My uncle Mike, houseguest of Uncle Sam for 19 years, once told me that one way to do prison tattoos is to burn toilet paper and then mix the ashes with water (or spit!) for the ink. For some reason, it just occurred to me while taking a shower that people get tattoos commemorating their dead relatives all the time. And dead relatives often leave ashes behind. See where I’m going with this?
I’m not asking about whether or not it’s legal (or maybe I am; it can’t be, can it?) - what I really want to know is would it work?
And if/when that gets answered, can we move the thread to IMHO to see how squicky/heartfelt people think it is?
I don’t think it would show up very well. Paper ash is high in carbon because it’s burned at a fairly low temperature, resulting in a nice, dark ink. Cremation ashes are lighter grey because all the carbon has been burned off by the high temperature, leaving only the minerals. It would make a for a rather pale ink.
I remember when scattering my grandpa’s ashes, they were almost blue. Not white or even light gray like a log left in a fire all night, but definitely not black. Maybe it’d have to be mixed with some ink, or maybe a light, subtle tattoo is what you’d want.
