Hey Sweeties,
So it’s been a while, I think we’re ready to get intimate… a sort of I’ll show you mine if you show me yours… Woh! We are we going here, Sweeties?! I am talking about my tattoos, what were you thinking?! Seriously people, keep it clean!
Ha! Only joking with you all, that’s the mood I am in today -looking forward to another afternoon in London while being still deliriously tired from the night before…
I have three tattoos… you could technically say four but I count three.
The first tattoo I got was on my back which I got when I was 18 or 19, it’s a while ago now! Growing up, my mum didn’t have a problem with piercings (and I had quite a few of them too) but she always said that she would be really disappointed in me if I got a tattoo. To be honest, I never thought I would get a tattoo, for years they just never appealed but then… I started to think one on my back would look nice, so I started drawing some designs and at the time I knew a good tattooist, then I just went for it, all top secret of course! I can’t really explain the design, it does sound strange but it looks good… it’s basically two butterflies facing each other so from a distance it looks like one whole butterfly. Then in the wings I drew a gecko on each side… I loved these as a shape and within the wings they fitted really well. It was also a way to introduce some colour… although filling them in really hurt!
I wasn’t too worried about my Mum finding out, I knew she would be annoyed but she would get over it. My Dad however I thought would go mental but actually he was totally cool about it. In a moment of letting my guard down, my top lifted up slightly to reveal it as I was loading the dishwasher… opps!
The second tattoo I got was the outline of the lily seen below then I later got it filled in and the butterfly added. So this technically is where you could count the butterfly as a tattoo in itself but I count it all as one. I won’t lie, I wanted this tattoo because there was a small group of us that loved tattoos, I also fancied one on my wrist. Again my Mum was a little bit annoyed but you know, I had moved out of home at this point and was leading my own life making my own decisions. Although it’s in a really obvious place, I actually hardly notice it so it’s only when others notice it am I reminded that it is there.
My third tattoo is on my left ribcage. Yes it was painful but it’s the one that means the most. I had recently split up with a long term boyfriend who hated tattoos, wasn’t a fan of me wearing makeup and generally -not a fault of him, it was a cultural thing- to have stayed with him would have meant changing almost everything about me to be accepted into his life. Yes this tattoo was a kind of rebellion as well as a release of all that built up emotion and pain. I needed a word, a word that I needed to have ingrained on me to remember how to be and that I was worth being with for how I was/am. That word was ‘believe‘.
To keep it in theme with the others, I still managed to incorporate a butterfly into the design by making it the ‘B’. This was the only design that the tattooist adapted/created for me as he understood what I wanted but my initial design wouldn’t have inked well. I absolutely love what he came up with. If I had my way, I would add a spiral of butterflies leading from the word down the rest of my side and to my lower back. I haven’t done this because I have to think how I’ll look when I am 50 and when in front of my own children.
I think that is the important thing to remember with tattoos, we are in a generation where nearly everyone has an inking of some sort so when we all reach 50, we’ll be different from the previous generation when they turned 50. BUT, I think we do all need to consider how we’ll look so with very visual tattoos, you need to do a bit of forward thinking. You also need to consider your career, your job prospects may be affected if you turn up for interview and your potential employer can see you have a heavily tattooed sleeve, particularly if you’re in a customer or client facing role. It’s annoying, but you do have to consider these things. For girls, if you want to get married, it sounds silly but you do have to consider how you want to look on your wedding day. Your tattoo may look stunning in every other situation but in a beautiful gown you might think differently. Hey, I am putting this out there because with this kind of post I have to be responsible and not encourage you all to go out and get inked without thinking it through properly.
If you are considering a tattoo:
- Research and spend time looking for a reputable tattoo artist
- Be patient, if you can’t get booked in for a few weeks this is a good sign -it means your tattooist is in demand and obviously worth waiting for
- Think about your design, be clear with what you want; it’s with you for life after all
- Think also about location of your tattoo.. the back of your leg may look great now but will it when you’re older?
- I will also discourage inking names… unless it is of children; on the whole they shouldn’t later divorce you and leave you with a permanent reminder of them…
Anyway, so I have showed you mine… any of you guys got any tattoos?
Until tomorrow x
Clairey Sweetie 