Let's Talk Tattoos

How about something a bit more uplifting, eh? I had the opportunity to spend some time today with a  dear friend I haven't seen in several months, and as we were walking along she dragged the sleeve of my T-shirt up so that she could see my half-finished tattoo. I'm about $95 away from having it finished (I want to have a little more than the $350 I need to finish it so that I can give my tattooist an awesome tip and put down the $20 for more art, since this is going to become a full sleeve eventually).

The bird is a crow, you can't tell from the angle of this pic

In a world where tattoos are no longer taboo, they mean different things to different people. My two tattoos are both of crows, my animal guide. Part of my spirituality and link to nature. Lilies are just my favorite flower and I wanted to incorporate the two. My plan is that the whole sleeve will be crows and lilies, and within it, a tribute to the women in my family who have passed: my Aunt Penny, my Nana, and my Grammie. I haven't figured that part out yet, but that's why I have Bella to turn to, to draw me something beautiful based on the information I give her.

I had to add the porno cover star to make it Blogger-safe. But yes... 8 crows up my rib cage. I may have more done to this later on. It was a cheap, quick tattoo, and my first.

My brave niece, before fleeing her hellish other family for the wilds of Montana to start life over, asked me to go with her to get her first tattoo. When she first told me what she was going to get I was like "you're getting what?" But it makes sense. For a kid who had very little childhood, who had to be an adult way too soon, who grew up with abuse, around drug use, torn between fights where adults used child protective services as weapons. So thinking on it, having "The World" tattooed on her shoulder made perfect sense. She is brave, and strong, and beautiful, and she bears all that weight with grace.

Although, the way he did the r, lack of after care instruction and proper IDing really bug me. Glad I went with her. Fuck Redneck Tattoos. You heard me.

And then there are people who get tattoos to retain their religious identity in times of oppression. I was using Stumbleupon one day (I actually discovered it when I found that people were finding my blog by using it) when one of my stumbles brought me to an article about tattooed Croatian women. Forced to convert to Islam by the Turks, they tattooed secret symbols on their hands and arms to retain their Roman Catholic identity. The whole article was fascinating and can be found here.

While I only have two tattoos right now, it's something I love and find fascinating, so it will be a topic that will come up again. I mean, I didn't even cover my sister's meaningless ass-dolphin, which I suggest she augment with the words "rape" and "murder" because, well... dolphins try to rape humans and actually do murder porpoises. Don't believe me? Read the articles on Cracked. But I digress...