Anticipatory tattooage

[celandineb]

I've been thinking about this for quite a while, and I now have the opportunity; when I visit my sister next week, I'm going to see about getting another tattoo. I think I'll have it put on my lower back, but I can't decide whether to go for the right side or left. (The one I already have is centered below my navel.) Any advice or suggestions

Comments

[neogrammarian]

depending on how large you want it, other good places are nape of neck & between shoulderblades. I would strongly suggest that you select an artist with a good portfolio of what's called "line work"- text is notoriously difficult to tatoo well, and you want this to look good for a long long time.

in any case, enjoy! (& if you're feeling like haggling, see if you can bargain a better price on touchups, esp if you want that in green, or have color in your other ink).

have fun! (blah & this just reminds me that I want a tat this summer, but I really don't know if I should at this point, & it's pricey, etc etc etc.)

[celandineb]

Sis knows of a place in Mpls that's reputed to be good. I definitely want green; touchups would be a problem, since tattooing is illegal here (which is why I'm having it done there). My previous one is not perfect but it's never bothered me too much; it's blue and black, cost me something like $25 as an undergrad IIRC, so I got what I paid for.

Maybe across the spine at the base of the back, just above the buttocks? I have a thing about symmetry, is the problem, which is why picking a side is difficult, but I have a vague recollection that across the knobbly spine can be not so good.

[darkladyothsith]

I don't have any tatoos, so take this with a grain of salt, but--

I've been told that it hurts far more when done where there's a bone near the skin than it does on a fleshy area, as it's actually injecting ink into the bone as well as the skin.

If you want symmetry, get two?

[celandineb]

Hmm... I'd feel kind of silly having two identical tattoos. I suppose I could get eventually get this as the equal & opposite one:

[sailingwest]

Thats a really cool design! Just love it.I'm also a big fan of symmetry myself,but don't have a great solution other than getting two that would go nicely together.One on each side.

[celandineb]

Well, as I said to darkladyothsith, if I decide to pick a side, I'll probably eventually feel I have to have another one to balance it...

[sailingwest]

That would be neat,and then you have a new tattoo to look forward to as well.

[arwen_lune]

Funny that you're thinking about tattoages at the same time and with the same considerations. I already have one on my left shoulderblade (the JRRT sign in fact) and one between the shoulderblades, so my third will be on my right ankle, 'cause you have to have balance :)

It's a little squarerigged ship. I plan to go by the tattoist today to make the appointment.

I like your design, but since it's already not symmetrical, personally it wouldn't bother me to have it out of the middle. And yes, having it done right over the spine hurts like nobody's business. The sting of the needle kind of resonates though your whole spine. I could feel it in my toes! Still worth it though.

[celandineb]

*salutes*

Yay for balance! And the ship sounds lovely.

[celandineb]

Thanks! It's the Tengwar that stand for my pseudonym initials. :-)

[celandineb]

Whoops! Posted before adding that Tengwar are the symbols of one of the Elvish writing systems... which is based much more on sound than ours, so the first symbol stands specifically for the "s" or "soft c", not the "hard c" which is a different symbol.

[still_dorothy]

Hello, love! I vote for low back, center. As someone up this thread mentioned, there is a flat, fleshy area.

I have a cute tropical fish on my upper right thigh, and one above my left ankle on the inside of the leg. Neither of them were terribly painful, but I definitely felt the vibration of the needle when he put the sun on my ankle.

I'm with you on the symmetrical notion. I have felt a 'need' to have one done on my left upper thigh. Perhaps a seahorse or a starfish. Yes... I'm a beach/ocean nerd.

[celandineb]

They sound nifty! (I rather wonder what proportion of the population has tattoos these days; it used to be really outlandish but seems to have become quite mainstream in the last 10 years or so.)

[still_dorothy]

"...but seems to have become quite mainstream..."

My line of work affords me the opportunity to see people in various stages of undress, and it seems more do than do not have tattoos.

All this tattoo talk has me anxious to go get another one. If you only lived closer, we'd go together!

[celandineb]

Indeedy-o! *grins* But it'll be fun going with my sis. She's not getting one this time but she has a fairly large one round the top of one arm.