woah, I guess I will apologize for the long post.
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having tattoos myself, I would partially agree with hocbj23,
I have 2 wolf paws on both my forearms and on the left forearm around the wolf paw, I have a tribal band and 2 eagle feathers that wrap above the band. It is very expensive if you want it to look good. I spent $100 on the paws, and $250 on the band on the one arm, I am waiting for some extra money to finish the design on my other forearm.
I never planned on going into a proffensional dress type job so to me having tattoos on my forearms was nothing, I know some employers would ask me to wear longsleeve shirts, but I dont mind. I have talked for the good amount of hours he spent on my arms about tattoos. he said really, a person shouldnt really get anything lower then their shoulder and never beyond the wrist, mainly for proffesional dress.
now I have a few questions for ya,
have you ever got a tattoo? if not, before you go all out with a large full color, long hours tattoo, try to find a smaller tattoo. I chose to star with wolf paws, cuase I knew I would not regret them and they were small enough to where IF I didnt like it, it wasnt going to take to long to finish.
what is your pain tolerance like? I am not calling you a wimp, would never do that, but some people just dont like pain. When a tattoo is getting applied, the areas that hurt the most seem to be around large muscles and along the nerve system(back and spine). I love the pain, I smiled the whole time he was doing and it kind of wierded him out, but as soon as he started wrapping around my forearm where there is more muscle then bone, it kind of stung a little. I have a huge pain tolerance, not to brag, but I just want to let you know that it is no picnic. My good friend got a tribal cross tattooed on his shoulder, the whole time he was getting tattooed, he looked mad, and winced his eyes a lot. my older brother is a baby when it comes to tattoos, he loves them when they are all healed but he complains the whole time its healing.
Do a lot of research in your area on tattoo artist, even if you have to travel 50 miles to get to the best one, its better then having a messed up tattoo. I think I travel 30-35 miles to get to my artist. Make sure they have a background in pinup girls, pinup girls can get messed up so badly if done incorectly, the fingers are messed up a lot. when the artist shows you the rendering, if you dont like something, TELL HIM/HER. its better that they fix anything now instead of you not likeing it when it is done and ust putting up with it.
with as much detail as you are wanting, you will prolly have to get it touched up a few times, and dont forget about that you have to take care of it after it is done, the TV shows dont really get into that part of a tattoo. I really like a product called TATWAX, it doesnt smell like a chemical. this does not come with your tattoo and some artist dont offer it and tell you to use lotion, but I highly sugest using this stuff, it keeps the colors vibrant and keeps your skin nice. also a warning, DO NOT use a protroleum based lotion if you choose not to use tatwax or some other tattoo product, it will pull ink out of your arm and make your tattoo look all faded and stuff.
and the last thing, make sure the shop is clean, watch them give a few tattoos before you decide to get one from them, make sure they seperate the ink for each customer and dont share it, make sure they change the needles and clean the tables that everything sits on, look at the floors and walls, just be safe.
I lied, one more thing, this isnt really important, but it kind of is to me, other shops I have went to charge a minimum of $60 per tattoo and $100 an hour, my shop charges by the tattoo, shops that charge by the hour charge you for thier breaks and stuff too, or they take their on sweet time to finish. the band on my arm took 3 1/2 hours and he charged me $250, he quoted me before he even started.
if this is something you want, dont let anyone discourage you, it is your skin not thiers, I just wanted to supply you and anyone that reads this with some information, think long and hard about what you want too, cuase it will be with you foreever, although it might fade, it will still be there and removing tattoos is painful, so just be sure the first time. I wanted to become a tattoo artist myself, did a lot of studying, but I am too much of a chicken to ask my artist if he would teach me and let me clean his shop or something, I am a good artist with pens and pencils and have a steady hand of a welder.
but good luck, I think the design you are thinking of would be really cool, it would prolly get put in the MT Tattoo section of the magazine.
-Mike
I do hate that that they ask "ask" you to wear a long sleeve shirt or put clear or flesh colored plugs in your ears (mine arnt peirced, but my friends are) and if you dont do it, then they find something legal to fire you on. but out of respect I do it anyway, if they are nice to me, im nice to them.
I never thought about people on welfare should be drug tested, thats a good idea, why should you be prosicuted for trying to work while others are spending gov money on drugs. (not all of them, dont mean any disrespect to anyone on welfare)
I personally don't care for the girls but hey lol, it's your life.
My wife has a clover, due to her being Irish, on her ankle. That lil sucker alone cost her $40 for like a half hour lol...and he said he was givin her a deal, the norm would be $60, just cuz he drew it and always wanted to see it on someone. It is cool I spose
As for the "I'm not gonna work in a place that doesn't allow me to show my tats" (not verbatim I know). Some customers may be very turned off to your tats being in my establishment, and therefor making me loose money cuz you wanna be arrogant and have to much pride to hide your tats when I'm giving you the privelege of a job lol. So you dang straight you not working for me in the first place. I love America
A tat's a personal thing to me, and something to be shown in my idle time, not at work in front of customers. I don't have one yet, but I do plan one of these days to get one or 2 lol, just when I can feel I'm ready to blow the money. I want a Cross on my shoulder, and the head and bust of Christ on my back shoulder blade area. Of course both of these have deep meaning to me and are definitely something I'll have no probs living with the rest of my life....and except for being in the gym, or out swimming or something with my shirt off, they won't be out in the open
Not to go back off on the drug testing thing, but ummm it's not government mandated for any company to drug test you, it's up to the biz owner. That's why it's different than welfare recipients. (though I wouldn't mind them being tested...don't get me wrong lol) The Welfare program needs more than just drug testing though
i say go for it!!, ive been dying to get one i just dont know what i want and ive never got any before, only cuz my parents are old skool, and they always said no when i was younger, so i let it go.... now im 27 and i told my parents im want one and waiting for them to jump down my throat, they turned and said ( just dont get anything stupid and put it where u cant see it when u go somewhere nice) im cool with that, it sounds bad that im 27 and i still live at home but, ill be getting married soon and will be buying a house so why leave now, sounds stupid but i guess im a little old school too