EmmaB

the only things that have changed for me is when I was a teenager and had no tattoos all I wanted was to be tanned and impress girls and now that I have tattoos all I do is hide in the shade trying to keep my tattoos fresh.
also when I get out of the shower I find myself staring at my body for ages just thinking "how fucking cool do I look" which usually results in me being late for work.

I've talked about this some before...
A few years ago I found out that I have a neurodegenerative disease that will eventually land me in a wheelchair. I really don't know how fast or slow it will go. There's not any treatment for it, nothing to do for it but treat symptoms and wait for the inevitable.
I got super depressed about it for a long time. I absolutely HATED my legs. Despised them for having this disease, for failing me, for "dooming" me to be disabled someday.
Sometime last summer I started to have persistent dreams that I was getting my legs tattooed. I ignored them as well as I could for awhile, and then started putting some serious thought into going for it. I started looking around the interwebs to see what was out there...
And then I came here :)
Since I started getting my legs tattooed my feelings about them have changed completely. I don't hate them at all anymore. In fact, I might even love them!!! I definitely love the tattoos, and to a great degree all those positive feelings have bled over onto the legs themselves.
And... I'm finding that my perspective about the disease as a whole is beginning to shift some too...
I'm coming around to the idea that I need to view it less as a curse, not "being doomed", and more of just "a change"...
I'm definitely not all the way there yet, but it's something that never would have been possible in the state of mind I was in when I hated my legs guts for having this thing in the first place.
- - - Updated - - -
And I have to add...
I want to thank all y'all here at LST for being here, for giving such great input and advice, for showing off such great work all the time!!
God forbid, what if I'd gotten crappy leg tattoos?!?!
I doubt it would have had the same positive impact that it's had...

This. So much this. I love your story :D
Although nowhere near the same, I have some health stuff that's not fun (Fibromyalgia and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome). I felt quite negative toward my body, knowing I can't do the things I used to do, can't go out on a whim like my friends, can't run (used to be one of my big hobbies). Getting tattooed hurts like a mofo because of the hypersensitivity, but the achievement - getting to look at a part of my body and go "I sat through hours of pain for that" helps to pick me up on a bad day and remind me that I'm doing better than I give myself credit for. That there are still things that I CAN do, and having awesome artwork all over me is one.
So yes, having tattoos has changed my life. In other ways too, of course - the way strangers interact with me has changed, but I can't say I have time or energy to think about that too much. Mostly they remind me that I kick ass.

I'm 35 and only started getting tattooed last year. I feel lucky that my husband has been very supportive so far, especially for someone with no tattoos nor interest in having any himself. Like many tattooed people I suspect, I started off just wanting one tattoo; now I have three big ones and can't see myself stopping any time soon. He's been with me all the way, and the only reservation he's expressed so far is that he really wouldn't want me to get a chest piece.
I will never tell my dad, but I told my mum after Christmas dinner when we'd both had lots of wine. She was shocked but not in a dismayed sense, I just think it totally confounded her perception of me, particularly the fact that I could sit for hours under the needle - she has this idea of me as someone who can't handle physical hardship/pain. I don't think she knows what to make of it all but that doesn't matter, I suppose. The main thing is she's not disappointed in me, which I had been childishly worried about.

I'm a woman with two huge arm tattoos, forearm and upper arm. No difference in hair regrowth in the slightest - just as there isn't when I shave my legs. I haven't checked beez' snopes link but I imagine that one reason for the myth of hair growing back thicker is that it all grows at the same rate, and longer unshaved hair tends to taper away at the end whereas shaved hair will at first have a blunter end, perhaps giving the appearance of being very slightly thicker.
Edit - sorry, I've just realised this is a response to a post that's several days old! Hope it's still helpful.

I'm a woman with two huge arm tattoos, forearm and upper arm. No difference in hair regrowth in the slightest - just as there isn't when I shave my legs. I haven't checked beez' snopes link but I imagine that one reason for the myth of hair growing back thicker is that it all grows at the same rate, and longer unshaved hair tends to taper away at the end whereas shaved hair will at first have a blunter end, perhaps giving the appearance of being very slightly thicker.
Edit - sorry, I've just realised this is a response to a post that's several days old! Hope it's still helpful.

While I imagine that most of the regular posters on this board are extremely discerning about the tattoos they put on their bodies (at least in terms of quality--perhaps not subject matter, haha), the idea of being a "tattoo snob" gives me douche chills.
Most of my friends are not really into tattoos, and so they are likely to come to me for advice if they are considering one, and I am absolutely happy to help--I want folks to get beautiful work and I want the awesome artists in this city to get the recognition they deserve. But as long as they're safe and clean I have no interest in being some great arbiter of whether or not their work passes my muster. They have to live with it.

A few years ago my brother bought a tattoo kit from china for $150 australian (really super good quality....)
so I tattooed this above my knee , and we tattooed a few friends. After two days the power supply broke and safe to say
I never touched a machine again hahah
I'll leave it to the professionals.

All right, let me try to get the pictures right in here then.
The work was done by Dutch Cooke, over at Immortal Ink in Clinton, NJ.
As I said, I've always wanted tattoos, but could never decide on what I wanted. Getting the brewery started, along with a shift in the way I look at tattoos, finally got me decided on hop vines.
These pictures are about 4 hours after the work was completed. I spent 2 1/2 hours in the chair to get this far, and have another session in a few weeks for color and shading.
I'm really pleased with how it came out, and how he made my vision fit my body. I can't wait to see it done, but I'm really, really not looking forward to shading that collarbone! Freakin' ouch. It's still a little bruised up. But it seems to be healing well--no blood, and very little ink loss on the inside of my clothes.



Comments are welcome. As it's my first, I'm still learning what to expect.
-Joe

Hello! I got my first tattoo at 34. I have two children. If you can handle childbirth, you can handle a tattoo sitting no bother.

Hello! I got my first tattoo at 34. I have two children. If you can handle childbirth, you can handle a tattoo sitting no bother.

On Saturday I had my left inner forearm tattooed from elbow ditch to wrist, and I keep doing double-takes at it now! Someone else has said it's worse in the mornings and I definitely get that.
The piece was a long time in the planning and it turned out better than I could have expected, it's just the permanent reality of it on my arm I'm adjusting to! It doesn't help that I'm the only person I know with visible tattoos; I know I'm going to get critical and sometimes startled reactions from family and friends, so I suppose I'm just going to have to be able to deal with that.

On Saturday I had my left inner forearm tattooed from elbow ditch to wrist, and I keep doing double-takes at it now! Someone else has said it's worse in the mornings and I definitely get that.
The piece was a long time in the planning and it turned out better than I could have expected, it's just the permanent reality of it on my arm I'm adjusting to! It doesn't help that I'm the only person I know with visible tattoos; I know I'm going to get critical and sometimes startled reactions from family and friends, so I suppose I'm just going to have to be able to deal with that.

I have only ever had 8 hour sessions so I have nothing to compare them to and I don't know how much longer I could sit for. My first two sittings were the same artist - he took a lot of cigarette breaks so it wasn't 8 full hours of tattooing. My last session for my inner forearm was a different beast entirely. The tattooist worked solidly the whole time, apart from 5 minutes when I went to the loo, and maybe another 5-10 minutes whilst we both snaffled some brownies I'd made. It was much more painful and I was pretty broken by the end of it; the train journey home felt the longest of my life.

Lost my LST shirt so maybe my tiger can help out.
Tony Hundahl - Rock of Ages Austin, Texas - one shot

On Saturday I had my left inner forearm tattooed from elbow ditch to wrist, and I keep doing double-takes at it now! Someone else has said it's worse in the mornings and I definitely get that.
The piece was a long time in the planning and it turned out better than I could have expected, it's just the permanent reality of it on my arm I'm adjusting to! It doesn't help that I'm the only person I know with visible tattoos; I know I'm going to get critical and sometimes startled reactions from family and friends, so I suppose I'm just going to have to be able to deal with that.

On Saturday I had my left inner forearm tattooed from elbow ditch to wrist, and I keep doing double-takes at it now! Someone else has said it's worse in the mornings and I definitely get that.
The piece was a long time in the planning and it turned out better than I could have expected, it's just the permanent reality of it on my arm I'm adjusting to! It doesn't help that I'm the only person I know with visible tattoos; I know I'm going to get critical and sometimes startled reactions from family and friends, so I suppose I'm just going to have to be able to deal with that.

Hello Wavey! I'm healing (but not yet peeling) too - I got my first forearm tattoo on Saturday, also a biggie, and have been looking like Pop-Eye the sailor man since then! Swelling seems to be going down today though.

My mom...whatever, she doesn't like them, she doesn't understand them, but that's fine and she lives on the other side of the country from me so at least she doesn't have to see them. My mother-in-law, on the other hand...I am goddamned terrified of her finding out I have tattoos, plus she lives in the same city as me and has a habit of dropping by unannounced.

I'm Wavey. From the UK. I've got 3 tattoos at the minute. two small ones on my leg, only got my first decent sized piece, on my forearm, last week, so going going through the healy peely process lol.
Been lurking on this site for a little bit and decided to join, to soak up ideas for more ink :)
Thanks

Hello all
So here is my hello! I live in London but I am from Berlin so please forgive any spelling/grammar mistakes. I got my first tattoo about 10 years ago I think but wanted one long before that. I currently still have a lot of space on my body. I have only one biggish tattoo and a couple more small ones. I am booked in for another one in 2 weeks and can't wait! It's been a while since my last one and I had a massive urge to get something new. A lot of space on my body is kind of planned out but I always get new and more ideas. I love looking at tattoos and reading about them and that is why I decided to join. I am loocking forward to meeting people and broaden my horizon in regards to tattoos.

Hi everyone. Long time reader, etc. My name's Emma, I'm 35, I live on the east coast of Scotland. I'm married with two little girls. I have always loved tattoo art but only got my first tattoos last year; they're now one big tattoo that stretches from halfway down my upper arm to over my shoulder and to the base of my neck. They're European goldfinches and apple blossom, in a colour realism style.
I'm getting my third tattoo tomorrow at the Scottish Tattoo Convention - a piece that will probably take up all of my left inner forearm. I'm a sort of queasy mixture of nervous and excited. I have seen the design (a rework of a reference I provided) and it's beautiful. A forearm piece is obviously a lot more visible than what I have: it feels like a much bigger commitment, but the placement feels right to me. I don't think it would be an issue if I lived somewhere a bit more cosmopolitan - I flew over to Portland, Oregon for my best friend's wedding last year and it seemed like every man and his dog was sleeved up - but in my little town I don't know anyone else with visible tattoos apart from faded, blurry green pin-ups on much older men, and the odd butterfly on a shoulderblade or bit of old tribal that makes an appearance on a rare sunny day.
However! I am 35 years old, surely a proper grown up by now, and it's about time I stopped being so worried about what other people think. Though he himself has no tattoos my husband is enthusiastically supportive and that's all that matters, and for job interviews and family occasions and such there are always long sleeves.
Looking forward to getting to know you all.

Thanks for the welcome! Georgie, I have one of those dads too. Basically I've decided he just never needs to know. I only see him maybe twice a year tops so that's not as impractical as it sounds!
I will definitely check out that thread beez - I went through quite the emotional rollercoaster after my first tattoo. No regret, but definitely took me a little while to adjust, and I spent ridiculous amounts of time staring at myself in the bathroom mirror!
Joe Frost from Thou Art in the UK - dunno if you'll have heard of him, he hasn't been tattooing very long but he's so talented. I'm not sure what style you'd call his work. This is one of my favourite recent pieces of his from his instagram -hope this link works Photo by hellomynamesjoe • Instagram

Hi everyone. Long time reader, etc. My name's Emma, I'm 35, I live on the east coast of Scotland. I'm married with two little girls. I have always loved tattoo art but only got my first tattoos last year; they're now one big tattoo that stretches from halfway down my upper arm to over my shoulder and to the base of my neck. They're European goldfinches and apple blossom, in a colour realism style.
I'm getting my third tattoo tomorrow at the Scottish Tattoo Convention - a piece that will probably take up all of my left inner forearm. I'm a sort of queasy mixture of nervous and excited. I have seen the design (a rework of a reference I provided) and it's beautiful. A forearm piece is obviously a lot more visible than what I have: it feels like a much bigger commitment, but the placement feels right to me. I don't think it would be an issue if I lived somewhere a bit more cosmopolitan - I flew over to Portland, Oregon for my best friend's wedding last year and it seemed like every man and his dog was sleeved up - but in my little town I don't know anyone else with visible tattoos apart from faded, blurry green pin-ups on much older men, and the odd butterfly on a shoulderblade or bit of old tribal that makes an appearance on a rare sunny day.
However! I am 35 years old, surely a proper grown up by now, and it's about time I stopped being so worried about what other people think. Though he himself has no tattoos my husband is enthusiastically supportive and that's all that matters, and for job interviews and family occasions and such there are always long sleeves.
Looking forward to getting to know you all.

I have now realized that you are not a spambot, just a new member. :) Your post has been approved, and I quite enjoyed the photo you linked to. Nice work, and welcome to LST!