Free tattoo idea

As a person who chose a tattoo 10 years ago (and still doesn't regret it!), I encourage you to find the right design for your tat before spending over $100 and getting injected with ink.

Here's what to do:

1. Browse designs online and get some ideas, or pick a particular design.
2. Take the ideas to a good tattoo parlor and ask to see similar designs they have available.

   or

   Pay for and download the electronic version. Take that to the tattoo parlor and ask them to reproduce it as your tattoo.

This site has lots of great information, including a great guide for first-tattooers. They have ready-to-print stencils for tats, organized into categories like:

• Black & White Tribal, Polynesian and Armband tattoos
• Christian and cross tattoos
• Flower and rose tattoos
• Lower back tattoos
• Animal, dolphin, dragon, butterfly and insect tattoos
• Japanese and zodiac symbol tattoos

You can also choose from among about 50 artists.

You can browse for ideas for free. Printouts for use by your tattoo artist range from about $7 (small, black & white), to about $20 (large, color). With the printout, you get the stencil (which the tattoo artist will use to literally transfer to your skin) and the full version which he/she will use as a guide.

Full search at Tattoo Johnny ->

This UK-based website is cool because it features a couple of interesting options (including a gallery of 2000+ designs, and celebrity designs):

• your name translated into Hindi, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese or Japanese. This is not free; they charge about $9. But they make a pretty good point: "Would you trust an online free list to give your name in a foreign language, and then ink your body with it?"

  Apparently, Britney Spears got a tattoo in Japanese which she thought meant "mysterious"; she was later told it meant "strange". She also got a Hebrew word tattooed on her neck that she wanted to say "new era" but it turned out to be gibberish. [article]

• Rate My Tattoo: You can rate uploaded pictures of visitors' tattoos, and see which ones ranked high. These are cool because you can see what designs look like on skin, instead of just on screen or on paper.

Search Tattoos by Design ->

This site has an enormous database of designs. Here are some of the more unusual categories you won't find on other sites:

• biker tattoos
• barbed wire and vine tattoos
• Celtic tattoos
• dagger tattoos
• gay-lesbian (LGBT) tattoos
• memory-banner tattoos (picture of heart or flower, "In memory of..." a lost person)
• torn skin tattoos (makes it look like an animal or design is bursting out of your body)
• yin yang tattoos

If you want a print out that you can take to a tattoo artist, they charge $19.95. Previewing for ideas is free.

Search TattooFinder.com ->