Tat Thoughts

Recently, a friend's father said he thought people with tattoos were from the wrong side of the tracks. That made me want to check some information and think about it myself. Simple web searching at this website [link] shows that:

Thirty-six percent of those ages 18 to 25, and 40 percent of those ages 26 to 40, have at least one tattoo, in 2006...

TATTOO FACTS & STATISTICS

If you are interested in scanning a brief history of tattoos, go to this website [link]. To share just a summary of it, it explains why my friend's father said what he said. But, there is a lot that he doesn't know.

Before the recent explosion of tattoo popularity in Western society, many people assumed that tattoos were reserved for the lower-class and societal outcasts like prostitutes, bikers, and ex-cons. They probably don’t realize that, at the turn of the century, tattoos were actually favored by royalty and the elite. During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, tattoos could be found on the likes of Queen Victoria’s grandsons (Prince George and Prince Albert), on Winston Churchill (AND his mother!), on President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and on the members of the wealthy Vanderbilt family.

Rooster Ink

I currently have 9 tats and plan on getting more. The last ink I got was the Rooster head shown to the right. I went with the Rooster because it is my Chinese astrology symbol. It is on my chest.

My other ink include diamonds on my palms, my roller derby number on my forearms, dragonflies on the back of my calves, the Green Lantern logo on my outer right leg, and a tribal shamrock on my arm. That was my first one.

Other plans I have are for a Phoenix and an Eastern dragon as large back pieces, several to cover my legs, and eventually even my entire chest, belly, and have arm sleeves.

I already have another tattoo appointment set up, in about a month by Christy at Blue Flame Tattoo, and it is going to be a male American Goldfinch on the other side of my chest.

All of my tats have symbolic meanings to me, as do most tats that people have gotten. A great resource for discovering more about the "meanings," check out this website The Vanishing Tattoo. Especially the Tattoo Museum link at the bottom of that page. To discover YOUR own symbolic sign, I recommend this website, What's Your Sign.