How do you know when you've found the design?

Vojera · 28-10-2014 12:40pm #1

Hey guys.

I haven't got a tattoo yet but I've been thinking about it for years. I just can't seem to settle on a design that I really like. I seem to find a design or a style that I really like, then I think about it for a while and a few months later I've gone off it again. Is this normal?

Over the weekend I thought of something I would like and for the first time it's something that really means something to me, which I think will help, but again, how can I know if I'll still like it later on?

Does everyone go through this? Or is it just that the first one is the hardest?

RhoDoDenDron · 03-11-2014 3:08am

I waited for years before getting my first, but I know plenty of people who've gotten their first on fairly quick impulses. It probably depends a lot on who you are as a person.

If you're concerned enough to want to be extra sure, you should probably wait until you are sure. It might take a year or two, but at least you're more likely to have a design you'll cherish for a long time.

Killer_banana · 03-11-2014 9:11pm

You'll never know completely. My first tattoo meant a lot to me and still does but I've changed a lot as a person and some of the sentiment behind it doesn't really gel with how I see things now. I don't regret it, more see it as a marker of who I was and how I've changed. I like it in a weird way actually. But that's neither here nor there what I'm saying is you will never be 100% positive about whether something is *the* design as you put it. We all have the capacity to grow and change and that means we won't always like the same things or feel the same way about things. I think waiting a few months or years - whatever it takes to make sure this is something you want to put on your body is a good idea but I think it's important to realise you can never be 100% certain you will always feel the same way about a tattoo in the future that you do now. I still feel like it's a risk worth taking but you may not.

On a more practical note, a tip someone gave me was to put your design by your bed for six months. If you still want it after seeing it every morning when you wake up and every night when you fall asleep then you're less likely to regret it as a tattoo.

susanlinda823 · 07-11-2014 11:06pm

Takes a long time to figure out everything you want. I sometimes get to the shop and decide yup, thats gonna be this color now. I usually dream about them as well. Think about it constantly and doodle it!

McChubbin · 08-11-2014 7:47pm

For me, I was doodling the design on my wrist for several years. (This is what I went with in the end.) I was around 15/16 when I first saw the design and I loved it from the start but not only was I too young at the time to get inked, I decided to be sensible and wait it out to see if I still liked it in several years.
Sure enough, cut to 2012 and I'm at a house party. One of the people that I was chatting to turned out to be the piercer and receptionist working out of Stigmata-Tau in Swords. Lovely woman! Anyways, we got talking about tattoos and I expressed my wish to get the above design inked.
We spoke about pain, placement and price and she very kindly gave me a discount as it was my first tattoo and a reletively straightforward one.
So, the following week, I had the money together (€70 for barely 20 minute's work.) and I made an appointment.
Went into the studio and the piercer introduced me to an artist called Cahill. We chatted and once again went over the placement etc.
By this stage, I knew I wanted the design for definate and only my nerves toward the pain were giving me worries.
Sat down in the chair and Cahill prepped my wrist. The first line hurt like hell but aside from almost yelling when the needle buzzed over the vein in my wrist, it wasn't too bad.
A few days of slattering the tattoo in Bepantine later, it was fully healed and looked very nice!
At the moment, it looks slightly faded but it's no big deal to me- I still like it and I'm glad I got it done.
Anyways, I'm trying to say that I was 15/16 when I first decided on the design and I waited until I knew for sure before I got it inked.
I was 24 when I got it done so it was a few years of doodling on my wrist before I took the plunge.
I'm not saying you should wait years but at least sleep on it for about 6 months.

This Fat Girl Runs · 08-11-2014 10:09pm

I think time is the key. It took me 10 years to finally get one of my tattoos as I wanted to be sure I had the right design AND the right artist. My latest tattoo was dreamt up, designed and inked in a matter of months.

If you go to an artist and get a design done up, you can get a 'template' put on in pen so you can see what it will look like. Leave that on for a few hours and see how you feel about it.

How do you know when you've found *the* design?

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How do you know when you've found the design?