I left TSCC 3 years ago this summer and have been contemplating getting a tattoo since. I recently came out about my non-belief to my parents and I really want to finally get one. Did you get one after leaving? How did you choose?

And I plan to get more. I don't care if people think they're gross, trashy, whatever, because in the words of Raptor Jesus, "Your mom's gross." :D

The only ting I suggest is really contemplate what you want and do a lot of research on your artist.

I love my tattoos of Catwoman, but in retrospect and seeing some of what the artists are doing now, I might have had something different tattooed instead. But I still love them, and they are a map of my journey through life.

My fave tattoo, though, is my Snow Leopard spots. They make me feel more "complete." And it's cute how children react to them; The boy I once nannied called them my "kitty bots."

Think about it, think about it some more, and then just do it if you want. Life is too short to conform to others' aesthetic rules.

My husband's and my first initial stylize in non-english alphabet, intertwined.

I'm getting one in a few months. Tell no one. It will be a Celtic tree of life. I may have talked about this before. I was supposed it get for my birthday last November, but fate intervened because one of my kids needed money and I had no money left for the tattoo.

I have a fair amount of ink, almost all of it related to nature. The dominant color is green.

My back is one huge tat of the Central American rainforest. There are five critters: a jaguar, a howler monkey, a coatimundi, and two scarlet macaws. They're in their habitat, which is dominated by a large strangler fig tree that runs down my spine from my neck to my butt, its branches reaching over my shoulders and its roots cradling my pelvis.

On the front (chest & arms) I have a variety of critters: toucan, another bird, a green tree frog, a sloth, two butterflies, a rhinoceros beetle, an eyelash viper. Unlike the rainforest scene on my back several of the front tats are still at the outline-only phase; I have to get them inked in. Money's a little short these days so that will have to wait.

I love my ink and hope to get more. As I explained to one earnest young missionary, my body isn't meant to be a temple--it's meant to be a museum. Each of my tats has a story (as do the lines on my face, the hair turned mostly grey, the scars on my arms and stomach); anyone (missionaries included) is welcome to ask me about them, over a beer if that's your pleasure. You can have a beer, son. You're allowed.

No. Never ever wanted one and as they involve pain and I'm a wuss....would never get one...for any reason.

RB

I have a tableau of the seasonal representations going from shoulder to shoulder on the back; snowflakes, spring flowers, a bee, summer leaves and fall leaves. In the center above all this I have a shortened version of the Susan Sontag quote, "Everything exists to end in a photograph" The only tattoo that I really consider beautiful are the snowflakes, lots of color and sharp details. The bee is okay, I guess. The original tattoo artist left the shop and stopped tattooing and I let her cohorts finish it. Ugh. Big mistake. I trusted them and I should have been patient and researched another artist. My advice would be to do your research and maybe have the tattoo drawn on a piece of paper and wear it in your desired location for a few days to see if it is what you really want permanently inked in your skin.

Love this quote:
“My body is my journal, and my tattoos are my story.”

― Johnny Depp



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2016 11:26AM by Forgetting Abigail.

60% of my body is tattooed. I am heavily modified. Looking back at the process now, I realize it was the only thing besides making art I could do to get relief from the pain and sorrow of growing up in an abusive Mormon household.

Do I regret some? No. I just wish I had let someone better do them. They are the road map of my life.
Everything passes, yet the mark remains.

In 1999 and 2000, I worked with a girl who was heavily tattooed and she told me the story of most of them (that I could see anyway) and finally talked me into going with her to get one.

We went to a nice parlor in downtown Las Vegas on May 5, 2000 and I got just a peace sign, about 2 inches tall on my upper left arm since I thought it was going to hurt like hell, which it didn't.

The reason I remember the exact date is that the next morning, May 6, I got the phone call telling me that my dad had passed that morning, age 91. He'd had cancer which spread and it was his time.

I came to Utah that week to get ready for a funeral and was wearing a bandage with the ABC stuff to protect it. By Thursday, the day of his funeral, I took the bandage off and just wore my last morg white shirt. The ink in the tattoo rubbed off on the inside of the white shirt. I ended up throwing away it away.

A few months later, I had the black ink filled in again and added a circle with a length of flames about 2 inches. It's still there, I have to raise my shirt sleeve to let people see it.

I've always wanted to get another one, but they have really gotten more expensive with their popularity.

I got a tattoo before I joined the church. As I was leaving for Navy boot camp, Mom asked me not to get a tattoo. The first thing I did when I graduated was get a tattoo. That sure showed her! It's now 53 years later and the darned thing is still there though it is no longer recognizable as the anchor, eagle and USN banner. Age has worked on it so much that a grandchild asked me if I had a chipmunk tattooed on my arm, lol.

My FIL got tattooed forearms in the Pacific during WWII when he served on a ship. Later in life he was in the stake presidency and always wore long sleeves to cover it up. He was embarrassed in the temple because when he'd do "Pay! Lay! Ale!" with his arms up, you could plainly see the tatts. I never could discern what they were, because the colors had blended into just a hue of green, and you couldn't make out any detail.

Today, the inks and he the overall technology have gotten a lot better, and tattoos are less likely to go bad like that.

Nope. I've seen some very cool ink, but I've never had a desire to get one. I do have one single dot, but it was the result of accidentally stabbing myself with an .004 Rapidograph pen while illustrating an artifact.

It's kinda funny, but I now stand out among my peers as the only one who doesn't have any ink. But then I left the "church" in '76. Yes, I'm getting old. My wife has a beautiful butterfly on her left breast (she got it in Berkeley in '69).

I got my first tattoo 2 months ago. I waited for years. I wanted it to reflect who I am and where I come from. Since I went to Ohio State, I got script "Ohio" in scarlet red, with s buckeye leaf and football.

I mean, I did every other sin in the Mormon book: premarital sex, drugs, piercings.... How bad is a tattoo?

I got my first tattoo the year we stopped attending church. I had wanted it long before I left, but didn't get one out of fear of church folk judgement. Obviously at this point I don't care what anyone thinks about it.

I have a large tatoo on my upper back of a humming bird and a lily. My grandma's name is above the lily. She loved birds and flowers and I loved her. She was a very important person in my life and she did something for me that I was never able to repay before she suddenly passed away.

I felt very strongly about getting the tattoo, so I did. I love it! I do not regret it.

Research your local tattoo artists. That part took me a little while. Thanks to the internet most artists post their art online. Custom jobs will cost a little more. One business here in Nashville says, "Good tattoos aren't cheap and cheap tattoos aren't good."

Have fun with it!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2016 12:23AM by Slumbering Minstrel.

I was in Venice, in the Piazza San Marco, loving the ocean-smell, and the "squee" sound of the sea gulls. There weren't very many tourists. It was lovely.

At noon, Mass got out, and people came spilling out of every nook and cranny. But what got me was the number of bells - the tremendous variances in their sounds, and so MANY! - coming from every direction. Exquisite! All this tolling, from every direction!

A little, wrinkly brown-faced man, dressed like a very raggedy-looking Franciscan, was watching my face. I sensed that he understood exactly what I was feeling. I said to him, in my awe-struck Italian, "The bells here- they don't RING, they SING!" The little guy's face lit up into a smile with very few teeth (though the joy in the expression more than made up for dentition) and he beamed, "Si, signora, cantano per la joya!" (Yes, ma'am, they sing for joy!")

Nine years later, I would have his words tattooed on the inside of my left forearm, in my university's blue. "Cantano per la gioia!" How can THAT not lift your spirit?

I'm glad you got the spelling right. It would have been sad to have "cantano per la joya" on your arm. It's a sterling phrase to have chosen, and you have memories to go with it.

an Italian professor from the local university before getting it done. She thought the whole project was marvelous.

I got it last year, for Mother's Day, so I've had it for a year now. And looking at it makes my heart sing, every time!

I love it!

My hubby and I have been out for one year and have been looking into tattoos for probably two years. He is a lot more serious about getting one and most likely will in the next year. It's fun thinking of all the possibilities!

I have several, but the most relevant here is an image of Prometheus stealing fire from the gods. He's holding a compass symbolizing that he is a man of science.

I have a skull and crossbones on my shoulder. It's a reminder that some things are better off dead, especially if they're doing more harm than good. That could mean ending relationships, setting boundaries, or cutting things off. Like when I resigned from the church. :)

I plan on getting more tattoos, but money is tight right now.

I have two dots. They were put there so the lazer would always be in the exact same place every day for 7 weeks.

I'm thinking of having the most visible one removed.

I haven't gotten any tattoos yet, but as soon as money permits, I plan on getting at least two or three small-ish ones, and eventually i'd like a full sleeve tattoo of a coral reef, and possibly a recreation of one of Alphonse Mucha's lithographs on my upper arm or back. For now, though, I'll probably start with something simple, like a starfish on my ankle or something.

I have thought about it, and ended up rejection getting any tattoos. At my age, I realized that I don't have a need or desire to put ink on my body. I'm not against them, just not something that is on my "to do" list. I've admired many of the older style tattoos that were tribal in nature.

I got a tattoo after my first dog died. The vet's office gave me a pawprint they'd taken as a memento of her. I'd wanted a tattoo for a long time and decided to remember her by tattooing her paws on my leg. It looks like she'd stepped in ink and put her front paws on my leg to beg for chicken or something. She left her mark on me. Now other people can see it too.

Every time I look down at those paws I see her smooshy widdle face gazing up at me (in my mind's eye), hoping for chicken. Or cuddles. Or something.

Had nothing whatsoever to do with the church or my resignation or anything. One aspect of my life that I consider to be true and complete recovery is not relating every stinkin' thing in my life back to the church. My dad and stepmom are the only mormons in my family, so I have the luxury and privilege of being able to just turn my back on the whole thing and move on with my life.