tatty-zaps!
A few people have asked me recently what all of my tattoos are.
I don't think I've ever made a post like this before, so here goes nothin'.
I don't really have like any masterpiece works of art on me or anything like that... I only have one LARGE tattoo. As immersed as I am in heavily tattooed sort of "scene," personally I am really big on collecting smaller symbolic markings at certain points over the course of my life. Like hieroglyphs on ancient walls.
Sometimes, the smallest tattoos are the most important, to some people.
Here are all of my tattoos and whatever meanings are behind them, if any, in chronological order:
Okay, SO... this, is Tinkerbell. Haha. My only embarrassing tattoo. Tinkerbell is located on the back of my neck. I got her done on my 16th birthday, at Artistic Impressions in St. Catharines, by a girl by the name of Carrie (obviously I am NOT recommending her... this thing is a blown-out piece of shit!). My mom took me to get it done. Hm. She made me take out my eyebrow piercing but let me get a tattoo. Oh that wacky ma of mine.
I can't decide whether to get this covered up or not. I'm leaning towards "no," because a) I don't particularly want any back tattoos, to be honest. I'm not a big fan of them on girls, or maybe just not on me. I don't know. b) because of the memories attached to it; it's a cute thing my mom did for me when I was younger and I don't think I want to erase that because it's a nice memory for me.
***
Next up is:
"corpus deliciti"
I got this tattoo in I think... December of 2004? It was a birthday present to myself, done by Manson at Perfect Image in London, Ontario.
The correct spelling would have been "delicti" but luckily it CAN be spelled both ways.
"Corpus delicti" translates to "the body of the crime/offense" which is a legal term used in Western jurisprudence. When I found this term, there seemed to be a double meaning that applied to me and it is consequently my most personal and defining tattoo, one that I don't often like talking about (I hate when random people ask me about it when I'm in public, which happens very often).
This tattoo was originally a self-induced would that I intended to be a permanent scar:
I did this at a very crucial point in my life where I was very mentally lost, unstable and emotionally broken, to mark the fact that I pulled through an extremely low point and was learning a lot of lessons about being my own best friend and enemy, and to sort of signify my strength in an on-going battle with myself.
I knew the scar would fade since I didn't have the proper tools to create a solid, permanent raised scar like I wanted. It was extremely important to me that this was a permanent thing, so a few months after I created the scar, I decided to get it tattooed there, in a colour that resembled the freshly cut skin. The guy tattooed it slightly higher than I originally wanted, but if you look closely at the tattoo picture, you can see the scars from the original carving about an inch below the words, and now I kind of like that, because it's nice to be able to see the scar (for me).
This tattoo means so much to me; I can't properly explain it. It's not a good tattoo. The lettering was done freehand so it's a bit crooked and not very smooth. But I don't care. It's not supposed to be a work of art. It's a reminder of many things, and a source of welcome isolation from the world. I love looking at it in the mirror every single day. I find that I often rub it and touch it without even thinking; I just feel intensely connected to this tattoo and I'm glad that it will be there for the rest of my life.
(It's a little ironic that I got such an immensely personal and painfully emotional tattoo in such a visible, obvious spot. Ha. I guess you could say it symbolises my love of irony. Just kidding.)
***
lovebirds.
I got this done in October of 2005 by my friend Anthony V (who now works at True Love Tattoo in London, Ontario). My ex-boyfriend Jeff and I got this tattoo on our one year anniversary together. His was about two and a half times larger and done on his elbow as part of his sleeve. I have no idea why we got matching tattoos after only a year, but we did. I drew this, and it's got a bit of obvious symbolism in it, and a bit of not-so obvious symbolism. The birds are lovebirds. Doy. The cherry blossom branches are supposed to symbolise femininity and love (the femininity because Jeff was somewhat of a male feminist - he very much appreciated women and their intelligence and beauty, which was one of the things I loved and respected about him) We broke up a year later, and I still have the tattoo to this day. I haven't decided if I'll ever cover it up or not. It's a cute little tattoo that I don't mind and I am a huge bird lover so it's still relevant. It's just been stripped of any sort of emotion now.
***
my big fuckin' hawk!
Done by my friend Steve (http://www.stevenburltontattoos.com/), who is one of the best tattoo artists I have ever seen in my entire life. His custom shit is A-MAY-ZING.
Anyway, I started my hawk in March of 2008 and got it finished in October 2008. I think it was a total of about 7 hours of work. I just wanted a big fucking black and grey hawk on my forearm. No reason in particular. I love birds, and I wanted a big piece by Steve.
That's pretty much it. Steve has been trying to convince me to make it into a full half-sleeve, but I think I really just love it as is.
Ps. the talon closest to the edge of my hand, and the crook of my elbow were the MOST PAINFUL AREAS I HAVE EVER HAD TATTOOED. Danger, Will Robinson. Ow.
***
pierced hearts.
The same day Steve finished my hawk, he let Dave and I tattoo each other for our 2 year anniversary (this was all done in my living room) last October (2008), which was really rad of him.
We knew we wanted to tattoo a little symbol on each other (the same one), so I drew up this little heart with a traditional style dagger piercing it (you know... we pierced each other's hearts, mush mush mush).
I love this tattoo. I love it because Dave inked it (the messiness is endearing and makes me smile), I love where it is, and I love the simplicity of it.
***
And my most recent one:
between the bars.
Black Flag bars and a single tooth on the top side/slightly outer forearm (same arm as the lovebirds). This was also done in my living room, by Steve, this past March. He was pretty stoned when he tattooed this (why we keep having drunken/stoned tattoo parties, I'll never know. Haha. My guy friends have a lot of hilarious tattoos from one another because of this), which is why the bars aren't the greatest looking, but I still love them.
I got the BF bars for the same reason any Black Flag fan gets them. I also got it to kind of just represent my love affair with punk/hardcore/thrash and just music in general. The bars are a huge symbol in the types of music communities I run in and it's a no-nonsense way to connect with other fans of the punk/hardcore/thrash movement without even having to say a word!
The tooth is because of my huge, life-long obsession with teeth. The long explanation is that when I was in kindergarten, I bashed my head off a table, knocking out one of my front teeth, and my face was literally gushing blood everywhere and all of my classmates were screaming and crying. My dad had to come pick me up from school. It was a really weird, isolating experience that I have always recalled very vividly. Ever since then I've been really into teeth for some reason, and I have had a lottttt of dental work done in my life (my mouth has been a constant source of trouble for me, and I have spent countless hours in dentist's/orthodontist's chairs). I dream about teeth constantly. At least twice a month. I have all kinds of tooth x-rays stuck to my fridge (thanks to a rule-breaking dental hygienist friend of mine!) and I used to get friends of mine to send me teeth that they had pulled during any surgeries and what not (I lost my box of teeth a couple of years ago and was really bummed out).
So that's it!
I'm not sure about any plans for future tattoos. I'm thinking about getting something down the length of one of my fingers (on the inner side of my hand), something on my right foot, and I am eventually going to get a huge, elaborate birdcage done on my upper left bicep (there's a reason for the birdcage that is more than just "it's a birdcage". Maybe I'll explain that later, when I actually get it). Then I think that'll probably be it. I never want tattoos on my legs or my hips/back/ribs/chest area. I've also considered getting something done going from the top of my shoulder down onto my collarbone area (just under the "deliciti" tattoo), just on the one side. But that's getting a little too close to my chest so I'm not sure yet.
What about you guys?
I don't think I've ever made a post like this before, so here goes nothin'.
I don't really have like any masterpiece works of art on me or anything like that... I only have one LARGE tattoo. As immersed as I am in heavily tattooed sort of "scene," personally I am really big on collecting smaller symbolic markings at certain points over the course of my life. Like hieroglyphs on ancient walls.
Sometimes, the smallest tattoos are the most important, to some people.
Here are all of my tattoos and whatever meanings are behind them, if any, in chronological order:
Okay, SO... this, is Tinkerbell. Haha. My only embarrassing tattoo. Tinkerbell is located on the back of my neck. I got her done on my 16th birthday, at Artistic Impressions in St. Catharines, by a girl by the name of Carrie (obviously I am NOT recommending her... this thing is a blown-out piece of shit!). My mom took me to get it done. Hm. She made me take out my eyebrow piercing but let me get a tattoo. Oh that wacky ma of mine.
I can't decide whether to get this covered up or not. I'm leaning towards "no," because a) I don't particularly want any back tattoos, to be honest. I'm not a big fan of them on girls, or maybe just not on me. I don't know. b) because of the memories attached to it; it's a cute thing my mom did for me when I was younger and I don't think I want to erase that because it's a nice memory for me.
***
Next up is:
"corpus deliciti"
I got this tattoo in I think... December of 2004? It was a birthday present to myself, done by Manson at Perfect Image in London, Ontario.
The correct spelling would have been "delicti" but luckily it CAN be spelled both ways.
"Corpus delicti" translates to "the body of the crime/offense" which is a legal term used in Western jurisprudence. When I found this term, there seemed to be a double meaning that applied to me and it is consequently my most personal and defining tattoo, one that I don't often like talking about (I hate when random people ask me about it when I'm in public, which happens very often).
This tattoo was originally a self-induced would that I intended to be a permanent scar:
I did this at a very crucial point in my life where I was very mentally lost, unstable and emotionally broken, to mark the fact that I pulled through an extremely low point and was learning a lot of lessons about being my own best friend and enemy, and to sort of signify my strength in an on-going battle with myself.
I knew the scar would fade since I didn't have the proper tools to create a solid, permanent raised scar like I wanted. It was extremely important to me that this was a permanent thing, so a few months after I created the scar, I decided to get it tattooed there, in a colour that resembled the freshly cut skin. The guy tattooed it slightly higher than I originally wanted, but if you look closely at the tattoo picture, you can see the scars from the original carving about an inch below the words, and now I kind of like that, because it's nice to be able to see the scar (for me).
This tattoo means so much to me; I can't properly explain it. It's not a good tattoo. The lettering was done freehand so it's a bit crooked and not very smooth. But I don't care. It's not supposed to be a work of art. It's a reminder of many things, and a source of welcome isolation from the world. I love looking at it in the mirror every single day. I find that I often rub it and touch it without even thinking; I just feel intensely connected to this tattoo and I'm glad that it will be there for the rest of my life.
(It's a little ironic that I got such an immensely personal and painfully emotional tattoo in such a visible, obvious spot. Ha. I guess you could say it symbolises my love of irony. Just kidding.)
***
lovebirds.
I got this done in October of 2005 by my friend Anthony V (who now works at True Love Tattoo in London, Ontario). My ex-boyfriend Jeff and I got this tattoo on our one year anniversary together. His was about two and a half times larger and done on his elbow as part of his sleeve. I have no idea why we got matching tattoos after only a year, but we did. I drew this, and it's got a bit of obvious symbolism in it, and a bit of not-so obvious symbolism. The birds are lovebirds. Doy. The cherry blossom branches are supposed to symbolise femininity and love (the femininity because Jeff was somewhat of a male feminist - he very much appreciated women and their intelligence and beauty, which was one of the things I loved and respected about him) We broke up a year later, and I still have the tattoo to this day. I haven't decided if I'll ever cover it up or not. It's a cute little tattoo that I don't mind and I am a huge bird lover so it's still relevant. It's just been stripped of any sort of emotion now.
***
my big fuckin' hawk!
Done by my friend Steve (http://www.stevenburltontattoos.com/), who is one of the best tattoo artists I have ever seen in my entire life. His custom shit is A-MAY-ZING.
Anyway, I started my hawk in March of 2008 and got it finished in October 2008. I think it was a total of about 7 hours of work. I just wanted a big fucking black and grey hawk on my forearm. No reason in particular. I love birds, and I wanted a big piece by Steve.
That's pretty much it. Steve has been trying to convince me to make it into a full half-sleeve, but I think I really just love it as is.
Ps. the talon closest to the edge of my hand, and the crook of my elbow were the MOST PAINFUL AREAS I HAVE EVER HAD TATTOOED. Danger, Will Robinson. Ow.
***
pierced hearts.
The same day Steve finished my hawk, he let Dave and I tattoo each other for our 2 year anniversary (this was all done in my living room) last October (2008), which was really rad of him.
We knew we wanted to tattoo a little symbol on each other (the same one), so I drew up this little heart with a traditional style dagger piercing it (you know... we pierced each other's hearts, mush mush mush).
I love this tattoo. I love it because Dave inked it (the messiness is endearing and makes me smile), I love where it is, and I love the simplicity of it.
***
And my most recent one:
between the bars.
Black Flag bars and a single tooth on the top side/slightly outer forearm (same arm as the lovebirds). This was also done in my living room, by Steve, this past March. He was pretty stoned when he tattooed this (why we keep having drunken/stoned tattoo parties, I'll never know. Haha. My guy friends have a lot of hilarious tattoos from one another because of this), which is why the bars aren't the greatest looking, but I still love them.
I got the BF bars for the same reason any Black Flag fan gets them. I also got it to kind of just represent my love affair with punk/hardcore/thrash and just music in general. The bars are a huge symbol in the types of music communities I run in and it's a no-nonsense way to connect with other fans of the punk/hardcore/thrash movement without even having to say a word!
The tooth is because of my huge, life-long obsession with teeth. The long explanation is that when I was in kindergarten, I bashed my head off a table, knocking out one of my front teeth, and my face was literally gushing blood everywhere and all of my classmates were screaming and crying. My dad had to come pick me up from school. It was a really weird, isolating experience that I have always recalled very vividly. Ever since then I've been really into teeth for some reason, and I have had a lottttt of dental work done in my life (my mouth has been a constant source of trouble for me, and I have spent countless hours in dentist's/orthodontist's chairs). I dream about teeth constantly. At least twice a month. I have all kinds of tooth x-rays stuck to my fridge (thanks to a rule-breaking dental hygienist friend of mine!) and I used to get friends of mine to send me teeth that they had pulled during any surgeries and what not (I lost my box of teeth a couple of years ago and was really bummed out).
So that's it!
I'm not sure about any plans for future tattoos. I'm thinking about getting something down the length of one of my fingers (on the inner side of my hand), something on my right foot, and I am eventually going to get a huge, elaborate birdcage done on my upper left bicep (there's a reason for the birdcage that is more than just "it's a birdcage". Maybe I'll explain that later, when I actually get it). Then I think that'll probably be it. I never want tattoos on my legs or my hips/back/ribs/chest area. I've also considered getting something done going from the top of my shoulder down onto my collarbone area (just under the "deliciti" tattoo), just on the one side. But that's getting a little too close to my chest so I'm not sure yet.
What about you guys?