Your First Tattoo Story

[Stitch626]

I was 18 when I got my first, managed to hide it from my mom for a week when we changed the sheets and I realized i had gotten blood on the sheet.. perfect print of the tattoo itself. My ex drove me down to some location in Philly.. Walked in and he pretty much said we weren't leaving till I picked something off the wall. Coney Island Joes was the name of the shop and Joe (or his son) had just gotten out of jail. Something to do with Hells Angels

Yeah. First and last time I went there, that tattoo still bothers me, swells up and gets irritated every once in a while. Crappy piece of tribal..

the picture is from a few hours after it was finished... I should take a picture of it now, so you can see how crappy it is haha

[jade1955]

My first tattoo was done when I was 15. A tattooer called Steve, as far as I can remember, in Bath.

My first visit to the shop was with a couple of pals. I went first, I think we all decided on a swallow on the forearm. Anyway I had a bit of a rash on my forearm. The tattooer asked me about the rash. I said it was probably a sun rash. He said ok come back when it's gone. So my first visit ended in bitter disappointment. The next in the chair was my mate Pete. He always fancied himself as a bit of a tough guy, but he was looking very nervous. So the tattooer started the tattoo. He did the outline on this tiny tattoo and was about to start on the colour when my mate said " you don't have to colour it in do you". The tattooer, looking rather puzzled said "no not if you don’t want me to". We really took the piss out him on the train on the way home. What a pussy.

I went back a few weeks later with two pals and we all had the same deaths head tattoo on our forearm. Ones now dead the other had his covered. So mines the only one left. That was 41 years ago and I still love that tattoo. So much so that I booked Alex Binnie to recreate the tattoo on my upper leg on April 13th.

[Jack Wier]

Picture? Cool story as well

[Jack Wier]

Picture?

[Jack Wier]

The epilogue makes this story awesome.

[Jack Wier]

rad story

[remindsmeofyou]

Upside down script on my wrist. Before I knew better. Currently plotting an awesome cover up.

[CaptCanada]

......my left index finger done with needle, thread & ink!

And ink? Wow a tattoo with ink thats amazing. Sorry not trying to take a piss outa you, its just funny when people say something like that.

Mine I was 21 or 22, got a BMW roundel on my chest. The shop was alright but got tattooed by an apprentice thats work wasn't the best... Live and learn I say. Not planning on covering it up, unless I have to for an awesome chest panel.

[monoxide]

mine i got from my personal friend and artist that has done all mine when i was 19 or so. i had never met him before and a mutual friend asked if i would take him to get a tattoo at his house so i said yeah sure lets go. we get to the guys house and my buddy i took there gets his work done. the artist was cleaning every thing up and putting every thing in the autoclave, my buddy asked me if i wanted gas money or a tattoo so i said i have been wanting dog tags on my chest so the artist finishes cleaning every thing, and gets new needles, tubes, ink cups every thing you would expect in a shop and we start tattooing my chest with the dog tags with my grandfrathers name and date he was born and date he passed away. after we were done i got his number and the next week i was back getting more work done. then he moved to a shop and since the owner was a asshole i couldnt do trades for work anymore so its been a while since i have got tattooed.

[MGblues]

My first one was done on my 19th birthday, February 13th, 1985.

Because my Dad has a tattoo, I always wanted one and knew I'd get one as soon I got legal age to do it.

Since I grew up in bum-fucked western North Carolina there was only one shop within a 100 mile radius then. It was named "J.B. Davis Tattoo & Tavern". The tattoo shop was in the back of a biker bar in Waynesville N.C.

I was way more scared of going in the biker bar as a skinny, long haired punk kid than I was of getting the tattoo, but I went through with it.

Wasn't as bad as I though it'd be, so I kept getting more as the years went by. Now I've turned 46, my arms are covered to the wrist, and I'm fixing to start a backpiece.

I never had it covered up, cause I love it to this day, but I did have it touched up in 2010. It's the spiderweb with the creepy skull/spiderlegs thingy.

P.S. I was able to keep it hidden from my Mom for 2 weeks...

She saw it and slapped the shit out of it!

[truejew]

Ha ha these are awesome stories!

Here's mine.

I was 18 (2005) I had just torn my acl skateboarding. I had a drawing of a pair of trucks that i had drawn while laying in bed on painkillers. I got tattooed by my buddy guido baldini in Santa fe nm. Just walked in and gave him my design. He ate some pizza and tattooed the design on me in about 20min. Still love it. I got it hooked up by marie sena a couple years ago. Not as cool but figure I could share.

[hgiles]

I got a tattoo of Snoopy Playing saxophone. I was just graduating college at the age of 27 having put myself through on my own dime by enlisting in the military and serving in Korea and working part time in restaurants and factories welding and forming steel power distribution equipment.

I still didn't know what I was ever going to do with a Music degree, but I knew I loved it enough that I was never gonna stop having fun with it. It was 10+ years before I got another tattoo.

[Dude]

My first one was done on my 19th birthday, February 13th, 1985.

Because my Dad has a tattoo, I always wanted one and knew I'd get one as soon I got legal age to do it.

Since I grew up in bum-fucked western North Carolina there was only one shop within a 100 mile radius then. It was named "J.B. Davis Tattoo & Tavern". The tattoo shop was in the back of a biker bar in Waynesville N.C.

I was way more scared of going in the biker bar as a skinny, long haired punk kid than I was of getting the tattoo, but I went through with it.

Wasn't as bad as I though it'd be, so I kept getting more as the years went by. Now I've turned 46, my arms are covered to the wrist, and I'm fixing to start a backpiece.

I never had it covered up, cause I love it to this day, but I did have it touched up in 2010. It's the spiderweb with the creepy skull/spiderlegs thingy.

P.S. I was able to keep it hidden from my Mom for 2 weeks...

She saw it and slapped the shit out of it!

That's very funny about your mom. I hit my first one for a couple of years. After a while I just kept trying to see how long I could go.

:)

~Dude

[jayessebee]

you hit your first mom lmao

[MlleGrimm]

I was 19 for my first one, got in October on my left calf and was able to hide it until my 3rd (which started peeking out of my sleeve.. summer would've screwed me over anyways). Anyway, my idea behind it is to keep your loved ones close since you don't know how long they'll be there. I get a few meaningful ones here and there, but the majority of mine are just because I liked the artwork or needed to practice during my apprenticeship :)

[IanBurkhart]

I was 17 and all my friends are older so my buddy took me to his friends house who was doing tattoos out of his garage on the side. He worked at a shop and has a good reputation, everything was sterile and safe. Got my last name in Old English style lettering across my stomach. It tok a little under 4 hours and was pretty painful from what I remember but it was a good experience.

[Nassica]

I was 18, it was a birthday present. I got a black and red triskelion on the back of my neck. My mom and aunt took me and actually both impulsively decided to got the same design on their arm. The guy who was suppose to tattoo me ended up tattooing my mother while another guy tattooed me.My mom had a great experience, mine was a little weird. Just before he started he told me that he was kinda heavy handed and asked that if I started crying to try not to move too much. I probably should have stopped him but for some reason I didn't. After it was done he clapped me on the shoulder and said something along the lines of "holy shit, I can't believe you're not crying, good job". The tattoo came out well, and the other artist was interesting and fun to talk to. All in all a mostly positive experience.

[OutOfIdeas]

My first tattoo was on my ankle (and I'm a guy, but at least I didn't get a tramp stamp I guess) while backpacking in South Africa.

Done with a jailhouse cd player type machine, guitar string, and india ink.

The guy was a surf instructor/beach bum who's couch I'd ended up on through friends of friends of friends. He'd tattooed two other times; his brother (age 14 I think) and himself. TIA.

Still don't regret it. I slightly regret letting a "professional" touch It up, but my path to learning better was long. One day it'll get the touch up it deserves, but I honestly forget it's there sometimes.

Edit: not that there's anything wrong with dudes getting ankle tattoos, mine's just in a size and place that could be called a bit girly haha! But I plan to work on that leg next anyway, so it'll be surrounded soon enough hopefully

[Zillah]

When I turned 18 I went to a tattoo shop that some of my older friends had been to, owned by a local tattoo legend who has since vanished off the map (Rob Krause). I was into paganism at the time and got an ankh on my inner R)forearm, upside down "because it's for me", heh. He knocked it out in about 15 mins and I was surprised that it didn't really hurt.

I don't regret it, but I have some plans to fix it up. If anything, I feel bad that I made a good tattooist draw a shitty little tattoo that was probably beneath him. He was a good sport about it though, even saying to me, "this is a powerful symbol, you know".

[lasereast]

Your story is nice.

[Faolan]

I was 18, it was three days after my birthday and i was finally at the legal age, my artist is an old family friend who works at tattoo paradise. I'm part Irish so i wanted something uniquely Celtic that few people would get and found an old drawing of a Celtic warrior with a la tene tattoo sleeve and thought it was perfect so he designed a variant for the first piece to go on my shoulder. I wasn't scared, mostly excited, but i didn't know what to expect. The guy is great with first timers, he explained everything he was doing and when he started he told me he was going to do a quick line so i knew how it felt and then when i was ready he'd really start. It was very painful, naturally, but he helped me get through it and we had some great conversations so all in all i had a great time. i have to say the worst part was the healing afterwards being sore and having to be careful when i slept, and i survived the dreaded itching and was able to carefully scratch the untouched skin in and around the tat. To me it's very special because it was my right of passage to become a man.

[dieselkat]

My first tattoo was in 1998, it was a 17th birthday present from my mom. We went to a shop in Fredericksburg, VA and I got tattooed by a guy that went by the name Sailor Joe. I just picked out a red and green gecko from the flash, and told him I wanted it huge on my right forearm, from inner elbow to wrist. He (VERY thankfully!!!) refused to tattoo such a large, visible tattoo on a 17 year old and so it's on my right shoulder blade, pretty small. I'll have to look for a picture later, but it's pretty terrible, haha. I've considered covering it up, but since it's a present from my mom I think I'll keep it.

[Euchlid]

I was in my last year of high school and really wanted a tattoo, I went to a shop and made an appointment for after my 18th birthday. I even got birthday money to go towards my tattoo. I was (is) very much into art, and particularly surrealism. So I got the elephants from "Les Elephants" by Salvador Dali as I had a large print on my wall for years and it's my favourite painting of his. It cracks me up as apparently it's a (relatively) popular tattoo, but I don't care. I still like it, and I especially like how it's framed by my sleeves. It was done by Scott Veldhoen at Eternal Image Tattoo in Calgary (Canada).

First photo is after I got them done in 2003 (I was doing hair modelling for a hairdresser pal hence the cheesy photo)

Second photo is at my wedding in 2011

[HaydenRose]

@Euchlid great first tattoo! I think that's a great placement for them.

[TrixieFaux]

Looks cool @Euchlid! Panthers and skulls are pretty popular design choices, too, but that doesn't stop anyone.