What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?

When I was a young adult, I thought tattoos were ugly and something for regret.

You know the corny story of the person who gets their lovers name put on their body and then they split up…Or you get a band’s cartoon logo put on your leg and they fall out of favour….

(It’s almost as if I know living examples of this!)

Growing up in a conservative Christian home, tattoos weren’t talked about, but the general attitude was they were sinful. I guess that was partly because of God’s Word, but mostly because the kind of people who had tattoos were generally leather clad and maybe involved in organised crime. The tattoos also were generally ugly. Ugly in nature and execution.

A few of my friends in this decade had tattoos and my closest girl friends and I all got the same tattoo as a stamp of allegiance to our friendship.

I was one of the last to get it. I deliberated for a couple of years about the best place to “hide” it and how big to get it. I had been at a wedding where I saw an older lady who had a pretty floral dress in with strappy heels and, with what looked like a grey blob on the outside of her ankle. That alone made me determined to put our logo in a place where it would be hidden once I got older.

So on a visit to one of my girl friends in Townsville, I got it done about the size of a 10 cent piece. In a dodgy tattoo pool bar above a pub. (Looking back – definite face palm)

Over the next day, caring for the abused skin, I  came to the realisation, I was filled with regret.

It was too small!

Somewhere in the years between the 80’s and 2000’s, tattooing moved from being worn by a niche demographic and into the main stream. It became an acceptable and attractive career path for artists. Creative, talented men and women were doing beautiful pieces of art in permanent skin ink. In the 2000s, we saw the rise, via Foxtel, of shows like LA Ink and Miami Ink. About the same time a show appeared of artists who did tattoo cover ups.  Taking peoples youthful mistakes, or poorly executed ideas, and covering them with something beautiful.

I watched all these shows and was impressed by the thoughtfulness that went into deciding what was put on their bodies and the beauty of what could be. I realised I could get the old tiny tattoo covered up and redo the image. So I did.

This time I did more research and I followed a number of Tattoo parlours on Instagram. In the end it was with a friends recommendation that I chose Second Skin Tattoo in Townsville. I had a traditional blue bird to cover the first tattoo and the symbol done much larger.

It was so much better and I soon started thinking of what I could get done next.  It could be my personality type,  but I found that once you start, you want more.

Wanting to honour my faith in God led to searching for cross images. Which turned up Celtic imagery. This linked in beautifully with my ancestry. And so a Celtic styled cross was tattoo number 3. (Or 2 if we are counting what is visible now) Still in a coverable position. Again by Dan at Second Skin Tattoos.

About 7 or 8 years ago, a relative was doing family history and so the family motto from centuries ago was discovered. It was in Welsh, for although what could be traced of our ancestry led back to Ireland, our family name went further back and was originally Welsh origin.

As the motto was a confession of faith in God,  it appealed to me. Strangely, not being Welsh speaking, I decided the family motto should be in English. And so it was added to my back by Dan at Second Skin. Sometimes visible depending on what shirt I wear.

Since then, I have had a couple more ideas for tattoos, a thigh piece and a wrist piece. Whatever happened to hiding the tattoos, hey!!

Obviously, I have not yet acted on them. Part of that is a money thing and part is a hesitance thing. I’m older now and maybe the desire to kick over the traces has been partially quenched.

Time will tell. 

Do you have a tattoo story? Leave me a comment!