Tattoo Help =/

[J. Crawford]

Okay, long story short my mom seemed to actually accept my idea of getting a simple tattoo in the nect few years. Just a bas clef, like " Mama Dave's" . Just one problem... My best friend is my grandfather and he has the old fashioned "tattoos are stupid" thing. We already have enough family issues, one of his sons moved away and hasnt seen him more than 5 times in the last 5 years, and he is beginning to enter "physical seniority" I dont want a simple tattoo to create a ton of pressure or friction. 2 questions:

1. What should I do?

2. Whats the age I should look into it? Im 16 right now.

[iamlowsound]

Don't get a tattoo until you are at least 18. Make sure you really want it, make sure you can hide it if you need to.

lowsound

[cheesemonkey]

So hold on... your grandfather is your best friend and you are 16? please explain that.
But I'd say if you are scared it my cause problems don't do it right now and talk to him about it first.

[tplyons]

Sixteen is too young. You'll often find what's cool now is lame years down the road. Very bad with things as permanent as tattoos.

Wait it out, discuss it with him later.

[J. Crawford]

I havent had too many super long posts, but here it is.

My Grandpa has 3 kids. My mom, and two sons. One son moved away and has a family, one is divorced and just move into town with his son, and my mom still has all of us but we have lived within a mile forever. I am my grandpa, quite literally. And I have been known to get along with people 2 or 3 times my age better than my own. Lets just say I am a lot more mature than your average 16 year old. Everyone says I am him, just younger. He even says that, not just by looks but everything in general. I have always been his best friend since his family has kind of collapsed over the last 15 years. I mean, hes happily married, but my mom is the only child he has had forever. His sons never spoke to him, one still doesnt. He has 4 grandsons, and a granddaughter. I am really the only one he REALLY knows, seeing I have always been there for him. Its a long story, but the details are a family thing... not a plaster it on the web thing.

And the tattoo would just be a bass clef on the bottom of my left wrist, like Dave Muscato's. I dont plan on it being soon, but maybe 18 or so.

I hope this answered your question about why hes my best friend.

[cheesemonkey]

Originally Posted by Jordasch

I havent had too many super long posts, but here it is.

My Grandpa has 3 kids. My mom, and two sons. One son moved away and has a family, one is divorced and just move into town with his son, and my mom still has all of us but we have lived within a mile forever. I am my grandpa, quite literally. And I have been known to get along with people 2 or 3 times my age better than my own. Lets just say I am a lot more mature than your average 16 year old. Everyone says I am him, just younger. He even says that, not just by looks but everything in general. I have always been his best friend since his family has kind of collapsed over the last 15 years. I mean, hes happily married, but my mom is the only child he has had forever. His sons never spoke to him, one still doesnt. He has 4 grandsons, and a granddaughter. I am really the only one he REALLY knows, seeing I have always been there for him. Its a long story, but the details are a family thing... not a plaster it on the web thing.

And the tattoo would just be a bass clef on the bottom of my left wrist, like Dave Muscato's. I dont plan on it being soon, but maybe 18 or so.

I hope this answered your question about why hes my best friend.

Yeah thats cool. But I'd definately talk to him about it and try to explain why you think that tatoos, like small ones, aren't bad and see if you can't get him to change his opinion. And definately wait though tatoos are permanent.

[J. Crawford]

Yeah, I have the waiting thing figured out. He told me when I was real little that " I have pliers waiting for your piercings, and sandpaper waiting for your tattoos, come see me if you decided to get one" I think it might be hard to change his opinion.

[SnakeAnthony]

I plan on getting several tattoos. Same story, only replace the Grandfather part, with my father. Basically, my attitude: Meh.

I love my parents very much, but it is my body. One more summer and I'm going to be gone to Chicago for school. So I figure I can at least wait that out until I get my first, even then what I get, I'll make sure its easy to hide. I'll let him know about them whenever I'm financially stable on my own.

[ulrich]

They don't come off.

[J. Crawford]

Originally Posted by ulrich

They don't come off.

Hey, thanks for clearing that up! I wasnt sure about that. Sarcasm inhabits about 97% of TalkBass replys.

[CapnSev]

A tattoo just for the hell of it?

Here's your answers:

1. - Don't

2. - Don't

[Jeff K]

Actually, I don't have anything against tats, although I never got one myself. Something about permanently marking myself doesn't appeal to me. But to each his own.

HOWEVER... I don't think anybody should get one until they are legally an adult. And even then, think long and hard about what you're doing. Once you have it, you have it. And somebody earlier made a really good point: "What seems cool now doesn't seem so cool several years down the road". I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point.

This reminds me of my wife's youngest sister about 5 years ago. She got a small rose tattooed on her right forearm. She showed it to me and said, "Whaddaya' think, Jeff?!" I looked at it and said, "Well, it looks pretty nice right now. But when you're 60, it'll look like a f###in' raisin."

Some tats are pretty cool. All I'm saying is, don't jump into anything while you're still young. And when you decide to do it, give it some thought before selecting the art. A bass clef is cool, and unobtrusive. But wait until you're 18.

[peaveyuser]

Once I get into music college and once I'm 18, then i'll start thinking of the clef tatoo

[HEIST]

Originally Posted by Jeff K

"Well, it looks pretty nice right now. But when you're 60, it'll look like a f###in' raisin."

Guess what else will look like a f###in' raisin when you're 60?

One thing I learned about doing things that your seniors/family are against, is to do them when you're on your own (not 18, but whenever you are somewhat out of their life and are paying every cent of your own bills and living expenses) and take great care that they don't find out.

[ulrich]

Originally Posted by Jordasch

Hey, thanks for clearing that up! I wasnt sure about that. Sarcasm inhabits about 97% of TalkBass replys.

It's not sarcasm. It's the most important thing, you need to know about tattoos. Back when I was thinking of getting my first tattoo, I'd ask a tattooed colleague, for advice, all he'd say was "They don't come off." then he'd just walk away.

Wait 'till you know for sure what you want, then wait another year.

Pick your artist carefully. Choose an artist who digs the kind of tattoo you want.

Try not to be too trendy.

Be prepared to look at your tattoo, a decade on, and think wow, I was young.

Note that the last bits of advice would make sense with "because they don't come off." added on.

Thank Odin I didn't get tattooed at 18, I'd have a tattoo so lame that I won't even say what it might have been.

They don't come off.

[bongomania]

I am quite heavily tattooed, and I started getting them as soon as I turned 18. Generally speaking I'm fine with the tattoos I got when I was younger, they just remind me of another time in my life. It's kind of cool, like a moving scrapbook.

Here are the things I regret:

-getting a tattoo designed just to compete with other tattooed people ("I'm weirder/crazier/more creative than you" etc.). It made sense to me when I was 20, but now I see that it was stupid.

-getting a tattoo from somebody who didn't know how to avoid scarring. I have a few scars that swell up and itch like a mofo whenever the weather changes, and it looks like they will bug the hell out of me for the rest of my life. Pick your artist by their years of experience, not their low price or cool rocker appearance.

I can also tell you that even though I have above-the-neck tattoos myself, I view neck and hand tattoos as "thuggish" and a sign of somebody with a rough past and bad personal habits. If that prejudice is present even in me, imagine how it is for a non-tattooed person. I happen to think the ink I have is just unusual and discreet enough not to mark me as much of a thug, so no regrets, but if I had gotten any of the badass tough-guy ink I had wanted on my neck and hands when I was younger, I would most certainly regret it now.

Obviously you weren't talking about anything that extreme, but it's worth thinking about if you are at all concerned about what people think of you.

[smo]

Working in the medical area - I see heaps of BAAAAAAD tattoo's.
I'm also tattoed myself.

Colour tattoo's - especially blue for some reason- will spread and go blotchy/patchy over time (sometimes a short time) - especially if you expose it to the sun.
Any tattoo will spread. A tattoo artist once said to me, to choose a tattoo that can be touched up in future, without loosing the lines that made it cool in the first place.

My advice is simple. Make sure you can cover it up and still get a respectable job one day - and you should be cool. And get something timeless.
My fave quote on this is from Ossie Osbourne;
"Getting a tattoo is not gonna make you any different, cos everyone else has one, so to be different - Don't get a tattoo"

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by bongomania

-getting a tattoo from somebody who didn't know how to avoid scarring. I have a few scars that swell up and itch like a mofo whenever the weather changes, and it looks like they will bug the hell out of me for the rest of my life. Pick your artist by their years of experience, not their low price or cool rocker appearance.

Unfortunatly scarring can happen anyways, it just depends on the person, my family crest is all raised, the first 6-9 months it was fine, then it popped up out of the blue! Have a couple bits that sometimes raise on my leg too.

Saddly the ink just acts as an irritant and can affect some people more than other , that and for some reason my body refuses to take red ink properly for some pain in the **** reason

Though I do agee.

- Wait til at least 18
- Go to the best tattooist you can find (who cares if it ends up being more expensive, its always gonna be there!)
- Get the tattoo positioned well, dont just plop it on there randomly
- Avoid visible tattoos, at least in earlier life, sadly enough having tattoos on your face/neck/hands etc can still knock you back from certain jobs
- Get a tattoo because you want it, not because anyone else is getting or has one
- If you are getting something that some people may think you'll regret, take the approach bongo (and myself) do, accept the different pages of your life (Who you gonna call )

[Phalex]

Wait until your 21st birthday. Get good and drunk and see what kind of tattoo you end up with the next morning. It'll be a lot more exciting that way! Could be a bass clef on the inside of your wrist, or it could turn out to be a butterfly on your lower back. The fun is in the surprise!!!

[tavesd]

My dad paid for my first tattoo when I finished high school. He offered to do that as long as I followed his 3 rules.
1. No naked women
2. No girl's names
3. not in a place that can't be easily covered when you don't want to advertise.

Of those rules, I think number 3 is the most important. While it's not a nice thing to do, lots of people will judge you straight away as soon as they see some ink. Of course, if you can live with that predjudice and are prepared to accept any limitations it may impose on you, I say go for it. Consider this.. Would your 30yr old self want to come back and have words with your 16yr old self if he were to blame for losing out on a great job? I'm not trying to talk you out of it, just suggesting you start with one that's somewhere easily covered up.

16 years later and 6 more tattoos, I'm 2 for 3. I got my wife's name tattoo'd on me. But it's in the Star Wars alphabet/font, so only other dorks can read it.

Just one warning though...they're addictive.