It must be love: Getting your partner’s initials tattooed

Editor Rosalie shares her most romantic tattoo and speaks to other tattoo collectors about their tattoos inked in the name of love…

That’s right an initial, I got the first letter of my husband’s name tattooed on me. It’s not even his full name or a significant date that ties us intrinsically together. We’ve been a couple for over 11 years and we’ve already got matching tattoos, three to be exact – a hamster (our first pet together), maple leaves to mark our Canadian honeymoon, and watermelons (he has the whole minus a slice, and I have the slice).

So why did it take me so long to take the next step? I’m not even sure to be honest, definitely not a fear of commitment or the pain, or that age-old idea of tattoo regret. A lot of my tattoos have little meaning, and I feel as I go on getting more and more tattooed, the design and reasoning matters even less.

Rosie’s locket by @_cattnip

It’s not on my wedding finger, or prominently etched onto my arm, his little A sits on my leg in a little heart lock. Perhaps unnoticeable in the sea of tattoos that make up my body. The romantic in me, did it as a surprise, though (how sweet?).

Now I’ve joined the name tattoo club I wanted to hear from some other members:

Kath from Essex, got her husband’s name tattooed on her recently – “It’s a funny story, we got married in 2002 then divorced and then remarried in 2017. I only got the tattoo this year as this time it’s for keeps! He doesn’t have any tattoos and I got his name as a surprise, he’s quite chuffed with it!”

Kath’s tattoo by @thebutchermansam

Paige from Newcastle and her fiancé Shay got matching tattoos after a couple of months together – “I’ve nearly been with Shay a year, but when I met him I just knew – you know? We got a lot of shit for our tattoos. My account has quite a few followers and one of them shared the tattoo on a tattoo shaming page on Facebook. The amount of grief we got, not just for the names but for the other tattoos we have, was ridiculous. It did upset me, what I put on my body is my business. If it’s not something they’d do, that’s their choice, this is mine.”

Paige and Shay’s tattoos done in Gateshead

“We know we want to get some more, but just don’t know what, the strawberry was part of the match because we had a running joke about strawberry lube! But when something like that sticks out to us again we’ll probably get another matching one. I want one where we draw something for each other and get it tattooed, like, something little, like a frog or something!”

“I love my tattoos, I don’t see tattoos as a sacred thing, as you can tell! I have a lot of cover-ups too. It’s more of an experience to me, if a tattoo is shit it’s just another one. Like getting Shay’s name, it wasn’t a big deal – if we break up, I can just get it covered up, y’know? It’s only small. I can understand why people think it’s a big deal but it just doesn’t bother me.”

Chloe’s tattoo by @Jodydawber

Chloe, tattoo artist from Leicester, got her husband’s nickname tattooed on her – “I got it just before we got married (September ‘17) while Jody was guesting with us. We were getting matching lemons as we were about to get married in Sicily, and I wanted a little something extra as a surprise for him. I wish there was a better story behind the nickname other than we just started calling each other it one day after watching Beavis and Butthead!”

Are you part of the lover tattoo gang? Let us know and show us your tattoos by tagging us on Instagram!

Can you be friends with your tattooist? A reader’s response…

When we asked the question, Can You Be Friends With Your Tattooist?, reader Sarah K got in touch to say, yes you can. Sarah is 31, a heavily tattooed human rights lawyer and law professor, living between Brussels and Brooklyn… 

Tattoo by Drew Linden“This tattoo is the first one on my right leg, the only limb left to be inked. I got it done this June by Drew Linden who had started at East Side Ink in NYC. Initially, it was supposed to be much smaller and a filler on my left leg. Leave it to Drew  to expand and make it more amazing.

“It is now the fourth tattoo I’ve gotten from her, it started from a wonderful lady gypsy / sugar skull combo in 2011. We hit it off right away, we’re about the same age, she’s stunning, a life force, yet so sweet and kind. She has a strong identity, a refined and unique personality, traits I look for in a person. We had friends in common and we spent the duration of the tattoo talking about them. I knew I’d come see her again.

Photo from June 2012, when Drew first tattooed Sarah.

 

“The friendship developed quickly, we kept in touch via text and social media. She was always extremely supportive of me – 2011 / 2012 were years during which I got a lot of work done while processing a lot of personal stuff. My work had been put on hold after an accident, and I was struggling to gain control of my body as well as of my life. The tattoo process, led by two key artists, helped immensely – and Drew was the second female artist that redefined how I saw my own body.

Gypsy by Drew Linden
Gypsy by Drew Linden

 

“In 2012, I wanted to get my chest tattooed. On the day of the appointment, Drew had actually redesigned it entirely so it would not be vertical and along my sternum, but across my chest. She added flowers and dot work, to make it “less aggressive.”

“But Drew, I *am* aggressive.”

“Not just.”

“But-“

“Sarah, you’re a woman, too. And you can be lovely. And this is a very feminine part of your body. And it’s a huge deal, working from limbs to chest. You’ll be *heavily* tattooed, all in black and grey. I know you’re not girly. But you deserve something that shows you can be a lady, and there are parts of you that are not lawyer-soldier.”

Sarah's chest piece
Sarah’s chest piece

“Five and a half hours later, and a bonus cup on my bra due to the swelling, my chest piece was done. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“My globe tattoo signals the fact that as of May 2014, I will have been a lawyer for 10 years. In June 2014, I told Drew I wanted a globe, with the phrase “jus cogens” – a Latin phrasing that refers to the peremptory norm, which is to say, the most fundamental, unalienable of human rights. As a human rights lawyer, working internationally and in war zones, this sounded perfect. She started on my right leg, the way she started my left one three years before. Her best friend sat next to me and held my hand during the session – that she belted in under an hour. The hands and flower are of her own making.

“I thought we’d have the hands over the globe, you know, protecting it.”

“Ah, but design wise it doesn’t work, and this is the old school symbol of friendship, love and fraternity. With the globe, it’s the fraternity of all peoples.”

“Equality and protection.”

“Yes. That. Like you.”

“The arrow is pointing straight forward on my leg that was once injured.

“Drew is not just my friend and my tattoo artist. In many ways, she is also a therapist, a healer, a psychic, a drinking enabler, someone I once flew all the way to San Diego to see, literally on the other side of the globe. She made my world manageable again.

“She and Jessica Mascitti, one of the first artists to work on me, made me a woman. I transitioned from prodigal lawyer girl to full fledged woman of the law because of them; they inspired me and blew confidence beneath my skin. I became stronger, and more focused as a result. And I stand proud.”

The story of the buddy tattoo by Christina Owen

New guest blog post from Christina Owen featuring the cutest little Russian doll tattoos I have ever seen…here is the story of Christina and Jess’s matching tattoos.

Christina and Jess
Christina and Jess

 

My friend Jess and I live a couple of hundred miles apart. She lives in Cardiff, I live in London. We work busy schedules and we don’t get to see each other much. We also both love tattoos and don’t take ourselves too seriously. So when I found time to go and see Jess for a couple of days in June, we decided the best course of action would be to get matching tattoos, for no other reason than because we are great friends, and because it will remind us that we’re always there, even though most of the time we’re, er…not.

It’s common for couples to get matching tattoos, but what about the ‘buddy tattoo’ (I may have just coined that phrase…)? When Lord of the Rings finished filming in 2002, the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring got matching Elvish tattoos. Earlier this year, Adele and Joy Williams from The Civil Wars got a tiny matching friend tattoo after being on tour together.

Our friends mean the world to us. And we express that in different ways. Jess and I chose a little, girly Russian Doll tattoo, for no other reason than because we LIKED it (and that’s reason enough). Some of our friends shook their heads at us and called us silly, but to us (and to every girl out there who loves tattoos and is comfortable in her own – colourful – skin) it made perfect sense.

Tasha Pollendine

Jess headed to Physical Graffiti in Cardiff and spoke to Tasha Pollendine, whose cute and colourful style of tattoos we had looked up online and loved. Tasha drew us a pair of gorgeous pink matching dolls based on a picture Jess showed her. All that was left was for me to take the National Express to Cardiff and for us both to jump in the chair…

Photo inspiration
The original inspiration

Photo: etsystatic.com

Russian doll drawing
The stencils

 

While we had our tattoos done, we both chatted to Tasha who was easygoing, friendly, patient and very talented. I grilled her, interview-style on how, why and when she got into tattooing, and made her snort with laughter and have to stop tattooing me at one stage, when I asked her if she’s ever sneezed and accidentally drawn a huge ink line down someone’s arm (probably better not to put a tattoo artist off like that when they are making permanent marks on your skin, guys). The atmosphere in the shop was relaxed, and we spent a fun couple of hours talking to the other tattoo artists and customers. Jess and I chose to have our tattoos in different places on our bodies (a nod to our own individual personalities) – she chose the back of her left ankle and I chose the back of my right upper arm.

 

Jess-under-the-needle

Christina under the needle

I’m back in London now, and don’t know when I’ll see Jess next. But I now have mini-Jess on my arm to remind me that distance doesn’t really matter – good friends will always make time for one another.

 

Russian doll friendship tattoo

I think that Mini-Jess is definitely the cutest tattoo in my collection so far. Thanks Tasha – I’m sure I’ll be back to get tattooed by you again!

The matching ink