Anyone who knows me, or sees me, realizes that I have some-what of an addiction to permanent ink. The time has passed in a whirlwind and I have suddenly realized that I am looong over due, so while I sit here debating what and where I want my next tattoo I am drawn to the artwork of others.

Although I’m at a count of 12 tattoos, I still feel in desperate need of more… few people say I have too many, many people say I have enough and most people say “when are u getting more?”. My question is… When is enough, enough? I remember when a random tattoo at the bottom of a woman’s back was sexy and a large one on a lady was seen as “butch”. From personal experience, I have men and women alike express to me how “sexy” they think my large shoulder tattoo is on me… I look through the media and some of the most gorgeous women are “tatted up”… so, What is hot? How many are too many? How does it depend on the individual?

Because of my mass amounts of tattoos I’ve had many people (over the years) ask for my personal opinion about their tattoo ideas. While I by no means claim to be a tattoo expert, I’ve learned a few things from my experiences… so… here’s the top three…

1. Make CERTAIN that whatever piece you get, you’ll be happy with when your 80! Don’t go and get ‘Ray-Ray’ tatted over your heart because you hope it’ll last forever, it’s “bad luck” anyways! I have played basketball at some of the highest levels for my entire life, so during my first year of college ball I thought that it only made sense to get a large basketball permanently inked onto the inside of my shin (afterall it looks good on the court). Nowadays, especially from a corporate stand-point while I’m grateful for the memory, I wish I thought of a more discrete spot.
2. Create a relationship with your artist, the reason why is simple… every person, in any occupation has “bad days”. When it comes to permanent art on your body, you wanna catch the person doing the work on a “good day”. Your tattoo artist is human, they have days that suck and thats fine, you just want to make sure that you know your artist well enough to be able to tell when they’re not in the mood to ink you.
3. Work your tattoo with your personality. I will never, ever be a lawyer, its just not me! Even when I was studying Advertising, I knew I wanted to work towards the more artsy side of that… The reality is this (and this has happened to me) if you are going to work a corporate job (anywhere in the world) with a large corporation as your client, odds are you’re going to need to hide your tattoos. I didn’t like it either, but we all need to pay the bills… ensure that your tattoo/s will match your lifestyle. I use this rule of thumb, after you’ve have a tattoo or two, if your third one is still OBSENELY offending your mother… think it over! Its probably not reflecting the way you were raised, and in the long-run those morals that your parents tried to instill will catch up to you eventually. I’m not saying; if you’re a 30 year old tattoo-virgin dont bother to get one, my Mum got her first one at that age… all I’m saying is choose your spot, size and piece well and we all know why!

I’m looking at getting my rib done next, I have both feet covered and that’s supposed to be the most painful area… aside from the rib, so I’m somewhat prepared… I’ll keep you guys posted and in the meantime I’ll attach this to my facebook notes (Shay Ironmonger) and we’ll leave it like an open forum. Tell me about your tattoo experiences, advice… ideas?!!!