I have a question about verbal tattoos. I want to tattoo a quote on the inside of my bicep, lengthwise. The quote is 15 letters long, 2 of which could be replaced by the & sign to save space.
I asked my artist if he would do it and he said that anything over 5 words or so becomes too small and that small letters like that won’t last very long. He said that the tiny paragraphs tattooed on women like Megan Fox will be unreadable within a decade.
I trust my artist a great deal as he’s done amazing work on me and has a lot of experience. He’s also highly ethical and simply refuses to tattoo something that doesn’t adhere to his strict standards.
I want to take his advice. But at the same time I really want this quote tattooed.
I’d like to hear opinions from seasoned professionals on tattooing these types of quotes. What’s the minimum size you would recommend?
Thanks in advance!
Sorry dude.
I do know the answer – in fact one of my first essays was on cellular degradation and pigmentation blur effects. I spent a lot of time looking how tattoos fade and blur and the min sizes etc to reduce the risk.
However I am not a professional tattooist so good luck in finding your answers.
Take Care
Matthew
I do know the answer – in fact one of my first essays was on cellular degradation and pigmentation blur effects. I spent a lot of time looking how tattoos fade and blur and the min sizes etc to reduce the risk.
However I am not a professional tattooist so good luck in finding your answers.
Take Care
Matthew
Whatever man. If you know then you know. What’s your opinion? Is a quote w/ 16 words going to be too small? Will it degrade too quickly?
Ok enough leg pulling on my part.
I went off and checked my research notes on the issue. I wanted to take a look at the font size of the actress you mentioned.
Your artist is correct that small writing will simply not last the test of time. The problem there is that the font with an 8 or 10 pt will simply blur after approx 10 years.
This is because when the pigment is entered into the skin via the stasis/carrier fluid it is locked into place by scar tissue. The tissue forms in pockets which are invisible to the naked eye and contain hundreds of holes for even a small tattoo letter.
Since you have a foreign body locked into the skin the scar tissue isolates the pigment from entering the blood stream but at the same time your white blood cells mainly granulocytes (like internal sandpaper) and the macrophages are trying to devour the pigment and ‘washes’ the pigment away over a period of 10-15 years. This is the cause of fading.
The membrane of scar tissue also wears thinner allowing the pigment to seep causing a blur effect as the pockets spread.
In order to minimise the risk you would have to go at least a size such as 12pt but most likely a 14pt (or higher is better.
Even at a 14 pt size font you will get some blurring with age it is unavoidable (you can reline and shade but it is a fact all tatts blur esp text ones).
To fit that size of text on to your bicep would mean a need for big arms as the artist may even want to go upto a size 20pt (depends on the style).
That many words is not going to fit well in such a cramped area and would prob require a chest or full arm to spread it out. The closer together the more the blur is noticable.
Kudos to your artist for not taking your money as some are unscrupulous and would say ‘hell yes you can’.
The truth is you can but if you want it to look good and keep it looking good another body location is prob required.
Take care
Matthew
I went off and checked my research notes on the issue. I wanted to take a look at the font size of the actress you mentioned.
Your artist is correct that small writing will simply not last the test of time. The problem there is that the font with an 8 or 10 pt will simply blur after approx 10 years.
This is because when the pigment is entered into the skin via the stasis/carrier fluid it is locked into place by scar tissue. The tissue forms in pockets which are invisible to the naked eye and contain hundreds of holes for even a small tattoo letter.
Since you have a foreign body locked into the skin the scar tissue isolates the pigment from entering the blood stream but at the same time your white blood cells mainly granulocytes (like internal sandpaper) and the macrophages are trying to devour the pigment and ‘washes’ the pigment away over a period of 10-15 years. This is the cause of fading.
The membrane of scar tissue also wears thinner allowing the pigment to seep causing a blur effect as the pockets spread.
In order to minimise the risk you would have to go at least a size such as 12pt but most likely a 14pt (or higher is better.
Even at a 14 pt size font you will get some blurring with age it is unavoidable (you can reline and shade but it is a fact all tatts blur esp text ones).
To fit that size of text on to your bicep would mean a need for big arms as the artist may even want to go upto a size 20pt (depends on the style).
That many words is not going to fit well in such a cramped area and would prob require a chest or full arm to spread it out. The closer together the more the blur is noticable.
Kudos to your artist for not taking your money as some are unscrupulous and would say ‘hell yes you can’.
The truth is you can but if you want it to look good and keep it looking good another body location is prob required.
Take care
Matthew
Oh… I didn’t pick up on the piss taking. Over my head I suppose!
Thanks for the advice. My takeaway is to go w/ a font that is 20 pt or larger and find the room for it somewhere else.
Sounds good. Thanks.
this is the smallest i was prepared to work at if it helps you in any way 😉
http://www.thetattooforum.com/album.php?albumid=194&pictureid=999
http://www.thetattooforum.com/album.php?albumid=194&pictureid=999
Yeah, that helps a lot dude. My quote is a little longer but I’d go much bigger w/ it. My arm’s probably the same size as that clients arm if not just a little bigger. The outside is tattooed completely and the inside fades from a nice landscape looking scene. Still, if my dude says no then I won’t do it.
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