Tattoos

[LetsGetSerious]

sensible advice Ed

[xerikx]

You don't need to baby your tattoos and put all these goos and lotions and crap on them

Personally, the three I have that have healed the best I've done nothing to

[Yardbird]

I agree. i just wash it with soap to keep it clean for the first 3 days or so, then use lotion when it feels like i need it.

A&E is probably the worst thing ever.

edit: A&D. that's what I get for watching TV. Derp

[mrip]

If the download still works, you can download a pdf of it here.

http://www.mediafire.com/?nnynjgynoio

link didnt work for me so here is another one

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OW5SH8NM

[NickBaileyKnows]

I'm getting my first tattoo in a few weeks. It's the amazing quote from 1887, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

[Ed x TWWK]

A&E is probably the worst thing ever.

Shit is disgusting and smells like the baby section in the supermarket.

That's why I swear by Aquaphor, no smell, no greasy-ness, and keeps it good and lubed up for the first few days.

[shark jacobs]

does this quotation have some particular significance to your life?

or do you just have an ideological distrust of authority which is so important to you that you need to etch it permanently upon yourself

i would worry that this kind of quote is ubiquitous to the point of being meaningless unless you have some kind of personal connection to it

see also: "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"

[DüM]

yeah I thought it was pretty crazy that in that russian tattoo book dudes had what basically amounted to political cartoons tatted on themsleves. some were obviously significant to them but alot of others not so much

[back211]

personally

you dont have to have meaning behind something u get just something that ur willing to keep and have for the rest of your life,

might be meaningfull or just a pice of art

Damn i just read an artiicle in Gq bashing on tattoo cuz everyones getting them, ive noticed that too but still its for me right?

[shark jacobs]

i can get behind meaningless tattoos

some of my favourite tattoos don't have any deeper meaning behind them than "this looks cool"

any significance they have is purely aesthetic

but some tattoos do have meaning

the russian prison tattoos are a good example, they're not just cool looking, each distinct tattoo has a non mutable meaning which can be read and interpreted

if someone here copied a russian prison tattoo then yeah, its a cool looking design. but maybe they've also inadvertently written "informer/suckup for the communist party" on themselves

its the same as getting chinese characters tattooed without knowing what they say

at least with these two examples it doesn't really matter most of the time unless you meet a russian criminal or a chinese person, respectively

words are meaningful, you cant just pass them off as purely aesthetic like an image, because everyone can read them. so with that in mind, yeah, i think its important that what you're writing means something important to you.

I, perhaps unfairly, thought that NickBaileyKnows might not have really thought about what "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." really means to him because he attributed the quotation to "1887" and admittedly, that is the year it was written, but it would make more sense to include the author or source than the date

i also question his judgement because he's seventeen. ageism's not cool and getting old doesn't make you smart but that doesnt mean that seventeen year olds aren't retarded

or on the other hand, maybe i'm way of the mark and he just really cares about the fallibility of the pope

but to summarize:

tattoos don't need to be meaningful

but if they are, what they mean matters

[panicnation]

its the same as getting chinese characters tattooed without knowing what they say

at least with these two examples it doesn't really matter most of the time unless you meet a russian criminal or a chinese person, respectively

with about a billion of us in the world, i'd say the odds of meeting a chinese person who's gonna make fun of your tattoo is pretty high.

[soap]

with about a billion of us in the world, i'd say the odds of meeting a chinese person who's gonna make fun of your tattoo is pretty high.

I would also say that the type of person who gets chinese characters and doesn't know what they mean, also probably wouldn't know or care if a chinese person was making fun of their tattoo because they are oblivious to the world around them.

Lettering tattoos look kind of boring to me. They should probably have a meaning to you since it really isn't that fun to stare at. I find that after a while all those script tattoos look the same and I can never read what they say.

[Vampyrvargfesten]

what do you guys think about solid black fills

this dude has a solid arm that is black... is there a hidden message/significance?

[mlproject]

i think the meaning behind some black fills are

• used to be a nazi. have a white rider sleeve that needed to get covered.

•*has old courage crew tattoos. pussed out, blacked out.

• has old barbed wire/tribal/rainbow/dolphin tattoos from the high school bro days.

• wanted to be unique, but failed.

[NatseOklim]

I like the idea of solid black fills as it goes back to the original Yakuza tattoos.

[mlproject]

most of the people i have met with black filled arms (ok, so 2 out of the 3) didn't do that kind of research

[back211]

about the meanings

I agree that if there is a disticnt meaning behind a tattoo, it should be recognized and respected, the thing is times do change. For example, sailor tattoos were given to sailors who put theyre time in on the seas. Now a days its an acceptable art form for anyone to get even though there is meaning behind the symbolism.

Now granted it isnt an equl comparison to russian prison tattoos because they often carry a negative conantation with them compared to sailor tattoos which are more acomplishments.

I remember it used to be 70% of prisoners got tattooed in prison in russia.

That being said, i would be careful getting russian prison tattoo's because if you do happen to go to russia, or europe, theyre are alot of russian mafias around and who knows what theyll do if they notice ur false acclaimed russian tattoos,

[Quik]

this dude has a solid arm that is black... is there a hidden message/significance?

Look at his forearm close to his elbow, dude has a tattoo that it looks like he tried to cover

[dino might]

i think blackout tattoos can look pretty cool in some applications, but sometimes i just ask myself "why?".

on tattoos in general- theyre pretty sweet, ive wanted some for a long time. but seeing as how my pops would (not to my surprise) most likely disown me/cut me out of the will/sever any connections whatsoever, i havent dared get anything done other than my lip (lol).

this is all pretty upsetting to a kid who wants tattoos, but at the same time im really fucking thankful the situation is the way it is. i mean, aside from saving me from the devastating effects of a potentially regretful, poorly thought out, ugly, cliched etc etc tattoo, its given me time to really think about what i'd get eventually, if anything...

so many fucking dorks have tattoos today i may be slowly getting turned off..

i walked by a gay couple the other day, both with (mind you, im no expert) pretty nice, tough looking, like yakuza steelo or whatever it is, half sleeves. the problem was, the two were so incredibly plain looking otherwise that if i were a cartoon id have question marks popping out of my ears. they werent stylish little twinks, or big bearded bear gays or i dont know, remarkable in any aspect other than their tattoos. each looked like a total doofus, stereotypical middle-aged man, with a closest full of walking shoes, graphic tees, and cargo shorts from the gap.

like what the fuck? they single (or double?) handedly took everything cool, everything taboo, any shred of "badassitude" out of tattoos for that 5 second glimpse. and i thought to myself "do i ever want to be associated with people like that? do i even want tattoos anymore?"

maybe its how the bike guys felt once johnny trendhopper got his first fixie, or the way milspex surely cringed when doctorworm (lol no hate worm) popped up on his roof in a supreme tee, or maybe the way elvis costello felt when every cocksucker with 20/20 vision started rocking plastic-lensed wayfarers?

i dont know, im just a little disheartened lately. these days its starting to seem more and more original to NOT get work done. and if thats truly the case, then im not really jumping at the chance to spend the little money i have to fit in with all the cool kids w/ their rad tributes to teenage angst..

im off to go spend [less] money on drugs, food, and clothes, and if i dont like the 2000 dollar suit next year, whether my tastes change, or my ass gets too fat, or every kid in class gets the same one.. whatever, i can take it off and move on, and not be constantly reminded of an undesirable past lapse in judgement.

that is, at least until pops dies, my salary is actually substantial enough to responsibly justify such purchases, and i truly know (or am so foolish as to "know" that i think i know) what will remain in good taste for years to come

[mlproject]

i can't afford good tattoos

[2000dB]

Im about to call an artist who's coming in town next week for a convention (or is that a total faux pas of conventions?) about what I'd like to get and if it's possible to do it in a weekend... kinda excited seeing Ive wanted a tattoo for a while now and the time and idea is right.

Dino, I see your point but at the same time you can't just let go of shit you like just because idiots like it too.

[Vampyrvargfesten]

Look at his forearm close to his elbow, dude has a tattoo that it looks like he tried to cover

[NatseOklim]

[evisu 2000]

i think blackout tattoos can look pretty cool in some applications, but sometimes i just ask myself "why?".

on tattoos in general- theyre pretty sweet, ive wanted some for a long time. but seeing as how my pops would (not to my surprise) most likely disown me/cut me out of the will/sever any connections whatsoever, i havent dared get anything done other than my lip (lol).

this is all pretty upsetting to a kid who wants tattoos, but at the same time im really fucking thankful the situation is the way it is. i mean, aside from saving me from the devastating effects of a potentially regretful, poorly thought out, ugly, cliched etc etc tattoo, its given me time to really think about what i'd get eventually, if anything...

so many fucking dorks have tattoos today i may be slowly getting turned off..

i walked by a gay couple the other day, both with (mind you, im no expert) pretty nice, tough looking, like yakuza steelo or whatever it is, half sleeves. the problem was, the two were so incredibly plain looking otherwise that if i were a cartoon id have question marks popping out of my ears. they werent stylish little twinks, or big bearded bear gays or i dont know, remarkable in any aspect other than their tattoos. each looked like a total doofus, stereotypical middle-aged man, with a closest full of walking shoes, graphic tees, and cargo shorts from the gap.

like what the fuck? they single (or double?) handedly took everything cool, everything taboo, any shred of "badassitude" out of tattoos for that 5 second glimpse. and i thought to myself "do i ever want to be associated with people like that? do i even want tattoos anymore?"

maybe its how the bike guys felt once johnny trendhopper got his first fixie, or the way milspex surely cringed when doctorworm (lol no hate worm) popped up on his roof in a supreme tee, or maybe the way elvis costello felt when every cocksucker with 20/20 vision started rocking plastic-lensed wayfarers?

i dont know, im just a little disheartened lately. these days its starting to seem more and more original to NOT get work done. and if thats truly the case, then im not really jumping at the chance to spend the little money i have to fit in with all the cool kids w/ their rad tributes to teenage angst..

im off to go spend [less] money on drugs, food, and clothes, and if i dont like the 2000 dollar suit next year, whether my tastes change, or my ass gets too fat, or every kid in class gets the same one.. whatever, i can take it off and move on, and not be constantly reminded of an undesirable past lapse in judgement.

that is, at least until pops dies, my salary is actually substantial enough to responsibly justify such purchases, and i truly know (or am so foolish as to "know" that i think i know) what will remain in good taste for years to come

if you suck your thumb

then yo

suck your thumb

[haptronic]

the talk about the russian prison tattoo had me thinking.

a while ago i saw an american dude with what looked like ta moko [maori tattoo] on his arm, something was not quite right about how it looked, like the shapes were a little off.

i asked him where he got it...

a shop on 18th st

it was weird for me as i have maori ancestry, something and here was someone borrowing from my culture in a way that seemed meaningless.

a friend of mine decided it was time to get a puhoro a tattoo traditionally only done on men from nga puhi [the tribe i am from] that goes from the lower back to the back of the knees.

the process started with him talking to his kuamatua [a tribal elder],

are you man enough

he had to be clean for two months during which time he received instruction in language and culture, with an emphasis on the stories of his hapu [sub tribe] and whanuanga [extended family]. if he was going to be carrying around the stories of his people on his body then he should know them well and be worthy of carrying them.

he believed that if he didn't live by these things he would be cursed and hearing that he later went off the rails into some really dark place, i have no doubt that he believed that having not lived up to responsibilities of carrying these stories in his skin that he was paying the price.

there are maori and pakeha [new zealand born europeans] who get modern version maori style tattoo, without the spiritualism involved, i personally would never even think about getting any ta moko without consultation, i mean why fuck with stuff that you know nothing about.

i guess for me it is the same with the russian prison tats or any gang or prison tats, do you really feel that you have the mana to carry someone else's story on your body for life?

are you man enough?

[xerikx]

Shit is disgusting and smells like the baby section in the supermarket.

That's why I swear by Aquaphor, no smell, no greasy-ness, and keeps it good and lubed up for the first few days.

still not necessary at all

[Mr Calvin Oscar]

so how would i go about covering up a line of black text on my leg

[shark jacobs]

^ according to what ive read in this thread you should probably just do the entire leg black

[Yardbird]

so how would i go about covering up a line of black text on my leg

Is it vertical?

Black ink is obviously the hardest to cover up.

Eli Quinters in NYC is a master cover-upper. If you get something that could have a considerable amount of dark coloring/shading then by all means, talk to an artist about it.

As for the whole russian tattoo thing;

I find them interesting. Some of the more, dare I say, "mainstream" tattoos in the prisons that were used to identify a general amount of thieves/beggars/bums whichever, is the only thing id ever consider getting, since the meaning isnt SO personal but personal none-the-less. I'll probably will never wind up doing so because it was and is such a controversial subject. Plus I'm not even Russian. However, They do make some fine art over there, I must say.

If I could get my eyes on some Irish prisoners tattoos however........

[Mr Calvin Oscar]

yeah its vertical

thanks for the name