JBluewind

I think it's also worth noting that the "labour of love" thing is also often used as a cover to underpay/overwork people, i.e. if you are doing it because it makes your soul sing or whatever, then that is reward enough. Loving what you do does not mean you don't deserve to be properly compensated for it! You get a lot of that shit in academia too.

I knew what he meant, and I passed it off jokingly. I made it clear what tattooing is to myself, my coworkers, and those who take it seriously. As I said, some people don't know how to phrase what they mean, and I helped him learn, hopefully.
Also, whenever I hear someone say "Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life" it strikes me as infinitely uninformed... I love drawing, painting, and tattooing, but it's very hard work. Who knew that all those nights with two hours sleep drawing the same thing 20 times in a row didn't count as work? And it implies that you're supposed to hate your job (and, of course, usually do it to a subpar level because you don't care about it), which is a poor mindset to have as a standard bearer.

It's more that it's a disrespectful and ignorant statement, due to how hard we all do work. A hobby is a passing interest... Playing guitar is a hobby I really enjoy. Just because you're having fun, doesn't mean you're not working extremely hard.

At a recent convention, it DID look like at least 75% of the artists were having fun. I mean, you are artists, you have the talent and you have found a medium that you can make a living with. Beats driving a taxi, doesn't it? I was blessed with an OCD engineer brain. I can fix any particle accelerator, but I can't draw a round circle. Of course, the cyclotrons don't squirm and throw tantrums (often).

This afternoon my father learned about my tattoo.
"I just do not understand why you would deliberately try to ruin your little sister's wedding pictures like that. Look at how gross that thing looks, all flaking off like that!"
A few things:
1. My sister has two tattoos, both larger than mine, and both of which will be visible in her wedding dress. (Perhaps Dad doesn't realize this?)
2. I asked Sister if it mattered to her that mine would probably be visible depending on the bridesmaid dresses she chose, and she said that it didn't make a difference to her, because, again, both of hers will be showing.
3. Sister is getting married in May. Tattoo will be long healed by then, and won't look dry and flaky anymore.
I should have expected this reaction from my dad. He asked me if I wanted him to photoshop out my nose ring when we took family photos for my grandmother's birthday a few years back. But it doesn't make the comments any less irksome.

I always get asked how much my sleeve cost and I tell them and their response is along the lines of "OMG! I could have bought a car with that kind of money!" Or People with bad tattoos always give me the "You got ripped off. Look at my tattoo. Its awesome and I only paid $50 for mines"........
I take a look and the lines are all blown out, the ink is faded already and the tattoo is fresh under 1 year and since I'm not a rude person, I just tell them that they have a nice tat and I go on my way.

My friend's girlfriend after my last tattoo session: "So now that you have all these tattoos, how do you *really* feel about them?"

The latest one would be, "what is it"? Seriously.

Plainskins. Never heard this before. Good name. I don't mind people asking what the meaning of my tattoos are. I rather them be interested in them than judging them.

The other week I found myself talking to this guy who was collecting cans and bottles on the street (to get the refund) about my tattoos. He just walked up and asked what I paid for them. I was so surprised so I told him some number close to what it might have been (I'm not really counting this..) and he was so shocked. He later told me that he wanted to get the names of his father, mother and sisters tattooed on his arm and asked me if 50 euro would be a good price for this. I told him Yes. We talked in length about why someone would get tattooed and spend all this money. He confessed he wanted to get gold chains around his neck, "like in America, rappers!" He also described a friend of his who "lived like a pig" but drove a BMW.
Just some hours later I was sitting on a bench with a friend when a bunch of drunk girls, a bit younger than me, walked by. One of the girls stopped like she had hit a glass wall and exclaimed "Are those tattoos! I love them!", while pointing at my legs. She proceeded to touch my tattoos and grab hold of my legs, lifting them and twisting them to see better. I have never had a stranger do this to me before so I was too surprised to tell her not to. After a while one of her, slightly less drunk, friends grabbed hold of her shoulders and guided her away from me. The whole encounter was strange.

I had one of my favorite feisty retirees yell at me about my lower leg tattoo today. "WHAT is THAT on your leg?! Why would you do that?! Your leg looked perfectly beautiful before! THAT LOOKS TERRIBLE!!" I just thanked her for her input and we got back to discussing books. I think we're still friends.
This same person once body-checked a customer in line ahead of her. She's a bit of a firecracker.

When I first started researching tattoos I had a bunch of dumb cliche symbolic type ideas. I looked through a bunch of online portfolios looking for an artist that made tattoos similar to my idea but I kept thinking "wow these japanese pieces are really cool/powerful. i wish i could get something like that...." Then I got a koi half sleeve, then some traditional pieces, then a hannya sleeve, more traditional, more japanese. So I think the solution is to force your cousin to look through portfolios and instagram accounts that are overflowing with great tattoos.

I got this the other day, but the "excuse" was pretty funny. He's older now (>50) and he'd wanted a tattoo as a late teen and came home with a cross on his arm that he'd drawn on with a permanent marker. His father, as expected, assumed it was real and hit the roof. As he described the scene and the layout of the dinner table area where his father discovered the travesty, he was clearly boxed in by the radiator and the wall and the rest of the family. His father then proceeded to grab steel wool and scrubbed it off his arm, along with a layer of skin before he realized he'd been had. The teller of the tale said he didn't want to get a tattoo after that. All-in-all, not a bad excuse and completely forgivable because he told the story with such vigor and humor!

So I have been away for over a week on vacation, no internet. Logged on today, saw that there was a bunch of posts in this thread, and started to catch up. Got halfway through @mmikaoj 's post and decided to leave it until tonight after my son's soccer practice.
While there I was talking to my buddy's wife, who apparently hasn't seen me in shorts since December. So I proceeded to answer just about every single question on here - pain, cost, meaning, where, why, etc., etc.
Started out like this:
Her- "Whoa, when did you get that?!?
Me - "December"
Her- "What's the meaning??"
Me - "It means I have an awesome panther on my leg. With a sword. And some roses."
Her - "Oh, three roses! For your wife and two kids.
Me - "Uh....OK"
I felt like the conversation was happening because of this thread.

An old man once asked me, back when I had only one on my leg, if it was an Irish transfer. I had no idea what he was talking about. I'm in Canada, no one calls press on tattoos "transfers" and what the hell is an Irish one?
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The other day my girlfriend got
is it real?
what kind of a question is that like no she wakes up every morning and draws a Russian doll on her thigh before she leaves the house

Re: cost.
Almost everyone has asked me this question and very few people know I am working on a full back. It makes me uncomfortable, even from friends, and I don't have a pat answer yet. But the other day, without even thinking, I replied, "Yeah, it's more expensive than going to the movies." For some reason, that shut down the question with a little laugh from both of us, but in a way that it was clear I wasn't going to share, conversation was over, without being rude or making them feel like a jerk for asking (my friends, after all). Not sure I can explain that, but it was a positive thing and I think I'll try that one again.

It's been true summer for a week now in Stockholm and I've been in t-shirt and shorts most of the time. I am starting to grow tired of talking about tattoos with people with no tattoos/really bad tattoos. I think during this time I have talked about tattoos with most people that I work with, many of my friends (that I do really love by the way) and a few random folks. And I don't see the point… or rather, it gets very tiring. Maybe because many people don't know jack about tattooing, only from what they have seen on tv and they ask you the most rude and stupid questions. And then proceed to show you some horrible work on "a buddy" by making you browse this persons instagram feed.
Normally I am a very polite and patient guy but after a week of this.. I don't really think I care about talking tattoos with people who are not deeply into it. I feel like an elitist for saying this but, I guess right now, that's me. I think one of the problems has to do with how tattooing became a mainstream and "cool" thing. Much like skateboarding right about that time when Adidas and Nike decided there was money to be made. Skateboarders used to be the weird smelly kids, the outcasts of the school. It used to be something the general public had no understanding for. I wrote this to a friend recently who thought that my skateboarding hobby was cool
"I don't think skateboarding is so cool, obectivly speaking. Same with tattoos. Or, I don't want it to be cool and hyped and a lot of attention and money into it. I prefer when things are underground, wierd/repulsive to the general public and only cool to the people involved and active. Outsiders and tourists destroy everything genuine (especially as soon as money is involved) It's cultural gentrification."
/End of angry rant. Back to trying to be a nice person and talk reasonable and in a friendly tone to people who wants to talk tattoos with me. Shit, I did not get these to be a conversation piece. One of the rudest things that I've had to respond to in a number of occasions is about the cost of tattoos.. like "Woow, dude that's a lot of money on your legs right there!". Few people would talk about the cost of the paintings on the walls of a friends place the first time they get invited over for dinner, am I right?
ps. I am a really nice guy in real life

Getting a big tattoo has really changed my view of my skin health. I've got several bottles of good quality SPF 50 everywhere and several UV 50 shirts, 2 UV hoodies and coverup. And now that I am thinking thigh, I've found myself slathering lotion over other parts of my body in preparation for possible new tattoos! (You know, because it's an addiction and all...) No, I'm excited to wear my tattoos!
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I get the standard "does it hurt" and "how much is it costing" and I have no idea why people think it wouldn't hurt. Are they assessing your degree of masochism? Secretly thinking you deserve it? (Rhetorical...)
I was on a diving vacation a couple weeks ago and there were three distinct responses. We were diving with the same group of 13 on the same small boat. I wore a rash guard all the time and no one saw the tattoo until the 2nd or 3rd day, so people got to know me as a person. A nice couple our age who'd traveled the world teaching English were so interested and curious (we were diving, my back is an in-progress montage of underwater photographs I've taken) and we talked about the different critters and how a tattoo like this progress. Very nice and completely accepting. They have no tattoos. There was another group, three of whom had small tattoos, and they either didn't say anything and treated me the same - one told me a guy she knew was getting a full suit and was to be featured in a book. She was cool and open.
The other group was a family who initially was friendly to me. The dad and I are in the same profession and somewhat muckity-mucks. I could possibly have been a useful contact to him. Then when I showed up at the (inside) tiki bar wearing only a bikini and showing my tattoo off the first (and only) time, the father came around the back of me to look at the chalkboard menu above the bar where I was sitting. My husband told me he stood there for a good 5 minutes staring at my back while pretending to read the menu. After that, they didn't talk to me for a couple days, but a couple of them (including the dad) warmed up to me somewhat after being stuck on a small boat together and having to realize I was a real person.
Interesting to see the reactions.

"Tattoos are not an addiction; they are a collection. A tattoo collector is just like a conventional art collector who buys a painting, hangs it on the wall, and then moves on to acquire the next, unique piece. Tattoo collecting is a spiritual pursuit, while addiction is a physiological need. Addicts repeatedly take the same drug over and over without limit. A tattoo collection has variety, and it has an end. Once you collect the whole set, you're done."
-Horiyoshi III
Side note: I also have a Hello Kitty. It was done by my fiancée, is about an inch and a half wide, and took her about an hour. It's just lines, aside from color in the bow and nose. She was really trying.

I get some random things said to me about my tattoos. One thing that really drives me nuts, more so than the "plainskins" term, and more than a "tattoo gun" ( Im a tattooer so that really urks me), is when someone calls a tattoo a "tat".
I usually have a thermal under my T-shirt so my tattoos arent shown very often, but when a little bit poke out of my shirt I get the "wow you have tats?" or " can I see your tats?" that really bugs me.
As far as the typical meaning questions, people are shocked with my answers. I tell them most of the tattoos are just because I like it, or one in particular I got it because "Im NOT supposed to like it" I have a hello kitty day of the dead. I am a guy I am straight, but I got it because "Only girls like hello kitty" I dont always go with the grain of life hahahaa

"Tattoos are an addiction eh?"
Tattoos make me happy, so very happy! And yknow what? So does ice cream. And I bet basketball makes other people happy. Motorcycles make people happy.
"LIKE OMG BASKETBALL IS AN ADDICTION EH?"
"YOU MUST BE ADDICTED TO MOTORCYCLES."
"MY NAME IS ERIC AND I HAVE AN ADDICTION TO ICE CREAM."
You see? It's just a tattoo, not heroin for Christ sake!

So odd she would call herself a cleanskin. In aussie, cleanskin is a term for wine which doesn't have the winemakers name on the label and is generally sold a lot cheaper. I guess she's calling herself cheap! Ha!

Right, it was just used in the thread title lightly, as a joke. I don't actually call anyone that in person...
Although, on an Australian morning show, the untattooed woman speaking about tattoos on women being a mistake, referred to herself as a "cleanskin". I guess that would make us....dirty. ;)
Anyway, funny story about the tv!

my boyfriend who is somehow not tattooed by now, said this when i told him it would be a few more months until i got my next tattoo and we had to be careful to avoid some part of me "this is ridiculous, you're already 2 to 0 with me, i need to go and get mine done before you get your next one."
Also, my grandparents live abroad so they had no idea i had gotten a tat until they came over for dinner on a visit. my immediate family and they were sitting together in the living room and my sister was talking about my dads tattoos, he's covered, and my grandpa said in the politest way possible "I'm glad your father is the only one in the family to have tattoos." this was met with a silent moment of everyone (mom, dad, siblings, and myself) looking at each other and immediately followed by everyone rolling around and laughing. Then we told them i had a tattoo which they complimented after i showed them.
Also i think plainskin could be derogatory, but i like it anyways. to me it really expresses the early days of modern tattoos and those who got them when it was way more taboo. I might use it as a derogatory term for someone who was being rude and self righteous or something about my tats, but to say that about someone who is respectful of tattoos and tattooed people sounds wrong.
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When i read to them my brother and sister love to trace mine, it tickles so much but they love it. In my experience when it comes to appreciating tattoos kids really know how to do it.