Hello! Bit of help?

[kaleecoh]

Hello, all! My name is Tina. It's a pleasure to have found this site.

I got my first tattoo about 3 weeks ago. I researched the artist, had my idea in mind, and the tattoo was done splendidly. This was a memorial for my mother who passed away in early December. I'm horrible with birthdays, so I went on her Facebook page and pulled it from there. The obituary was sent to me the day after the tattoo and... yeah, wrong year. She was born in 1965, not 1956. I was wondering if there was a way to correct this or cover it up. I already feel like a fool.

Additionally, I'm not sure we were on the same page with the coloring. I'd honestly thought she'd do a better job of covering up the moles. I was thinking maybe just fill in the lower wings with a little more black? I'm not trying to pick this tattoo apart, I do love it.

Any idea on how to go about these corrections? Any input would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Tina

[bongsau]

hey there Tina

condolences about your mother, my mother too passed away a few years ago, much too young. I'm still dealing with grief 2 years later, partly because i just buried it and kept a strong-front. So go easy on yourself, it takes time to heal.

about the tattoo - it's 3 weeks old, so you might have to wait a couple weeks more before you start trying to correct and run over a healing tattoo. I am not a tattooer, just experienced on the receiving end, but no experience with coverups/fixes. However, I think there is some hope for your tattoo...

The 5 and a 6 could easily be interchanged with a darker/heavier line. but you will have to do that to the complete dates on both sides to balance it out. The average person won't notice the corrections. And honestly, the 5 and 6 are both going to look like 8s in 10 years at the size they are.

The butterfly - only thing that will cover the moles is black. And isn't really recommended to tattoo moles (there is another thread on LST about that). You could outline black circles around the moles and then replicate on the opposite wing with black outline circles and fill in with brown ink (or colour blend to match the brown moles, blue to brown is easy I think). here's my butterfly...to give you an idea of a circle pattern on the wings

Go back and see your tattooer. They can see how it's healed, you get a chance to explain the corrections. See what kind of magic they can perform. We've seen waaay worse get corrected, don't stress too badly.

welcome! everybody here had their first time in the tattoo shop, congrats

[kaleecoh]

I appreciate your response. Absolutely love the butterfly. That looks a bit more like I was hoping for. I'm just not sure if having the other side filled in with brown would look right. I did research on moles and tattoos, and I'm very aware of why they can't be tattooed. I just hoped for better blending, I guess. I like the bare skin and how it looks within the butterfly, it's just that I can't overlook that one part. Is there a tactful way of saying that I appreciate the work, but... the work just doesn't stand up to my OCD? There's a few other things I want fixed, but I don't want to sound like a nag. This has been my entire focal point since she passed and the majority of what's been keeping me sane. I just want it to be right.

[bongsau]

short of removing the moles, the only way to conceal them is to match on the other side.

brown blue butterfly search

keep the negative (bare skin), add brown circles, orange/violet highlights to brighten it up

[SStu]

Yep. Or go to a good dermatologist and get the moles removed - then head back to your tattooist once it's healed and fill in the spots.

[marley mission]

Tina your tatt is dope dont change a thing

[kaleecoh]

Thank you all for your responses. I've been a bit of an insecure mess lately and the reassurance is invaluable.

I'll be seeing her next week. I'm sure she wouldn't mind cleaning up a couple of lines. I'm still half and half on what to do with the moles. I gave her a couple of sketches and free reign. If she can exceed my expectations on the tattoo itself, she'll be sure to know where to go from here. I just hope I don't come across as being overly picky.

Thanks again. I'll be sure to come back with updates.