Tramp Stamps!

[tatB]

i dont think full ass tats are considered tramp stamps.

[SeeSea]

You sure about that?

I didn't say it would be a HIGH probability. At least on Ink Masters they aren't intentionally trying to screw you over.

[Mick Weder]

It was used on me "jokingly" by a very close family member.

It cuts deep alright when family feel they can say whatever. It particularly annoys me even more because it just reinforces to me that they still don't get it and never will.

I've had very deep conversations with my family about what this journey means to me. You'd think that since my 1st tattoo at 17 years old up to now that my words would actually hold some weight. That the seriousness in my tone and a well thought out response would channel to them a certain kind of meaning. And, in a heartbeat statements like...don't you think enough is enough...your getting more ink?, don't go any further than there...you won't get your face done I hope. Even to the point (I hear) that these are common discussion points between them and the fuckin neighbours! How do I know about that? Because the fuckin neighbours are dumb enough to tell me. Ha, and then they wonder why 90% of the time Micks aloof, doesn't say too much kicking back in the corner being anti social, at times appearing down right rude. Because it just ain't worth the time. @SeeSea. I'm hearing ya here. Family have a way of still making it hurt, even after all these years.

Then, I had a "mate" who called me out at work in front of a heap of people when seeing my hands and fingers blazed. ...what are ya doing, there's rules to this you know, you must be breaking every HR rule in the book. This came from a dude who's got tribal sleeves, torso and back. I looked at this dude for a second in disbelief and just said...I don't follow your rules Greg and show me any HR guideline that states anything about tattoos because I haven't come across one. You should really get your facts right before shooting off your mouth. Hence, he's no longer part of my small circle of trust. That one didn't hurt, it made me angry.

Ironically, I was watching Bad Ink last night and they were going on about tramp stamps. Made me cringe with embarrassment. No wonder the GP loosely use the term when it's perceived that we do as well.

"Booze, Blues & Tattoos"

[SeeSea]

how much ass crack would you be willing to expose on inkmaster? 1/4 inch? 1/2 inch?

You might expose it but don't expect to get ink - there was an episode where a couple of the guys were so upset they had to tattoo some dude's ass. They acted like it was ridiculous for someone to ask for a tattoo there and grossed out by the thought. Completely unprofessional. But funny to watch ;)

- - - Updated - - -

@Mick Weder - powerful stuff you wrote there. Thanks for the share. "They just don't get it and never will." Yeah, I think that's what it comes down to. ::shrugs:: However, I will say that my mom is very supportive - I think she comes as close as you can to understanding why I am doing this without actually having tattoos herself.

But if I ever find you kicking back in a corner, I'm gonna amble over with some cold ciders and yank your chain a little about being rude and antisocial. ;)

[Mick Weder]

But if I ever find you kicking back in a corner, I'm gonna amble over with some cold ciders and yank your chain a little about being rude and antisocial. ;)

Cold ciders. Now ya talking my friend

I'm easily bloody persuaded.

"Booze, Blues & Tattoos"

[SeeSea]

So everyone else is intentionally trying to screw you over?

Did I miss something?

The video was from a contest where contestants would quality to win $40,000 if they did a variety of stupid things. In this clip, the guy volunteered to get a tramp stamp and was not allowed to see the design until it was done. It's like a bad frat joke. Of course they tattooed something ridiculous. Guy says "What's my wife going to think, my mom's probably going to kill me." They joked it would take $35k to get it removed. Ugh.

[exume]

However, I will say that my mom is very supportive - I think she comes as close as you can to understanding why I am doing this without actually having tattoos herself

This. My mom has absolutely no intention of getting a tattoo, but whenever we get to see each other she's so intrigued at how "they all go together, but they're separate pictures" and though some of the imagery isn't her favorite she seems to appreciate the work that went into them. Pops on the other hand I've been trying to get into a shop to get matching tattoos with me, just hasn't quite worked out yet.

[Breakme]

I HATE the term Tramp Stamp. You can probably guess why....

I've yet to share the story of my first tattoo on this forum, but I'd like to now that this topic has come up. * Warning. Long post ahead*

I got my first tattoo 16 years ago on my lower back. I remember in the lead up going to around 3-4 shops to check out portfolios, no instagram browsing back then! None of my friends had tattoos or were interested, so it was a very solitary experience, and one which I new absolutely nothing about.

I found a shop I liked the look of and booked an appointment for 3 weeks later. On my appointment day I was nervous but so excited. I had been wanting this tattoo for about a year and finally worked up the guts to get it. I remember eating a bacon, lettuce and tomato bagel beforehand from my favourite bagel shop, then it was off to get tattooed.

The shop was small. Tiny. No bigger than someones bedroom. One tattooer and an apprentice. Flash covered the walls, lots of tribal which was so popular at the time. We got the stencil on and then down to business. Nothing had prepared me for it, I had no idea what to expect. I remember thinking "What am I doing?!" as the needle hit the skin. The tattooer had just got some new colours in and was very enthused about how the yellow was really popping on my skin. 2 hours later and we were done. I had a brand new tattoo.

The tattoo healed with no problems. And I fucking LOVED that tattoo. I was so proud of that tattoo and I rocked it. I didn't care when my top rode up when I bent over, I was eager to show it off. I finally felt like I was me. At the time I was a photographer for a motor vehicle dealers advertising magazine, on a Friday I would load up the company car with magazines and distribute them all over the city. I remember I was bending over and filling up a bin and a random woman came up to me, looked me in the face and told me how much she loved my tattoo. You can imagine how good that made me feel.

Fast forward a few years, and the hideous term Tramp Stamp started making its way into people's vocabulary. All of a sudden, it was mainstream. Everyone from celebrities to your neighbour was using it. I went from someone who loved their tattoo to someone who was ashamed of their tattoo. As the years went by, I even stopped mentioning I had a tattoo, or if someone asked to see it, I would tell them no. I hated it. The tattoo is not perfect. It sits slightly higher on one side, there are a couple of blowouts and the small flowers are starting to resemble little blobs. Do I still hate it? Yes and No. Do I love it? No. I love the memory of the experience and that's about it. Am I being too sensitive about the term? Yes, maybe. But I'm not going to suddenly jump up and tell the world that I'm not going to take this anymore, I'm going to reclaim the word Tramp Stamp and turn in into something positive, because I'll just end up looking like a dick. The term is so ingrained and so negative, I don't see how it's ever going to be something positive.

As I look at more and more back pieces I'm starting to realise that it is something that holds great appeal to me. I have a solid idea about what I would like, part of it being a black panther, which I think would be perfect to cover up my existing lower back tattoo and have something on my back to be proud of again. But that is a whole other topic.

[bongsau]

The video was from a contest where contestants would quality to win $40,000 if they did a variety of stupid things. In this clip, the guy volunteered to get a tramp stamp and was not allowed to see the design until it was done. It's like a bad frat joke. Of course they tattooed something ridiculous. Guy says "What's my wife going to think, my mom's probably going to kill me." They joked it would take $35k to get it removed. Ugh.

The "Modern Rock" radio station that did this "contest" is exactly what you would expect.

I think a few years previous somebody got a Edmonton Oilers stanley cup champions backpiece for a similar "tough guy" contest.

EH Let's Go Edmonton haha

The tattooer is Miles Kanne in his younger days! He now works at Steveston Tattoo on the west coast (Canada) and is one hell of a dude! Lucky Strike is still around in Edmonton and a really fun shop to get work from/in.

[misterJ]

yuck for the oilers... red wings now that's a different story!

Tramp Stamp has been replaced in my area by "skank flank" the super meaningful 20 lines of text blasted down the ribs. go to the beach and oh my is it everywhere.

honestly just roll you eyes at either term, if you got some lower back tattoo (or any tattoo) that you loved then love it.

[SeeSea]

As I look at more and more back pieces I'm starting to realise that it is something that holds great appeal to me. I have a solid idea about what I would like, part of it being a black panther, which I think would be perfect to cover up my existing lower back tattoo and have something on my back to be proud of again. But that is a whole other topic.

Great story - thank you for sharing that. Personal stuff. I found myself getting upset reading that you stopped loving the tattoo when people's attitudes changed. That it made you no longer proud. That is so unfair. I hate that that happened. I hope you aren't covering it up because of that. You've probably already thought about it, but is there a way to incorporate it, or a part of it in your backpiece idea? Something that keeps a references to that good memory? I'm glad you are thinking about going forward to something you love, though.

And well, you should get about a thousand likes by mentioning a panther.

[Breakme]

@SeeSea - it definitely needs to be covered. My tastes have changed drastically since then, and it pains me to say this, but I am no longer a fan of tribal :p

[Mick Weder]

I got a piece of tribal many years ago...stretching from my big toe right along the side of my foot circling below my ankle bone. It's fucked. It fell out post heal, & cause I was 400kilometres away, I had a "mate" "fix" it up. He butchered the fuck out of it.

I was blind fuckin drunk too the night I went into the shop and consuming rum while having the tattoo done. All I remember was A. It fuckin hurt. B. She tried to overcharge me to the roof for it & C. I was required to do some fast talking negotiating on the price when the big fucker walked out of the back room saying "have we a problem with the price *unt"! My negotiation skills prevailed that night as I didn't pay the bullshit price she tried on...ha, but that's a story on its own.

So, I got a hoe toe...God dam it!

I'm in two minds with this one. Either blast over the fucker with a solid black panel then sleeve the rest of the foot with kick arse solid tattoos or laser the fuck out of it. I'm thinking the black panel. Least it's on the side. Anyway, we've all made slight judgement errors over the years, but the moral of what I'm saying here is, even though that tattoo sucks arse, it has a pretty cool story attached to it and makes for a good yarn from time to time when someone quizzes me about this shitty piece. All of a sudden, the focus isn't on the fucked up piece of tribal but the near death experience in the Goldfields late one night with an angry biker run tattoo shop and its enforcer.

Good times.

"Booze, Blues & Tattoos"

[Mick Weder]

Haha. Nice try @daveborjes. No way in hell would I post a photo of that horrid tattoo.

It may have a fond memory but by Christ I shudder every time I see it. Good thing it's in the dirt half the time.

[Fala]

There's really nothing else that I can say other than: great story @Mick Weder!!!

[ttoosday]

I HATE the term Tramp Stamp. You can probably guess why....

I've yet to share the story of my first tattoo on this forum, but I'd like to now that this topic has come up. * Warning. Long post ahead*

I got my first tattoo 16 years ago on my lower back. I remember in the lead up going to around 3-4 shops to check out portfolios, no instagram browsing back then! None of my friends had tattoos or were interested, so it was a very solitary experience, and one which I new absolutely nothing about.

I found a shop I liked the look of and booked an appointment for 3 weeks later. On my appointment day I was nervous but so excited. I had been wanting this tattoo for about a year and finally worked up the guts to get it. I remember eating a bacon, lettuce and tomato bagel beforehand from my favourite bagel shop, then it was off to get tattooed.

The shop was small. Tiny. No bigger than someones bedroom. One tattooer and an apprentice. Flash covered the walls, lots of tribal which was so popular at the time. We got the stencil on and then down to business. Nothing had prepared me for it, I had no idea what to expect. I remember thinking "What am I doing?!" as the needle hit the skin. The tattooer had just got some new colours in and was very enthused about how the yellow was really popping on my skin. 2 hours later and we were done. I had a brand new tattoo.

The tattoo healed with no problems. And I fucking LOVED that tattoo. I was so proud of that tattoo and I rocked it. I didn't care when my top rode up when I bent over, I was eager to show it off. I finally felt like I was me. At the time I was a photographer for a motor vehicle dealers advertising magazine, on a Friday I would load up the company car with magazines and distribute them all over the city. I remember I was bending over and filling up a bin and a random woman came up to me, looked me in the face and told me how much she loved my tattoo. You can imagine how good that made me feel.

Fast forward a few years, and the hideous term Tramp Stamp started making its way into people's vocabulary. All of a sudden, it was mainstream. Everyone from celebrities to your neighbour was using it. I went from someone who loved their tattoo to someone who was ashamed of their tattoo. As the years went by, I even stopped mentioning I had a tattoo, or if someone asked to see it, I would tell them no. I hated it. The tattoo is not perfect. It sits slightly higher on one side, there are a couple of blowouts and the small flowers are starting to resemble little blobs. Do I still hate it? Yes and No. Do I love it? No. I love the memory of the experience and that's about it. Am I being too sensitive about the term? Yes, maybe. But I'm not going to suddenly jump up and tell the world that I'm not going to take this anymore, I'm going to reclaim the word Tramp Stamp and turn in into something positive, because I'll just end up looking like a dick. The term is so ingrained and so negative, I don't see how it's ever going to be something positive.

As I look at more and more back pieces I'm starting to realise that it is something that holds great appeal to me. I have a solid idea about what I would like, part of it being a black panther, which I think would be perfect to cover up my existing lower back tattoo and have something on my back to be proud of again. But that is a whole other topic.

My experience is somewhat similar to yours in that I got mine years ago, was one of the first in my social circle to get a tattoo, and it was not an internet design. Mine was a walk in tho, one night at Elm Street Tattoo (if I didn't know better I'd say from Oliver himself but I just can't remember) Anyway, I love it no matter what derogatory term is inflicted upon it. I hate the term and never use it.

[polliwog]

This. My mom has absolutely no intention of getting a tattoo, but whenever we get to see each other she's so intrigued at how "they all go together, but they're separate pictures" and though some of the imagery isn't her favorite she seems to appreciate the work that went into them. Pops on the other hand I've been trying to get into a shop to get matching tattoos with me, just hasn't quite worked out yet.

My folks saw my new tattoo today and my mom said it was pretty, remarked that it went together well with the other one on that leg and then said her usual "please don't get any more/I don't understand why you're doing this" piece.

Still think she's gonna end up with some flowers on her shoulder some day. She thought Chad Koeplinger was a very nice man...

[Bunny Switchblade]

Was it here that someone suggested we all coin the tattoos on the "love handles"....."Hoe handle tattoos?

He he he.....lets see if we can make people even more self conscious than they already are!

Who cares what it's called......just get tattooed wherever you like! :)

I'm not sure why a term would make someone ashamed of their tattoo honestly.....I am not trying to be an ass.....but maybe it's because I have been tattooed so long that I got very accustom to being judged for so long....that just about nothing bothers me anymore other than people coming up and touching me for no reason!

10 years ago I started grabbing women's boobs who thought it was okay to touch me........it's funny as shit now when it happens....I almost want it to happen sometimes! ;)

[Mick Weder]

Who cares what it's called......just get tattooed wherever you like! :)

I'm not sure why a term would make someone ashamed of their tattoo ;)

That's it! Slam em in I say. Anyway, when you got coverage man, placement means fuck all, "tramp stamp" terms alike cease to hold any relevance...that's if we gave a fuck to begin with. And people coining these terms anyway? are people I'd have nothing to do with. Gronks. It just means we gotta get more tattoos, so we don't fit in with the norm of people these days wanting to ink down.

"Booze, Blues & Tattoos"

[Breakme]

I'm not sure why a term would make someone ashamed of their tattoo honestly.....I am not trying to be an ass.....but maybe it's because I have been tattooed so long that I got very accustom to being judged for so long....

I think this is probably in reference to what I wrote about being ashamed.

I can say that I'm not such a sensitive snowflake that I was all those years ago. Back then I had low self-esteem and another nasty little disorder that made me very critical of myself and sensitive to peoples negativity. I'm still no where near as mentally strong as I want to be, it's a work-in-progress and will be till the day I die, but I'm getting there, hence why it took me 15 years to get another tattoo and start to commit to becoming heavily tattooed, and being prepared to give the middle finger to anyone that stood in my way or made any negative comments.

As I've mentioned before, my close girl friends have zero interest in tattoos. I caught up with one last weekend and she asked me if I had any coming up and I almost fell of my chair. She also asked how far I was going to go with it. When I mentioned an idea for a chest piece her face screwed up, she grunted and said "Urgh, don't ever, ever get your chest tattooed! They look disgusting" I said to her "Well thank god you don't have to live with it then! I'll do what I want!" and that was the end of the conversation. Boy did it feel good to say that though.

[Mick Weder]

commit to becoming heavily tattooed.

And that @Breakme is what will continue your path of inner strength, that only those who are committed to becoming heavily tattooed will ever understand.

As someone mentioned on this forum a little while ago, it's a visual representation of loyalty, commitment & strength.

Never a truer word spoken which sums it up perfectly in any context of conversation with anyone at anytime. There's no need for further elaboration to those who don't understand this concept.

"Booze, Blues & Tattoos"

[Breakme]

As someone mentioned on this forum a little while ago, it's a visual representation of loyalty, commitment & strength.

Really like this, it's a beautiful way to look at it.

[Bunny Switchblade]

As I've mentioned before, my close girl friends have zero interest in tattoos. I caught up with one last weekend and she asked me if I had any coming up and I almost fell of my chair. She also asked how far I was going to go with it. When I mentioned an idea for a chest piece her face screwed up, she grunted and said "Urgh, don't ever, ever get your chest tattooed! They look disgusting" I said to her "Well thank god you don't have to live with it then! I'll do what I want!" and that was the end of the conversation. Boy did it feel good to say that though.

And good for you doll! :)

You are really finding yourself in all of this!

I grew up in a time where it wasn't acceptable for a young lady to be tattooed.....but then I was not a "lady" by most people's standards so I didn't give a fuck to be honest!

It's great that these people are showing you who they are upfront......makes it so much easier for you to decide if you want them in your life!

I was told with my first professional tattoo that I better develop a very thick skin because society was going to not accept a big ol' butterfly on my left breast.....and very visible too....LOL

It made it very easy to figure out who belonged in my life and who didn't....and that included family!

Now everyone seems to want to be fully covered over night.....silly people!

Take your time babe and get tattooed at a speed you are comfortable with BUT never again be ashamed of any tattoo you get....it is who YOU are....not them....and you should be proud of who you are! <3

[Breakme]

@Bunny Switchblade you are a gem, and thank you for the words of wisdom. I'll be taking a leaf out of your book if any further tattoo shaming happens and say "fuck 'em!" :D

[Bunny Switchblade]

@Bunny Switchblade you are a gem, and thank you for the words of wisdom. I'll be taking a leaf out of your book if any further tattoo shaming happens and say "fuck 'em!" :D

People don't always agree with me on this BUT......

I chose to alter my body in a way I knew at the time (and still to this day) that society was not going to fully accept!

I was not born this way.......so no one else is to blame but me!

I knew how stupid people are and how they would treat me....and I was pretty much right!

BUT....I made that conscious decision to do it anyway!

If I had been born this way then their judgements would have been down right ignorant....BUT....the people who give anyone crap about tattoos are just mindless sheep that will follow the rest of the herd right off a cliff if the rest head that way! Be proud you made the decision to be different....YOU are being who you are while they just follow trends!

Some women decide to get tattooed to adorn their bodies and some get those goofy little (imo) designs painted on their finger nails for $100+ dollars.......to each his/her own!

<3