Tattoo fixers

[SurlyCue]

Is anyone watching? I think I'm a little bit in love with Sketch

It's all just a staged TV show though, it's not like people actually walk in off the street or phone the studio, they get on the show by phoning E4 and going through an application process!

Im going to tell my sister to apply. She got a tattoo on her inside upper arm but the tattooist went too deep and the ink seeped so she she now has a permanent blue cloud around the script.

Good idea SurlyCue - my original tattoo was a smudgy blur because it was done so badly. My new one is a work of art and you wouldn't know was a cover up unless you knew precisely where to look. Life is too short to wear bad body art

Are you in NI, Surly, or have I made that up? If you are, have you heard of anywhere good for botanical stuff? I'm thinking along these lines for a cover up/adaptation.

I am indeed skoda. I cant give personal recommendations as all mine bar one were done outside of NI. The one that was done here is shite and the guy is dead now! I do hear lots and lots of good things about skinworks but havent seen any of their work.

Did you kill him?

I have one that I got done in Skullduggery years ago, but it isn't as detailed as I'd like, and I'd like it covered.

it was declared as death due to natural causes

I do actually love Sketch

i love the show but i am utterly convinced to never get a tattoo after watching. i have learnt it is easy to get a botch job and a cover up will take half the body region no matter how small the original.
i half expect someone going in to cover up a small full stop and coming out inked from head to toe!

Nah those coverups are just what the clients have asked for. Coverups dont have to be any bigger than they original tattoo.

Bigger tattoos tend to look nicer than small tattoos anyway. There's just more scope for lots of detail, etc.

Some of them are stupidly big though. No room for subtle in the world of tattoo cover ups it seems.

This one was just a very small smiley face around his nipple.

That seahorse was insane, they could have just done a nice circle of flowers around the ankle and instead she has this garish seahorse going up to her knee!

I guess the people who join this program are so sick of their tattoos they no longer give a shit what covers them as long as tney're marginally better.

I was pretty disappointed in Lou. One guy said he wanted humour, so she did a generic flaming skull, and another guy said he wanted something manly so she did a swallow and flowers??!!

I was pretty bemused by the guy who's problem was that his tattoo scared his elderly clients too much - so he decided to cover it up with A SKULL!!

I do watch this show but I don't know why. The tattooists featured are supposedly "the best in the country" according to the voiceover but their work is average to dreadful (Lou and the chap who isn't Sketch are OK); I wouldn't want anything of theirs on me.

As to some of the comments here, the general rule for coverups is you do have to go bigger - sometimes a lot bigger - and darker if you're not having laser first to lighten. Ink doesn't cover old ink completely and you will always have some of the old tattoo showing through when healed - this doesn't matter so much if it's only taking up a small part of the new one. Plus if you like tattoos getting something bigger isn't a problem necessarily.

"Lou is actually a really great tattoo artist and a super lovely person, I've personally been tattooed by her twice (the studio she works in is amazing too). Her work is on Instagram under the name LouHopperTattoo."

She's known in the tattoo community for quite often ripping off other people's work, unfortunately... she hasn't been tattooing that long, I don't think, so hopefully she will improve and have more confidence in her own ideas.

Skoda, I can recommend Belfast City Skinworks. I had a cover up done there 3 weeks ago by Kat Paine but they have several really good artists. My friend has had a lot of really superb pieces done by Skinworks too.

Thanks Harlett. Was your cover up huge compared to the original? And did Kat design it for you, or did you go in with ideas?

It is bigger but by choice rather than necessity. I'm sure I could have been covered by something smaller.

I wne in with some elements that I wanted but not much idea if how to put them together. I saved a load of pictures to my phone and Kat and I talked through waht I liked and didn't like then she went off and designed a first draft which I could have changed but I was more than happy with her first attempt. I'll PM you some pics in a minute.

Can't actually PM a pic apparently so I'll just stick the pic up here. Original tat is under the blue flower.

That was freshly done. Cant get a better photo yet because its not fully healed so not looking it's best.

I'm almost tempted to apply to go on. My tattoo isn't awful, but it is unimaginative and generic. I've always meant to get it added to or developed but never found the time or the right place to go.

Always feel a bit awkward as well cos I don't know what I want, just something beautiful and cool!

Elle I knew I wanted my smudgy blur covered but didn't know what I wanted either. I got lost in an Instagram hole looking for artists I liked and then emailed a few before deciding on one. She came up with the design for me based on my brief. The original tattoo is hidden in the leaf at the bottom of my new ones.

I can't wait for my next one now. I want a blackwork Alice in Wonderland type affair - basically her falling down the rabbit hole but not cartoony.

If there's one thing I love, its a random tattoo quest.....

Oooh, some more.....!