I got my first tattoo when I was 16. Yeah… underage I know. But give a fuck. I knew I always wanted one, and I decided to go somewhere and take a fake ID! (Wouldn’t advise this). I got a tiny stave, with a treble and bass clef on it. (To commemorate my accomplishments with piano playing). Which I drew myself! I got it on my hip where it’s super tiny and hardly ever seen! I then… slowly began to get more and more, bigger and bigger and in more obvious places.
I think… I have around 17 now. I actually don’t know for sure, I’d have to count. I often forget about some! The majority of them are really thought out – but a couple have been spontaneous. I regret none! Even the one I got at 16, was done well, and I still play the piano, so it’s totally relevant.
People often ask about the pain, what it’s really like, and WHY I got them. With regards to the pain, seriously, everyone handles pain differently, so it’s really hard to say.
There definitely are places that sting waaaay more than others. For example, ribs are uncomfortable. And the worst place I had was really high on my thigh which was pretty close to my groin… that hurt like a bitch. And it’s a bit stingy on ya butt area!
I have one behind my ear, which I was told would be really awful (pain wise), and weirdly that was so fine!! I’ve never been in the position of asking the tattooist to stop at any point. But I have a high threshold. I know people who have fainted from the smallest of pieces in very tolerable places. So it’s very dependent on you.
I think the maximum time I’ve been tattoed in one go is around 3 hours. I have a pretty big side piece, which runs from the top of my ribs all the way down my thigh (I count this as one tattoo even though it has about 4 different themes in it). I started working on this when I was 18, and slowly added to it. Now it’s finished! 4 years later!
I have 5 on my toes, 3 on one foot, 2 on the other. They’re small silly things. They were okay, very quick. I can imagine anything bigger on a toe/top of foot would be pretty painful.
I started getting small ones on my left arm. I have 5 on my arm now. Small text, little pictures, and as of yesterday, a pig peony! In colour! Which is my first colour piece, which I’m super chuffed about!!!
I thought about posting photos of all my ink, along with some description of pain and meaning, but I figured, I’d still like to keep that to myself. People very very rarely see them all as they’re so strategically hidden. And not many people know meanings to most of them. There are a couple that only I know the meaning of! I don’t tend to show them off, if they’re visible, they’re visible, that’s fine. But I don’t go out of my way to have them out. Often, if people see one of them, they’re shocked! And then when I say I have more than 15 they can’t believe it!
I’ve had a tattoo done in 3 different countries now, which is fun! They have little meanings all in themselves, and it’s pretty cool having ink from all over the World. I’ll get more once I’ve started my travels too!
I know there’s lots of taboo with tattoos… (check my The Tattoo Taboo post) but I don’t really care what others think… my body, my choice! 🙂
Do you guys have tattoos?! Comment below!
Jamie,
flyinghigheatingpie.wordpress.com 