piercings and tatoos.

ruins_explorer

I haven't seen too many brown tattoos, that's for sure. I imagine, most people have some shade of brown as their skin color - it might be difficult for it to show up.

At least it sounds like it would be easy to cover up. My bad tattoo is green, Turquoise and purple and about 3 inches by 2 inches. Hopefully I can find a good tattooist in the area to help me brainstorm a new tattoo to cover it. I'm not even sure if it can be covered. Do you know if say, red & black ink can cover a purple/green/yellow tattoo (changing the color) or whether the colors would mix? i.e. would putting red ink over yellow create orange?

Sama

you would have to find a REALLY excellent tat artist, some are not good with cover ups. Mine (a young gal) does all custom work, and sometimes she sends people to get a bad tattoo removed (via laser) because she said (just last week when I was getting my latest) some are just impossible to cover up well (that's the operative word!). Then they come back with a clean slate, so to speak. Yeah, you can probably find any shmo to cover up a tat, but quality will differ from one to another.

Too bad you're not in my area, ruins explorer, I would give you her name, she has clients from here to LA....

__________________
My India, 2005-2008
sama: Pali/Sanskrit: that state of consciousness which reflects neither attachment nor aversion

Shark

I got a tattoo on my chest from an Indian tattooist in Kovalam about four years ago. His transformer and gear was pretty crappy but his utensils and needs were impeccably clean. I asked to inspect his gear and wanted to know how her sterilised his needles. He had disposable needles in sealed paper wrappers. However, we all know how ingenous people can be in India. Whether I was stupid to risk infection, I went ahead with the tattoo and spent the next three hours getting the most painful tattoo I have ever had (I have been tattooed approximately 20 times).
Having said that, I have come across a few westerner tattoos who are very good and have all the up to date gear. Two years ago there was a guy from Netherlands tattooing in Palolem who was a very well accomlished professional. However, he wasn't cheap and his prices were comparable with the west.

kalidevout

I have inquired about a henna looking tattoo before with a couple of artists and it is possible to have it look good, but the suggestion has always been to have some gray mixed into the design, so it doesn't look like one big blob of brown.
At the time I went to India, I had about 15 tats. I dressed conservatively, so the only one which showed was the tiger I have coming down my leg and across my ankle. I did get lots of stares, but few inquiries. I would say that for the most part, in the areas in which I was travelling, there was not much familiarity with tattoos, so people just didn't know what to think of it. I had a female guide in Jaipur who remarked upon it and said that tattoos were rare around there, but were becoming big in places around Mumbai (and she said there were a lot of anchors on arms, and other old style designs). At Ranthambore, there was a group of men around who really didn't know what to think of it. There was a guy there who had to explain what a tattoo was and explain its permanence. On of the members of the group asked me why I didn't have any gold put into it. My tattoo artist back home got a kick out of that one.

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