If I ever got one, I’d get a small 1/4th moon, probably at the nape of my neck. It would have to be all in black though, because of all the tattoos I’ve seen, I like the final results of dark, one-color ones best.
I’m not a fan of tattoos. In fact, I look at most tattoos and think “What the hell are you thinking?” But once I did have a pretty cool idea for one.
Remember how, on some very old maps, the ones that still said “Here Be Dragons,” there was often a small cartoonish creature poking its head out of the middle of the ocean? Like a three-humped serpent surrounded by some stylized waves? One of those somewhere on my skin might look neat. I have no idea where it would go, though.
There is a beautiful tattoo I saw once in Dallas. It was a very stylized, black ink, rather art nouveau mermaid with long billowing hair and a gorgeous tail. It looked nothing like most normal mermaid tattoos (generally colorful and cartoony). It was definitely art and something I would have loved having.
I went several times to look at it, but kept chickening out. It was just a bit too large (probably 8" long) but I did want it on my right shoulder.
Maybe, if I ever get back to Dallas, I’ll be brave enough to get it.
Often thought of the “Chasing Arrows” re-cycling symbol. With an “H” in the center. I am an organ donor.
Lorenzo, pravnik and featherlou-
What I heard about the teardrop tattoo was in a prison in Arkansas, where I spent a weekend (not incarcerated). I was told that it was called a “cholo tear,” and that it represents 5 years in the joint. I saw a few guys that had 3 or 4. Maybe it means different things in different regions. I can’t find anything about it on the search engines, but if any of these last two interpretations are accurate, it probably isn’t a design you want to get. Hard to explain during a job interview.
I have about 35 or 40 hours of tattoo work, mostly on the chest, arms and back, plus a little on the legs and one foot. No regrets at all, though there are times that I wish I didn’t have to wear long sleeves while teaching. Still, I chose it, and I chose my work carefully, and wouldn’t change it if I could.
My only advice would be to steer away from the flash designs you see on the walls at tattoo shops, unless something really knocks you out. My first was a stock design, but no one ever notices it now, because of all the larger, more interesting work that surrounds it. If you want a tattoo, I say make your own design and find an artist to put it on your skin. Choose the design, the location, and the artist carefully, and don’t necessarily go with the lowest bidder.
Oh, and Glory–if the design isn’t too intricate, it can probably be shrunk to a more suitable size. Many shops have enlarging/reducing machines for that purpose.
If anything, I’d want a black-ink only (no color ink) tattoo on my lower back. Something like a fairy, or the crescent moon & star.
I’d get my middle-name (it is in Chinese) rendered in large, black characters. Maybe on my bicep, or maybe on the left side of my chest.
A simple message, in an elegant font, “I don’t do tattoos, pal.”
It wouldn’t be anywhere because I would never get one. Ever.
The circle-with-horns symbol for my astrological sign, Taurus. On the back of my neck. Just black (or dark blue) ink.
I wanted the design for a while, but couldn’t think of any place to put it. I saw someone who had a tattoo on the back of his neck and thought it looked cool, so that helped make up my mind. (my other choices were my calf or my arm.) As soon as I can afford it, I’m getting it done.
-Dirty
I already have a dolphin on my right shoulder. I’m considering an anklet of pink rosebuds.
I’ve got a brand new and really gnarly (read “very butch”:D) surgical scar on my left ankle that’s almost 10 inches long.
I’m thinking that it might be the start of a really cool medieval dragon or something similar - have to wait a few weeks and see how it looks once it’s fully healed.
Ever since I can remember I have been attracted to tattoos, so I always knew that some day I was going to get one. I did not want to have it done at my home town because I was afraid somebody might tell my parents about it and since I still live under their roof the rule is no tattoos for me. So when I took a week long vacation to another city I decided to get one. I was with my friend and she also got one. Mine is the sun and the moon together with the rays of the sun all around them. It is pretty cool although I broke some of the rules others have posted like I decided what to get there at the tattoo place, I just went to the first place I could find and I also decided were to get it until I was there. Mine is in my left leg all the way up. If I wear shorts you can’t see it so the only person that will get to see it is my boyfriend 
. I don’t think this will be the last one I get, I will probably get one on my shoulder but that will be when I move out of my house and this one I will think more about what to get. For some one who wants to get one, really think that you will be stuck with it for the rest of your life and that it is going to hurt like hell, at least mine hurt a lot and give a lot of thought about what kind of design you want to get. Thankfully in my case it came out great and I love it. Funny story: my friend got a half moon facing up (like a U) with a star in the middle, she saw it somewhere and liked it, when she showed it to her uncle he told her that was the sign of a flag from some country in Africa or something like that now she thinks she will add something to it to differentiate it :smack:
I’m contemplating getting a depiction of…how do I explain this…? A small (infant sized) raised forearm, fist clenched, with I.V. tubes trailing down.
It’d be placed in the middle of my back, but a bit lower - below where a wedding gown/evening gown might end. Hopefully, I can get it right above the scar where they closed my back up when I was born.
(The I.V. tubes would obviously be attached to the arm. I know you’re intelligent folks, but I wanted to clarify that just in case.)
If I ever get a tattoo (which I think I might, although I’m not all about the whole needle thing) it would be on my left lower back. I’d like to get a small staff with a melody line written on it, not sure what melody yet though.
Unlikely to get one - I hate needles - but if I did, it would be a sword, point down, on the outside of my upper arm.
That, or some sort of small Celtic knotwork. Not sure where I’d put it, though.
Found a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals case with a police gang expert testifying on the meaning of the teardrop tattoo: apparently it can mean all of the above and more, so everybody’s right.
[Prosector] Q. [L]et’s start with the teardrop tatoo [sic]. What is the significance or meaning of that tatoo [sic] as has been your experience as a gang intelligence officer?
[Appellant] A. . . . There are several meanings to the teardrop. . . . One is for loss of a homeboy or friend. One particular reason is for how many times you’ve been to the jail. And one time it is noted as this is the last time I’ll ever cry.
Umm, make that
I only have one so far: it’s the BrunnenG tattoo that the character Kai has in the TV show LEXX. Since Kai is the last of the BrunnenG and dies at the end of the series, I thought it would be a nifty memorial (OK, so I’m a romantic). It’s just a diagonal red line across my cheekbone with a small oval at the end of the line. I drew it on several times with a red marker to get the placement so that it would look good on me (unfortunately I don’t have the actor’s cheekbones 
) and to see if I could live with it. When I was satisfied, I had it done. I was prepared for it to hurt a lot but to my great surprise it was just a mild stinging sensation–vaguely erotic and much less painful than a paper cut.
My next one will be significant, also (I don’t go for just “pretty” designs). I had a highly dramatic birth: there was a major thunderstorm in progress, the lights in the delivery room went out, and just as another thunderclap ka-banged!, there I was. So I’ve been drawing up variations on a lightning bolt through a thundercloud. That will probably go on the front of my left thigh (and hopefully not too many people will make jokes about “thunder thighs”). I’d also someday like to get a clockface with 13 numbers as a representation of what I call “between space” where dreams, lives and our collective subconscious meet. Dunno where to put that.
I don’t want anything on my back because I want to be able to see it without looking in a mirror or contorting myself in uncomfortable positions.
An ex-boyfriend who’d been through a lot of pain once told me that the way to handle it was not to tense up and fight the pain, but to relax into it and ride it like a wave. Good advice; it’s always worked for me–something to try if you’re afraid of tattooing pain.