Ink'd grrrls and tattooed femmes
 

I saw that the butches have a thread to show off their tats, and I know many of you femmes have some gorgeous work as well.

So here is a place to showcase them and discuss ideas, experiences, and the #1 question people always seem to ask me: Why did you get that? or Why do you get tattoos?

I love the stories behind tattoos. Very rarely is the answer "I thought it was pretty" In my experience, a collection of tats is like a scrapbook - sometimes commemorating your triumphs, your fuckups, in memoriam of someone you love, or in celebration.

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So....

What do you have? What do they mean? Why did you get them? And why do you choose ink?


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my one and only, so far ...
 

This might freak a few blossoms out, so just letting you know ...

The short version - I was cooking breakfast for my gf (this is when I was living in San Diego) and my sarong caught on fire. I was in hospital for the best part of a month. Second degree burns and three lots of surgery. I love lotuses and had thought of getting a tattoo for some time. Last October I thought to hell with it, I'm going to do it. And,to be honest, I also needed something that I wasn't getting from my Malaysian gf. Maybe later I'll have el fuego or something like that tattooed underneath (will lose weight first, all the jiggly bits would make it a painful tattoo). I was really scared of how painful it would be but it wasn't too bad at all.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...04343867_n.jpg

I will try to get photos of my two tats. I want another one ..a gorgeous tribal on my leg from ankle to calf. Thick and twisty, curved and lush in movement. With my wedding date inside it, but hidden.

remember
 

I want to have remember on the inside of my left forearm but two delays - one, I usually wear short-sleeves here in Malaysia so I wouldn't be able to have it showing at school (public or international primary school), and two, I want it in Maori so I need to make sure I have the right form of the verb. I want it in a 19th century typeface.

Can I just say, for anyone considering getting a Maori or Pacific Island tattoo, please make sure it's a contemporary one and not traditional. That goes for any indigenous tattoo art.

My latest is a work in progress. It's a play off the old civil rights song We Shall Not Be Moved. I will add pics when it's actually finished, but right now I'm a little embarrassed because the letters don't even have shading.

My first I got after my dad died. I was moving out of a career in music and into a career in public/social service, and I needed something to remind me of the important things. My tats are "notes to self", so to speak. I actually considered having a verse from Proverbs written down my back, but smaller writing tends to look bad later in life, so I nixed that idea.

I avoid fatty places that would really hurt, but of course all tats come with a small degree of pain. Sometimes that pain is a nice manifestation of whatever emotional pain motivates the decision to get that tattoo in the first place.

LOL...I don't have any tattoos (yet?) but this reminded me of something funny. Apparently when I was a toddler, I called them "tootats." (Awww!) :)

Scorp and I have been toying with the idea of getting them for a while now. We'll see if it ever happens! I love looking at pics of other people's, though.

I'll have to get some pics but I can tell in the mean time!

On my left shoulder I have an image of what I imagine to be an overlap of Eve and Lilith- Lilith being the original first woman who was banished from Eden for asking to be equal to man. She sits crosslegged with willow branches for hair and a serpent in her center. I got her because I love the mythology of the story and the idea that there was so much more than I was taught about God and religion in my youth.

On my lower stomach I have a tree that grows into a woman. I got her partially because I got drunk with a friend and we pledged to get tattoos the next day and I hold my promises and partially because I really liked the drawing and partially because I thought it was a nice place for a tattoo.

I have the women's power sign on my lower right side of my back, maybe 6 inches above hip level. It was my first tattoo when I was 20? 19? Not sure.

Starting between my shoulder blades going all down my back along my right hip is a tribal design. I started it as about a 5 inch piece to go around the women's power piece on a rough night when I needed *something* to take me out of the place I was in. I continued growing it over the next couple of years here and there. I think it's done. I haven't added to it in 7 or 8 years.

I have 4 in all

My initials are on my right ankle, they have never changed in all my life, that was my first tat at 22

My second tat a baby tiger for the year of the tiger, the year my eldest was born above my left breast

My third tat a tribal piece, rainbow heart and triangle

My fourth tat on my left ankle a rose for my mom

I want more ....they are addicting and satisfying i never seem to have too much pain when they are being done.

My last one got infected it wasn't pretty now it needs fixed

I have no tats but the woman I am dating has quite a few.

Kind of a funny story (I think): though she is of average weight and is only age 47, tats do seem to change as people age.

She has a heart on her right calf. I was looking at it the other day and said, "Is that a spider on the heart"? She said, "No, what are you talking about"? I said, "Well, those look like legs". "No, they are butterfly wings"!

Maybe, at one time.

Now they look a little more like spider legs...

Feel free to share all your mods, Laney!

My back piece is still a work in progess. My upper back is now mostly done but still needs a couple of hours. I'm getting two large mermaids facing each other on my lower back on tues. One will be femme and the other will be boyish-androg or butch (I don't know if she'll care about having an ID or not heh).

I'm having the bracelette finished the week I head home.
I have a zen circle on the inside of my left forearm so I can remind myself to let go - if it's not happening right now, let go.

I have an old school tattoo of a flower being penetrated through the centre of it's blossom by a dagger on my calf. Looks great when I wear stockings and heels with it.


I got one tattoo of a pentagram with a flower in it (now changed and integrated with my backpiece, which is old school naval theme, 1800's) when I was 20. I didn't get any more until I met my ex and close friend who is a tattoo artist. She started tattooing me about 10 months ago. I was very rigid about what she was doing but then relaxed - she's also an artist with oil pastels and pen and ink, has a masters in new media - so I just let go and let her put together my back piece, she chose the piece for my leg, and she designed the idea for my bracelette.

I love my tattoos. And because they are pieces of art designed and concieved for me by someone that loves me and wants me to be happy and is a good friend of mine, I like them very much.

My back piece looks like a sting ray with the ocean/cosmos on his back - his wings span my shoulders and his tail follows my spine down to my ass. he'll have two dyke mermaids facing each other on either side of his tail. one will be holding a trident with long hair; the other will be short haired, with a sailor cap, a fag, a tattoo and a wrench (my ex suggested a strap on, but not sure about that...). Both of them bare chested.

Ink
 

I'm inked up, my left is my spiritual, cultural side my right is more for other meaningful art work.

Your tats sound awesome! Would love to see them!

I know you have lived in the UK for 9-ish years. Just to clarify, by "fag", you mean a cigarette, right?

My bro lived in England for 18 years and if, I remember correctly, fag is a slang word for cig. It is a little different here in the USA.

:)

Would you mind telling us exactly what your modifications are first, before showing us?

Thanks and {{hugs}}

(PS: I understand it may not matter to anyone else!)

I love tattoos...on other people. :) If I were braver I would probably have many more. I love watching LA and NY Ink and recently watched a fabulous documentary on the history of tattooing.

Body piercing and modification, not so much...but that's just me. My oldest daughter is fascinated by it all and appreciates it as a form of artistic expression.

fag = smoke

yes. but most people I know back home have seen enough english content (monty python, flims, friends etc) to know fag=smoke.

be interesting for the butcheque one to by holding a tiny burning gay male in her hand though.