the next few weeks to get the green stems added.

 

[Gentoo]

How about piercings?

I have an industrial in my right ear, I love it!

 

[Nanda]

I have an industrial in my right ear, I love it!

Several of my friends have those. I keep threatening to make little tiny shower curtains for their ears.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

How about piercings?

I have both ears double pierced, and my left cartilage pierced once although it has closed up since.

I would like someday to have my nose pierced, but the husband is waaaaaayyyyy too set against the idea for me to consider it more.




Peace,
Mystic

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I am finally going to get a tattoo this coming up Friday. It's going to be of Disturbed's face "sickness" logo.
And I'm getting it at a reduced rate since my girlfriend is good friends with the tattoo artist doing it.

 

[Somkid]

Any time I ever considered getting a tattoo I was too drunk so, I promised myself when I sobered up I would consider it more seriously. Well, its been almost 23 years that I could legally have gotten that tattoo without mom and dads consent and I have been sober for most all of the 23 years and I still can't decide what is going to still look good when (if) I'm 90 as well what if I'm no longer into the same thing in 10 years later, for example there was a time when I thought a Black Sabbath tat would be cool, although I do give Black Sabbath a listen perhaps once a year it no longer suits me and now that I live in Thailand tattoos are not very popular, actually the people that do have tattoos here (the Thai people that is not the foreigners that live here or the tourists)are not the kind of people you want to be associated with so, I guess I have to think on it for another 23 years or so.

 

[Gentoo]

Several of my friends have those. I keep threatening to make little tiny shower curtains for their ears.

I never even thought of that! I wonder where you get shower hooks small enough...

 

[Darkness]

I am finally going to get a tattoo this coming up Friday. It's going to be of Disturbed's face "sickness" logo.
And I'm getting it at a reduced rate since my girlfriend is good friends with the tattoo artist doing it.

You mean this?

 

[CelticRavenwolf]

I have 2. My first one is on my left leg above my ankle and is the paw print that I use to sign my artwork. It isn't really the print of any animal in particular - I used to call it a wolf's paw print, but when I drew it in my youth it never looked like one, and I didn't want to change it for the tattoo. My husband forever gives me a hard time about it, so I just call it MY paw print!

The second is one I have had in the works for years, which I finally found an artist good enough to allow to ink it on me. It is on the small of my back, a maple leaf intertwined within a Celtic knot. The knot symbolizes my mother's (Irish) side of my heritage and my spiritual return to my ancestor's origins, while the maple leaf represents my father's side (who have been in Canada since the 1600s, before it was Canada) and to tie it to my husband. He has the identical tattoo, larger and on his shoulder, because he has always wanted a maple leaf tattoo and got the knotwork so we could have matching pieces.

I really wish I could post a picture, because its a beautiful tattoo, but my server is dead and I have nowhere else to post them!

 

[Shadow Wolf]

You mean this?

No. Allthough "The Birth of a Monster" is an interesting picture.

This is what I am getting, only in black, and just the face.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

The second is one I have had in the works for years, which I finally found an artist good enough to allow to ink it on me. It is on the small of my back, a maple leaf intertwined within a Celtic knot. The knot symbolizes my mother's (Irish) side of my heritage and my spiritual return to my ancestor's origins, while the maple leaf represents my father's side (who have been in Canada since the 1600s, before it was Canada) and to tie it to my husband. He has the identical tattoo, larger and on his shoulder, because he has always wanted a maple leaf tattoo and got the knotwork so we could have matching pieces.

Very cool. Reminds of something that occurred to me a while back: that a line from The Maple Leaf Forever would make a good theme for a tattoo:

The thistle, shamrock, rose entwine the maple leaf forever!

I thought about getting something like that for a while, since it pretty well describes my background (Irish and Scottish with a smattering of English, and kinda like you described for yourself, some of my family's been here a while: I have relatives that were Loyalists in the American Revolution who were driven off their homes into Canada in the 1770s, and there are rumours that we can trace our family tree back at least to the Mayflower). I thought better of it, though, because I go to Quebec often enough that I worry that a tattoo themed on that song could rub people the wrong way.

I've been thinking about getting a tattoo of my clan crest, but I've held off... partly for money and partly because my wife isn't a big fan of tattoos, but also because I'm not sure how "proper" it is to get a clan crest permanently marked on one's body in the context of crests, heraldry and such - I'm more after a mark of my family history, not a brand of ownership by the clan's chief... if that makes sense.

 

[CelticRavenwolf]

The thistle, shamrock, rose entwine the maple leaf forever!

I thought about getting something like that for a while, since it pretty well describes my background (Irish and Scottish with a smattering of English, and kinda like you described for yourself, some of my family's been here a while: I have relatives that were Loyalists in the American Revolution who were driven off their homes into Canada in the 1770s, and there are rumours that we can trace our family tree back at least to the Mayflower). I thought better of it, though, because I go to Quebec often enough that I worry that a tattoo themed on that song could rub people the wrong way.

I've been thinking about getting a tattoo of my clan crest, but I've held off... partly for money and partly because my wife isn't a big fan of tattoos, but also because I'm not sure how "proper" it is to get a clan crest permanently marked on one's body in the context of crests, heraldry and such - I'm more after a mark of my family history, not a brand of ownership by the clan's chief... if that makes sense.

Heh, yeah I can see where the French might be cranky over that, but you know, screw 'em! It fits your heritage, and I guarantee that there are Canadians out there with maple leaf and fleur du lis tattoos out there!

My father's side of the family is primarily French. My uncle who did our genealogy was
unable to trace it back beyond landfall in the New World, though our last name is that of the royal family that ruled until the Hundred Years War in France. *shrugs* Who knows? I know people like to brag about being descended from royalty, but even if we were, those ancestors were thoroughly thrashed and had that title well and truly deposed!

what you said about the crest makes sense. It seems to me too that by - as you say - branding a clan crest on your body, maybe it could be considered to be disregarding the other aspects of your heritage?

I don't know. But I think the thistle, shamrock and rose intertwined about a maple leaf would be a beautiful and exceptionally symbolic tattoo!

 

[kadzbiz]

Wow, I've missed this thread for a while.

I'm finally getting the nose pierce I always wanted
this April on my 40th birthday. YAY!

I've never seen the attraction of a nose piercing myself. Thought it would always get in the way when blowing one's nose.

.....And I'm getting it at a reduced rate since my girlfriend is good friends with the tattoo artist doing it.

Yeah, price is the only thing that keeps me from getting a few more. Can justify increasing the priority of a tattoo.

 

[Nanda]

I never even thought of that! I wonder where you get shower hooks small enough...

Jump rings (for jewelry making). You can get them at almost any bead/craft store.

 

[NoahideHiker]

I've been thinking more about getting inked and I think I might get a Caduceus. Google brought up some cool variations.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

The fly was designed by Papersock! It symbolizes ephemeral life.

Neat!

The idea reminds me - in theme, anyway - of one classic tsuba (guard) used for Japanese swords:

The design is (probably falsely) attributed to Miyamoto Musashi. It's supposed to represent drops of dew on grass in the moonlight; the message being that the life of a warrior is as tenuous as the existence of those drops of dew in the face of the approaching dawn.

Speaking of Japanese art & culture, a part of me wants to get two Japanese sayings tattooed on my forearms: on one arm, "the sword that kills is the sword that gives life"; on the other, "divine tactics do not kill". I'll probably never get them, though - a tattoo that I could cover up for work & social occasions is an unlikely probability as it is. A tattoo that I can't cover... I can't see it happening. But I do understand the appeal.

 

[Nanda]

Ah, those japanese... Everything so infused with meaning. <3

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Ah, those japanese... Everything so infused with meaning. <3

I'm hoping to get my sword for my iaido sometime soon... I'll probably end up getting it off-the-shelf, so I hope the Chinese company (most swords in my price range are Chinese) that puts it together knows what they're doing. I remember when a classmate of mine was getting ready to order her sword with all custom fittings... they all have rather ornate figures and symbols on them, but the web sites you order them from only have a word or two to describe each.

She showed her available options to our sensei, who's also an expert on Japanese swords and swordmaking, along with the swordfighting he teaches us. He probably spent half an hour telling her and the rest of us what all the different symbols meant; things like "well, this means X and that means Y, but when they're together they mean Z"... and "this figure they've labelled as 'Fighting Monk I' is actually a character named ____, and he and 'Fighting Monk III' are from this traditional story about this virtue, so if you get one, you need to get the other"... and on and on like that. I think she was overwhelmed by the whole thing. She had come in picking a set of fittings for their appearance, but decided on something else when she found out that when taken all together, her choices would've meant something like "cowardice in the face of danger".

 

[Nepenthe]

I've never seen the attraction of a nose piercing myself. Thought it would always get in the way when blowing one's nose.

See, I love a woman with piercings; I think it's incredibly sexy. My wife has her septum pierced and both ears have 6 piercings each. I only have my nose pierced. For some reason I don't find lip rings as sexy though....

 

[Nanda]

Btw, this:

Is now this: