Artificial Ink

We've all been there- drawing little flowers on your ankle, pretending to have hand tattoos with puppet faces, summertime application of the Looney Tunes stick ons, and maybe even in a moment of drunken weakness succumbed to the beach hippies giving henna. However, once you get past the age of 12 it's mildly unacceptable to continue on the trend of fake body modification. Tattoo culture is an extremely bizarre and cultish lifestyle with many subgroups who all equally snub the others. For those not quite ready to take the 18-and-over plunge into permanent body modification, piercing is a good way to get your feet wet. It's rebellion that can be hidden at opportune times, such as Christmas at Aunt Mildred's or your first day of work as an elementary school teacher.

Fake tattoos seem to be gaining in popularity, and not just with the under 16 crowd. There have even been been talks of developing tattoo ink that will last for anywhere from a month to a year, or erasable with 1 laser treatment rather than several. I personally find this to be a complete sham. If you're going to do it, do it. Don't pop a Valium, grit your teeth, take the pain, and basically man up. If you want to be in the club, earn it with the commitment and the dedication to do it the RIGHT way.

To those of you who find this mindset snobby or elitist, my guess is that you don't have a tattoo, and you might be interested in these artificial ink stick ons specially designed, it seems, with hipster photo shoots in mind. I suppose these fill a completely separate niche than actual tattoos, but it's such a fine line these days as tattoo culture becomes more mainstream with every passing day. While there are some definite benefits to this culture trend, it does tend to dim the romantic side of body art. Despite my initial hesitation to embrace mainstream (as mainstream as Etsy can get!) tattoo-inspired art, it IS damn cute. Check out some more ink-inspired work on Etsy here.