Tattoo Stories... Let's share! :D « Back to Group Discussions

[jodieanneanton]

It seems like our chat about tattoos in the belly thread was getting large enough to start its own "tattoo story" thread.  So, how many do you have? Do you still love it? Why did you get it?  Will you get more? :)

[Linnaea]

Thank you to everyone who has shared their tattoos stories so far!  Tattoos are often very personal so I know it's not always comfortable to talk about them.  It's made me smile that so many of us have tattoos in the same location!  How amazing is that?!?  

As far as my cat goes, I got that over a decade ago when I was 18.  A boy I was dating offered to pay for it so me, being the spontaneous, reckless teenager I was, said sure, why not   I didn't know what I wanted so I looked and looked and decided on a black cat.  I've always had an affinity for cats and since I was a crazy teenager, I put it next to my pubic bone to be funny, if you know what I mean   it was funnier back then, now it just seems cheesy.  Thankfully, though, the tattoo artist took the wacky-looking, Halloween cat that I picked out and transformed her into a beautiful, elegant cat that I very much prefer.  It's interesting that I now have a black kitty that looks just like my tattoo, markings and all.  

I have one other tattoo, on the other side of my waist (I think I'll take my next belly picture from that side so you guys can see it) that's of an angel.  The angel sort of looks like me with long, dark curly hair and she looks as if she's floating along, dropping rose petals behind her as she goes.  I had this one done about 4 years after the first one.  It was a time in my life in which I was facing demons from my past that made me identify with this angel on an emotional level.  I got her to symbolize how difficult my past has been so that I would never forget (not like I actually could but it felt beautiful and poetic at the time).  

DP and I would like to get matching tattoos at some point, we're just not sure when or what to get.  He's an artist so he'll probably design them for us, which I'm excited about 

[writermama12]

Well, I already wrote about two of my tattoos in the belly thread but I thought I would share about my other four.

-I have a chinese character on my forearm meaning happiness or good luck (chinese new year common character) that I got on a whim in NY city when I traveled there in college with my writing class. It is covering up a really old tattoo that I gave myself with pen ink when I was 12. It was the three dots "mi vida loca" that many gangbangers have, especially when they kill someone. I never hurt anyone, but wanted to look tough...in college I was determined to forget my history and covering this tattoo was a part of that.

-I also have a chinese character on my ankle meaning strength, got it in hollywood on a whim. I am impulsive.

-I have a bigger chinese character along my spine that is colored in with tie dye colors meaning freedom. Got that the weekend I graduated from high school and turned 18. I also pierced my tongue and nipple around that time.

-My biggest and most intricate tattoo covers my right shoulder blade and up/over my shoulder slightly, so bigger than a dessert plate. It is a scene in old chinese ink style with a large peaceful buddha sitting in the middle of the scene, holding one hand up in a peace gesture and the other holding a lotus flower in his lap, draped in orange robes with a yellow corona around his head. Surrounding him is choppy water with white egrets, large purple flowers and many small bodhi leaves floating around him and up over my shoulder interspersed with chinese style wind bars to show movement of wind. Believe it or not, this was also a whim, although it took a day or two to design the piece. I brought my art books to a tattoo artist and he sketched the whole thing in like a day. I cam in the next day and sat for seven hours while he did the whole thing. I still can't believe I did that. I was an art gallery owner at the time and was very depressed. I think I got the tattoo as a tangible way to do something beautiful and independent, something I wanted to do without anyone else's input. This is the one that I wonder about though. I now live in a very conservative wealthy town, although I am not either, and I worry sometimes as my children grow up here what my tattoos might do to our family socially...maybe nothing, but I really don't know. 

[withlittlelungs]

totally missed the chatter in the belly thread. 

jodie- that tattoo is a heart peace sign. sounds kind of lame, but i love it. i got it to symbolize recovery of my eating disorder. finding peace within myself and being able to truly love myself.

I have 3 others:
-On my wrist I have an Angel wing with the letter E on the top. This was my first tattoo. I got it with my sister (they are matching but hers has an L). We never grew up in the same house, so I like looking at it and feeling close to her.
-across my chest i have "This is Everything". DP has the same one. We got them way before we had romantic feelings for each other. It is a song title. The song is basically about giving your entire heart to something.

-Across my ribcage I have "With Little Lungs I Breathe". More song lyrics. I got it for 2 reasons. I love the song and I was born 8 weeks premature (with immature lungs). I think it is good to remember where you came from. 

I want a ton more. 

Linnaea- I love your cat tattoo. It makes me smile every time I see it on the belly thread. I want a cat tattoo so bad.

Sorry for my spastic post. I had an extremely long day and I am very tired.

[mpvelaz]

I have 3 tattoos

-on my right shoulder I have an angel that was for the miscarriage I had years ago.

-On my lower back I have a dove, I dont really have any reason for getting it, just really liked it.

-On my left leg going down the side of my calf from a little below my knee to down my foot I have a peacock.  I got this as partly a cover up or I guess add on (I had a rose on my ankle that I didnt really like anymore by itself so I added to it).  The peacock I got in May right after I graduated from Midwifery school.  I love peacocks and I had found that they have a symbolic meaning of peaceful, protection, watchfulness and I thought that went along with midwifery well. The tattoo artist was impressed that I was able to sit through the whole sitting (4hrs) with out stopping, I told him I am tougher than I look :)

And I have several others that  I am planning in the future.

[GranolaMama09]

My very first tattoo is a naked pregnant mama on her knees with her hands wrapped around her belly.  It is/was a religious type piece for me and the design came from a ring and pendant I had at the time.  It's about the size of my thumb in both directions and is on the topside of my forearm nearest my elbow.

The one you guys see in my belly pics is a Celtic knot of two dogs.  I got it because it represents eternal loyalty which was something I was sorely lacking from others at that point.  I'd recently put to sleep my dog of 16 years and my husband was cheating on me with my best friend.  I got it as a birthday present to myself.  That design came from a book of Celtic iron on designs.  I literally took in the design and they put it right on me.

My third I was 8 weeks pregnant with my daughter when I got it.  I'd thrown out aforementioned abusive husband about 6 weeks before and then found out I was pregnant.  It's an ankh with a cracked base and wings that sweep down towards my wrist placed below my pregnant mama.  Ankhs symbolize rebirth and the cracked base represented the pain we (my daughter and I) were coming from while the rest of it represents the new life my daughter and I were going to build.  Even more special, I had two miscarriages before getting pregnant with my daughter.  The wings represent the freedom and strength I now possessed.

The fourth one I am utterly ashamed of...I got a name... It's on my back at the base of my neck (easily covered by a shirt).  I was going through tattoo withdrawls and suffering rather heavily from PPD.  The only thing I could afford to get was this name.  DP has a gorgeous cover up planned for me.  It's a Celtic knot wolf paw that's the size of his hand.  He's going to get a matching one to cover up a spot on his left pectoral of an old wolf tattoo he got in the service.  It's where I always lay my head. 

DP is also sketching out my 'tramp stamp' but we're not 100% what that's going to be yet.  I have a Selena Fenech piece I want to get on my calf and I want to take all four of my children's hands and make them into something.  I was thinking a four leaf clover but the 8 year old's hand is too big to make it look right.  I may end up doing individual tattoos for each kiddo instead.

[babytoes]

I have four tattoos

My first is a "tramp stamp"...{{ugh}}  Not exactly my favorite name for tattoos in that area. But, alas, I have one so whatever! Its a simple black swirl design that I semi-designed and loved. I got it when I was about 19. When I got it the artist was suppose to make the middle look like a glass orb, but instead it ended up looking like a blob. Frustrated I went to another artist about two years later and he botched it up even worst... I've always wanted to get it fixed, but its at the point now that there is so much ink in one spot that it would take a miracle to make it look right, so I just leave it, its not so bad, to other people they think its not just a circle in the middle, so I have given up on it.

My second is on my left ankle. Its a small seahorse that I got when I was about 21 or so. A slew of us went to a tattoo parlor in Burlington, and I was planning on just being moral support for my friends but they all talked me into getting "something"... So I looked through the book and liked this little seahorse. The artist made it more "my own" by using a multitude of colors and putting great detail into such a small piece of art. I love that little seahorse, he is still (16 years later!) vibrant and beautiful.

My third is a tree frog climbing up my right ankle. I got that one about a year after the seahorse, the same artist did the work and he did an excellent job on the frog as well. I designed it, and was smitten with tree frogs at the time. Although I get complements on him, I feel like he's just sort of hanging out on my ankle all alone. If it wasn't for the fact that I don't want a huge amount of artwork on my ankle (I have kind of grown out of that phase! lol) I would give him some vines and flowers and give it some substance. But oh well! He looks good, and his color is still strong so I don't think about it any more... haha!

My last, and largest piece is on my back from neck to waist. Five years ago I packed up all my stuff, my three kids and moved out while my ex-husband was at work (yes he came home to an empty house..), it was by far the most empowering thing I had ever done and I felt like I was finally free of the manipulation and control. A month later I got a kanji symbol at the base of my neck that said "freedom". About a year later I designed an entire back piece, to go with what I had started, all in kanji lettering. The meaning is "freedom" for getting out of a bad marriage, "happiness" for how I felt about how my life was changing, "gratitude" for being given the opportunity (from fate, God, or whatever you believe) to change my life and go back to school, "passion" for the zeal that I felt for my life and my future, and finally "wealth" for the abundance of support and love that I received from my family and friends to make my (and my children's) life better and going back to school. 

I think I am done for the time being. Now I need to get DP to get something... he's got NOTHING!

[scruffy too]

My one and only tattoo.   Just really liked the design, especially the mountains.  And the tree.  It's on my left calf, about 6 inches tall and 4 inches wide. 

I know I'll get more - I held off on getting my first one because I knew once I started I'd be hooked.  I've always known I'll have lots of tattoos, just tried to wait as long as possible.  I prefer tattoos that work together and plan on getting sleeves and having my back covered - it's for this reason I've stayed away from smaller pieces because I'd be pissed if they didn't fit into my "master plan."

To fill the tattoo void, I've been much more attracted to non-permanent work: piercings.  I've retired quite a few, but still have left eyebrow, tongue, septum, and left nipple.  My ears are stretched to 3/4".  Anyway, I'm not looking forward to removing my nipple piercing, and I'm not sure when the big day will be...  I've had it for half my life, I believe I'll miss it.

[writermama12]

Scruffy your tattoo is beautiful!! 

[cabbitdancer]

I love tattoos. I've always loved tattoos, and this thread thrills me to no end. :D I love seeing all this lovely artwork!

I was 21 when I got my first tattoo. It was Valentine's Day and I was pissed at the world, so I walked into a tattoo parlor in San Francisco and drew up a really quick abstract dragon for them and asked them to put it on the back of my left shoulder. A couple of years later, I had a pentacle added to the background and then had it all put into a bubble with a tortie cat underneath playing with the bubble. I don't have access to my usual computer, or I'd post a picture.

My other tattoo is a little high to be a proper "tramp stamp." I got it when my daughter was about 18 months old. It's a motherhood knot, with a pair of roses curling to either side of it, and a dragonfly made of a sprouting bean flying over it. The knot and the roses I found inspiration for online, but the dragonfly was all me, for my little "Bean."

I want so much more. I want paw prints, somewhere. I want a fox hiding underneath a fedora. I kind of want a thunderbird, too, but I have to think about it, some more. XD

[SamiPolizzi]

This thread needs more pictures. :)

I have 8. I got my first two when I was 17, a treble clef on one ankle and a bass clef on the other. I just thought they were cool at the time (still do, btw.) My second I got on my 18th birthday. It's an ama-gi, which is sumerian cuneiform meaning "liberty." That same year I got two more tattoos. One is some music notes on my wrist. A close friend was moving out of the country, so we had another friend write a measure of music and then we each got half of it on our wrists, so when we put our wrists together it's completed. (Side note: the friend I got it with ended up moving back and then eventually became my sister-in-law.) The next one is just a generic flower, which I got with another close friend on her birthday. My 6th tattoo is definitely the most meaningful. It's my son's footprint on my shoulder blade. After that I went with my friend again to get tattoos on her birthday (4 years after we got the flowers.) For that birthday I got hops on my foot. Not super meaningful, but fun. And my most recent tattoo is the word peace on my wrist. It is meant to be a reminder of the kind of parent I want to be. I had hoped that in moments of anger, I could look at my wrist and it would be a helpful reminder. My next tattoo will be my next son's foot print on my back. :)

[delilahbeau]

Ok I'll move my story over here from the belly thread:

 Jodieanneaton, writermama12, and withlittlelungs I have a tattoo in the same place as well. It is a tree frog with dragon fly wings. I had recently had my totem read and it was a time of rebirth in my life. Both the dragonfly and the frog were my strongest totem animals at the time and so I had my first tattoo done at 24. At the time I was super skinny and my hip bones stuck out so it was a painful tattoo and now she looks like she has been flattened on a car window over my preggo belly, but I still love, love, love her. I believe that tattoos are permanent reminders of stories in our lives and she is a huge part of my story! My DD loves to kiss her a giggle, "mommy she is getting bigger and bigger, she might just explode!"

My second tattoo is on my upper back from shoulder to shoulder, it is my DD hand prints from the day she was born with angel wings, her name above and you save me below. The birth of my DD saved me from myself in so many ways. I suffered from anorexia and bulimia for many years and I was getting better but it wasn't until I found out I was pregnant that I was able to take some huge steps in recovery, I wanted a book marker of what I felt my daughter had done for me in my life so I got this tattoo. Any time I struggle with my weight I stand in a mirror and look at it or I run my fingers over it. This pic is from my wedding day, second best day of my life. 

[BeantownBaby9]

my first tattoo is a celtic cross that was on the cover of the program for my 103 year old Great Grandma's funeral.  Its on my right lower back.  Not "tramp stamp" area, but to the right.

My second tattoo was a marigold for my first miscarriage.  I miscalculated the placement and it did not look right so I had it surgically removed

My 3rd tattoo I got this year on my husband's birthday.  Its on my left inside wrist, white ink, and says "Just Breathe" in Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam's handwritting off a setlist.  The song has been so important over the last couple years

My tattoo artist won't ink me up while pregnant so I have to wait but the next one will likely be white ink again, outlines of both boys with Chase holding a kite, and the kite set in some stars.....for my mom and my boys.  

[cabbitdancer]

White ink. I've never considered getting anything in just white ink. That's kind of neat.

[veganyogamomma]

Oooh- fun thread! I have 8 tattoos...

First I got were two nautical stars on the back of my ankles. Not too exciting or fancy!

Then, I got a heart with a dagger through it on my upper arm. It was done by a good friend of mine who had just finished his apprenticeship. It's definitely my least favorite tattoo at the present. It's fine, but it's not great, so I'm annoyed that it's in such a prominent place. I have much better work that is usually hidden by clothing. Anyway, I got this one because I was playing in a band called The Juliet Dagger at the time, we had gotten signed and it was a big moment.

Next, I got a banner with an Ani DiFranco quote on my belly. The banner is held by sparrows on either side (just above my hip bones). I later added on a skull above the banner with roses on either side, so this one goes all the way up to my belly button. It's not looking so great these days!! Haha.

On the inside of my left wrist, I have a heart with two arrows crossed through it and six stars around it. My ex-fiance and I got these matching. I heavily considered a cover-up after I called off the wedding and we split- but I feel like it holds a part of my story and I'm okay with it. Helps me remember a time that really changed and strengthened me as a person.

On my ribcage, I have a giant unicorn head! Haha. It's a carousel horse type unicorn that goes from the band of my bra down to my hip. I got this one because, after I had called off that wedding, I moved and my mom gave me a box of my stuff from when I was a kid. In there was a ton of unicorn stuff, including a journal of poems about unicorns. I was really obsessed as a child! After the whole almost getting married to the wrong guy ordeal, I felt like I needed a good reminder to not take things to seriously, not try to grow up too fast, etc.

Covering the tops of both feet, I have large blue and purple roses. My little sister and I got these together right after my grandmother died. As a symbol of our family connection.

The largest piece I have is my back. I have a phoenix that goes from my shoulders down to the back of my thighs. This one took a really long time to finish. Over a year, sessions of 4-6 hours at a time every month or so. I started this one just after I had an undiagnosed ectopic pregnancy that burst and resulted in emergency surgery. I bled internally for three days before they knew what was happening and it was a really intense experience. I wanted to honor the part of myself that could rise up from such an overwhelming situation and move forward. I laugh about this one now, because I had my last session to finish this one a couple of weeks before I ended up moving to Phoenix (which I had absolutely zero plans to ever do when I had started it!). Here is a picture of it about 75% completed. Somehow I don't have a picture of it finished!!

The last one I got was free from a local shop that had Free Unicorn Tattoo Tuesday. Of course, I couldn't resist!! My husband and I got them together, matching zombie unicorns. Mine is on the outside of my ankle. Not the most meaningful, but definitely a fun one.

Not sure what I will do next! I'm sure it will be a while before I get anything else, but perhaps a full sleeve or even a leg sleeve is in order...

[cabbitdancer]

That's beautiful, veganyogamomma!

[delilahbeau]

Love all of these!!

[cocoanib]

Tattoo stories, how fun!

My 1st was in college. I love pears, the smell, taste, symbolism...so I got a small pear on my thigh :)

(can't find a good pic and it needs recoloring now)

Second was years later. grapes and vine on my foot. Love red wine and the symbolism of grapes and I planned to continue with the grapevine theme in my next tatts.

(can't find a good pic and it needs recoloring now.)

3rd was a grapevine and grapes across shoulders and back. It took years to complete, because of time and funds, but in April, I finally finished it.

it wraps around to the front of my shoulders

DH has since taken up tattooing, so he's been practicing on hiself and me. I told him he's pretty darn lucky to have a wife who let's him practiuce tattoo on her :) It's fun, but if I'm not careful, I'm going to wind up with more tattoos than I ever imagined!

From him I have a peace sign on my ankle

These were taken just now with my cell, so they're not very good.

doodles that babygirl drew on my arm and he tattooed over

my daughter's name near my clavicle

and a om symbol on my neck

more to come :) 

[babytoes]

Wow cocoanib those are gorgeous! I love the grape vine along your shoulders, very pretty! And you tied your daughters name into the vine, very clever... I can't imagine having a DH that did tattoos, I would be getting all kinds of things done and end up with them covering my body! Not something I necessarily feel is for me. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures, I love looking at tattoos..

[cocoanib]

Originally Posted by babytoes 

Wow cocoanib those are gorgeous! I love the grape vine along your shoulders, very pretty! And you tied your daughters name into the vine, very clever... I can't imagine having a DH that did tattoos, I would be getting all kinds of things done and end up with them covering my body! Not something I necessarily feel is for me. Thanks so much for sharing the pictures, I love looking at tattoos!

Thanks!

I love looking at all the tattoos too and hearing the stories of why people get what they get.

DH keeps trying to convince me to get a sleeve, but that's not really my thing. Having a tattoo artist so readily available is so dangerous though :)