bookworms · with · ink

Last July, I finally went and got my Harry Potter tattoo. I love it -- even though it sometimes gets me eye rolls and disbelieving laughter. Because, for every eye roll, there's someone who gets SUPER EXCITED because I have a HARRY POTTER TATTOO! :D

(  I'm going to bed before either of you come up with another clever idea to get us killed, or worse, expelled.Collapse )

First and only tattoo, from the Keats poem Ode on Indolence. It's in his handwriting.

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i posted the beginning of my backpiece a while ago. it's based on the snow maiden, a russian fairy tale. i haven't updated my progress in a while despite having quite a few sessions.

here's an update being that i just had a 4.5 hr session with my artist:

hope you like it.

I read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and loved it immediately, but the quote below resonated with such fierceness that I knew it would become a tattoo.  To keep it simple, I chose I want, I want, I want in my own handwriting.

"She thought a long time and kept hitting her thighs with her fists. Her face felt like it was scattered in pieces and she could not keep it straight. The feeling was a whole lot worse than being hungry for any dinner, yet it was like that. I want-I want-I want was all she could think about--but just what this real want was she did not know." Carson MCcullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
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Got my first literary tattoo! It's from The Untold Want by Walt Whitman:

THE untold want, by life and land ne'er granted,
Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.

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I have been seriously contemplating getting my first tattoo for a little while, and have decided on using the quote, "Though my soul may set in darkness it will rise in perfect light, I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." It was written by Sarah Williams in her poem The Old Astronomer to His Pupil. I've seen the second half attributed to Galileo, but can't seem to find anything that really supports that.

So many people in this community have really beautiful tattoos, and also seem to know a lot about them. I'd love to get your input, as someone who's pretty new to the subject.

First of all, I'm not sure if I want the whole quote or just "I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." It's more poignant to me with both parts, but I'd still like to get some outside opinions.

Placement wise, If I do get both parts I'd like to split it up. One option I'd thought of was to have them on the tops of my thighs, far up enough to be covered in anything but shorts. Another is to put it on either side of my spine. What is it like to get tattoos in either of those areas, and what do you about that placement once you've got them? I'm also definitely interested in any other ideas you might have.

Finally, I'd really like to integrate some kind of visual or illustration element without going into too much of a cliche with the stars. Again, I'd love to hear any ideas you have.

Thanks so much!

Hey guys! I have a particular quote from Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett' Good Omens hat I've loved for years, but it's quite long by the standards of a text tattoo. I wanted to get some advice on it and see if you all thought it would be too long! Any help is appreciated :)

The quote is:

"And just when you'd think they were more malignant than ever Hell could be, they could occasionally show more grace than Heaven ever dreamed of."

I'd like to get it down my ribs, obviously broken into several lines. (I was thinking of "And just when you'd think/they were more malignant than ever Hell could be,/they could occasionally show more grace/than Heaven ever dreamed of.", but I'm not sure if that's awkward). I'd also like it to be in a very clean, typewriter-ish font, not scripted, if that makes any difference at all. I've tried and tried to think of ways to shorten it but I can't think of one that would hold the same meaning for me, and I echo what a lot of people have said about disliking incomplete quotations.

Thanks in advance!

Now here's my Stephen King one!

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God, I love this blog. So much inspiration and so many amazing stories. I'm so glad to contribute :)

So, I got my 7th tattoo today (4th literary) and I adore it. It's inspired by a line from Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost: " move wild laughter in the throat of death? It cannot be; it is impossible: Mirth cannot move a soul in agony." One of my dearest teachers always told us it was our mission to prove that line wrong, that one can and must move wild laughter in the throat of death. That mirth, wildness, passion, and life can triumph over death. I strive every day to live by that, and this permanent note-to-self, in my own handwriting, forever in my skin, is more dear to me than I can say. 

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