The Jitterbug?

[Biltmore Bob]

Call me judgmental....

Because well...I am. But if it walks like a duck, and so on and so forth. I don't want my son or daughters bringing some Coney Island side show freak for dinner. I have four tattoos, I wish I had been smarter and soberer when I got them.

 

[Deleted member 259]

I don't want my son or daughters bringing some Coney Island side show freak for dinner.

Most of my friends throughout my highschool years were your "tattooed freaks" from the punk/rockabilly scene and had piercings I can't even begin to comprehend.
Yet I did bring them home for dinner - My mother didn't mind, and they were very polite house guests - not to mention some of the best friends I could ask for.

I'd rather get to know someone who is heavily tattooed or pierced, than a preppy pretentious brat.

and yes, Crazylegs, I would call that shallow. While a tattoo can be an outward representation of something internal and meaningful - or a drunk night in the city - you could never understand why someone got the tattoo image they did without engaging in a conversation about it.

And as for creativity, I'd like to think that I am, but you're right - most people aren't - that is why the tattoo artist's job is to help their clients create and perfect an image they want.

 

[flat-top]

My girlfriend (and most likely future wife), has several large tattoos that she got when she was younger. She doesn't regret them, because it's who she was at the time. And she's not the tattoo "type"--never drank, smoked or done anything of the sort. Doesn't like to go out and party. She cooks, cleans, mends my socks and just this weekend nursed me back to health from a case of bronchitis. She's everything an old fashioned guy could want.
With all that being said, I actually find her uncharacteristic tattoos quite sexy!
flat-top

 

[The Wolf]

a few more thoughts on the subject

Some tattoos today do seem to be very popular, hence they'll seem dated in a few years. However, it can remind the person of that time in their life. Even a Quiet Riot tattoo might bring back good memories.
I have some customers that have a plethora of tattoos and they usually have interesting stories that go with them.
The funny thing is tattoos use to be a sign of rebellion and now that they are common piercings in unusual places have replaced that.
Actually the nose, brow, etc are now common places to have a ring or stud. Some people have things implanted under their skin for the new "difference".
Back to tattoos though, I have noticed a difference in quality. Some look like beautiful art and some look like my art.
ITG, nice photo of your Pooh tattoo but,boy, your skin around it is VERY pale.
To get farther from the Jitterbug, what does evryone think of the big hoops that stretch out the ear lobe to great lengths.

The Wolf

I might get a tattoo on my back of The Battle of Waterloo beside it the Wreck of the Hesperus too. And proudly above wave the red, white, and blue.

 

[Angelicious]

About ten years ago, I worked with a girl that had tattoos over 40-50% of her body. At first, I figured she was a weird girl, but the more I got to know her, the more I realized she was pretty cool. So now, I don't judge people by their tattoos. Both my younger brother and sister have tattoos, so I don't think any less of them. But I still don't understand why someone would want to permanently disfigure themselves - that includes body piercings. I guess I'm an old fuddy-duddy that way. Of course, I freak out when I see people writing phone numbers on their hands, too, so maybe I'm not one to speak.
Brad

Thanks for a very reasonable view of the situation, Brad. Even though I have a few tattoos myself, I can fully understand your view - even the telephone numbers.

I guess my view on piercings is a) in most situations, piercings are made to be seen, and I prefer my tattoos to be hidden, so I see most piercings as unsightly or as a public statement that just doesn't apply to yer average joe/joan, and b) they get infected and caught in things fairly easily, so why bother? ;p

 

[Deleted member 259]

what does evryone think of the big hoops that stretch out the ear lobe to great lengths.

Those are called Plugs - I think they look terrible, but I guess everyone needs their own fashion statement. A couple friends of mine have them, but I have yet to understand the appeal.
At least, unlike tattoos, if you take the plug out, your ear will eventually heal and shrink back to a normal size (or something near it.)

 

[Angelicious]

To get farther from the Jitterbug, what does evryone think of the big hoops that stretch out the ear lobe to great lengths.

I don't personally find it attractive (in fact, it's sometimes creepy to think of what it looks like when you take the plug out!), but it's not something that makes my head turn and my nose wrinkle when I see it out in public. (But then, apart from boys with their pants belted below the hips, and girls dressed in inappropriately sexual clothing, not much does upset me as regards other people's choices in fashion.)

Back to the original Jitterbug, was the song Doug the Jitterbug (Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five) ever used with that little cartoon guy?

 

[Trickeration]

Trickeration-
I have 3,all of which I'd like to change.I thought of having them removed,but heard it's more painful than getting one and doesn't work well.Plus,I really like tattoos just not what I picked.
One of course being the lower back tribal tattoo.
I have an idea of what I want,but not sure if it will work or if I can find a tattoo artist that will understand.
I like the idea of traditional tattoos,but would like it drawn with an Art Deco feel.
Deep red roses drawn in that style and situated like corners of a frame,then covering my tribal with the same roses.
One of Vargas more 30's looking pinups in the middle of my back.
I'll have to wait and see if that will work or not,may have to change my plan.

Show us pics when you get yours,that is so cute!

Ruby---Sorry about the slow response, I was away for a couple of days. This thread sure has been busy since I left, too! I like your ideas. It'll probably just take time to find an artist with the 'vintage eye' for what you want.

I think the fashion tattoo thing is more about the young girls getting them done as casually as getting their ears peirced. My sister would have covered herself with tattoos as soon as she was old enough if she hadn't been so squeamish about needles. She's now 25 and see's her phobia as a blessing in disguise. When we were talking about tattoos recently, she visibly shuddered when she talked about what she would probably have chosen when she was 18, and where she would have put them . Her fiance is having a couple of large tattoos removed. It seems to take many visits, he hasn't mentioned the pain, and the end result, so far, isn't pretty. It looks like he has burn scarring.

---Originally Posted by Biltmore Bob
I don't want my son or daughters bringing some Coney Island side show freak for dinner.

I'm the parent of a teenage girl and a soon to be teenage boy. Not to get the parenting thread discussion going again, but it really seems to be true that the more you forbid something, the more your kids will want it, or know the shock value of it. Your having tattoos may not help cause either. We compromise a lot around here, and it not only keeps the family together, but provides for learning on both sides.

---Flat-top
I'm not the 'tattoo type' either. And except when I'm stage, I think of myself as pretty old fashioned, too. My husband is a little grossed out by the tattoo process itself (hates needles and such), but otherwise he's into the idea of my getting them. He feels much the same as you do.
Your girl sounds pretty, cool. I wish you the best!

 

[Trickeration]

Okay, 4 or 5 posts happened while I was typing. It sounds like the general opinion here is that plugs are just gross. At least we seem to agree on something :clap !

 

[Biltmore Bob]

The only shock my kids have...

Is a strap across their ass...

Just kidding, well, kind of...it's really no shock anymore.

Seriously though, it's against the law to give a minor a tattoo. Woe be to the creep that mars my little girl's body with an unsightly and grotesque work of "Art". Really I mean woe in the Biblical sense. I will rain so many plagues on him he will wish for the hell that is reserved for Satan and his minions.

I was at fast food joint yesterday and all I wanted was a drink, the girl that waited on me was about 20 and pretty, but she had about 5 peircings in her face and tattoos on her neck. What the heck is wrong with people? I no more wanted to get my order from her than...I don't know, but she freaked me out. Folks, appearances are very important, presentation is 90% of life. I did not want to get to know her, to see what statement she's making, to see if she's cool. Whatever, man...

I have tattoos, I don't want my kids to make the same mistake. I want my kids to be repulsed by that stuff.

 

[Trickeration]

You sound a bit like my husband. Seriously though, he said in a discussion about some of the recent child abductions/killings that if anthing ever happened to our kids he would take out the guy who committed crime the first chance he got. I'm sure he would, too. But as far as that goes, if that happened more, the abductions would probably happen less. But that's another discussion.

It's illegal here too, to tattoo minors, though I hear there are some states that allow it. I can't imagine why anyone would let kids that young get a tattoo. I don't think kids, even at 18 or so, as Ruby said, 'know themselves' well enough to make that kind of decision. I agree that I wouldn't want my kids to run out and get tattoos as soon as they're old enough. Maybe when they're 35, like me . I'm not too worried about my kids though, they've always been very cautious and think things out pretty thoroughly before they do anything. They don't mind my getting a tattoo (they said that I've thought about it enough to make it okay at my age ), but neither thinks they would ever want one. Both said it would be too hard to find something they wanted to wear for the rest of their life, and that they wouldn't want to do anything that could effect how people thought of them. This may sound kind of funny coming from kids, but my kids are homeschoolers and this normal thought pattern for them. They're good kids and I'm sure they'll grow up making good decisions.

One of the vintage store owners here has a son who is also full of piercings. But no tattoos, that I know of. Still, he has about 10 in each ear, and several more in his nose, eyebrows, and lips. I couldn't count them all. Yuck. And I didn't have to encourage my kids to be repulsed by his appearence...They were on their own.

 

[ITG]

ITG, nice photo of your Pooh tattoo but,boy, your skin around it is VERY pale.

No, that's what tattoo of Pooh I'd want now, but here's the one I have that I wish I could alter (I'd get rid of the balloons and dress Pooh in Indygear if I could):
http://home.earthlink.net/~wickie7/index.html/mypics/tattoo.jpg
I got it when I was 18.

Have you all heard about people who have had it written in their will that they want their tattoo removed upon death and preserved as artwork? I remember seeing a newspaper article about that in a Dallas paper about 6 or so years ago. Pretty creepy in my mind.

 

[Angelicious]

It's illegal here too, to tattoo minors, though I hear there are some states that allow it. I can't imagine why anyone would let kids that young get a tattoo. I don't think kids, even at 18 or so, as Ruby said, 'know themselves' well enough to make that kind of decision.

I agree with you in principle, but should confess that I got my first tattoo at 15 and am still happy with it. (Er, yes, NZ law does state that you must 18 to legally get a tattoo...)

I can't quite believe that a bit of metal or some ink in your skin can be as scary or demeaning or repulsive as some people seem to think. I guess it's just the circumstances people associate with it (only sailors/gang members get tattoos, only social misfits get piercings) and their preconceptions toward those circumstances (bikers are dirty criminals, pierced young people are irresponsible/use drugs/don't contribute to society/undermine the social order etc.) that suddenly make a very small fact into a very large problem.

Remember stories of a time when wearing rouge made you a slut? And yet it's perfectly acceptable today...

To bring this topic back to the early/mid 20th century, I'm sure I've heard stories of high society ladies in that era tattooing on "eyeliner" and even eyebrows... It seems that despite the glossy ads proclaiming "NEW Perma-Cosmetics!" it's not a new art.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

I just find it a bit disturbing that so many young women think that getting wierd piercings and tattoos will make them more attractive. For me, nose, lips tongue, nipple and bellybutton piercings are just a big turnoff. I am not sure why some people think kissing a girl with a tongue stud is hot. It just creeps me out.

 

[Brad Bowers]

To bring this topic back to the early/mid 20th century, I'm sure I've heard stories of high society ladies in that era tattooing on "eyeliner" and even eyebrows... It seems that despite the glossy ads proclaiming "NEW Perma-Cosmetics!" it's not a new art.

Among the Latina population, at least in Pueblo, Colorado, this is still quite prevalent. Seems like most of them had tattooed eyebrows, and shave off their real ones!

Brad

 

[Dismuke]

Remember stories of a time when wearing rouge made you a slut? And yet it's perfectly acceptable today...

The big difference is rouge will wash off. If it goes out of style or if one's tastes evolve over time or if one wishes to project a certain image for a job interview or a career, a lady is still free to wear the rouge - but she also has the option not to wear it.

I wonder if ladies getting tattoos ever consider how they will look when they grow old. Rather preposterous, I think.

Personally, I regard tattoos as being the equivalent of taking a very beautiful automobile (vintage or new, according to your particular taste) and then plastering the bumper stickers all over it. The individual bumper stickers may be artistic and even beautiful and may reflect the owner's personality and beliefs - but ultimately they take away from the aesthetics of the car.

If someone actually believes that a tattoo is attractive, why not just go for one of those temporary ones which wash or eventually wear off?

 

[Vanessa]

for example, people with butterfly tattoos proably don't think too much, because if they did...well they wouldn't have a butterfly.

I always wanted to get a butterfly tattoo - thought I had three good reasons. But I was never considering a huge flamboyant thing, just something personal - out of the way & easily covered.
1) name means butterfly
2) obsessed with butterflies since childhood
3) have actually been researching the world's collection of butterflies for that right one.

I guess it's just become too popular in that last ten years for some inebriated chick to go in and pick something off the flash displays.

 

[Biltmore Bob]

4) Was a butterfly in a previous life.

 

[Vanessa]

Only if I was a monarch.

 

[Johnnysan]

It seems like it is so rare these days to find a girl without a tattoo, that it seems so much more special.

...count me in as another "no" vote. In my eyes, my wife is one of the most beautiful women I've ever known...I consider myself lucky to have found her and been graced by her presence in my life for the past seventeen years. She is perfect just the way she is and she is - thankfully - tattoo free.

What amazes me is how many people will tell you how their tattoo is "unique" and "individual", but when I see everyone and their brother (and sister) sporting one, it's just another painful example of the herd mentality that seems to dominate our culture. Anyone with a couple of hundred bucks to throw away can get inked, but it takes real effort to be truly unique in today's society.

What seems truly unique (i.e. - rare) in our present culture are folks who work to cultivate their minds, appreciate that true style comes from within, carry themselves with presence, poise and grace - even in the worst of times, are able to speak eloquently, articulately convey their thoughts and actually desire and work to earn the respect of others whom are themselves worthy of respect.

Obviously, there are those who can do both as evidenced by many of the posts in this thread and to those of you who have achieved this balance, I'm glad that you're comfortable with your choice. But as for tattoos being somehow "unique," I don't buy it. Anyone can look like a biker or a stripper - just look around at all the sheep who already do.