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DemonKia -> RE: ok strange but interesting (3/30/2009 2:19:56 AM)
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lol . . . . Great thread . . . . .
I was a little dismayed at tattoos' recent surge in popularity, but I welcome it, too . . . . . I love unique, creative, fresh body art, it can be such an eloquent accent . . . . . .
I wanted tattoos from childhood on (mid-70's), long before they were popular . . . . . I looked thru mountains of biker & tattoo magazines over the years before I started getting the 5 tats I currently have (about 5% or 10% coverage) . . . . . I'd ultimately like to be 80% or 90% covered, given my druthers, but we'll see . . . .. (Patty in 'Stranger In A Strange Land' had a profound influence . . . . lol)
I was raised by an artist / art historian mother who hated the tattoos I got as an adult . . . . lol . . . . I see them as body art, collectibles I carry everywhere, all the time . . . . . But she saw them as self-mutilation, which I found confusing . . . .. This was the woman who took me to weird ass performance art throughout my childhood, but a few tats was mutilation . . . . . *shrugs shoulders* . . ..
Most of my tats are on what I think of as private flesh, that which is usually covered by ordinary clothing -- I do have a pink lily tattooed on my right ankle & a mulberry leaf above my left knee which are visible in shorts or short skirts . . . . .. But I'll eventually have more tats on my public flesh, too . . . . .
The number one reaction I get to my tats is, are those real? (& my patented smart-ass reply is, no -- I draw them on every morning . . . . . ) Primarily because I have no black line work in them, they look startling compared to the standard 'coloring-book' look that many tats have . . . . . I'm fairly pale & all that black struck me as both depressing & aesthetically 'wrong' for my skin . . . . . . . & I like color . . . . .
Plus, all the black contributes to the 'uglification of tats with aging' process, as the black impairs the ability to do cover ups & touch ups . . . . . At worst, instead of blurs of bluish-black ink, I'll have blurs of bright colors, green & red & purple & orange & sky-blue . ... lol . . . . If that's my biggest complaint at 70, or 80, or 90, I'll take it . ... . lol . . . . . Tats can & do need touch up over time, that's just part of the deal, especially colors, which tend to fade more than black ink . ...
A handy rule of thumb for anyone considering tats is look thru a bunch of tattoo mags, & whatever you see lots of -- avoid that . .. . . Figure out tattoos that are expressions of one's own uniqueness, that the wearer will enjoy forever, & spend a lot of time thinking about it before letting needle touch skin . .. . .
& yes, my tats all have meaning to me . . . . . .
Best,
The Demon, Kia
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