Relationships and tattoos

[Scott R]

I feel like I could not be with someone who was not tattooed. The reason being, I want to be with someone who shares my passion for getting, and being tattooed. I would not know what to do if we didn't share that interest. Luckily my husband loves my tattoos, and is getting more tattooed all the time. He is really starting an amazing collection.

My wife has not and I doubt will not be tattooed but we share other passions together and I would never think about being or not being with someone based on tattoos providing they were cool with me getting tattooed

[tattooedjuliet]

My wife has not and I doubt will not be tattooed but we share other passions together and I would never think about being or not being with someone based on tattoos providing they were cool with me getting tattooed

That's good you guys share other interests! My point is, tattoos are

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Tattoos are one of my biggest passions, so sharing that with my sinificant other is important! it would be a lot less fun to go to conventions without him, or with him if he was not into it.

[Colored Guy]

My wife likes tattoos, but has no desire to get one. Which is cool, I get her support though. The rest of my family is cool about them, easier to count the non-inked than the inked. My inlaws weren't into them, but never really said much. My wife's brother's family.. totally stick up the ass types, none of 'em even been to jail even... what a boring existence.

CG

[Mitch Wood]

I've only had one serious relationshit in my young life. When we started dating, I had two tattoos. I have one that is placed on top of my shoulder, and some times it peeks out of a t shirt collar. Every time this happened, she had to change her underwear. That was awesome. However, she also insisted that I didn't get anymore tattoos. Maybe this is because I made the mistake of bringing her to an appointment? Long story short, about a year into the relationshit, we pulled a Ross and Rachel and "took a break". I came back to school after Christmas break with a new tattoo. She saw it and started crying, while yelling at me for not telling her. This was the moment that I discovered that no boobies are worth not being "allowed" to get tattooed. As far as dating someone goes, I'm super attracted to tattooed women, but I'm a man, so in the end, a beautiful woman is beautiful inked or not. I just need to be able to do whatever the hell I want to do with my own skin.

[David Flores]

That's good you guys share other interests! My point is, tattoos are

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Tattoos are one of my biggest passions, so sharing that with my sinificant other is important! it would be a lot less fun to go to conventions without him, or with him if he was not into it.

Usually when I get tattooed it represents my free time or time with the guys. Even at the shop our wives don't really come around except when we have events at the shop. From time to time our wives or their friends want to get tattooed and even then our wives only sometimes show up with them. Our wives like tattoos just not in the same way we do and I think they get that. On the flip side when on vacation I have never heard my wife complain about being dragged to whatever tattoo shop happens to be in that city and sometimes even decides she wants to get tattooed. I don't know if I would feel the same way about tattoos if there wasn't this balance of it being my own thing and something I share.

[tattooedjuliet]

Usually when I get tattooed it represents my free time or time with the guys. Even at the shop our wives don't really come around except when we have events at the shop. From time to time our wives or their friends want to get tattooed and even then our wives only sometimes show up with them. Our wives like tattoos just not in the same way we do and I think they get that. On the flip side when on vacation I have never heard my wife complain about being dragged to whatever tattoo shop happens to be in that city and sometimes even decides she wants to get tattooed. I don't know if I would feel the same way about tattoos if there wasn't this balance of it being my own thing and something I share.

Sounds like a good balance. My husband is not nearly as into tattoos as I am, but he is far more than the average person! He loves conventions, doesn't mind checking out shops either. It's something I love being able to share with him, because he is my best friend. I love spending time with him. No one else I would rather be around, and luckily he feels the same. :)

[Pugilist]

I was tattooed before my husband had any, but he always liked the idea of tattoos due to coming of age in punk/hardcore subculture, etc. So it was never a big deal that I was tattooed and he wasn't. But as I mentioned upthread, now that we both are, it has become very much a joint venture in a really amazing and fun way, and I kind of can't imagine it any other way. We've talked about it, and we both think that were we not together and doing this whole tattoo thing together, we might both have some tattoos, but we'd probably have fewer and it wouldn't be like, a major hobby for us. So this business about balancing a relationship and tattoos is funny to me, because I feel like I come from the opposite direction, wherein my relationship is one of the reasons I am as into tattoos as I am! It's a really wonderful thing for us to share and go through together, and I have nooooo idea what my body would look like if this weren't a joint venture. I feel like that sounds weird and co-dependent, but so be it.

Edited to add: this is a long-winded way of saying: ditto, @tattooedjuliet!

[Dan S]

Never saw tattoos as anything but a part of normal life. My Lady was tattooed when we met, and now we just go to the parlor together, works well.

[David Flores]

Before I had my son I remember me and my wife (girlfriend at the time) devoting whole days to getting tattooed. Back then we had time for all of our hobbies, now we kind of have to prioritize what things we want to pursue. I haven't brewed nearly as much beer since he was born and I don't experiment cooking as much, but I still get tattooed pretty regularly, because i spend so much time in a tattoo shop it's kind of inevitable. She would rather do home decorating stuff and glass art in her free time.

It's also hard because my wife has never spent time in a shop other than being a customer so our views about tattooing and tattoo shops can differ at times. She gets it as much as she can I think for not having the same experience as me.

[RoryQ]

Well, this year is a big year for both of us to get tattooed. For the first time, we're both getting tattooed in the same shop around the same time. She's in for two days back to back, then I'm in for two days back to back ... And then she's in again for a final two days the following week.

Bit of a punishing schedule, and because she's doing her back and I'm doing my front we're due to repeat it again next year (and probably the following year too) - a matter of racking up the hours to finish the pieces.

At the moment we've got the time and money to do this kind of thing. A big part of that is not having any kids I guess.... For now : / !

[Pugilist]

Yes to the mention of kids--we both acknowledge--as folks who do want to have kids in a few years--that this is likely a pretty special moment in our lives in terms of having the motivation, disposable income, and time, that it requires to get a bunch of tattoos. We know that will change with kids. So we are trying to enjoy it together while it lasts!

(And @RoryQ, we are in a similar predicament--in October we are both booked in for all day session in the same shop at the same time. Seemed like a super fun/sweet idea at the time but will likely be less so in practice.)

[Dan S]

I tell ya, having kids jacks EVERYTHING up!

USed to be, I could just walk into the shop, get whatever I wanted to get, no problem.

Then the kids started coming.

Shit.

now I had to plan and make appointments to get tattooed.

And NOW! They really jack things up.

I try to get in for a tattoo, half the time one of our kids is sitting in Nick's chair getting worked on...little humps!

[TrixieFaux]

We have a kid, and yet, we still keep getting tattooed...my husband didn't even start until last year when she was 3.

[onaquesttoseeamoose]

I've read some of the most entertaining posts on this thread, but before I get too lost in reading nearly 15 pages..I must add this advice....

Believe strongly in the old adage, "Don't dip your pen in the company ink".

Well, I once has a student of the tattoo arts, or, an "apprentice" who was a very beautiful female, who shortly began to make my very Male loins boil. Well, I soon found myself teaching, then dating, then living and sharing my life with my apprentice, whom I was still teaching ,for about 3 years. THIS WAS A MISTAKE!!!! Yes, things happen for a reason, and its hard to get a rational or practical grip around love. But, I never felt like I had the respect from my student that a mentor should, even though I felt I did a very good job in teaching the proper tools and techniques that a mentor should. Many will tell you not to even try to teach your girl Blackjack....lol Well that may be true, but I NOW feel like I did her a dis-service. I could have been more of an integral part of her career, but, luckily, I taught her how much I had learned from others, by getting tattooed, doing guest shots, and conventions. She did the same, and now she is an incredibly talented tattooist, with a wealth of knowledge she developed by absorbing anything she could from others in our trade, as well as the basics i believe I instilled before our young love went awry. She has on a few occasions mentioned my name as her generous mentor, as her education first came with no strings attatched, but I do wish that I could have taught her certain moral and ethical roots that I knew, now a 24 year veteran, that would have been miscommunicated since we were dating, and could have led to mis-judgemental "finger pointing" ( I KNOW I TYPED THAT ALL WRONG BUT AT LEAST I KNOW WHAT I WAS TRYIN' TO SAY, LOL). Aint love and tattooin' a bitch!

[Ernest Short]

Funny you should post this, as I was just thinking about something similar this morning.

When I met my wife, I was tattooed, but just tattooed. I had half sleeves, a chest piece, a few things on my legs, etc. She didn't have any tattoos, but loved mine and eventually started getting tattooed herself. She's now about as tattooed as I was when we met.

Now, I'm heavily tattooed, and it occurred to me this morning that it would be weird if I were single and met someone who wasn't tattooed. (Obviously, that's not the only reason I'm glad I'm married!) I think that there's a line that gets crossed when one becomes heavily tattooed. I don't know of anyone with lots of coverage who's with someone who isn't tattooed. It just becomes such a big part of who you are that it's hard to imagine being with someone who isn't at least partially covered.

Crazy, When i met my wife i had one tattoo she had none, now im a tattoo artist and we are both covered in ink,,

[DJDeepFried]

Ha, I hear you. It's getting like that w/me and @DJDeepFried, too. At first, I was the one with tattoos. Then he got 1. Then he got a huge one for his 2nd, bigger than mine put together. I was a little jealous. So now I'm getting a huge one. I had wanted a tiger and mentioned it a long time ago. Then he mentioned something about the possibility of him getting a tiger. Then I was like, well, I better get my tiger right now before he does. Haha. Then, he can still go ahead and get one, it's a free country, we can be twins if he wants, but at least it'll be him copying me and not the other way around hahaha. I'm getting mine Aug 13th. :-P

I especially agree with your last sentence, it's pretty fun.

It's not a competition, honey. (But I'm still gonna win.)

[gougetheeyes]

It's not a competition, honey. (But I'm still gonna win.)

Whoawhoawhoa -- more couples on LST>! @DJDeepFried and @TrixieFaux? Awesome.

Also awesome, @Pugilist that you're coming from a totally different place than most others seem to be. Glad I can get into 'em with my wife now, too, (we got matching ones on our birthdays!)

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When I met my husband about 9 years ago I had 1 tattoo and he had 0. Now I have 5 and on the day I got my 4th (last month), my hubby got his 1st! I think he's hooked now, as he's been printing out images that are inspiring him for his next tattoo. I'm happy about it. I loved him anyway and would be fine with it if he didn't want any--it's his skin after all. But now that he shares my interest it's pretty cool.

OVER A YEAR AGO! Going back and reading through this thread is super fun.

[gougetheeyes]

David Flores post got me thinking. I know we're talking relationships in regards to SOs, but my family relationships around tattoos have always been more conflicted. Both of my younger sisters were tattooed before I was and none of their tattoos (save for the sugar skull the oldest got here in town from Ezra Haidet at Triple Crown through me) were done in great shops. The cherry on top though was when I opened Facebook one day and saw pics of my sister and brother in law getting tattooed in my Mom's KITCHEN by some "tattooer" friend of the older sister. My brother in law was about to ship out to Afghanistan and wanted something before he left, so my sister arranged this 'tatt party' at my Mom's. The fact that my parents who have given me so much shit about my choices allowed this to go down in their house reinforced my opinion that they just don't like me very much as a person. Familia es familia, but I got to say, it's pretty frustrating when the stuff I say about tattoo quality and sterility falls on deaf ears.

Luckily, my son's being patient and he'll get his first real tattoo in a real shop in November

Oof. But good turn to take the thread in.. Kev and @CultExciter, yeah, there's a lot of weird double standardy treatment when it comes to this. My step siblings all have a couple little tattoos and they're the first to come running up to me and announcing it and showing it off and being all pumped, but then if I happen to, say, be wearing shorts and a tank top I get a lot of negative reactions and raised eyebrows from them.

"Wow, I never realized how many tatts you have..."

"When are you gonna... stop?"

"Does it feel weird to have so many?"

In conclusion.. when it comes to family relationships and tattoos, the only one that matters to me is the family of me and my wife. Everyone else can cram it.

[TrixieFaux]

Whoawhoawhoa -- more couples on LST>! @DJDeepFried and @TrixieFaux? Awesome.

Also awesome, @Pugilist that you're coming from a totally different place than most others seem to be. Glad I can get into 'em with my wife now, too, (we got matching ones on our birthdays!)

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OVER A YEAR AGO! Going back and reading through this thread is super fun.

oops, looks like I posted nearly the same thing on this thread twice without realizing it...only they were a year apart so the number of tattoos has gone up! Maybe I should post it again next year and see how the numbers have changed...

That's cool--what did you and your wife get for your matching tattoos?

[David Flores]

Check this out, my wife is going to a bachelorette type party for one of her co workers, but only four girls total including bride. They decided that part of the party will be for all of them to get tattooed. My wife and her friend Nicole have a handful of tattoos each, the other girl shayla has a couple poorly done tattoos from vegas and the bride has no tattoos. At first my wife and Nicole suggested our shop, because I work there and they have both been tattooed there many times and I wasn't crazy about the idea because trying to get them all tattooed in one afternoon could be a task, seeing as the one girl hasn;t been tattooed before and the other girl fancy's herself a bit of an artist and they all want different things and trying to get them all to stop in for a consult. But ultimately I agreed to make it happen, after all I had almost a month to get their ideas together and get organized.

Fast forward a week, they decide they want it to be a true girls night out, and want to find a shop with some ladies that can tattoo them. Now my first thought is that I dodged that bullet, but after I thought for a minute there is only a few really good female tattooers in town and finding a shop for them that has two good female tattooers available on somewhat short notice is more of a task then just doing the tattoos. Making one tattooer do four custom basically walk in tattoos would not only take twice as long, and it's still going to be a tattoo shop not a day spa just because a women is tattooing you.

At first my wife didn't believe me and told me I have issues against women, so I had to show her what I was talking about. I went through about 20 shops web sites and showed her some of the stuff people are passing off as tattoos, then pulled up some of the portfolios of good women tattooers in town and some other examples of good tattoos in general. Also I told her that some of these women are in high demand and might not be available or interested in doing something like this on semi short notice, so they should keep their options open if they couldn't book with the women I suggested. I also told her that I wouldn't be too happy if she got a substandard tattoo just because she had to get tattooed by a woman, mostly because I just don't want to give hacks our money, especially when I know so many good tattooers. Her response to me was, "well you go to businesses run by Mexicans to support Mexicans and Latinos.", my response "We are not talking about Carne Asada here."

By the end of the conversation I think everyone got what I was saying and understood that I just want them to get good tattoos but it was quite exhausting in the process.

Update, so two days before party the girl planning this decides she just wants to go to our shop and have the tattoos done. Was no big deal, I wasn't there as I was watching my son so my wife could participate.

[Kev]

... My step siblings all have a couple little tattoos and they're the first to come running up to me and announcing it and showing it off and being all pumped, but then if I happen to, say, be wearing shorts and a tank top I get a lot of negative reactions and raised eyebrows from them.

"Wow, I never realized how many tatts you have..."

"When are you gonna... stop?"

"Does it feel weird to have so many?"

One statement that drives me crazy from people that I know (friends and family) that have seen me collect tattoos is: "So when are you going to move on to your head/neck?" in a sarcastic/ joking way. I've decided if I'm talking to a woman, I going to say "Oh, you shave your legs- when are you moving on to your head?"

[SnowyPlover]

One statement that drives me crazy from people that I know (friends and family) that have seen me collect tattoos is: "So when are you going to move on to your head/neck?" in a sarcastic/ joking way. I've decided if I'm talking to a woman, I going to say "Oh, you shave your legs- when are you moving on to your head?"

What is it with that - someone asked me if I was going to do my face.....

Relationship wise, my honey said to me the other day "there's something weird with your left elbow", me "What?!", "It's naked. I'm used to the other one. You need some work done, for symmetry". :)

[Lance]

Relationship wise, my honey said to me the other day "there's something weird with your left elbow", me "What?!", "It's naked. I'm used to the other one. You need some work done, for symmetry". :)

Marry her! MARRY HER!!! ;-)

[Brock Varty]

What is it with that - someone asked me if I was going to do my face.....

Relationship wise, my honey said to me the other day "there's something weird with your left elbow", me "What?!", "It's naked. I'm used to the other one. You need some work done, for symmetry". :)

She's a keeper...

[Nate Pea]

Slightly off topic but I recently read some stuff out of Herbert Hoffmans biography and he mentioned that when he first moved to Berlin and started his passion for tattooing that he would 'sometimes notice people without tattoo's, but they were like air ( to him)' hopefully I didn't hack that up too much, but it was a beautiful quote and it will stay with me forever.

Needless to say my girl has tattoos and did before I ever knew her. Her grandad had some pretty cool tattoos and had both hands done during the 30's, which in the UK at least was more or less social suicide. I've taken the attitude that people without tattoos are cool because they make tattooed people stand out.