Sunday, March 18, 2007

tattoo me


Someone recently mentioned that she has an appointment with a tattoo artist. So i thought i would post a picture of my tattoo. Also in honor of the day after St Patrick's Day. (I am a little slow.) I got this when i was 44. It's on my belly, a few inches below and to the right of my belly button, and it's about 6 cm (2.5 inches) high.

It's a slight modification of a Celtic design that i have admired for years. It's all black. My skin is not that color by the way, this picture is in black and white.

I don't believe i'll ever get another tattoo, but i really like this one and am very happy with it. Few people even know it's there. Except for you all.

Do you have any tattoos and where and what are they? Pictures are appreciated.

41 comments:

Gordo said...

I already posted mine.

I will be getting another, but I haven't been able to decide what.

meno said...

Oh thanks Gordo. I like that one. It's simple and has no bloody eyeballs. Keep us up to date about any new ones.

Unknown said...

Not yet, but I'm planning on three. The first two will be identical 1938 Chevy pick-ups speeding away, tatoo'ed one above each ankle, ala Hermes' winged sandals.

The other will be on the small of my back, and will be a Raven-headed person sitting in a boat, holding up a red feather as a sail, with the caption 'A Traveler on the Sea of Story'.

Anonymous said...

I've been kicking around the idea of a tattoo for YEARS. I'm after a very small, very understated, almost minimalist dragonfly. I'm not sure where I'd want to put it, but that's what I'd want.

The problems are that a) I have a VERY dear friend who happens to be a kick-ass tattoo artist (http://www.thebigegraphics.com/ - sorry, shameless plug, I couldn't resist) and I'm not sure he'd consent to "minimalist" and b) I'm a big old baby when it comes to self-inflicted pain. I don't go out of my way to hurt, is what I'm sayin' here.

There could be an upside to the suffering, though.... I wonder if a tat would get me more cred with my students, yo?

SUEB0B said...

I am glad that is not your skin color. I was worried a bit.

Tattoos seriously skeeve me out. I dunno why - they just do.

jaded said...

No tatoos......I get pinstriped occasionally when the Missus gets careless with the paint brush. I think the Missus has considered getting one...maybe the small of the back or the nape of the neck...I think the difficulty is in deciding upon a design.

I like the celtic knot. They're complex and retain an element of mystery.

meno said...

nancy, do you have any sketches?

mrs.chili. depending upon where you get one, it doesn't hurt that much. Over bone (ankle, wrist) it hurts like a mother (i'm told) but over, ahem, fleshier areas, it's not too bad.

suebob, that sounds like a GREAT reason not to get one!

patches, maybe you have a microchip you badass! I thought about mine for about 10 years before i did it, so no rush for the Missus.

Joan said...

Love the tattoo! Hubby and I have talked about getting small ones for years but we're both a little needle-phobic. Did it hurt much?

Special K ~Toni said...

I just have one large tattoo on my chest, therefore no pics! It says "Embalmer, please try CPR one more time" *snort*

Yeah, not too much into all that pain, although hubby is. He has 3!

Glad that's not your skin color, was gonna tell you to get to a beach!

Schmoopie said...

I have been wanting a tattoo for a number of years. I know I want a circle with a seastar in it and maybe a crescent moon on the outside of it. I want Stucco to sketch it (he drew his own tattoo and had it done years ago.) Where did you have your done? I like the art down at Alki tattoo, but I'm not sure if they are the best. Any recommendations? :)

jaded said...

Baby, I totally have the microchip and an awesome collar with pagan symbols...uh I mean celestial emblems.

meno said...

joan, thanks! Depends where on your body you have it put. See my comment to mrs.chili, above.

toni, that's funny! I used to threaten to get one on my stomach with an arrow pointing down that said "inquire within."

schmoopie, i do have a recommendation. Send me an e-mail. Your idea sounds cool. I always think it's much more meaningful to have something designed for you, rather than pick it out of a book.

patches, somehow i suspected that you harboured an inner wilcat.

Unknown said...

Oh yes. I have the drawing for the pick-up, and the raven is actually from a Marvin Hill piece. Love that guy's work.

Lynn said...

Beautiful tatoo! The thought of needles injecting dye onto my skin freaks me out...Plus the pain...OH the pain, did I mention that I am a wuss?

luckyzmom said...

I'm with toni LMAO!!!

karmic said...

Glad that is not your skin color, and I love the tatoo. I dont have any.

QT said...

I really like that design. I have an African Chichlid on my hip, left side, it is about 4" long and 2.5" wide, very colorful. I do want another, but I am not sure where to get it that I can look at it myself (everyone keeps telling me to get it on my back). I think the next one will be bigger - probably 6" in diameter. It is a PNW Native American design, the raven giving man the box of light, I already have the design. This one will be black and red.

meno said...

nancy, i've never heard of that guy before. I spent some time looking at his website. It reminds me a little bit of Edward Gorey, except with color. Very cool. So get on with it woman!

lynn, it is a weird idea, but one that has persisted for centuries.

luckyzmom, :)

sanjay, even i am not that white. :)

qt, i like fish! I do like that i can easily look at my tattoo. Your next one sounds cool too.

Bob said...

I've never found anything I wanted to wear for the rest of my life. That being said, I am fascinated with tattoos. My wife has two.

Mona Buonanotte said...

2 tats, one on each shoulder blade...there's a photo of one of 'em somewhere in my blog archives....

TTQ said...

Mine is a little lamb jumpin over a fence, I talked about getting it for years and the night I was convinced to DO it, I couldn't really express how I wanted it to look..luckly the placement is about right.. It's on my left side right above my groing you can only see the feet when I wear a swimsuit. I was too chicken to get it closer towards the middle (where I wanted it), I really wanted a lamb I could ahve around so it would be a fuzzy little lamb..maybe even dye it white every now and again.

I would really like to have it redone, my husband likes to tell me it looks more like a penguin..but he's just jerkin my chain because I told him the whole story..

I do have a picture..but I'm not sure if I want to send it..

gary rith said...

I have found that a person can have a lot of fun with markers, and considering the drunken impulse to use them, fortunately results are NOT permanent.

Princess in Galoshes said...

I have always wanted one... just never got around to it. Although The Funasaurus did recently mention that he'd never date someone with a tatoo... which makes me think I really need to get one before le marriage this year.

:-)

Girlplustwo said...

i have one in the small of my back (done before it was trendy, I swear to god) but J and I keep wanting to get another one - the same one on both of us - to commemorate M.

Lynnea said...

So I have a tattoo on my right breast. Its an out of the box, or just off the wall if you will, tattoo that my best friend at the time bought for me on my 22nd birthday. Its a phoenix and very telling of the emotion I felt at the time. (Bonus: my mother hates it.)

I would like to get another one (only one more though) but it would be original art drawn by my hubby. I want something that winds from the back of a thigh around the outer thigh and ends on the lower abdomen. Still playing with ideas.

thailandchani said...

I have a lotus flower on my back, almost right over my right shoulder blade. Oh, yes. It hurt! And it was expensive! But it's very beautiful and I still like it.

On my right wrist, I have one also.. just a word "Thailand" in very pretty script.

That one *really* hurt!

It's a real temptation to get more but at this point, I don't know what to get or where. When I see something, it will be obvious and I'll end up with more. As for location, right above my breast on the right side is appealing.

Yours is very attractive! :)


Peace,

~Ch

caro said...

I've been wanting to get one for years. Too much of a wuss. Yours is fantastic.

Tink said...

I love celtic designs. I don't have any tattoos. But I've designed quite a few. At one time I considered getting a celtic tree on my back, or a lovely pair of wings. But in the end I wasn't crazy enough about either design to commit.

meno said...

bob, no reason to commit to something you may not want to look at forever. Your wife is cool!

mona, i'll head over and do a search.

ttq, tell your husband that if he ever wants to SEE that tattoo again, he'd better behave. If you ever feel like it, post a picture on your blog.

gr, luckily my daughter follows that same philosophy!

princess, i'd say that pretty much makes it a necessity! At least it would in my book.

jen, don't you hate that? I guess you are just a fashion forward kind of woman. I love the idea for your next tattoo.

maggie, What? No picture of your boob? That is a great bonus!!! I should tell my mom about mine just to see that look on her face. I like your idea for the next one too.

chani, i knew about the wrist tattoo, but the one on your back sounds lovely too. Keep to the fleshier areas and it won't hurt so damn much.

caro, thank you. No rush, i thought about mine for 20 years. Just making sure....

tink, i love Celtic designs too. There are lots of patterns if you search the internet. But take your time as you'll be looking at it for a long long time, hopefully.

Anonymous said...

that's cool. I like celtic designs, they're so intriguing.

I have a holly on my left ankle; I got it when I was 18. mama got one at the same time, she designed her own, it's a pennsylvania dutch-ish bow with hearts.

I plan to get a tramp stamp with my kids' names and a winged heart for my father-in-law on my left shoulder. I have long harbored the desire to get one I saw online, but can't work up the nerve to let anyone see that much of me. it's a stick man pushing a lawn mower through the bush.

jessica got some chinese symbols on her nape for her 17th birthday, and for her 19th, she just had a peace sign put on her inner wrist.

I'll post pics on my flickr in the next couple of days.

thailandchani said...

Meno, yes.. my other wrist will remain bare.. as well as my ankle. I didn't think I was going to get through that. And it hurt like bloody hell for a week afterward as well.

"What was I thinking?" escaped my lips many, many times.

Fleshy areas. Hm. Well, that leaves a wide open canvas as far as my body these days. LOL

:)


~Ch

meno said...

holly, thanks, i felt like i was finally old enough. That's a neat story about you and your mom. I am dying laughing over the stick man. I look forward to the pictures.

chani, i hear ya sister! Lots more pallette than in years past. :)

Joan of Arf said...

Love your tattoo! I have an outline of a star in the same place. Had it done the summer after I had my heart broken... in London at place called Saints, on my way to spend the summer-of-recovery in Florence, Italy. I had them make it the size of a 50p coin.

I was all by myself and the tattoo dude kept saying "Downt scream, luv..." in his British accent. He was afraid I'd scare away his next customers if I started shouting bloody murder at how much it hurt.

Best adrenaline rush ever.

urban-urchin said...

My friend has the best tattoo ever. She and two other friends all got moustaches tattooed on the inside of their index fingers.

It's the funniest thing to watch her hold her finger under her nose. She said she wanted a funny tattoo and one that would be funny when she was 80. Unfortunately due to the location she said it hurt like hell.

I have no tattoos as I fear needles WAAAAYYYY too much.

Mother of Invention said...

No, I just do the transfers I get from the cereal boxes!!! (Well, not lately!) I hate needles and am paranoid of infection. Now ask me how I can do 6 needles a day of insulin and never even use an alcohol swab!

Sonia Wetzel Photography said...

I've been tossing around getting one up the back of my neck, of my son's (real) name in the same location where his neurosurgery scar is. Celtic script.
I really, really like yours.

Anonymous said...

I have a Yin on my shoulder.

Anonymous said...

Ooh. Beautiful. I love it.

peevish said...

I have 2. One on my left shoulder blade that is hard to describe: sort of a stylized conch shellish thing. Not large, about 1 & 1/2 inches long. I like it because it is ambiguous. It could be a seed containing a visible plant embryo, or a seashell, or even a vagina. It looks like some sort of symbol of life, I guess.

The other is a sacred heart, very prison-looking, very "mi vida loca". Not really as much "me" as the other one. But I still like it, partially because it surprises people about me. It is a heart symbol wrapped in barbed wire with flames coming out of the top.

Both are in black ink only. The one on my shoulder/back actually felt gooood while I was getting it. I liked the vibrations! The one on my ankle did hurt. But it didn't take long. Much easier than childbirth, certainly.

Someday I'll post photos.

I like yours!

meno said...

joan of arf, thanks! What a great story! Every tattoo should have a story.

u-u, oh you should take a picture of your friend, if she'll let you. I've never heard of that tattoo.

moi, i guess you might have had just about enough of needles without adding any unnecessary ones.

ddm, thank you. That would be a lovely idea if you did.

d-man, no yang? Can you walk straight?

de, thank you!

lisa, i like black ink tattoos best. I hope you will post pictures soon, i would love to see them.

Kellyology said...

I'm glad to see you were 44 when you got this tattoo. I was thinking about getting a tattoo recently and mentioned it to Big D. His response was, "Really? You want a tattoo? Isn't that something that teen-agers and 20-somethings do?"

Yeah...so I'm definitely getting one now. Call it a 30-something rebellion.