Lady Parts! (Arms, just lady arms...)

[Tornado6]

I'd like to get a significant piece including a horse skull, something like Marguerite Henry/Wesley Dennis horse painting or pencil drawing, and maybe some deco-ish googahs. The shape of a horse skull certainly lends itself to a half sleeve.

I look at a lot of tattoos, and I seem to see a lot of bits and pieces and shoulder pieces, but not as many cohesive "sleeve" pieces.

Is it "too masculine"?

Show me some lady arms, please?

[tatB]

Perseverance: Japanese Tattoo Tradition in a Modern World | Japanese American National Museum Store

[Cork]

What the heck is a deco-ish googah?

IMO if you want a horse tattoo, get a horse tattoo, not a tattoo of a horse painting. Maybe the painting could serve as a good reference, but I wouldn't get a copy. The Japanese style horses look bold and incredible, and that style also lends very well to full sleeves if you go to the right artist. Google Junii Salmon and tell me that doesn't look feminine.

Unfortunately @Lance hates us, so I haven't seen an updated picture, but here is that style of horse tattoo.

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/gallery/member/8230-oda-nobunaga.html&imageuser=1982

[TrixieFaux]

I look at a lot of tattoos, and I seem to see a lot of bits and pieces and shoulder pieces, but not as many cohesive "sleeve" pieces.

Is it "too masculine"?

Show me some lady arms, please?

Here are my lady arms! My right arm in the left pic was still in-progress. Not too masculine for my taste.... but I guess it all comes down to personal taste. Get what you like! I also don't know what a deco-ish googah is...?!

[graybones]

@TrixieFaux Your arms are the best. Almost makes me wish I'd gone with all black and gray!

[CShaw]

I think @Tornado6 means Art Deco ornamentation?

Check out some of Lars Uwe's work, @Tornado6, see if that gives you some ideas of how bold and feminine Deco/Nouveau-ish stuff can look:

ETA: Since I see a lot of people posting their own tattoos, I just want to make sure it's clear the above image is not me. :)

[Tornado6]

A googah is just a decoration :)

I'm not sure if Japanese is my style, but I know they work with the body and I'm sure that would not turn out masculine on a woman's body.

A horse skull is a long, thin shape. It would make a cool tattoo by itself, no doubt, but I think it needs something - flowers, wind bars, you know, googahs to make it into a full wrap "sleeve" tattoo. I was thinking that I could put a horse on the inside of my arm. I've had several over the years, so I could provide pictures of mine, but I've loved the illustrations in the Marguerite Henry books since I was a kid too. Oh, and Zenyatta, and many trips to Lexington, and The Black Stallion... Horse crazy little girls never really get over it.

@TrixieFaux those are lovely! I really like both of them, but the raven is my favorite part.

I do like the Lars Uwe tattoos. They are more Nouveau, but the color palette is super!

[CShaw]

I'm a hoarder of words, and gewgaw is one of those that just catches my eye every time I see it :)

Yeah, when you search Art Deco tattoos, a lot of what comes up is actually Nouveau, which is why I slashed the two together, but I liked that cat one because I thought something like the curvier, but still graphic Egyptian Revival floral elements like that might still give you the cleaner feel you like from Deco, without the problem of keeping lines super straight on a wrapping body part. And yeah, the color palette is killer :)

[cibo]

@TrixieFaux absolutely love your arms...so beautiful...fits perfectly with you :)

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oh...and my arm so far...

[El Dolmago]

My arms are still in process but here's the 1/2 sleeve so far

[Lance]

Ha ha @Cork! You do know, I am in the "Perseverance" book, right? I should get around and post a pic here though.

BTW, really cool "lady parts" being posted so far by all. @TrixieFaux, fist bump on the all black and grey. And I think @DJDeepFried needs to find himself a sleeveless suit too.

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Ha ha @Cork! You do know, I am in the "Perseverance" book, right? I should get around and post a pic here though.

BTW, really cool "lady parts" being posted so far by all. @TrixieFaux, fist bump on the all black and grey. And I think @DJDeepFried needs to find himself a sleeveless suit too.

[TrixieFaux]

@TrixieFaux absolutely love your arms...so beautiful...fits perfectly with you :)

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oh...and my arm so far...

@cibo, your arm is looking so pretty!

Ooh, yours is rad, too @El Dolmago!

[SnowyPlover]

Beautiful lady arms!

Here's mine, along with some unasked for lady back and butt (in progress). All of mine are done by the same tattooer, Gemma Pariente at Full Circle.

I don't think sleeves are masculine on a woman, get what you wish, epic tattoos are for everyone.

[cibo]

@SnowyPlover - wow...that's really nice! so pretty :)

[omeletta]

Not mine (my arms are blank as of yet ;-)), but gorgeous:

by Andrea Ottlewski, Slave to the Needle

[Breakme]

Love the colours in that sleeve.

[Kimmie]

I've been content with planning out pieces for my legs, but these posts (especially that Lars Uwe back piece OMG) are giving me the itch.

Back to the original question, I think "masculine" designs make for some of the most feminine pieces. Instead of the delicacy coming from the image itself, it comes from how it's worn and by whom.

[keepcalm]

Love this thread! Keep the photos coming! Maybe I will be encouraged to venture down my own arm soon :)

[Hands On]

Is it "too masculine"?

you're asking LSTers here! ;) which makes it a quick and definitive "no." I'm pretty sure the majority of us would condone tattooing almost all parts of your body, except the hands and above the collar, unless you earn it.

if you're worried about what "plainskins" think, that's a whole other question. there's probably a decent % of folks in the world who think it's too masculine... so i guess it depends on if I you give a shit what those folks think.

[Tornado6]

Fair enough :D

[polliwog]

Here's a pertinent thread: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/506-feminism-tattoos.html

I've tried and failed to write a post about my own relationship to gender and how it affects my choice of tattoos...but it's safe to say that for me they're a blessed opportunity to dispense with masculine/feminine. I mean even the lotion aisle at CVS needs to remind me that I can't make ungendered choices. I think I got my first tattoo with the half-baked idea that it was an appropriate choice for a woman, but since then it hasn't really been such a big deal. I realise that a lot of tattoo traditions are very tied to gender, though.

[KBeee]

I've tried and failed to write a post about my own relationship to gender and how it affects my choice of tattoos...

Oooh man! Tell me about it! I have sat down on four different occasions and couldn't quite make it happen either...a lot happening on that level.

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...but it's safe to say that for me they're a blessed opportunity to dispense with masculine/feminine. I mean even the lotion aisle at CVS needs to remind me that I can't make ungendered choices. I think I got my first tattoo with the half-baked idea that it was an appropriate choice for a woman, but since then it hasn't really been such a big deal. I realise that a lot of tattoo traditions are very tied to gender, though.

Agreed! And there is a lot of sneaky subconscious enculturation in the mix as well. There is an opportunity to become more aware on many levels regarding perspectives of "feminine" and "masculine"..."blessed opportunity" for sure.

[Tornado6]

I really was thinking of it as an aesthetic question. Because I have a womanly figure, I know that boxy shirts are not flattering on me. I wear them when it isn't important, but if I wanted to 'put my best foot forward', I'd pick something more fitted. That's as much mechanical as psychological. Curved clothes suit my curved body better than straight ones.

[keepcalm]

I've tried and failed to write a post about my own relationship to gender and how it affects my choice of tattoos...but it's safe to say that for me they're a blessed opportunity to dispense with masculine/feminine. I mean even the lotion aisle at CVS needs to remind me that I can't make ungendered choices.

It's tough for me to articulate as well. I will say, though, some of my favorite tattoos I've seen on women are ones that accentuate their female form with placement/flow/lines/etc. I think tattoos can be one of the coolest ways to be more feminine. Roxx at 2Spirit in SF does this really well with linework.

[sophistre]

My arm isn't done, and I've only really started on one, but I can actually contribute! So I shall. :) Taking pictures of my own arm is hard, and I suck at it. There are individual pictures of these in my gallery, though, anyway!

I was really late in coming to an appreciation of traditional designs (aside from traditional Japanese, which I have always loved). What sold me on traditional sleeves was the interesting way in which individual pieces become more than the sum of each individual tattoo...it becomes this collective aesthetic that I find so fascinating, in addition to being a very cool collection of individual images.

I mention this because I have similar feelings about 'masculine' and 'feminine' aesthetics. (I'm also one of those people who thinks a man or woman can wear whatever the hell they want and still be masculine and feminine if they want to be, but that's a discussion of a slightly different variety. For the purposes of this post, I'm just using the generally accepted definitions of those words.) I think whether something reads as 'masculine' or 'feminine' in the traditional sense depends mostly on general presentation. There are tons of pictures out there of women wearing tough, aggressive traditional work, but they dress or present themselves in a way that's still super-girly and feminine. I think this look is amazing.

Of course, there'll always be people out there who just find tattoos in general 'unfeminine' or whatever, buuut. That's really more about them, imo.