New from Sydney Australia, cover up nightmare, need advice!

[sez6]

Hi so a little about me...!

I'm a 29 year old mum of two, work in the health industry and was born and raised in Oz :)

I have 4 tattoos (planning on many more!), with the 4th one being a bit of a cover up nightmare!!

So I originally had a small red rose tattooed on my wrist with a couple of initials next to it, it didn't turn out exactly how I thought it would (tattoos hardly ever do, I know), it just looked dodgy and I'm pretty sure the tattoo artist was high on something (but that's another story entirely!). Anyway, 4 months ago I decided to get it covered with another rose design. I do like the design, but the problem is, I'm not happy with the red shading in the roses. It just looks like a big black and red blotch on my wrist. I know that it will probably lighten up over time, but I really don't see that happening for this one.

I have been doing some research to see if there's any way I can possibly lighten the red to a much lighter shade, or even somehow re-colour it to make the roses grey/black. I did read it's possible to cover red ink with white ink, then do the black and grey. But no clear answers unfortunately. I am going to ask a tattoo artist asap but was just wondering if anyone has some answers for me?! Please tell me it is possible or am I stuck with this?! Happy to include a photo if anyone would like to have a look.

Thanks guys :)

[SeeSea]

Hi and welcome! Do you have pics to share? Of course you're doing the right thing by visiting a tattoo artist.

[sez6]

Hi and welcome! Do you have pics to share? Of course you're doing the right thing by visiting a tattoo artist.

Thank you! :)

Ok so I've attached 2 photos, the second taken with the flash so you can get an idea of the colour. I am going to add some black/grey leaves to cover the black shading around the roses. The tattoist ask if I wanted black shading and I said no, but he did it anyway and assured me it wouldn't be too dark. Now it just looks like a huge black dot with roses stuck on top :/

Sorry the pics are sideways, I couldn't rotate them for some reason.

[SeeSea]

Yeah, shading isn't great, and that's unfortunate because well executed shading can really make the roses "pop" off your arm with depth. And it looks like it spills into the shadows in the rose's petals, so I can understand why you are disappointed. But don't get the idea that this is a terrible tattoo!

Talk to an artist - he will be able to suggest something beyond your idea that the only solution might be black/grey leaves. Good luck and let us know how it goes!