#tattoo diary

[cheeyan]

Tattoo Diary (2/?)

Right arm

TLDR; I yap about my tattoos and what they mean. This one features my right arm:

Flower

Had my friend tattoo this on me during an art convention from her booth, it was just one of the flashes she had available (it was literally her logo lol). Hurt like a bitch and blew out (common pattern with me I guess LOL) Was getting a friend's logo tattooed on you the best idea ever? probably not. Regret meter: 1/5 (I could made better choices, but its a sick ass tattoo with good memories)

Snakeskin Pattern

Yipee! This is way up high in the regret but love list!! Batok is a traditional Filipino tattooing method, where they take tinik (some kind of plant thorn) and jam charcoal into your skin until it sticks. This, of course, was as painful as you'd imagine it to be. The thorn was NOT thin, and considering it's just a plant thorn, the tip wasn't as sharp as I would've preferred it to be either. So picture this; you're me, you just got laid off from a job of 3 years, you find an ad on Facebook from a local cafe, 10 minutes away from you, where the students of Apo Whang-od are traveling all the way from Buscalan to come tattoo people; allegedly it's cheap. You book a session and wait!! So here I was, in a cafe, drink that took 30 minutes to make, in hand, with a plate of really dry fries. Its been, give or take, 4 hours, and I've been rationing out this little watered down cup of coffee because I knew I was going to be spending some money on this tattoo. I was excited. They call me; it's my turn (finally). 2 HOURS OF PAIN LATER, and we start talking pricing. I thought, okay, I might spend a little bit more than what I thought I would be spending here, because this poor lady had been nonstop going at my arm for 2 hours. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NO ONE TOLD ME THEY WERE GOING TO BE PRICING IT PER 1CM LINE SHE DID ON ME!!! So there I was... officially broke because it cost me the whole month's allocated budget; driving home on my little motorcycle, with the sorest arm in the world. My arm was bruised for a month straight. The tattoo did not heal very well because there was so much skin trauma it literally ripped a hole in me! Regret meter: 4.5/5 (I'm only really not regretting it because now I have bragging rights and a cool tattoo) Fun fact: I'd chosen the design (tinulipao) purely because my snake had just died and I wanted to remember him forever, and protection the pattern allegedly gives you.

Heart moles

In celebration of our 2nd year anniversary, I decided to get my boyfriend's moles tattooed on me (NOT A RATIONAL IDEA) out of impulse (I thought about it for a day before I got it done) Same gal who did the flower tattoo did this!! It blew out quite badly, but they look more real now Regret meter: 0/5 (sick as fuck idc, plus if we break up, I can just say they're my moles)

[cheeyan]

Tattoo Diary (1/?)

Left arm

TLDR; I yap about my tattoos and what they mean. This one features my left arm:

Sting (Lord of the Rings)

In 2021, I was the universe's #1 Lord of the Rings/Mainstream media hater. God, I was such a pain in the ass. My boyfriend of 1 week, huge Lord of the Rings kid, was so ecstatic to get me to watch the trilogy. That man made the grave mistake of making me sit for three days straight binge watching The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings; and did I make him regret it. For three days, all I did was nitpick, talk shit, and find plot holes in the story, because I HAD to be the odd one out of course, had to be cool... Well fast forward to a couple months later, and I'm celebrating my 18th birthday, dressed as a hobbit; bare, hairy feet and all, and I'm getting my first ever tattoo; sting. I couldn't admit it at the time, but I'd fallen in love; not with the man I was with, but with the trilogy (lol). Hence the tattoo. What is it? Why did I get it? Well, who cares? It's sting. It's a constant reminder of the small things with great strength and courage, and the pivotal point in my life where I decide that I no longer want to be an asshole. I've always loved Bilbo's sword, I like what it represents. Fun fact: this WAS SO EXPENSIVE TO GET compared to what tattoos cost in my country :') They'd quoted me HALF of what I actually paid for, and when the total came out double, I'd already gotten the damn thing on my arm lol. I went broke for this tattoo; and yes it did blow out immediately.

Emergency line (IT Crowd)

This has got to be the dumbest tattoo I have lol. It's based off this bit from IT Crowd: 0118 999 881 999 119 7253 is the new emergency line and its super catchy. What can I say? Nothing really... I don't regret it though LOL. WHY did I get this? Look... I don't know. In hindsight, there are so many better ways to highlight my love for this show, but this is the best my mind could make up. I got the numbers in TIMES NEW ROMAN (??????????????) When people ask, I used to explain the whole bit and show the video (they usually do not find the tattoo funny), but now I say it's a long string of angel numbers to save them from my yap session. Fun fact: this tattoo CHIPPED OFF while it was healing, I did everything right, but the ink didn't go in deep enough. I complained to the artist and he said it was my fault and wanted to charge me for a full tattoo just to touch it up?? ass (:

[merissalissa]

Tattooed Humans - Hello Magnolia Photography

An exploration of the significance and beauty of tattooed skin.

my ongoing photo project where i capture beautiful, tattooed humans.

[merissalissa]

i love this zine, it's about some of my tattoos.. if i'm honest, it's one of my least popular zines, so i lowered the price in the print shop recently. i hope folks will eventually see the fun, and enjoy the little tattoo sticker activity that's included. A Little Tattoo Diary

[b1ackmedusaa]

on my 5th day with my very controversial tattoo and it still hurts like a sore muscle. the healing on top has been really nice and no scabs yet. but i love my snake tattoo sm

[b1ackmedusaa]

Im really gettin a tattoo next week.......fucking unreal

[ephemerally--yours]

J U L Y 1 7 , 2 0 1 9

This is the picture that changed the direction of my tattoo collection!

As soon as I saw this picture of Eugenie’s (feralcreature on IG) Halloween costume, I knew I needed to turn it into a work of art. I had been wanting a ram skull tattoo for quite some time before this picture was ever posted, but this particular image truly spoke to me. 

This picture was posted about three years ago, and that’s how long I’ve been waiting to turn bring my vision to life. This was hands down the most thought out tattoo of my life, but it was worth every second and every struggle. I found a tattoo artist back home named Marcus Era who was perfect for the job. However, whenever I was in town, his books were closed and vice versa. However, a few months after I made that life-changing decision to move back to Norcal, his books coincidentally reopened for consultations. I booked a consultation several months ahead, and a year later, I have this magnificent piece on my leg.

Initially, I had thought about giving her a more gothic, dark energy just to match Eugenie’s personal aesthetic; however, as we approached my appointment, my artist asked me for details about the elements I wanted to include in the piece and why. With my detailed description of the piece and of Eugenie as a person, he told me that he didn’t think she should look malevolent. He said she seems like a benevolent soul, to which I agreed, and is why we made some changes: softened her expression and pose to create sense of healing and peace. She’s a magical being who possesses a power that she uses for the good of humanity. Although, I didn’t want to come off as creepy so I told my artist that I didn’t want my piece to be a carbon copy of Eugenie, but rather inspired - a distant relative if you will. Now, people might think I’m crazy for getting a portrait of an Instagram influencer tattooed front and center on my leg, but let me tell you why I did it.

Eugenie has been one of my biggest role models since I learned of her existence in 2015! Ever since then, she has only made me want to be better and do better for myself and my community. With over 400k followers, she doesn’t use her platform to just post about an opulent lifestyle, she is also an outspoken advocate for some of the most noble causes at the moment! On top this, she was one of the first Asian-Americans who made a name for herself in an unconventional field during a time where Instagram itself wasn’t even a viable career path. She helped me realize that I didn’t want to travel on the beaten path of traditional stability. I could make a name for myself doing something I truly loved! If that’s not astounding, then I don’t know what is. I could honestly ramble on and on about how much I admire Eugenie; however, if you want to learn more about her, I would suggest taking a gander at her Instagram page and blog because I could never do this amazing woman the justice she deserves. 

I don’t know if she’ll ever see this tattoo or this post, but it doesn’t even matter to me. I absolutely LOVE the damn thing so much. I just hope that she can feel the positive energy and adoration in the air from wherever she is! 

Ephemerally yours,

[cryinginthelightofthetvstatic]

new ink new face hole new nose ring