why you chose your tattoos

what is the reasoning behind why you chose that tats that you did? What do they mean to you? (if anything) What made you decide to get them? Spur of the moment or well thought out?

my very first one didn't mean anything other than I wanted a tatoo and it was the smallest and cutest one I could find (i was 15 )
my second was just a coverup of the first and I thought it was pretty and that I would love it forever (i was 16 )
my third was one day i was driving home from jury duty and I had been holed up in a court all day and I needed to do something fun. so i had money on me and i decided "hmm i think i'll go on and get the tat i've been wanting'. i had an idea in my head that i wanted some sort of tribal butterfly but nothing specific. so i went and picked a tribal butterfly off the wall in about 30 minutes. (i was 18)
and my fourth was this guy i knew did tattoos and he was really really good so i'd been wanting to have him do one for me, i had just not decided yet on what i wanted (and had no money) so one day he came up to me and " if you give me 50 bucks right now i'll give you a tat of anything you want but you have to tell me what you want now" since i wanted a tat from him but didnt have much money at the time i agreed and picked out the tiger. i just liked tigers and i'm into wildlife and nature and all that so that my only reasoning for that one. (he needed 50 bucks quick to go get drugs)(i was 20)

so yeah......hence the reason i want them either removed or done over. I dislike them alot but i don't totally hate them.

 

I don't understand why you feel that they need to be removed or done over. Are they not good tattoo's? Like the butterfly could be a reminder of that time of your life and what was happening. And don't you still like tigers, so why the need to change it - was the tattoo experience (him needing drugs and all) something you don't want to remember?


My first tattoo's were to cover three bad surgical scars and it developed into a theme from there - flora and fauna. I'm getting a new one soon with snakes representing some events of the last few years. I cant imagine wanting them off or done different. I am lucky in that I got a great artist and I am much happier with the tattoos instead of the scars!

 

I don't have any tattoos yet, but there's this one picture I've wanted to get done for ageeees. It's a shamrock (there's a pic in my gallery.. I think it's on the 2nd page), and I want to get it for many reasons.. Smarocks are beautiful and they bring you good luck. They're also a symbol of Ireland and I love Ireland. But most importantly.. shamrocks remind me of my childhood and how it was for the most parts so carefree and happy and fun (there were shamrocks everywhere where I grew up and I'd always go looking for ones with four leaves).

 

Mine doesn't really have a lot of meaning, but I did get it done when I was going through a lot of changes in my life, so it reminds me of that. But hte actual design, I picked off the net and asked the artist to make it unique but based off that pic, and I think what he did is gorgeous.

 

That's a gorgeous design. Looked almost like hearts at first but once I'd seen it for more than half a second, I saw the shamrock heh. It's awesome, you should definately get it done

 

Thanks, ihmurria

 

They're pretty good tats. I would like the butterfly done over because even though it reminds me of that time in life I would rather do something else over it that's colorful...something I would LOVE instead of just think is OK. Same with the other one. The tiger I do like.....it was just such a spur of the moment decision and I think if I had taken the time to think about it then I would have gotten something much more meaningful. I do love tigers though but there is no real symbolism.

 

People do get them without much thought. My tattoo artist does a pretty steady business covering up or repairing bad tattoos. And 15 / 16 seems too young to make a decision like a tat. People change so much in their teens and twenties - I can see it not being revelant or even liking it years later. There is some flash at my tattoo place that I think is really geared for kids - like melted crayons, cartoon characters, etc. But then, each to his own, right?


Mine are just a part of me now.
Here's one of my favs, my little praying mantis:

 

I thought out both tattoos I have and I've thought of about three more that I'd like to get that also mean something to me.

My first tat I got in September. It's a peace sign on the back of my neck. I got that one because I wanted it to be almost like a third eye. It also is a statement, that I stand for peace and so should everyone else.

My second tat I got last week. It's the chinese symbol for "dancer". I've been dancing for 20 years and it's been a part of my life. So I thought I'd keep that with me always.

 

I have 3 tats.

The first I got when I was 18. It's the zodiac symbol for Leo, and is on my lower back. I got it for "hocus-pocus" reasons. I had a weird form of blood cancer when I was young, and it ate away at a couple of my vertbra. Leo's apparently have weak backs and weak blood. I found it ironic, and I was worried about the cancer coming back. So, it's kind of a good luck/good health thing. The tat is directly over my most wonky vertebra.

The 2nd and 3rd are celtic-looking dragons. My grandparents were born in Scotland, hence the celtic part. They are mirror images, one on each shoulder. So, I have dragons, looking over their shoulders, on my shoulders. You can see one of them in my sig. pic, and the other is exactly the same. Why? Well.. it was a weird time in my life, and I felt like I needed something watching my back for me. Originally I was going to get a knot-work heart between them... so then they would also be guarding my heart, but never really got around to it. Might still do it someday, you never know with these things, eh?

 

my first tattoo (well it's the only one at the moment) was done due to a change in my life. it is a symbol representing the birth of my daughter. it's a purple & black yin/yang inside of a sunburst. the next tattoo i want to get is to represent my son and it's a labryth and i also want to get a pair of angel wings on my back for myself. i don't know what i will get for the baby that i am currently carrying because it's not here yet and i don't know what new challenges it will bring.

 

My tattoo is from my first acid trip. I had drawn a small design on my hand near the beginning on the trip, but either lost interest or forgot. At some point my friend told me it looked like the moon and the sea. It's a small design of a black dot with a small curly wave on the side. Later in the trip, everything had changed. I stood there and said "it just hit me." WHat?" they asked. "Everything!" I replied. It was the most inward, religious experience of my life, a moment in time where there was no past or future, only each moment, and the energy inside each person. I wasn't a rational conciousness, I was just an incarnation of energy. At the perfect moment, this same girl said to me "The answer to the universe is on the back of your neck. You only have to turn around and look." That seemed so perfect at that moment that I started to cry. Later, when I showed my other friend the design, she said it looked like a comet. So, i have fire and water coming from it too. So, it's unique, it's symbolic, it's got a cool story behind it, it's personal, and it's open for interpretation. It's the perfect tattoo as far as i'm concerned.

 

While in high school... I lost 3 of my best friends in tragic accidents.... (Clint died when he was camping and there was a propane leak and his camper exploded, and Chris & Lisa (who were soul mates and were planning on getting married) got in a car accident and died the next year) and so i designed the tattoo I have.... its on the small of my back and its a cross with a sash on it w/ Clints initials on it and above the sash are 2 hearts that are tied together and one has Chris's initials and the other has Lisa's....
I'd take a pic but there is no one here to do that for me! But it means a lot to me and i know i will never get it changed or removed or anything

 

You guys are going to have to get pictures to show us. They all sound wonderful! I like the dragons watching your back thing. How neat. Like fu dogs or something. I made a pact with my sig other that I would only do my right leg - there was a time when we really envisioned it having to be cut off eventually, so why not? But I think I'm going to get to keep it (great surgeon!) and I'm not really sure I can keep the pact either! I've been trying to convince him that my butt cheek is a part of my leg - right, guys? - it's still in two parts.

 

Your frog tatoo rocks tarabelle!

 

that's beautiful of you to do that. I'm sorry for your losses.

 

when I was 18 I had buddha, sitting in the teaching position, inked on my back between the shoulder blades

significance? I still have a difficult time justifying it to myself, in hiensight it seems a tad ironic in that a tattoo is in essence a materialisation of ego. But a few years later now and it has simply come to be a good spirit and guiding force for my journies...and a reminder of youth, and the silly things we do and vainly try to imitate

speaking of silly things, I'm considering another tat. It's one I've designed myself of a haida stylised wolf and I'm thinking of putting it on my left pec, above the heart. The arctic wolf is my spirit guide and haida gwaii has become a sanctuary for my soul

 

I really just wanted a dragon tat..that or Wile E Coyote. I was originally going to get a Welsh dragon, but none of the ones I saw I liked that much. In the end, I saw my chinese dragon and thought, 'He's cute and cool, I'll call him Bob'. And so Bob now lives on my left upper arm.

 

My next tattoo, which is in the process of being designed, is going to be a phoenix. There's a verrry good reason for this, it's the most symbolic of my soon-to-be 12 tats.... I've been going through a very rough time for a while now, and recently just got a new diagnosis from the docs, not to mention moving halfway across the country, and working things out in my marriage... Things are radically different in my life now, and I chose the phoenix as a symbol of re-birth and re-creation. She's going to be quite large, taking up my left upper arm from my shoulder to my elbow. She's also going to be extremely colorful, as life, especially mine, is not a black-and-white or simple affair. I'm really excited about this....

 

my last one was the only one that has meant something to me, the day i got it and the design

i got it the day after my moms birthday, because thats the day her baby brother died 2 years ago...so i wanted to have something good to remember the day by.

the design is a green heart in the same pattern as my butterfly with both parents names on top of it, and I got it on my foot because its somewhere ill see everyday...