TattooFilter: Conjuring up a design based on something recited.

September 16, 2015 11:37 AM

I'm booked for a consultation with a tattoo artist this weekend to design what I feel is my final tattoo, but the problem is: how do you create a tattoo based on the Shipping Forecast?

I realize it will be nautical in nature, surely, but seeing as the Shipping Forecast is a soothing and beloved recitation of weather forecasts for the seas around the UK, how do I extrapolate that into ink form? I am wary of anything very super sailor-y.

The tattoo will be on my upper right arm. Not sure if I will go half-sleeve yet. There are some gorgeous prints about the Shipping Forecast around the Internet--my husband designed a typographical one for my birthday a couple of years ago and there are couple more on order--but Googling "shipping forecast tattoo" comes up with surprisingly nothing.

I am not an artist, I am talking with a tattoo artist, but I'd like to have more concrete idea than "um, dunno know really."

posted by Kitteh to Grab Bag (13 answers total)

Just to be clear: do you want a tattoo symbolizing the shipping forecast or are you looking for a typographical one that will look good as a tattoo?
posted by griphus at 11:40 AM on September 16, 2015

Best answer: If the former here's a very nice decorative shipping forecast map that could be adapted into a tattoo. If you don't like that but like the map idea, I will bet the tattoo artist will be able to do something more with the plain map as a reference.
posted by griphus at 11:45 AM on September 16, 2015

Response by poster: griphus, either one honestly. Just as long as it's got pretty clean lines.
posted by Kitteh at 11:56 AM on September 16, 2015

Best answer: "Soothing recitation" makes me picture strings of words swirling around, maybe small enough so that it's not immediately evident that it's text. I would pick a particular day's forecast and use the text to create an image. I'm picturing swirly clouds or waves patterning up your arm, but the idea could go lots of directions.

More random images off google image search that are kinda getting at the gist of what I am picturing.
posted by yeahlikethat at 12:11 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

OH: I just came across this drawing from yesterday's penmanship FPP that gets the spirit of it across.
posted by yeahlikethat at 12:28 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: It's recited, but that recitation is presumably read from some sort of script. Maybe make it look like a typed-up radio script, or even represent the paper script on a table with a microphone and cup of tea?

Alternately you could have a ship's radio with a comics style word bubble done in the jaggy style used to connote speech coming from a loudspeaker (see "radio balloon" here.)
posted by contraption at 12:32 PM on September 16, 2015

yeahlikethat: " I just came across this drawing "

OMG do something like this one, gorgeous
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:36 PM on September 16, 2015 [5 favorites]

Best answer: While I understand the idea to have the scene made out of words, these things tend not to age well in the long run. After the tattoo settles, fades and blurs, it will probably just look like squiggles. Text tattoos seem to be pretty popular these days, but I think that if you can put it into an image rather just words it will look nicer. That's my personal preference, anyway.

You say that you're wary of anything "sailory..." does this just mean the traditional Sailor Jerry type tattoos or anything nautical at all? When you described this, I thought of a seaside scene with soft waves, gently flowing wind lines, fluffy clouds, that sort of thing. A seascape drawn to express calmness and serenity. This is also a nice idea... the concept of a ship gently sailing on radio or sound waves. Maybe coming out of a nice antique phonograph or radio set?
posted by marshmallow peep at 2:15 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Traditional Sailor Jerry stuff is off the table but a seaside scene done well sounds lovely! The biggest reason I love the shipping forecast is the sense of peacefulness and calm I feel when I hear it. The magical code of the locales and the state of the weather just make it a big bonus!
posted by Kitteh at 3:57 PM on September 16, 2015

I personally would choose a typographic tattoo: Rising Slowly
posted by DarlingBri at 4:24 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I'm married to a font junkie so I am sure he has font ideas for this.
posted by Kitteh at 4:26 PM on September 16, 2015

Best answer: I get marshmallow peep's concern about text tattoos, but in this case, I actually rather like the idea of a tattoo designed to fade out and blur over time, almost like performance body art! I listened to a few clips of the shipping forecast and it seems appropriate for the subject matter, especially since here the actual words are less critical than the sense of it as a whole. Caveat, I do not have any tattoos and I probably wouldn't get a performance art tattoo myself, this is purely an intellectual exercise for me.

Kitteh, I hope you come back and post a picture of whatever you and your tattoo artist end up creating!
posted by yeahlikethat at 5:03 PM on September 16, 2015

You could try commissioning something on Etsy or deviantart. Some tattoo artists are great sketch artists, some, not so great. I like the idea of a wavescape with the wave caps made of the place names in script.
posted by irisclara at 10:21 PM on September 16, 2015