BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Body Art Foot/ankle tats?

So.... I posted here not that long ago that I wanted to get a new tattoo, but my family wasn't really accepting of my interest in body mods of any kind. I talked to my mom about a new tattoo, and then eventually brought it up with my dad. Surprisingly enough they didn't give me too much grief over it and my mom actually offered to help me design something. I'm thrilled. My initial idea was to do something on my lower back and my mom and I have been playing with some designs to fit that area. However..... we're in the process of recording a CD and sitting barefoot in the studio (I was going for comfort lol) I was struck by the idea of doing a very simple design of music notes on the outer portion of my foot. Depending on how I arrange the design I was thinking it might be either in the depression behind my outer ankle bone (really very low ankle placement directly above the heal) or in front of the ankle bone kinda right below where my ankle and foot meet.

I've heard some negative things about foot tats, mainly that they're pretty painful and the ink may blur a bit more than in other areas over time. More than likely I'd just use black ink in my design, maybe a dash of another color, but like I said above, I'm thinking of some simple music note-type design. Something to mark the completion of my family band's CD....

Anyone have any info/experiences they can share about success (and pain) of tats in that area? I know pain is relative to each person, but I still wouldn't mind comments.
Thanks!

I have a tattoo just above my ankle. Its of a black dragon. I won't lie...it hurt. I am not saying that I wouldn't get another one. My advice to you...make very sure its of something that you will like for a long time or something that is very special to you. The music notes sound cool.

Also make sure of the spot in which you are going to put your tattoo. I have had friends have some really painful days because they put theirs in a spot where say their bra strap rubbed the tat or their waistband of their jeans rubbed it. Just a though.

Good Luck! Let me know what you decide.

Pamela

I have the tops of both of my feet inked, and I love them! They are awesome. The work covers the entire top. I had to wear flip flops for the first 2 weeks, and then I was golden. They haven't faded, they didn't run, I still have people ask me if I just had them done, and I've had them for 9 years! It does hurt, I mean, you have no fat there, only bone. It's going to hurt, but if you really want it, then you can handle it. I say go for it! Good luck!!

Thanks to both replies

pnuts ant: I know what you mean about placement! I got a tattoo on my upper back/left shoulder blade and had to be careful for a few weeks not to wear anything that rubbed the area. Silly me had the tat done when it was really too cold to be hanging out in tanks. Live and learn, right? lol

It makes sense that a tat would hurt more in bony areas such as the foot. I'm very thin, and at the time of my back tat was way too thin, so my shoulder blade area is/was pretty bony. That experience is all I have to base the pain factor on right now. As long as I can come up with and fall in love with a design I think I'll go through with getting my foot/ankle done. I graduate college in early May with a performance degree and my CD will also have just officially come out then, so the tattoo would be a good mark of that time.

You know, I got both of mine in November... not too smart there! I have 4 tats total, and working on my last one (a full back piece), and I don't regret any of them. I hope you find something that makes you go "THAT'S IT!!!!" I mean, we're young (I'm 26), and I wasn't even 18 yet when I got my feet done, but I picked something that I knew I would love forever. Have fun with it and good luck with all!

Finding a "THAT'S IT!!" design isn't always as easy as it might seem lol. I'm stuck on for ideas. I know I want something music related, I know the area where I want it, and I know I also want it to be a mostly original design. I've been looking around for ideas of different thing I can do with music notes, but a lot of what I've found is just plain. So..... time to get creative I guess If anyone knows of any sites that have good design available to browse through for ideas that would be great.

go to tattoojohnny.com it has a lot of different ideas to browse through.

I would suggest finding an artist you really like and what to do your work. Take your ideas to them and have them draw up something that encompasses what you want, how you want it, and show cases what the artist is good at. Start by researching artists, find one whose style is what you want and go from there.

If you are in the greater memphis area, then stop by Memphis Tattoo off Beale and ask for James. He or Steve are awesome and James has done mine. I trust them and they are cool guys. You can look at his work on myspace. He's under TattooJames/ james lovette.

I would highly recommend either of them. Only them, but either one is great. I plan on my third this summer and James is the man.

Tattooed feet are almost universally reported as being painful. It's all bones, nerves and tendons, there's really no way around that.

Some people's feet shed the skin layers much more than others, and some folks with foot tattoos have a hard time "keeping" the tattoo. There's no way to find out if your feet are going to be contented being tattooed or not without doing it and seeing how it heals. The fact that people most often wear socks and shoes does protect foot tats from sun exposure, but it really ups the surface friction.