Tattooed and proud of it!

Nice, rather Celtic design.Is this an arm or a leg?

That's shocking NannaAnna!!

I can't reach mine!

Yes, it is an attractive design, but why is it that all tattoos seem to end up blurry and a sort of faded blue colour after a few years...?

I think it's because the skin stretches [as we get fatter] over the years Ana or that's what I have always thought.
NanaAnna it's certainly a bold tattoo, but that's what you wanted.I would not have one, but that doesn't mean I am intolerant of others having them.Good luck to you, if it doesn't harm employment chances in life, is what I think.

No, it can't be just that, roses - doesn't explain the 'faded blueness' anyway...

I like that one, NannaAnna because it's an abstract design and not some picture or name that would one day come to embarrass you. My nephew, married to a Maori, who has traditional tattoos on her ankles, decided to have a large Scottish clan crest emblazoned on one shoulder!

It's on my left forearm rosesarerd, and it is Celtic-influenced as I'm Irish.
I have a Triquetra, to represent all sorts of 3s, like Maiden, Mother, Crone, and Body, Mind, Spirit, also Lower, Middle and Upper worlds. Underneath it that is a Trifold spiral to represent my 3 daughters, and it is also a symbol of female power and especially power through transition and growth.
I got my tattooist to add a twirly 'tail' as I wanted it to fill the length of my forearm.
Anyone else going to add a photo?

GGrrr. not sure how to put photo's on here.
Right…just picture if you will, a little green dragon with her tail in her mouth nestling in a circle on the top of my wrist, that one's about 1.5 inches. The other tattoo I have is on my shoulder, it rarely gets exposed. It's a design of my own, made up of different symbols that have come to mean a lot to me personally…it somehow is a map of my life. (sounds a lot like yours NannaAnna)

Personally I do not like tattoos - I find the designs stark and unappealing and definitely would not want one. I also think that their permanence is a problem as we all change over time and fashions that we liked one year may not appeal in a few years time. The fact that our skin texture changes is also a problem as the design will deteriorate on saggy skin and then you are stuck with it.

My DDs thankfully did not spoil their beautiful naturally wonderful skin with a tattoo. One had a small dragon on the base of her spine, but it was one that was designed to fade, as she realised that she might think differently later on.

I think some tattoos are seriously ugly and as the sun comes out all these beautiful young women expose these stark designs which jar the senses.

Don't like 'em - as you probably gathered!

If the designs are so appealing why not have them drawn on canvas and framed so that you can enjoy them ? A tattoo at the base of the spine certainly can not be admired by the recipient unless they are a contortionist.

I find the designs of traditional Henna tattoos quite beautiful, and they only last about 3 weeks before fading away. This seems to me to be a good way of enjoying and having fun with a tattoo without the permanency of inking, which I don't like.

local.gransnet.com/forums/local_manchester_trafford_local_news/1210473-BBC-Radio-Manchester-needs-your-input-Subject-Tattoos-in-later-life
please can you help by commenting on the above link Thanks

Hi everyone can you help us out with a current tattoo question?

local.gransnet.com/forums/local_manchester_trafford_local_news/1210473-BBC-Radio-Manchester-needs-your-input-Subject-Tattoos-in-later-life?msgid=25349734#25349734

im 45 and have three two which I like and one I hate they r all in places which can be hidden easily, first tattoo aged 25 last one aged 37, and can appreciate the interest in body art and also the reasons behind getting them too but time needs taken before getting one and picing the right artist and pattern etc and never ever get one drunk ive seen loads of mixtakes made that way, buy good quality tattoo transfers and try out a few on ur body first to find out what u like and don't like, then if ur ready for the plunge do it, if not dye ur hair or do something else, but age shouldn't matter its either for u or its not

Each to her or his own, but I personally dislike seeing them on men or women of all ages. To me the message they send out is not an attractive one and I associate them with "hard" types.

I went to a wedding where the maid of honour in a suitable fashionable strapless dress dad the most awful aggressive dark coloured tattoos all over her shoulder blades, and not quite completed. Not a pretty sight.

Mishap well expressed and I agree with all that you said.

Soutra that is how my mother described tattoos and she went further to say that they looked common.

A tattooist in our town has just died of septicaemia, not a very good advertisement for his trade.

Thank you Ruby6918, Soutra, Nelliemoser, Charleygirl & harrigran for your input I think there is a common dislike of tattoo's here.

Yet I am still fascinated, as I recently became aware of the Netflix series Prison break.
The clever use of the art form as a plan for escape and contingency plans thereafter, put me in mind of the art, object, useful, rule that I aspire to.

Whilst I always wavered at tattoos previously, and was less than impressed when 3 of my 5 daughters had small but discreet tattoos because 'it's fashionable', I must admit as a lover of art I am fascinated by the reasons and decisions over the designs people choose.

Just realised I missed a few names out, not intentional just saying thanks to those that took the trouble to answer my request, to all the ladies that contributed previously to NannaAnna's thread thanks too without you there would be no research!

If you would like to tune in & contribute to tomorrow's show here's the link again

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p026bpdn

I don't think I am likely to have a tattoo, especially as I get older and droopier (though not fatter - it's not automatic with age). My daughter and son-in-law both have several tattoos - not exactly surprising as they live in New Zealand and he has Maori ancestry. She designed the tattoo on her arm, researching the Gaelic, to reflect her Irish ancestry. That is not only clannish but also totally in tune with Maori culture in which one's ancestors are revered and remembered, reminding one of where one has come from, what one has inherited and why, who and what one is. Seems okay to me. Some tattoos are ugly and represent ugly things; some are neither of these. People have always decorated their bodies - sometimes permanently, sometimes temporarily. I don't understand why tattoos provoke such extreme reactions.

Btw NannaAnna I think your tattoo is delightful.

I personally wouldn't have a tattoo, but I don't have any preconceived ideas about those that do. I used to have a friend who would add a new tattoo for every year she survived cancer. Hers were small and attractive (she tried to talk me into having one).

I have to say I don't like to see the very large tattoos which cover the whole back, or cover the arm completely but that is just my taste.

A couple of times I haven mistaken tattoos on women for very hairy arms. In both instances it has taken me a few seconds to realise they just have lots of tattoos covering their arms.

I`m sorry if it gives offence, but I have never liked tattoos, be they on men or women. Two of my daughters have them, I don`t like them, but they are married women in their 40s, so I have no say in the matter. I particularly hate seeing brides in their beautiful dresses, spoilt by ugly tattoos on display.