Tattoos

[Garren Jacobsen]

I am not getting a tattoo, but I am having a character get a tattoo. He is getting it over his right shoulder blade. The design is a complex network of crisscrossing lines surrounding a black sword. The design is magic. So, how badly would that hurt and what would it feel like?

Note: I have never had a tattoo.

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

Id appreciate this information too. My characters like tattoos...

 

[CupofJoe]

With modern needle machines I doubt it would be all that painful.
I've had tattoos on my torso for medical reasons [so maybe done under the best possible conditions] and it was little more painful than pulling off a plaster and a lot less painful than being waxed [yes again for medical reasons - honest]. It took only a week or so to heal completely with manuka honey impregnated plasters.
Joints like the elbow I'm told are more painful as the flesh is thinner so I guess the shoulder would be the same. [I don't know anything about "other" areas people may have tattooed]
If you are using a more traditional manual hammer and needle, then I guess the pain would be a lot more and worse and the healing longer as each puncture would be bigger.

 

[Chessie]

Tattoos HURT. They hurt more or less depending on the body part. For example, I have one on the inside of my forearm that was pretty painful during the outlining process. The shading wasn't too bad...until the needle got close to the inside of my elbow crease and that brought me to tears. The aftermath is pretty annoying, too. Tattoos get red, swollen, and itchy omg. They peel, too. Sometimes they bleed. This is all part of the healing process.

My husband is covered in them. He has a huge eagle on his ribcage that spans from the back, underneath his shoulderblade, all the way up to his nipple and then down to right above his hip. This took 4 sessions--so keep aware that there is only so much a person can handle. If your character's tattoo is going to last longer than 4 hours, you may want to have him return for another session to finish it off. The pain on that part of the body where you describe is quite bad from what I hear. My husband is a tough mountain man, climbs mountains and hunts and ice climbs. He was brought to tears by that eagle.

 

[Tom]

Usually the shoulder blades and back have less nerve endings than other areas of the body. A lot of people get their first tattoo on their shoulder blade because of this. Still, tattoos HURT. Especially intricate ones.

Edit: I forgot to add that some of it depends on your character's pain tolerance and anything that might affect that. For example, I have a naturally high pain tolerance. But I also have mild scoliosis, which makes it easier for the nerves in my upper back and shoulder blades to become aggravated and sensitive to pain. So I don't plan on getting any large or complicated tattoos on that area.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I have two tattoos on my shoulder blade, and it's painful. I have seen tattoos given with piano wire in a homemade gun, and I can tell you that was more painful than what I had done. I mean, if you want to know what it feels like, take a small sewing needle and prick yourself with it a few times. It won't harm you. I've seen on tv shows the old way of giving tattoos, with the stick and needle that is tapped repeatedly. Again, that looks more painful to me. However, there are topical things you could put on the skin to help numb the area. Herbal things. So you could always do that.

As far as what it feels like, it feels like poking yourself with needles. Repeatedly. For an hour or two. The next few days, the muscle is very sore, like the worst workout you have done, but it isn't more than that. I've also had injection therapies, where they basically do a tattoo with no ink (oversimplifying), and they twist the needles after they perforate your muscles. In the back muscles, it doesn't hurt nearly as much as it does near the spine or in the neck. Those can send nerve impulses throughout your body, and yeah, it's hard not to cry a little, because it's excruciating. But since it's therapy, they're trying to hurt your muscles, to get them to heal themselves, so...not exactly relevant, but just FYI.

It's something you can stay calm during. It helps to have someone to talk to or something to look at. Or just swearing. Yeah, swearing can get your through a tattoo just fine.

 

[Heliotrope]

I've never been tattood but this post reminded me of skin stitching, something my local indigenous peoples do.

MANY STITCHES FOR LIFE: THE ANTIQUITY OF THREAD AND NEEDLE TATTOOING by Lars Krutak

 

[Chessie]

@Maiden: a friend of mine went with me and she's one of those tattoo model chicks. So she's been through a million and one sessions. At the worst when the needle was on my elbow crease, I was crying, and I started with a "F****!!!" And she went: "oh! So what are we doing this weekend?" LOL

 

[Caged Maiden]

You know what really hurt? My naval piercing. That was surprisingly painful, seeing as it's sort of girly. My tongue didn't hurt as much, but when your tongue swells up for three days...it's a bit inconvenient...like to eat. I took out the naval piercing. It started growing out (or ripping, if it's easier to envision that way) I didn't realize they did that, like eyebrows can do. Won't do that again. Nope. Piercings in my face only, I guess. Eighteen of them. What happened to body piercings? Are they not popular anymore? I can't get rid of my earrings. They're a part of me. I thought about it, because I'm like 36 and a mom with four kids and volunteer at school and everything. But no, I hate seeing my ears without a bunch of metal in them. It looks foreign and naked. I guess because I've had about fifteen of those holes for more than 20 years. And the other couple for more than 15. I get all kinds of compliments on them, which I take to mean I don't look like a hideous freak. HA!

I'm not really a tattoo person. I mean, I appreciate them, but haven't the desire to do any more except maybe cover the one I don't love with something more kickass. I have some scars, though, which is a whole different conversation, I suppose. One of them has a lot of meaning to me. It's just below my left elbow, a hexagram from the Book of Changes. It says, "If a man's consciousness is that of the back, and he walks through his garden and sees none of the people in it, he'll be led truthfully." There was a time in my life when I decided I needed to listen to myself and not to other people. I cut it more than fifteen times, and it's definitely there to stay forever. I did one for my boyfriend at the time, too. I dunno, I'm just not so committed to any one thing that I want it as a tattoo. I have a tribal lioness that I got when I was 19 or so, and I like that, but the other one, (a tribal star) just isn't as nice looking.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

The more touch and pain receptors in an area the more getting a tattoo hurt. Thus getting one on the back is not as painful as the face or hands, but more than on a calf. The more detail in a tattoo the more time it will take, thus more pain/discomfort. I have one on my right shoulder. At the time of getting it and more so the several days after my should felt like it had been repeated punched or beaten with a broom handle. The one thing I would also mention is that tattoos are addictive. Look at how many people have more than one. People feel the urge to express more of their personality on their skin. This could be an aspect for your story, having your character have to resist the temptation to get more and more because they possess magic power.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

I might need to know what it would feel like to have your skin sliced open, and gemstones fused into the bone so a person appears to be crying precious tears... but I'll make it up, not going there. heh heh.

Interesting info, as I have not nor ever will get a tattoo unless I am accepted into some primitive warrior culture, and I suspect that tattooing feels very different than the modern stuff.