Quote from: Andy8715 on March 05, 2011, 10:36:18 PM
No idea actually,  just really want to do it.  I really like old flash style tattoos so probably something with those but I want it all to blend together and not just be a bunch of random pieces.

That's pretty sweet, I love those types of drawings too. If I ever get the balls to do mine, it's going to be a nightmare. I want a death's head, like from the old tombstones. A big one.

I happen to like tattoos that are simple, well thought out, and always relevant. I would probably get a tattoo post-srs, to commemorate the year I started changing my life for the better. The tattoo would likely take up 1.8"x.4" on a currently unspecified location, and one tattoo is enough for me.

Here's the rough design on my forearm as drawn by a fountain pen:

I personally abhor a tatoo. My former wife has them . I never saw where they enhance any part of a human anyway......... I certainly wouldn't want my children to indulge in one either . ellen

I think we should also keep in mind that tattoos can have cultural and religious importance, or even be a mandatory part of coming of age or passing another milestone in some places. It's very disrespectful to forget that and instantly write off all tattoos as a fad or as something frivolous or done solely for the looks.

As far as tattooing minors or people under the influence, it's illegal in Canada and many parts of the United States. An artist who tattoos a minor without special consent from a parent or guardian (and even then, many artists refuse) or someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol, can lose their license and shop.

or someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol,

That's funny because I lived for a couple of years right next door to the oldest (1950s) tattoo parlor in SF and I don't think I ever saw anyone going in there who wasn't coming out of one of the local bars first.

Quote from: tekla on March 09, 2011, 09:49:37 AM
or someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol,

That's funny because I lived for a couple of years right next door to the oldest (1950s) tattoo parlor in SF and I don't think I ever saw anyone going in there who wasn't coming out of one of the local bars first.

Just because something is illegal doesn't mean they don't do it. I'm sure that there are a fair amount of artists who will always break the rules, but they could still be fined or lose their license if they were ever caught. Or maybe San Francisco doesn't have the same laws. I know California tends to be a bit more wild than my country.

ETA: After a quick Google, it seems that California as a whole has very few regulations for the tattoo industry. If you're interested in knowing the various prohibitions and regulations in each state, you can google "Tattoo Regulations by STate" and a very helpful website should come up.

I'm more of a piercing kind of person but I still want a couple of tattoos. Not sure what or where but i'm not getting them untill I've had top surgery and lost some weight but I really like Marc's work from Little Swastika so i'll either go to germany or try to find an artist that does similar work http://www.little-swastika.com/ Tattoos for me though are a few years away so I have plenty of time to make sure I know what I want etc.

I feel that people with body mods are becoming more accepted in jobs, well they are here in the UK anyway. I'm personally not too worried about my future as a body mod fan as I see people these days in all sorts of jobs with tattoos and piercings.

Wow, some of those are awesome...I'm not sure I'd want that much skin covered though. But still. wow!

Quote from: tekla on March 09, 2011, 09:49:37 AM
or someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol,

That's funny because I lived for a couple of years right next door to the oldest (1950s) tattoo parlor in SF and I don't think I ever saw anyone going in there who wasn't coming out of one of the local bars first.

Forgetting the legality of it any reputable tattoo artist wouldn't work on a drunk person anyway because they will bleed more, making it more likely the recipient will lose some of the ink.

Yeah...well, there's a booming business in disreputable tattoo parlors around military bases.

SF has been a navel town since day one when the ships sailed in the Golden Gate.  Long before tats became trendy they were almost standard issue for sailors, and I'll bet long after Muffy, Chuck, and Larry get all bored with 'body art' that sailors are still going to be sporting tattoos.  And have you ever seen a sober sailor on shore leave?  No.  The other huge group of people getting tatts long before Cindy Lou and Ken got their frat tattoo and even before Lucrezia Borgia^* went all Suicide Girl Goth on everyone - were bikers and gang members.  They too tended to show up loaded, and you know what?  Everybody let them. 

Actually, before you people came along and wrecked the perfectly sleazy, soft-white-underbelly world of tattooing with your notion of a reputable tattoo artist^** - so that we can now have tattoo parlors in the strip mall right between the Dress Barn and the video game store - a tattoo was pretty much a life time visual reminder of that one night in your life when you were drunker than all other nights ever.

The only thing that bothers me about it (well the fact that while a very few tattoo jobs are fricking awesome, most are rather mediocre, and a rather large number are just crap - but that's the odds in all art) is that it's that entire commercialization of cool that pretty much has ruined everything in the post-modern world.  Really, once you can go to the mall and get your tattoo right next to the Hot Topic so when you're done you can buy a whole new wardrobe to show it off in, how cool is it anyway?

Is anything cool, or unique, just because you buy it?




* - not her real name, she was born Meagan Leigh Murphy...

** - Some of you might like this story, it at least explains my reluctance over the word reputable.  Back when I was in grad school there was an older (I was in my 30s, she was in her 50s, so it does not seem old now) women in the other program.  We had some classes together, we talked and had offices in the same bullpen room and all that, and I always thought of her as one of those nice Iowa type women, raised her kids and is now following a dream of studying at that level.  She was pretty prim and proper you know straight.  Hell, her husband was a minister (Unitarian, but still...)  She's always go have coffee with us but I never saw her at the bar come Friday afternoon (where we parked ourselves pretty much until Sunday morning).  So this nice straight women takes me aside one day and whispers: "Do you know a reputable source for LSD?" Now, normally, people approach me with that topic like this" "Dude, I bet you could score us some killer doses," and they get my normal reply of "I have no idea what you are talking about," but her question threw me for a loop and I looked at her and said, rather loudly: "Lady, reputable people don't sell LSD."  At which point one of my main professors was walking up behind me, heard only my reply and continued walking down the hall saying: "You might only veer close to the truth on occasions, but when you do you at least hit it head on."

And that's not the end of that story, but it's as much as I'm going to tell....

Hah, that reminds me of the time I was at a festival in the south of England (c.1982) and a really, really obvious undercover policeman came over to us and asked, very politely, "Excuse me, but do you know where I can find the best acid on site?" We looked at his shiny black shoes and his attempt at jeans/teeshirt, and we smiled benignly and shook our heads. Bless. I like to think he's now happily shearing sheep in NZ with waist length hair* now. Or something.

*his, not the sheep.

I never understood the desire to permanently mark one's self for the purpose of ornamentation. I certainly don't understand getting inked somewhere like the hands, neck or face. As an employer and business person, I have to wonder about someones judgement in doing something like that more than the actual fact of having the tattoo itself.

If you know it's going to make your job prospects slimmer, why would you choose to have tats in such a visible place? I'd never want to deny someone the right to get or have a tattoo but just keep in mind that employers and others have rights too and that is their choice to not hire you because you do not fit the image of their business.

My decision to get tattooed was about as "trendy" and "cool" as my decision to transition.

Well what everyone thinks is "stylish" is really their own opinion.

I myself, want a tattoo of a butterfly on my lower back at some point and maybe a tinkerbell one on my thigh. Those places because they're subtle and can be covered up with clothing easily enough when I feel like they need to be.

Others obviously don't feel that way and that's totally fine =)

Quote from: StacyBeaumont on March 10, 2011, 12:47:56 PM
I never understood the desire to permanently mark one's self for the purpose of ornamentation. I certainly don't understand getting inked somewhere like the hands, neck or face. As an employer and business person, I have to wonder about someones judgement in doing something like that more than the actual fact of having the tattoo itself.

If you know it's going to make your job prospects slimmer, why would you choose to have tats in such a visible place? I'd never want to deny someone the right to get or have a tattoo but just keep in mind that employers and others have rights too and that is their choice to not hire you because you do not fit the image of their business.

Mods are becoming more visible in the workplace, they're less visible in what society calls "good" jobs but they will be eventually. Things are moving and changing as more people are modified. Right now it's still more difficult for people with visible body mods to get a job and that's something people should keep in mind and it's the reason i've not got more mods right now.

Quote from: tekla on March 10, 2011, 09:21:30 AM
Long before tats became trendy they were almost standard issue for sailors, and I'll bet long after Muffy, Chuck, and Larry get all bored with 'body art' that sailors are still going to be sporting tattoos.  And have you ever seen a sober sailor on shore leave?  No.  The other huge group of people getting tatts long before Cindy Lou and Ken got their frat tattoo and even before Lucrezia Borgia^* went all Suicide Girl Goth on everyone - were bikers and gang members.  They too tended to show up loaded, and you know what?  Everybody let them.

Nah, tattoos were establishment before motorbikes existed, never mind bike gangs.
Course thats just speaking for a particular brand of white person, but no way am I getting into how ethnocentric this conversation is.

Quote from: tekla on March 10, 2011, 09:21:30 AM
SF has been a navel town since day one when the ships sailed in the Golden Gate.  Long before tats became trendy they were almost standard issue for sailors, and I'll bet long after Muffy, Chuck, and Larry get all bored with 'body art' that sailors are still going to be sporting tattoos.  And have you ever seen a sober sailor on shore leave?  No.  The other huge group of people getting tatts long before Cindy Lou and Ken got their frat tattoo and even before Lucrezia Borgia^* went all Suicide Girl Goth on everyone - were bikers and gang members.  They too tended to show up loaded, and you know what?  Everybody let them. 

Actually, before you people came along and wrecked the perfectly sleazy, soft-white-underbelly world of tattooing with your notion of a reputable tattoo artist^** - so that we can now have tattoo parlors in the strip mall right between the Dress Barn and the video game store - a tattoo was pretty much a life time visual reminder of that one night in your life when you were drunker than all other nights ever.

The only thing that bothers me about it (well the fact that while a very few tattoo jobs are fricking awesome, most are rather mediocre, and a rather large number are just crap - but that's the odds in all art) is that it's that entire commercialization of cool that pretty much has ruined everything in the post-modern world.  Really, once you can go to the mall and get your tattoo right next to the Hot Topic so when you're done you can buy a whole new wardrobe to show it off in, how cool is it anyway?

Is anything cool, or unique, just because you buy it?

Aside from the always entertaining framing in days-that-used-to-be rhetoric, what an absolute load of tosh. You don't think individual parlours and/or artists build up a good reputation? You don't think the sailors/bikers/gang members/hipsters have their loyalties? I'm not going to argue with you over whether people get inked under the influence, I really don't care, but I'd suspect that if too many people walk away with bad results that artist won't do too well so it's in their interest to make sure the person is not going to bleed excessively. I can only speak from my experiences as a non naval, non biker, non tribes person, non gang member in Australia but I know that even the biker run parlours I've visited won't deal with you if you are obviously intoxicated. I'm sure places exist that will, maybe they're commonplace in SF but it's ignorant to say that in modern times it's the general rule. What do I know anyway, I wasn't around for the golden years where the reputable parlours were frequently firebombed. Right up until 2010 I think the last one was.


What's more interesting to me is your enthusiasm to engage on a side topic with more than your usual two line desk calendar replies and completely ignore any and all arguments that it is offensive and hypocritical to write peoples self expressions off as a fad and hold prejudices against them for the way they look - especially in a community brought together by exactly that concept and experience. I've been watching this topic but trying not to say too much because I haven't seen anyone argue against my points mentioned on page two and mentioned above, I'm disappointed because I really would like to engage in that argument rather than silly quibbles over counter culture becoming mainstream or reply to people piping in to say "yuck, disgusting".

If you want another side argument though,

Quote
Is anything cool, or unique, just because you buy it?

if you're applying that statement to Tattoos, first I have to question the relevance of it at all - you're implying that a primary motivation of people seeking to be inked is to be cool and unique. What?

I thought tatts belonged to the navy and gang members who got them to fit in with the rest of their crew? Or was it the tribesmen who had to do it as a rite of passage to belong?

Secondly, this would seem to be rather obvious but just how is something you have designed yourself or had custom designed for you according to your specifications which have been derived from your own imagination and personality excluded from the possibility of being unique? Cool is completely subjective, I don't know what it has to do with anything we were talking about and I doubt you would think anything post 1972 was cool anyway

Sure there's plenty of people who will pick stock designs out of a book but how are they any worse than the bikers/sailors/gang members? Just as an aside I don't understand why anyone would use a stock design, I'd never do it. Are the proud bogan parents who get their kids names on their arms trying to be cool and unique? Dead relatives names also?

You would probably hate all of mine but I'd challenge you to find someone else with the same collection - I'll post them if you want to try. Does that mean they're not cool but unique? Does it matter anyway? I don't think so, I love them either way.

Lastly, how on earth does paying for it have any relevance? It's pretty hard to tattoo yourself and most people who would do it for free are to be avoided. Are you saying nothing that is enabled by a financial transaction can be cool and unique? Did all those artistic heroes play/paint/create for free? Did anyone paying for their services strip the works of integrity?

Tattoos are absolutely stylish, although some people don't have particularly good style.

I got the first of my 7 tattoos... 22 years ago this week if I'm not mistaken. I remain employable, have a beautiful girlfriend who finds them "hot", and don't regret them.

They're just not for everyone.

I used to find tattoos to be absolutely disgusting, now I feel somewhere in the middle.  I have none now, but after I transition, I think I might get a few, but they must be carefully chosen.  This is not something you do after you walk out of a bar drunk.  I absolutely HATE tattoos on men, hate them, I've never seen a man who looks better with one, and I'm bisexual.  No men should ever get a tattoo in my ideal world.  However, on women, it works in my eye, SOMETIMES, if it is done right.  Since I'm still stuck in a male body, I'd never think of getting a tattoo, but after I start going female, I might pick up a few.  I think I want one on my lower back, some around my ankles.  MAYBE some on the shoulders, not sure about that.  But that's my opinion and everyone else is free to have their opinion.