Tuesday 2 July 2013

Tattoo Trends: Tentacles

Image via Very Best Pinterest Pins
The octopus seems to be growing in popularity as a tattoo motif. But it is not a new design; being a sea creature it featured heavily with tattooed sailors in the early 20th century. It was not quite as popular as ships and anchors but it still made an appearance.

Image via Tumblr
I'm not sure why it's suddenly spurted in popularity, maybe it's something to do with the meaning. Traditionally octopus tattoos are meant to signify regrowth; an octopus can grew its legs back (apparently) and so is a symbol for letting go of things causing you pain and new beginnings and all that jazz.

Image via Tattoo How

Octopus and tentacled creatures also denote mystery, especially the mysteries of the deep. So you may want to consider getting an octopus tattoo if you want to advertise your mysteriousness (surely reducing it in the process) or if you eject black ink when you get scared.

Image via Pinterest

Most octopus tattoos allow for a lot of detail and are a chance for an artist to shine. They range from the large and intricate...

Image via Tattoo Ideas Central

Image via nicejobhydrogenatom on Tumblr

To the small and simple.

Image via Flickr

Although they can go wrong and end up looking like ink splodges. An ink splodge with the wrong amount of legs.

Image via fyeahtattoos.com

I think octopus tattoos are an interesting mix of the traditional and contemporary and there are some amazing designs out there. Pity they're probably going to be so over done that they'll go the way of dolphins and anchors.

By the way, if you're too scared to get an octopus tattoo then you can always try out the trend with these Tattoo Socks.

Image via Tattoo Socks on Etsy





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