Suiren

Dark Hippies ? :D
It's a possibility..there are so many theories out there it makes my head spin sometimes. All interesting but then there are some really frilly stories about angels etc. that just sound too fairytale- ish :D
But then again.. weird stuff I have experienced for myself. I'm just not so quick to paint a colorful picture.
I think a demon can represent both. The whole "Angels are good" and "Demons are bad" thing is more of a modern religious view I suppose. A demon could look pretty awesome as a tattoo with all the detail and shading.

Man.... I could write for hours about my relationship/family and tattoos
I met my wife when I was 29. We were both in the throes of early-life (as opposed to mid-life) career crisis and met in college. I had already lived a hard, but fun life and she was well traveled, but somewhat sheltered in, ahem, alternative lifestyles. I had already been travelling, getting tattooed for 11 years and had 1 full sleeve and both legs from hip to ankle completely covered. We met in winter and I was fully clothed and not really advertising any ink. She saw the tattoos on my knuckles and peeking out from under my shirt cuffs, but wasn't deterred from getting to know me.
Once we started actually dating (and therefore getting nekkid) she told me "as soon as I saw tattoos on your knuckles, I knew you had A LOT of tattoos". To me, that was like receiving her approval, no matter how off handed. I started to notice quickly just how different we were in terms of of our background, and the way we had gotten to this point in our lives.
She was Pavorotti, I was a punk...She spoke French, I knew drug-speak...She had friends at the country club , I used a club on some ex-friends....you get the idea. Culinary school and our shared love for cooking was our common denominator. We laughed and loved and became the best of friends and through all of that, tattoos were never an issue. Both of our careers took off wildly and for what little "me" time I had, I wasn't having any desire to get tattooed. Mind you, not "never again". just not at the new, exciting and extremely busy time in my life.
At this point the relationship is going well and I find myself accepting of EVERYTHING that I had told myself I would never, ever do....namely, getting married and having kids! It felt good to be settling into, what my parents would call "a normal adult". Normal is a relative term for me, and even though I was getting married and planning a family, I never wanted to give up all the things I held dear. My future bride seemed to be on board too, saying "I would never ask you to give up the things you love (music/tattoos etc.)". We even had many discussions about tattoos and the fact that, even though they weren't for her, she didn't really care what I did. good to know........
Fast forward about 18 years: My wife and I are still in love and have 2 pretty great kids. We've both since changed careers and things are going pretty well. I had always kept a distant eye on tattooing and what was going on with it. I always had in the back of my mind that the itch would come back and I would ride out my "later years" with some new ink. This was all in the back of my mind though and I never really talked about tattoos with my wife. I suspected that she had some growing concerns about the tattoos as my kids reached school age and I started to volunteer there. I was asked, by her, to "not wear shorts" when I volunteered or "can you put a band aid over the bad word" (I have a big Sailor Jerry dagger with the words "death before suck-ass" down my left shin). I understood but never had any idea of what was about to come.
One day my wife came to me and said " would you ever consider getting any of your tattoos removed?"
I was floored and I asked "which one(s)?"
She said "well, from your knees down to your ankles on both legs", and she was serious.
I didn't know how to respond except to say "Never!!!"
She tried to explain that she thought that my tattoos where somehow hurting our (read:her) status in her job and in the community. I was flabbergasted...the women i had spent 18 years with was now, in my mind, against me and what i believed in. The conversation ended with me angrily saying " I'd rather cut my fucking legs off"
to be continued..........

@UglyButProud
That is the most adorable and funny story!

@UglyButProud
That is the most adorable and funny story!

It seems my lil'one changed his mind! he's now working on his hands! :) https://instagram.com/p/156lYfll4G/?taken-by=kizzzmiazzz

My lower back tattoos felt like having the bone tattooed :/ so compared to that all the other tattoos were nothing.
I have to say piercings hurt much less though. I had a nape piercing in the past, 9 minutes of poking and creating a tunnel...really not bad at all.

I think i said it before...in between the toes. I haven't been tattoo'd here my self but talking to lucky diamond rich who's had EVERY bit of his body done. He reckons thats the worse!
Next week I'm getting some sak yant on the bottom of my back and spine, which if the previous pain was any thing to go by I'm not looking forward to it. I've left the side of my ribs untouched for years out of fear and seeing people riggle around and tap out numerous times. In a couple of months going to get my head done which I'm sure will smart ;)
Just to add the arms,wrists,legs,neck,collarbone aint nothing...you can power of the mind your way thru that!!! The Collarbone aint nice but that for sure isn't the worst place!!

started my chest and having the 2nd session on May 5th.
i feel like i can take a lot of pain, but when my tattooer was shading on and around my sternum, i felt that shit in the side of my elbow, like he was tattooing both bones at the same time! damn nerves man. oof .

A few years ago, my little dude came to me with his shirt off and a temp tattoo placed smack dab in the middle of his chest... He puffs up and says " when I'm old enough I'm going to get tattoos JUST LIKE YOU daddy!!!"

With a sly smile, I reply to him " Oh yeah, that's cool...but what makes you wanna get tattooed??" He says "because I want to be a bad guy and people will be scared to mess with me" I ask him if he thinks I'm a "bad guy" and people are scared of me because of the tattoos. He says "No. I know you're not a bad guy but I don't think that other people who see you, know that". "plus, all the villains in movies have them and....." he makes the knife with his finger going across his throat "they do bad things". I tried the best I could to explain that I could to his 5 year old brain that tattoos are NOT just for bad guys, a lot of "regular" people have them too.
I showed him that photo last night and asked him if he remembered that conversation we had and if he still wanted to get tattoos just like daddy, when he grew up. "Nah, everyone has tattoos now...plus , Mom would probably kill me". we had a good laugh.....

@s3rndpt
Your tattoos sound great! I like the tattoo in progress you posted too.
My son sees tattoos (and piercings) the same way. To him it is fancy and pretty like jewelry or make up. He calls me "princess mommy" :)

Apple selling bright, shiny things to hipsters has been very good for my stock portfolio for a number of years. It helps me afford tattoos!
I am so looking forward to the iWatch2, and iWatch3, and ...

I've seen this watch in the store and to me it is really pointless. It does not do enough to justify the price or getting it. Just seems like a shiny gadget...
So no loss if they don't work on tattoos. My regular watch works just fine.

I've seen this watch in the store and to me it is really pointless. It does not do enough to justify the price or getting it. Just seems like a shiny gadget...
So no loss if they don't work on tattoos. My regular watch works just fine.

My daughters (9 & 5) love mine---I now have a very stylized triskele on my inner forearm, made of vines with roses and thistles. It kinda symbolizes myself and my two girls--and they love looking at it and picking out which flower they "are." My left arm is covered in large Art Nouveau peonies, in their favorite colors (purple and pink, and soon to be blue), and I have Egyptian Revival shoulder caps-- scarabs on one side and a lotus on the other, both of which they think are "pretty." To them, Mommy is just getting fancy things to wear on herself--they don't really see it as anything other than normal. And that's exactly the way I want it. Neither has made any noise about wanting any of their own, but I'm sure they will eventually.

My son ( 3 1/2) likes my "pictures" but he is not fond of new plans at first because it is a change on his mommy. He likes them after though and asks me to get dinosaurs or other animals he likes ;).
He also likes my piercings and he is growing his hair long because he likes to headbang :D I have an awesome kid.

"Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically."
I am a chaos magician/shamanist and I have Loki tattooed on my leg with a planned half sleeve of the Greek fates. I think a lot of imagery from the bible is really great, in metaphor and art history, but the context of these lies in text.
My favorite is jude 1:13 they are wild waves foaming at the mouthes, wandering stars for whom the blackest darkness has been reserved forever."
I have also thought about something like "even God had to rest on the seventh day."
Maybe even revelation 3:11 "with justice and judges he makes war."
Song of songs 1:2 "kiss me with kisses of the mouth, your love more delightful than wine."
I think getting a quote from the bible/relating to Christianity is cool even if you aren't christian. It has permeated cultures for thousands of years, been translated into thousands of languages, just because a use it is not your creed does not mean it has no value as instruction, history, or entertainment.
I think with quotation it might be slightly more context restrictive for the heathens though... for example, I wouldn't be getting john 3:16 "for God so loved the world..."
Or any of the verses more specifically deifying Jesus, or setting forth the tenants of the religion.
Personally I would find that disrespectful if it was not part of the individuals faith (at least at the time of the tattoo)
I think religious text is a wellspring of beautiful and meaningful quotes, but perhaps some prudence on how far we are willing to stretch for its beauty, but of course, as others have said, all of this is individual.

I can say a little more about this now. So far all of my tattoos have a similar style, meaning they are all rather minimalistic silhouette tattoos with just black ink.
The reason for this is also because I worry about the tattoos harmonizing with each other. I don't think I could bear a watercolor style tattoo next to something old school for example ;).
I have shyed away from colors so far because I wear a wide variety of colors and styles....all black one day and then florals and pink the next day. I do want something with color but I am thinking long and hard about what colors will match most looks.
I also want colors that harmonize with my skin color ^^ which is probably a weird thing to consider?
But I can go on and on about these things. They need to be perfect for me. I'm the type of person that if I wear mismatched colors or outfits, my day is ruined hahaha...I can not even handle wearing mismatched lounge clothing at home. I will change into something else...
And I do know I will always try to balance out how many tattoos I have where...I am planning it like an architect.
I did a fairly good job with my piercings. I was able to fit 5 on my face in one area ( nose, mouth ) and it still looks balanced...imho :D

Mreh. Mandalas are beautiful. They've been beautiful since like the 9th-11th centuries, B.C.E. Just because they've become popular subjects for tattoos doesn't make them any less beautiful! Geometric designs likewise; you have only to look at the ceiling of any given mosque to be blown away. Whether these things make great tattoos or not is open to discussion (by people who know more about these things than I do), but that's entirely a separate conversation.
Trends are a social phenomenon that has to do with perception and self-image. They often have little or nothing to do with the intrinsic worth of the object of acclaim/derision; it's more about social identity and group belonging and whatever else. I would totally get a mandala tattoo, and I don't give a fuuuuuu. It'd have to be placed well, but they're still stunning, imo. Don't care what anybody thinks, or who else might be wearing them. We tend to want to reject things that become trendy when we feel wiser about the thing the trend concerns itself with than the bulk of derps following the trend, but sometimes that's just cutting off our noses to spite our faces.
The other tattoos under discussion draw fire here because they make for crap tattoos. But, still. If somebody loves it, even if they got it because it's trendy, it doesn't really matter. Their body, their life. More joy to them.

Now that I better understand the question, I have given it some thought and came up with this, my answer:
I don't give a flying fuck what anyone else thinks of me. As long as I live my life in line with the morals I believe are fitting to me, I am good to go.
Will you be judged by the tattoos you choose? Absolutely, and by the very same people who would judge you by your clothes or hair or car or any number of things even if you didn't have tattoos.
In this Millenneal age of "Tolerance", I have come to realize that the tolerance only extends to those thoughts and actions Millenneals deem to be correct.
In other words "you shall tolerate that which is, by our standards, tolerable. Otherwise, you will be shunned." Which is as it always has been. You will outgrow it, sooner or later. But you may miss some pretty great times along the way.
If you are worried about what others think about a tattoo, then do not get the tattoo, because you will allow them to make your reaction.
But realize that you are not getting something you think is beautiful because you are worried that someone else - who has no stake in the matter - may disagree.
There are enough things happening in our lives over which we have no control. To give up that which I do control willingly because of peer pressure? Not gonna happen.

I can say a little more about this now. So far all of my tattoos have a similar style, meaning they are all rather minimalistic silhouette tattoos with just black ink.
The reason for this is also because I worry about the tattoos harmonizing with each other. I don't think I could bear a watercolor style tattoo next to something old school for example ;).
I have shyed away from colors so far because I wear a wide variety of colors and styles....all black one day and then florals and pink the next day. I do want something with color but I am thinking long and hard about what colors will match most looks.
I also want colors that harmonize with my skin color ^^ which is probably a weird thing to consider?
But I can go on and on about these things. They need to be perfect for me. I'm the type of person that if I wear mismatched colors or outfits, my day is ruined hahaha...I can not even handle wearing mismatched lounge clothing at home. I will change into something else...
And I do know I will always try to balance out how many tattoos I have where...I am planning it like an architect.
I did a fairly good job with my piercings. I was able to fit 5 on my face in one area ( nose, mouth ) and it still looks balanced...imho :D

Oops, guess I'm trendy, now---does it count it if wasn't on purpose?! I found an artist whose stuff I loved (she does a lot of geometric mandala-ish work), and had her create shoulder caps for me--I wanted them to be symmetric, and reminiscent of Egyptian Revival jewelry. I *guess* they look kinda like mandalas...(?) Personally, I think they are kinda badass, but that might just be me.
In all seriousness, I find some of the more popular stuff, like black tree skylines, flocks of black birds, feathers, cartoony stuff, tiny finger tattoos, mustache tattoos, etc., not to my liking. But I'm not the one wearing those for the rest of my life, so if it makes a person happy, great. If someone chooses to think I'm being somehow trendy, oh well. Guess I'll live with it. I'm old enough I really just don't care if someone thinks I'm cool, or a poser, or whatever.

This is a great discussion! A tattoo could be considered "trendy," but you LIKE it and enjoy it for years and years, and don't regret it, then there's nothing wrong with it whatsoever. Some trendy tattoos are actually very attractive. You just have to ignore the comments of others (we all judge each other based on appearance, it can't be helped).
Think about how trends start - someone starts it, somewhere, others see it, and independently, they do the same thing, because they LIKED it. There is something to be said for an idea that has such strikingly wide appeal. That doesn't happen by accident. Is there really anything wrong with that? The only issue I have is people who tend to jump on board just to be doing it because others are doing it, to feel like they belong, and to fit in, and that's the WRONG reason to get a tattoo, for sure. A haircut, a style of clothing or shoes, no problem - you just move on and hope the pictures never surface. Tattoos are a different story.
Has anyone had an original idea/concept for a tattoo that they'd never seen before, had it done, been happy with it, and years down the road hear people talk about it as if it was just a "trend?" Isn't there always the first one to come up with it, the proverbial trend setter?
Like the OP describes, it can be demeaning and a pejorative label to write something off as being trendy.

Interesting thread. I have never felt this way about a tattoo or piercing. With some facial piercings I was even happy to have that spot finally pierced. I don't like it without it. It is probably weird thinking but that is how I feel.
With tattoos I feel more neutral I guess. Now that they are there, I just like looking at them. But I have gotten only small things so far and am thinking long and hard about bigger ink. I admire bigger tattoos a lot but having them cover a certain spot for a lifetime is a big decision.
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I actually admired your tattoo before.
This is just my personal opinion but I think tattoos that peek out of clothing look great. It adds a certain style to a normal shirt.
A lot of my tattoo plans include tattoos that will be visible because I want to be able to see them more often. I have two on my back and I regret not being able to see them more often ;) also a few in the nape/ ear area and at times I almost forget that they are there.
As far as the grandma thing goes...we will look wrinkly no matter if tattooed or not. At least the tattoos will add a little interest. I wasn't planning on being a standard grandma either. I'll be that witchy old lady with the long grey hair and long dress collecting herbs in the forest ^^...

Read the whole thread and it touches on many things that I've thought about over the course of getting tattooed. Let me try to add something that's not all ready been formulated five times.
1. Tattoos now are like jeans. At first when jeans became a mainstream phenomenon jeans itself was the trend, and wearing jeans was hip. Then it went in waves, with different type of models that were "in", often making the previous model hopelessly "out". I'd say this went on until quite recently when really tight jeans for men became mainstream. Now it's not about a type of model anymore, but different brands and smaller nuances that decides if a pair of jeans are in or not, (good or not). I see tattoos going the same way. People are doing both old and new styles, and even if certain motifs at time/geographic context can be considered in the mainstream as more cool than others, no style of tattoos is really "the only thing" or is totally forgotten and shunned. This is from my perspective of course, someone not hanging out on this forum and keeping track of 200+ tattooers would possibly have a different analysis.
2. Being accused of following trends. I feel that the more tattoos you get, the more people you know/random folks on the street will accept that you are not following trends. Trends are in a way somewhat cheap, you can't invest in them too much if you are to be ready to throw it away for spring and jump on the next new thing. With something as permanent as tattoos, big portions of your skin all ready covered, you'd have to slightly retarded to put so much into a trend. I think most people can see that in general anyone who is so dedicated is doing it for herself/himself and not to "fit in". I also think that a small percentage of people really are slightly retarded and will go to such lengths.
3. The old ideas of earning your tattoos, I believe that they are there for good reasons. Not only because of the very real social and possible economic problems that a "job stopper" tattoo can make you face, but also to separate those in it for the love of the art from those who are more about being a tattooed individual. Generally the later group will be more likely to follow trends.
4. In this time tattoos are still a radical thing. One very tangible example is that certain types of tattoos/placements will stop you from getting certain types of jobs. People will have all sorts of ideas about you when they see your tattos. In some circles you will not be welcomed, and this includes some of the most influential parts of society. This is something you will have to relate to if you have visible tattoos. Some people jump on tattoos like a trend not thinking anymore of it, and in a way I guess that's always been a factor, but even these people will still have to face the resistance inside of society against their behavior. Just like every woman, every person of darker skin colour, different sexuality or any kind of handicap (for example) eventually will feel the problem that the mainstream of society has with her/his person, so will most tattooed people sooner or later feel unjustly treated in some way. It is very interesting that people can arrive in this (permanent) position from following trends.
(Excuse my academic language, I enjoy writing like this. The last part was a bit more ideological. Personally, I think subcultures and counter-cultures are a very important channel for change in society. I believe that being at odds with what is "normal" or "correct" often forces people to think about their own position, their choices, the life they want to live, and what needs to be changed in order for them to not feel constrained by social/economic/ideological forces. Tattoo culture and associated subcultures, in my opinion, has this potential for radical awakening. Depending of course on how far you go and the resistance you encounter)

Is that trendy enough for ya?