Tag: Women with Tattoos

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Tattoos & Yoga: Emma Vasquez

24-year-old Emma Vasquez , is a yoga teacher from Carlisle. We chatted to Emma to find out more about her daily practice, her tattoos and living a vegan lifestyle…

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How old were you when you got your first tattoo and what was it? I was 18, it’s an owl on my thigh it’s about A4 size.

What drew you to the world of tattoos? Full bodysuits of tattoos. I just loved seeing so many tattoos together on one person, the colours and work just blew me away. I remember seeing a bodysuit on a lady in the swimming pools when I was about 10 or 11 and I was in awe of how awesome she looked.

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What influenced your decision to get tattooed? I just liked how it looked, getting tattooed didn’t feel like a huge deal for me really, I don’t really have any that are meaningful or tell a story. It was more just get a tattoo done and that’s it. Go to a good tattooist and just enjoy the whole experience.

Can you tell us a little about your tattoos? I have both arms done, traditional and lots of colours and flowers. A nautical style piece on my back, an om on my chest, Ganesha on my stomach. I have both thighs tattooed, back of thighs, knees, shins, calves. All ten toes, insides of my feet and tops of my feet.  They’re all traditional and I’ve been tattooed by many great tattooists, most were done by Megan Fell and her dad Colin Fell. Both solid tattooers.

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How did your yoga journey begin? About five years, I had started meditating and wanted to see if yoga would complement that. I took my first class at the same studio I now work for, I totally fell in love with yoga from the start.

Have you been treated differently as a heavily tattooed woman in the yoga industry? I have had students tell me they were worried about coming to my classes because my tattoos make me look scary or “hard” even though I always have a huge smile on my face! People have outright told me they think my tattoos look awful and they don’t like them. But that’s their opinion and that’s fine. Sometimes I’ve had students giggle or point at my tattoos to their friends but never at the yoga studio in Carlisle where I work now, this was from other places I taught yoga. So I suppose people have said things or giggled and pointed at me to their friends because of my tattoos. I just let it be, I think the more tattoos you get the more you just don’t care about what anyone else thinks. I like them that’s all that matters.

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Has your lifestyle changed since you started teaching? Not really, when I started yoga that’s when my lifestyle changed. I became vegan and made a lot of different life choices but since I started teaching it’s all just been so natural and fluid. No forcing anything, everything just flows really. It’s a great way to live, very relaxed.

Do your tattoos coincide with your yoga practice? I think as I am a strict ashtanga practitioner they do, ashtanga is a very yang style of yoga and if I go to other studios to do an ashtanga class I guarantee a few ashtangis will have tattoos! I suppose I also feel covered up with my tattoos when I practice, I feel hidden and in my own little world. I do get a lot of compliments about them though, in the studio and even people stopping me in the street.

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Have they helped you to connect to yourself or the world in a different way? Actually getting tattooed made me realise we can step away from emotions and feelings, we don’t have to hold on to them or identify with them. If you’re in pain getting tattooed just accept it as your present moment experience and know that it’ll pass.

Have yoga and tattoos helped you to view your body differently, has yoga? Definitely, yoga made me completely fall in love with my body, to heal and nurture it and to be proud of it. And getting tattooed has also made me feel much more confident in my own skin.

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Where do you teach and how can people get involved? 
I teach at the Yoga Studio Carlisle in Cumbria, it’s the most beautiful tranquil space. You get involved by coming along to classes! I run the ashtanga yoga programme here as well and that’s a real rarity for Cumbria! It’s fantastic to be teaching at the same studio I started my yoga journey in.

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Tattooed Blogger: Shanice Willoughby

23-year-old Shanice Willoughby, is a blogger, barista and florist in training from Surrey. We chat to Shanice about her blog, love for flowers and bohemian style…

When did you start blogging? How did you get into it? I started blogging last year on the first of January! I’d been wanting to do it for ages but lacked the confidence and fear of people not being that interested on what I had to post, but in the end decided to take the plunge regardless of that!

What can readers expect to see on your blog? Readers can expect a range of fashion, lifestyle, mental health and plant posts!

What influences your blog posts? Anything and everything really, whether it’s bits I’ve brought fashion wise, a location spot that I have to tell people about, coffee spots, traveling to lovely new places, or ups and downs in my mental health!

How does your job and running the blog go together? Does one help the other or do they clash? It is very difficult to work a 40+ hour full time job and run a blog along side it, some weeks I won’t have the time to post and it does bother me but it’s very hard to divide time/find the time to shoot new outfit posts, etc.

How would you describe your style? A modern day young Stevie Nicks- I am obsessed with seventies-bohemian style, think embroidery, fringe and flowy fabrics with delightful prints.

Do your tattoos reflect this? Can you tell us about your collection I think they do in a way yes, I absolutely adore flowers and have a fair few pieces now on my body which I love and want more of! I have the element symbols on my fingers (a true bohemian child) along with a few moons dotted around my body. I have a old sailor’s chant scripted on my arm about a mermaid, and other bits linked to the sea! I think my tattoos definitely reflect my wild spirit side.

Do you have any future tattoo plans or a wish list? More flowers, a lot more! (I have a very good friend who does wonderful flower work and she’s done all my new pieces!) And i’d love to get some mandala/henna style work done for sure!

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Ally Sparham: Tattooed Freelance Administrative Assistant

32-year-old Ally Sparham is a administrative assistant to writers, bloggers, authors and editors based in Essex. We chatted to Ally to find out more about her freelance work and tattoo collection…

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When did you get your first tattoo, what was it and do you still love it? I was 19, my nan had died a few months before and I decided to have her last words to me tattooed in simple script on my hip. The lettering was very small and over time the ink has spread slightly, but I still love it because of the sentiment behind it. There’s nothing like the feeling of having your first tattoo, you feel like a new person and it always makes me smile.

What drew you to the world of tattoos? I have always been a bit of an outsider. I was a quiet loner throughout school and I loved art and reading. I started noticing others with tattoos and thought about having artwork on my own body. This drew me closer and closer to the world of tattoos and the tattooed community – I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to express myself differently to the majority of people around me, in my own quiet way.

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Do you consider yourself a collector? I do consider myself a collector now. A couple of years ago I travelled to Salon Serpent in Amsterdam to have a tattoo of a bee on my wrist as a reminder of being in one of my favourite cities. It was done by Roald van den Broek – I love his black and grey stippled style. I have been tattooed by a variety of female artists and have punctuated various stages of life with a tattoo. My right arm sleeve is nearly complete, and my plan is to continue with the left arm this year. I’m always thinking about my next tattoo.

When and why did you start your blog? What sorts of things did you feature? I started my  now-retired tattoo blog, Tattoo Carousel, back in 2015, I had been at a new office job in finance for a year and I felt really stunted. I was not enjoying my job and I needed an outlet to focus on which centred around something I was passionate about and loved dearly, so I started writing about tattoos. It gave me something to look forward to and think about during the day, other than my job! I wrote about various natural/homemade/vegan aftercare products that I had tried, I wrote about my favourite artists and why I loved them, I included an interview with a friend who loved tattoos but had not yet had any, and a long guide on all my top tips on how to make the most of a tattoo experience.

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What do you now? And how did this come about? How can people get involved? I was enjoying a fortnight off from my day job last year and I had a lightbulb moment while I was sitting by the beach one day. Everyone was out walking their dogs and I really wished I had a job where I could have the freedom to have a dog of my own and be in control of my time, and also to be free to have any part of my body tattooed – including my hands, which has always been a dream. I decided to start my own business which combined the skills I’d gained in my work history with my personal loves of writing and art and became a freelance administrative assistant to other bloggers/writers/authors and magazine editors. I have always enjoyed problem solving and am quite techy, so I thought, why not be on hand to help others be more productive with their creativity and be a kind of background cog in their creative machine.

People can get involved if they are writing or working on a creative project but have started to feel overwhelmed by all the time-consuming tasks that come with it – things like transcribing interviews, proofreading, scheduling posts or even scouring the internet for research. They can then go back to focusing on being creative. I know that self-care has become quite a hot topic in the last few years, and I do agree that reducing overwhelm and looking after ourselves, including with mental health, is important if we want to feel balanced.

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I would just like to say that I’m so pleased to have found Things&Ink – so many tattoo magazines feel a bit alienating and not very relatable to me, but Things&Ink was exactly what I didn’t know I was looking for. I love to celebrate how popular tattooing has become among women and how diverse the tattooed community has become. It focuses on art and the expression of ourselves on a deeper level, which as moved on from antiquated views that tattooing was a bit seedy and sinful.

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Careers: Tattooed Make-Up Artist

We chat to 26-year-old Charlotte Amy Tompkins, Make-Up Artist at Urban Decay based in Chester, about her incredible tattoo collection and personal style…

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I was 17 when I got my first tattoo, a small red bow on the bottom of my back in Blackpool. God knows how I even managed go get it! I look so young now, think what I looked like at 17? Thankfully it’s since been covered by my on-going back piece – which I need to get finished! At the minute I’m filling my gaps pretty slowly, but I want to get started on a stomach piece soon too.

I’ve always loved tattoos, I never used to like colour tattoos for some reason, but now look at me! Having my tattoos is such a boost, I love having them on me as they are a part of me and will be forever. My tattoos are mainly of animals and roses – you can’t beat a good rose! I absolutely love animals and roses are my favourite flower.

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Tattoo by @gibb0o

I get a lot of mixed reactions from people when they see my tattoos, they either go one or two ways. I get stared at rudely, some people shake their head in disgust too. I was once on the bus back from work and behind me were two elderly ladies talking about how have I even got a job and I should be ashamed being a lady covered in tack!

But when I’m at work I get amazing compliments and most are from women aged 50 or over, who are so interested and just wowed by my look, which is amazing. Kids love them too, they’re attracted to the colours, I had a little girl who was shopping with her mum recently, who got her mum to tell me that she thought I was beautiful with my tattoos and hair. It’s the little things that make me smile, but some people really hate tattoos for no reason really. But I love my skin thanks to all the amazing tattooists out there!

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Chest and neck tattoos by Paula Castle, Ash Boss and Jody Dawber.

I landed my current position at Urban Decay out of pure tenacity, I just kept going back after handing in my CV and eventually I got through three stages of interviews. I worked in a coffee shop before, I enjoyed it but it wasn’t what I wanted to do career wise.

I’m really lucky that as a make-up artist and working for Urban Decay my job let’s me be myself. I would have gotten my more visible tattoos done eventually regardless, as they are a part of me now, but my job does help. I love how they look and how pretty they are. For those wanting to get more visible tattoos I would think really hard about what you want in the long run and think about how it will effect work first. As I said I’m lucky!

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I’m vegan, and I love that I work for a brand that is cruelty free, I love what they stand for. My typical day depends on my customers, I always sit them down to get to know them and find out what it is they want. At Urban Decay we love showing the off products and having a play, we want everyone to feel good about themselves and raring to come back and try more!

Urban Decay love people being themselves so hell yeah I dress how I want. My style is definitely different, a little quirky maybe a bit weird. I love black but I also liked having coloured hair, big earrings and platform shoes. Of course my tattoos are usually on show as they’re hard to hide!