Tag: Tattoo story

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“I look at myself as a canvas”, interview with Beckie Bold

25-year-old digital creator Beckie Bold (@beckiebold) lives in North Wales where she creates inspiring content for her followers. We chatted to Beckie (she/her) to find out more about her tattoo collection and body confidence journey…

What made you want to get tattooed?

I’ve always loved tattoos and thought they were super cool when I was younger. Growing up I realised that I look at tattoos as someone painting their own canvas (their body). I think it’s really unique and brings lots of confidence and is definitely a way to express yourself as a person.

I knew when I was younger that I would definitely be a tatted person.

What was your first tattoo? Can you tell us about the experience?

The last time I got tatted, I got three in one sitting. I got a small love heart with the number 13 in behind my ear, because it’s my favourite number and it seems to follow me around. I got a coffin with flowers around it on my upper arm because I thought it went with the spooky vibe of my sleeve and then I also got some crystals and flowers, again to fit the theme of my sleeve.

The experience was great! I was tatted by Emma-louise Bolton (@emm.dots) in Salford, she’s fabulous. She’s so lovely and chatty and always makes you feel super comfortable! She always gives me the prettiest ink.

Talk us through your tattoo collection – any favourites or meaningful ones?

I have lots of tattoos, probably too many to go into detail about each one. Some of my favourites are my mandala in my ditch, that one hurt super bad I wont lie but it’s absolutely stunning. I love my flowers on my chest too as they make me feel super pretty and confident. Another favourite of mine is my little skeletons with the black rose between them, little skeletons in love!

I have one on my back which is quite meaningful to me as it reminds me of my nana and taid (Welsh for grandad) as they were travellers back in the day, so I got a Gypsy wagon wheel for them.

Do you have any themes?

Yes! My right arm is spooky/space themed and I am totally obsessed. I love it and I can’t wait until its completely finished!

You share body confidence and your mental health, do tattoos help you love your body?

Definitely. They let me express myself in a way that is unique to me. They’re beautiful and I want to show them off, which helps me be confident in myself. When I have low days with my body image, I look at all the ink which helps me push through the body battles a little bit more.

Have they made you see your body differently?

I look at myself as a canvas. I get to fill in my own canvas with everyone I love or makes me happy. It’s such a brilliant way to be create in my opinion.

My tattoos make me want to be proud of the skin I am in.

What’s it like getting tattooed when you have lipoedema?

I think it’s different for everyone with lipoedema. For me personally, my upper arms (where the lipoedema is) have bruised whilst healing, while my lower arms (where I don’t have lipoedema) didn’t bruise at all. My lower leg tattoo didn’t hurt at all which surprised me as I have lipoedema there too.

Do you have any advice for anyone who has lipoedema and wants to get tattooed?

It depends on the person and pain tolerance but be prepared for it to potentially be a little more sore in areas where your lipoedema is! I can’t comment too much on this as everyone’s body will react differently.

Can you tell us about what you share on socials, how it all started?

In 2017/2018 when I started university, I began to use Instagram as a mental health diary to help me through my battles. I never set out to do any of this “influencer” stuff and never thought I would reach 40,000 people, but I somehow did.

Seeing all the different content creators on Instagram has saved me in a way, they’ve inspired me to love me for me and I can now hopefully inspire others to love them for them. It’s an amazing platform when you follow people and connect with people that help you feel happy and good about yourself.

I actively speak about body acceptance, mental health and sometimes chronic health such as lipoedema. I want to help people as much as I can. Even if its just one person that feels better because of something they have seen or read on my page, then I’m doing it right.

How do you want people to feel when they see your corner of the internet?

Safe. Included. Inspired. Beautiful. Good enough. Worthy. All the good things! I want them to start treating themselves how they would treat their loved ones. It’s great to love others, but lets love ourselves too shall we?

Follow Beckie for more beautiful photos and tattoos.

Read more tattoo stories including tattoos to mark transformative moments and our interview with Cicely Rae Jackson.

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Tattoo stories: Cicely

At Things&Ink we’re a curious bunch – we want to know about your tattoos. Why did you get that design? Why that artist? Tell us EVERYTHING! So we’re introducing our tattoo stories series, as a way to get to know you all better (and be nosy). Here’s Cicely Rae Jackson (she/her) sharing her tattoo story…

Hello! My name is Cicely and I live in Holmfirth with my husband Josh and our two kids Lilith and Abel. I create content for a living and spend the rest of my time hunting for treasures in our local charity shops!

How old were you when you got your first tattoo, what was it and do you still like it? I was 17 or 18 when I got my first tattoo. It was a pretty dodgy studio and there were a lot of red flags that would stop me going ahead with the tattoo now, but I was young and inexperienced! 

I asked for a bow on the back of my ankle (they were super trendy back then ). I was never shown a design and the guy tattooed directly on to my leg without a stencil or freehand drawing, but I was happy enough with it for a couple of months. I then went to another studio and had it coloured in to try improve it, but it still wasn’t amazing. I later had it covered up with a bigger lilac bow, but you could still clearly see the original bow underneath.

So I eventually went to a great artist who worked it into another tattoo and covered up it up with a navy bow. 

What made you want to get tattooed? I’ve always loved the look of tattoos and grew up with a mum who really supported us in expressing ourselves and I just knew I wanted to be covered in tattoos at some point in my life.

Can you tell us about your tattoo collection, any favourite pieces, artists or experiences? The majority of my tattoos are traditional designs or done in a traditional style. I love how bold they look and how they sit together.

One of my favourite memories of getting tattooed was when my sister and I took a trip down the country to Hastings to get tattooed by Cassandra Francis. We got a hotel room and stayed for the weekend, it was such a great adventure.

When I chose my wedding dress I knew I needed my shoulders tattooed. That was such exciting wedding prep going to shedwolf in our local town to get them done in the lead up to the wedding.

Cicely on her wedding day

Jemma Jones has done kewpie baby tattoos of both our children, on both me and my husband. They are the same but different and I love how they represent the kids’ names.

One of my pride and joy tattoos is a crying lady head by Danielle Rose. She did a guest spot in Manchester on my birthday and it was meant to be. I had had a big year of crying, including a break up and getting this tattoo was a lovely end to that!

Do tattoos have to have a meaning? Not at all! Personally I consider my tattoos a collection of art from talented artists, I have a couple that mean a lot to me but I’d say 85% have no meaning!

What sorts of reactions do your tattoos get? I’m always happy to discuss my tattoos with people that have a genuine interest in them, the style or specific artists etc. I’d much rather people talk to me about them than just stare. 

The negative reactions to my tattoos have predominantly been from family members or people of the older generation. A manager, at one of the jobs I had as a teen, was really against my tattoos being on show as I worked on the women’s wear floor of a department store. The same rules didn’t apply to the staff on the men’s wear floor and we had a lot of disagreements about this!

Can you tell us about your experience as a tattooed mum? My experience as a tattooed mum has been on the whole, a positive one. When my daughter was younger and we would go to different baby groups, I would always be conscious that other mums would judge me but I think a lot of that was in my head.

I’ve also found tattoos to be a really lovely talking point with like-minded mums at these kind of baby groups or in the playground! If my tattoos put people off wanting to approach me as a mum friend then more than likely we wouldn’t get on anyway! 

What do your children think of your tattoos? They don’t really seem to notice them, I guess as they have been part of me for their whole lives. Sometimes my daughter will try to look for matching items that me and my husband have, like snakes or babies. My daughter’s friend refers to my tattoos as my patterns and she always wants to feel them.

Do your tattoos help you to view your body differently? I absolutely adore my body and I think my tattoos have played a big part in that. Sometimes when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror or see a photo that includes a lot of my tattoos, I feel so happy as this is exactly how I’ve always wanted to look.

Do you have any future tattoo plans? I would be completely covered if I had the money and the time! The next one I have booked in is my fingers and I would love to start on my chest this year.

Be sure to follow Cicely for charity shop treasure hunts, adorable kids and craft inspiration.

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Tattoo stories: Caroline

At Things&Ink we’re a curious bunch – we want to know about your tattoos. Why did you get that design? Why that artist? Tell us EVERYTHING! So we’re introducing our tattoo stories series, as a way to get to know you all better (and be nosy). First up is Caroline, a youth worker and creator of morbid art from Kent, UK sharing her tattoo story…

How old were you when you got your first tattoo, what was it and do you still like it? I was 18 years old and living in Eastbourne when I had a slightly abstract galaxy tattooed on my forearm. I am slowly blasting over that arm with blown up, large scale finger prints; but it’s still mostly visible at the moment. It’s not that I dislike the tattoo, it was done well and even 15 years later the white highlights have held up. I suppose it just doesn’t serve me any more. I’m not particularly emotionally attached to it so won’t be sad when it’s not visible. 

What made you want to get tattooed? Was there a person or experience? I didn’t know anyone with tattoos when I was growing up. My family were very middle class and very anti-tattoo and modification, so I didn’t really know tattooing existed until I noticed it on television and occasionally on strangers in the street. I remember noticing a man in the supermarket with a tribal sleeve and feeling fascinated.

Later, I started drawing on my hands and arms in school during lessons, and trying to make it as intricate as possible. My teen subculture was definitely goth, and we got our first internet ready computer when I was 12 years old, so as soon as that happened I was planning various body suits and hundreds of piercings. Perusing BMEzine became a daily ritual for me and it just escalated from there. 

Can you tell us about your tattoo collection, any favourite pieces/artists or experiences?The vast majority of my tattooing has been done by artists at Dead Slow in Brighton, and under its previous ownership as Nine. The artist who has done more of my work than anyone else is Jack Applegate, and I love working with him because it feels very collaborative and we’ve forged a great friendship. The way he works feels organic and painterly, which requires a lot of trust and communication. Last year he finished a leg piece on my right leg from ankle to hip inspired by Fenrir and Jormungandr of Norse mythology. He also finished my throat / chest piece which is hard to describe, but is essentially a Black Metal inspired necklace. Those two pieces have a special place in my heart. 

I’ve also really enjoyed being tattooed by Kirsty Simpson at Dead Slow. Once again I’ve found a real friend in Kirsty which has made the tattooing of my belly very comfortable, very professional, and almost emotional. I don’t think I’d want anyone else working on that part of my body. Knowing that Kirsty is very accepting, and appreciative of fat bodies has made the tattooing of this part of my body pretty enjoyable in a lot of ways. We have fun, we build each other up, and it all lends itself to a very warm and comfortable endeavour. 

Can you tell us about your latest tattoo and the story behind it? I have two ongoing projects, one with Kirsty Simpson and one with Jack Applegate. Jack is tattooing two satanic goats on my bum! At the time of writing, I have an appointment with Kirsty coming up to finish the new tattoo on my belly apron. I did the initial design myself, and it is a heavy black script of the word “Sanctuary”, and Kirsty has added her own flair to it. 

As a fat woman my stomach has often been the epicentre of my self-loathing, and the main target of abuse and fatphobia from others. At the age of 33 I decided that now was the time to do something drastic to reclaim it, embrace it, and start enjoying it. The fact my belly hangs and protrudes further than any other part of me, and yet it was bare and I’d tried so hard to ignore it, made it seem really stupid that I wasn’t tattooing it like the rest of my body.

‘Sanctuary’ came to mind as the perfect word to emblazon across it considering how horrifically I had viewed my body, particularly this part of it. Slowly I am coming to realise that my belly (and the rest of me) in all its softness is a sanctuary for friends, family, and lovers.

Hopefully over time and through actions like this, it will feel like my own sanctuary too. 

Do your tattoos help you to view your body differently? Over time tattooing has helped me reclaim my body, embrace and enjoy it. Through my whole life, from the age of five I have faced fatphobic bullying and abuse. Consistently I have been told that my body is wrong and incorrect, including what I should wear to hide it, what I should do to minimise it, what I should do to stop it getting “worse”, and what is and isn’t appropriate for my body to look like as a woman.

Tattooing wasn’t a rebellion, so much as it was a loving act.

The more tattooed I become, the less ashamed I am and the more I love my flesh. The decisions are solely mine, and I do not listen to anyone else in terms of what goes on my body. Despite the negative reactions I get, I am more and more comfortable in my skin since modifying it. I can wear a strappy top, shorts, or crop top and feel comfortable in a way I never did before modifying my body in a way that pleases me. That’s not to say I don’t have bad days, because I really do, but those bad days are no longer every day. 

What sorts of reactions do your tattoos get? The more tattooed I become, the more polarised reactions seem to be. I get more positive reactions than I did five years ago, with some people telling me that seeing me makes them feel more seen and embracing of themselves. People can be very kind and have genuinely polite curiosity. It can be refreshing to engage with someone well-meaning. My social circle is very small, and despite being the odd one out aesthetically, no one really acknowledges or talks about my tattooing.

My family seem to have reached a point where they just don’t pass comment anymore, when previously they had been quite negative. In my line of work it actually gives me a positive boost quite often, and young people I work with seem to respond well to me not looking like their teachers or social workers. I hope it helps them to see that you can be a professional and still look the way you like to look, and express yourself. 

Sadly, I also get more intensely negative reactions than I used to before. I face daily abuse when I leave the house. There is something about being fat, tattooed, and femme that makes some people think they can treat me like dirt. Perhaps it’s a trio of characteristics that makes people really angry. Walking my dog down the road will almost always lead to someone (or multiple people) calling me horrific names as they walk or drive past. I have had food thrown at me from moving vehicles, and I am regularly heckled in supermarkets and shops. On a few occasions I have been filmed without my permission and my image posted on social media.

It’s led to me isolating myself in a lot of ways, and some days I find it hard to walk out the front door. Most people tell me that I come across as confident and self-assured, and that I don’t appear to care what others think of me. More often than not I force myself to go about my day, refuse to react (usually because it doesn’t feel safe to do so), pretend I don’t notice. I don’t believe there is an easy solution to this. If I react I potentially put myself in harm’s way, and if I don’t maybe those people feel like they are vindicated in their nastiness. I really don’t know if it’s being fat or heavily tattooed that angers people the most. 

Thank you Caroline for sharing your story with us. Get in touch if you’d like to be part of our tattoo stories series.