# Frame the tattoo of a dead loved one!? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2015, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408 "2015-10-12T07:45:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheSpeculationElucidation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@TheSpeculationElucidation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSpeculationElucidation)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/1 "2015-10-12T07:45:25Z")
[The National Association for the Preservation of Skin Art (NAPSA)](https://savemyink.com/) can remove, sanitize, and frame the tattooed skin of your dead loved one. “NAPSA is a nonprofit membership association of like-minded tattoo artists and enthusiasts. We provide a wide-array of support and benefits to the tattoo community — including artists, studios, collectors, and those curious about the industry. And now, with a new proprietary process, NAPSA has developed a method of preserving tattoos so that your story, your spirit, and your legacy can live on, for generations to come.” As someone who is heavily tattooed, whose family members are heavily tattooed, I would NEVER get this done. It kind of creeps me out. Reminds me of Ilse Koch of Buchenwald. But then it got me thinking about the other things people do with the remains of their loved ones. - You can get their ashes compressed into [diamonds!](http://www.lifegem.com/) - You can have them go out with bang by putting them in [fireworks!](http://www.angels-flight.net/index.htm) - Their remains can be launched into [Space!](http://www.celestis.com/services.asp) - They can be planted and help nourish a [tree!](http://www.usurnsonline.com/memorials-2/memorial-tree-urns/) There’s so much more, including mixing ashes with your tattoo ink when you get a tattoo in their memory, or mixing it with paint and the painter will paint a portrait of them with that paint. The only one that makes sense to me is the tree one - which I wouldn’t mind someone did for me. Other than that… The rest I find pretty odd. I don’t associate a corpse with the person it was, so it’s strange to keep its ashes around. I get that some people keep ashes in urns, but I don’t think I’d even do that. What are your thoughts? Would you consider doing any of these/having these done for you? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/2 "2015-10-12T07:52:20Z")
You can take pictures to preserve the art. Keeping human skin is too bizarre for me. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/3 "2015-10-12T08:01:13Z")
Why stop with framing the tattooed skin? Hell, why not have their head bronzed and mounted on a pike? ---
**Author:** ![TheSpeculationElucidation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@TheSpeculationElucidation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSpeculationElucidation)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/4 "2015-10-12T08:07:26Z")
Looking at the site I guess you have to sign up for it, and then when you pass, your loved ones will receive your skin. Egocentric, much? “Here, when I die you can have my skin. You’re welcome.” ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/5 "2015-10-12T08:19:20Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Why stop with framing the tattooed skin? Hell, why not have their head bronzed and mounted on a pike? Well some people already send beloved pets to the taxidermist - So what’s stopping them? Legal issues? And what is it exactly the Madam Tussuades does? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/6 "2015-10-12T08:20:38Z")
Now that you mention it, I always have had my suspicions about Madame Tussaud’s. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/7 "2015-10-12T08:56:38Z")
Ghoulish idea. It would also require an exrtaordinary like-mindedness across the deceased’s family and friends, in order for one of them to displayed the flayed tattoo without being disowned. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/8 "2015-10-12T13:03:53Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Why stop with framing the tattooed skin? Hell, why not have their head bronzed and mounted on a pike? Or the skin made into a lampshade. When I read this idea, I was… speechless. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/9 "2015-10-12T13:29:28Z")
> [@TheSpeculationElucidation](#): > > - You can get their ashes compressed into [diamonds!](http://www.lifegem.com/) > - You can have them go out with bang by putting them in [fireworks!](http://www.angels-flight.net/index.htm) > - Their remains can be launched into [Space!](http://www.celestis.com/services.asp) > - They can be planted and help nourish a [tree!](http://www.usurnsonline.com/memorials-2/memorial-tree-urns/) Recounted by Anthony Burgess: the Mancunian widow who snorted her husbands ashes like snuff “bugger was up all me other holes when he was alive, may as well have these two now.” ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/10 "2015-10-12T13:37:33Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Or the skin made into a lampshade. > > When I read this idea, I was… > > speechless. Yeah, me too. First thing that came to my mind was, “Doesn’t everyone remember that the Nazis did this for Christ’s sake\*!!\*” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/11 "2015-10-12T13:56:47Z")
I voted “it depends” - frame, not so much. Cover a hardback collection of Clive Barker’s _Books Of Blood_? Hell, yeah! ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/12 "2015-10-12T14:12:33Z")
I have given my wife some bad gifts over the years, but that is not the one I want to keep on giving. She’s not crazy about the tattoo on my living skin; I’m not sure why I’d want to do THIS to her. And if I hypothetically had a loved one with a tattoo who passed on, I’d vastly prefer to hold on to the memory of her rather than…that. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/13 "2015-10-12T15:51:48Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Yeah, me too. First thing that came to my mind was, “Doesn’t everyone remember that the Nazis did this for Christ’s sake\*!!\*” :eek: I was thinking Ed Gein myself. What if someone has full sleeves, or a full back tattoo? Can you just have the body stuffed, like a dead animal? ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/14 "2015-10-12T15:55:38Z")
\*BrainbleachbrainbleachbrainbleachpassmethegoddamnbrainbleachsweetbabyJesus \* (On the other hand, there’s no option for “Hell no, but it’s still totally metal”.) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/15 "2015-10-12T16:37:35Z")
Horrifying. And even for those who are into the artform (I’m not) isn’t the transience supposed to be part of the aesthetic? That it’s a living canvas which changes and breathes? It sounds like something a racist “Gentleman Explorer” from the 1800’s might have framed in his library; the tattoo of a trusted servant who guided him in the Serengeti. He’d put it on the little table underneath the stuffed head of the lion he claims to have killed, but which in fact his guide died to get for him. Or, yeah, Nazi lampshades. Myth or not, that’s the right moral equivalent IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/16 "2015-10-12T16:39:38Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > What if someone has full sleeves, or a full back tattoo? Gloves. Or a vest. ---
**Author:** ![PeasantSlayer69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58f4c7/32.png) [@PeasantSlayer69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeasantSlayer69)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/17 "2015-10-12T17:27:00Z")
> **["The Horror in the Museum" by H. P. Lovecraft for Hazel Heald](https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/hm.aspx)** > > 'The Horror in the Museum' by H. P. Lovecraft for Hazel Heald This a good read! Called “The Horror in the Museum” by H.P. Lovecraft (the chthulu guy). kind of off topic ---
**Author:** ![PeasantSlayer69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58f4c7/32.png) [@PeasantSlayer69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeasantSlayer69)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/18 "2015-10-12T17:49:42Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#): > > Ghoulish idea. It would also require an exrtaordinary like-mindedness across the deceased’s family and friends, in order for one of them to displayed the flayed tattoo without being disowned. We keep my grandmothers ashes on our mantle, I can’t really see the difference myself but I know people feel weird about death. On their website ([savemyink.com](http://savemyink.com)) it says that they pay out $2000 if the relative goes through with the wishes of the deceased. I don’t think you are required to do it or anything, but damn would that be scummy to turn down such a huge gesture. I read about this somewhere else where a person said they would just prefer a picture of the tattoo, id rather have the real thing, makes me wonder what family really means to a person! If they want you to do it, do it dammit! lol anyway, cheers! My two cents. ---
**Author:** ![PeasantSlayer69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58f4c7/32.png) [@PeasantSlayer69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeasantSlayer69)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/19 "2015-10-12T17:56:41Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Yeah, me too. First thing that came to my mind was, “Doesn’t everyone remember that the Nazis did this for Christ’s sake\*!!\*” :eek: Lol yeah, my friend decided to grow a mustache and honestly its like sometime I can’t help but think, Hitler had a mustache and what I am seeing is just wrong in light of that. Not cool. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408/20 "2015-10-12T18:07:53Z")
I gotta express skepticism about the whole thing. Okay, organs get harvested for donation every day, but I presume medical professionals are involved in most of the steps of that process; I also presume that regulations are in place that legally differentiate the process from corpse mutilation/desecration. I admit that I only skimmed the link in the OP. Did any of the material cover the proper handling of human remains? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/frame-the-tattoo-of-a-dead-loved-one/734408.md?page=2)