Tattoo Tuesday V.82

Name/blog name: Mia Wäppling- mariakalinka.blogspot.com

Age: 37

Occupation: I live in a town in the middle of Sweden, Örebro. I am a youth worker and work with kids and teenagers in after school activities and with something called “Open pre-school”. Open pre-school is a place where the parents and their children can come to play, sing, paint, and meet other kids and their parents. It’s a very creative job, I often play theatre, sing and paint with the kids at work.. I get to use all my creativity and get paid for it at the same time. I`m an artist and paint as much as possible in my spare time.  I also make things in wood and concrete, wooden boxes for kitchen herbs, cabinets, frames and signs. I mould plates and pots in concrete and I love doing ceramics.  Recently I’ve had the opportunity to work a little extra with taking pictures at concerts which is fantastic as I get to combine my interest in metal music with photographic art. 

Age of first tattoo: 35

Favorite tattoo: It’s a friendship tattoo. One of my best friends gave me a tattoo for my birthday. We have talked for a long time about getting matching tattoos. I drew two tattoos and we got them done. Mine is a portrait of myself coming out of a rose. Hers is the same but with her own face.

Featured tattoo: chest piece

Artist/shop of feature tattoo: All my tattoos (except my Babushka) are made by Lisa Engberg at Everlasting and Traditional Tattoo Parlor in Orebro, Sweden. They have a facebook group for anyone interested. My Babushka is made by Lisa´s apprentice Anna Lernvik.

1) Tell us about your featured tattoo- is there a background story or special meaning? Why did you choose this particular piece of art? 

My chestpiece. It's two swallows with the words “My loved ones”. The two sparrows are my two kids. The sparrows symbolize my kids being free and independent people. First I wanted to have my kids’ names but then I started thinking of all people that I have close to my heart. Some have passed away, like my dad, and some lives far away so I decided that my loved ones was better, it includes ALL people I hold dear in my life.

2) Do you have any other tattoos?  If so, what do you have and where? 

Yes I have a sleeve. It has a seven roses (including the rose girl). The text, “this fire burn always” is from a Killswitch Engage song, “This fire”. It stands for the people and things in my life I feel deep love and passion for……my kids, painting, music etc. On my other arm I’m going to tattoo the first sentence of the lyric, “ Even through the darkest days”. The lyrics symbolize how my love and passion carries me through even the darkest days when challenges and sorrows throws a spanner in the wheel of life. 

I also have a feather pen tattoo with a little bottle of ink on the side.  It’s a feather of a peacock.  The pen symbolize my art and peacocks symbolize immortality. I have painted my whole life and creative expression is life for me. 

The two butterflies on my arm symbolize resurrection. I really like the symbolic in butterflies, the three different stages. The caterpillar stands for the earthly life, the chrysalis stands for death and the butterfly stands for the resurrection. I have a key with a four leaved clover on it. My last name means clover in Swedish. I also have two violets, a hibiscus and some other Hawaiian themed flowers. On my other arm I have a Babushka doll. It is not completely finished yet but it is there to symbolize all the layers a person have to their persona, most people will just see the outer shell but only a few will be let in to see the inner core and maybe the smallest, most vulnerable part of me.

 

3) Do you plan on getting more?  

OF COURSE! I have plans for a sleeve on my other arm and both my legs needs colour and I have nothing on my back yet….

4) How do your family and friends feel about your tattoo(s)?  Have you run into any adversity or negativity because of them? 

I have wanted to get tattoos since I was young but after thinking about it for fifteen years I decided that life is short and you should do the things you really want. You only have a lifetime to live so stop thinking so much and do it! I made them for myself so I don´t really care if anybody else like them or not it is something I want to do for myself! Actually, I think the more tattoos I get, the more girly I feel. 

I have two kids and they like my tattoos. My mother is not a fan of them. But she accepts them. Almost all my friends like them. The most people I meet don’t have a problem with my tattoos but sometimes people say -what are you going to do with them when you get old and wrinkly? Well, by that time most old people will have ink all over so that’s no problem for me. It is art, it is a way to tell people things about you and most of all it is a way to express for yourself important events and people in your life. All my tattoos have a special meaning for me. 

5) Any advice for those interested in getting tattooed but haven't gotten one yet? 

Choose your tattoo carefully. Don´t go for cool  and fashionable tattoos. Fashion and what is cool changes over time so the tattoo should be meaningful to you, as your personal expression. And don't forget to look at your tattoo artist work BEFORE you let them put their ink on you.