Writers Workshop - PIMP My Back!

30th April 2010

4.) The world is going to come to an end unless you get a tattoo that covers your entire back. Describe the tattoo you’ll get.

Okay! NOW we're talking!

This is a prompt I can definitely sink my teeth into.

Be prepared for me to gush...

I LOVE tattoos. If I was a Super Hero, I would be Tattoo Woman. Seriously. I would LOVE to PIMP my back, and have it return all tricked out, and lookin' fine. .........Mmmm......... (What? Huh? Sorry! I was daydreaming a bit there...)

Now it doesn't matter to me who you are. Male OR Female. Young OR Older. People with tatts are beautiful to me because I see every piece as a story about their life. Each separate design makes up a picture of where they were on their own personal journey at that particular point in time. My Mum (who had several tattoos herself), and I were talking one day with some people who were treating 'we who were inked' differently and looking down on us as if we were lower-class citizens; and she said something that has stuck with me, "The only difference between tattooed people and un-tattooed people, is that tattooed people don't care if you don't have any." Smart woman.

Personally, I happen to think that there is nothing sexier than inked flesh. BUT. I have rules.

• It must have meaning - No off the shelf pictures for me. Preferably self-designed, but if you are not artsy inclined, work with a tattooist. Tell them what you want. They are VERY talented people and can usually bring your idea to fruition without much trouble. That's why they call them 'Tattoo Artists...'
• No partner names, unless they have passed away - There's nothing more terrible than having your at-the-time lover's name tattooed on you... Only to find they are not your soul-mate after all...
• Children's names are okay - Photo's are good too. So are dates of birth, time and birth weight. But no ages, that's just tempting fate!
• Parent's names are okay - Same as above. Also okay are DOD if they have passed on.
• Pet's names are semi-okay - But weird...
• Be 100% certain! - Don't ink on a whim. Carry your finished design around in the viewing window of your wallet for at least three months before you get it done. If you still want it after seeing it several times a day for a few months, you'll love it forever.

(Please, before you all lynch me, bear in mind, the above are MY rules, for myself. If you have your partners name tattooed on your buttocks, more power to you. I just wouldn't do it.)

I have several tatts that I have designed myself. The first is a black panther with wings on my upper right thigh near my hip, that my Mum took me to get on my 18th Birthday. It covers about one-third of my thigh, length-wise. The second and biggest is a tribute to my step-sister who passed away when I was young. It's a picture of her, stylised into a Celtic Goddess and it's on my left shoulder. It takes up little under a quarter of my back. My third tatt came to me in a dream just after Tomika was born. No shit. I just woke up in the middle of the night when she was six and a half weeks old, and started to draw. I didn't stop for about 12 days. Whenever Tomika was asleep, and whenever I had a moment I would hone my design. I ended up spending about 28 hours on it. It's a armband on my left arm, and it sits at just below a t-shirt sleeve. It's also got Celtic influences in the design.

I adore my tattoos. I also have another few to get that are designed and ready to go. They are Tomika, Mum, my 2 nephew's names, plus some other things, my favourite poem (Rudyard Kipling's IF), some literary quotes, along with Celtic and Orchid filler, and extra bits and bobs still to be added. And... (funnily enough regarding this prompt) they all intertwine with my existing tatt on my back to become one single full back piece.

So now you can see why I was so excited to see this weeks topics!

HOWEVER...

If I was to start again, with a blank canvas, so to speak, I would get Michael's tattoo from Prison Break.

*sigh*

Not only is it sexy as hell (and on that back, what tatt wouldn't be! You may have guessed from my rave earlier this Month!), it is just an amazing piece of artwork in its own right. And it has meaning! Amongst that beautiful imagery is a fully formed escape plan, from the map that is integrated into the design, to the size of the Allen Key needed to start it all off. Beautiful.

One can only dream...