Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tattoos will fall out of fashion no matter what happens.
Well, 5000 years and counting.
I think tattoos are even older than this. Tattoos will continue to exist, but they won't be fashionable.
Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year
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Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year
#112I'm torn. On one hand, this invention will keep a lot of people from making the very common mistake of getting ink they don't like and can't remove. On the other hand, a beautiful part of this art form is that it is basically permanent. To my mind, a tattoo loses a lot of its value of it's only temporary.
I'm with you but I'm not torn. A temporary tattoo to me is like a kid's sticker tattoo. Tattoo's magic, as you said is from being a permanent work of art on your skin. Making you a canvas for life. Without that aspect one might as well use a ballpoint pen to draw something on oneself.
Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year
#113I'm torn. On one hand, this invention will keep a lot of people from making the very common mistake of getting ink they don't like and can't remove. On the other hand, a beautiful part of this art form is that it is basically permanent. To my mind, a tattoo loses a lot of its value of it's only temporary.
> On one hand, this invention will keep a lot of people from making the very common mistake of getting ink they don't like and can't remove.
Not sure that it will change an often spur of the moment, possibly rebellious or first love, decision. When asked the question do you want it in permanent ink I still think the answer will be mostly yes.
Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year
#114I am very skeptical about this, because when tattoo ink fades, it accumulates inside the lymphatic system, it is not flushed out of the body.
Black ink, for example, colors the lymph nodes within the area of the tatoo completely black. Black ink is made out of soot which often contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a carzinogen.
So if they say their product is "designed to break down after a year" and "By using smaller molecules, we’ve encapsulated them inside this spherical structure that’s big enough that your immune system doesn’t take it away. But when you remove it, it essentially eats away one of the components and the dye molecules are flushed out", i really wonder if this could quickly develop into a real health problem.
Smaller molecules really sound like nano particles and since tattoo dye is not flushed out of your body, i tend to assume those nano particles will accumulate inside the lymphatic system. And what about that "spherical structure" stuff, what is it made of? And that "removal solution" they talk about on their website, the symbol next to it looks like its also tattoed into the skin.
Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Tattoos will fall out of fashion no matter what happens.
They are gross. OTOH, I kind of like how they warn me about people who make rash decisions. I'd love to see a proper study of how well tattoos correlate with drug use, STDs, assault, debt, obesity, single parenting, failure to use a seatbelt, tooth decay, low-pay college degree choices, and other indicators of short-term thinking.
I don't have any tattoos and have zero interest in ever getting any, but this seems incredibly judgemental. Some of the most normal and boring people I know happen to have tattoos.
Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year
#116The only thing stopping me from getting an arm sleeve is knowing it will be there forever, and during future times when I can't have one. Though if it lasts 12 months, by month 8 will I have a half-faded looking thing that I either have to retouch, or deal with until it fades completely?
If you are worried that you won't like your tattoo in 20 years, then you are correct in not getting one. If you are getting a tattoo because it looks cool right now, save your money and just get a better wardrobe.
Clothes are petty expensive tho
Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, I had the same reaction. I've got quite a bit of ink and the permanence is a huge part of what makes it meaningful to me. They aren't just pretty pictures; they tell a story.
It's just another option for people. I like permanent tattoos as well, and I love checking out a person's tattoo's (though I'm not fond of 'full sleeves' and similar, where it's hard to pick out the individual tatts). The 'story' point reminded me of my response to people who say "Yeah, but what will your tatts look like when you're 80? They'll look terrible": "What, you mean at the end of my time, after I've enjoyed…
> Yeah, but what will your tatts look like when you're 80?
Which is a good point. Current tattoos are also limited in life span. Even before a person dies, the tattoo will start to blur. So really these guys are just lowering the life span of a tattoo to something within a persons life. Which is already a thing since you can get tattoos removed by laser.
So all they have done, should they succeed is make things more convenient.
Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year
#118Oh good, even more barbed wire biceps, carp sleeves, black fore-arm stars, "tribal" patterns on white dudes, spiderwebs, hummingbirds, infinity symbols, and other ways for people to show how eager they are to express their "individuality"! Edit: Down-vote me if I offend your tattooed rebellious self-image, it's fine, but there's a real point to be made. This technology will lead to a lot more tattoos, and a lot more…
What's wrong with tribal tats on whites guys? They had as little to do with the invention of those patterns as the descendants of the originators; Are tatoos limited to signalling personal perception of identity?
Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year
#119$50-100 for an average sized tattoo. So that's the price before you even pay the artist to do the work. Quite a big premium. I'd say the 'average' sized tattoo (something large on your bicep but not fully covering it or wrapping around it) is probably $300 and most of that cost is labour. Add the price of this expensive ink and you're paying $350-400 - for something that's going to disappear after a year.
Not to nitpick but $50-100 buys you typically an extremely small, single-color tattoo in many places. My last tattoo was a simple flag about 2x3" with 3 colors and a geometric design and cost around $120. Not sure what an "average" size tattoo is, but you're already looking at $350-400 for say, a 3x6" full color tattoo of any appreciable complexity.
As scott_s pointer out $50-100 was just the price of this special ink. So for the extremely small tattoo price you're quoting this ink doubles the total cost and only lasts 1 year.
Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year
#120$50-100 for an average sized tattoo. So that's the price before you even pay the artist to do the work. Quite a big premium. I'd say the 'average' sized tattoo (something large on your bicep but not fully covering it or wrapping around it) is probably $300 and most of that cost is labour. Add the price of this expensive ink and you're paying $350-400 - for something that's going to disappear after a year.
If tattoos are suddenly much more accessible, then there's going to be a lot more competition driving the price down, including a lot more opportunity for people to gain experience tattooing.
I disagree. Tattoo's may be more accessible for the person buying in that more people are willing to take the plunge - but the number of artists isn't going to increase. And the time a tattoo takes to complete isn't going to decrease. Essentially demand will increase (quite significantly) and supply will remain the same. So prices will increase. It takes many years to become a good tattoo artist and even a small tattoo is quite a time consuming procedure. There's little that can be done on the supply side to increase it.