Cover up that old tattoo.

Some simple rules of thumb in order for your cover up to be successful include -

1. The new design should be approximately 4 times bigger than the cover up in order to give the best chance of visual disappearance of the old design. Quite simply if the old design is hidden amongst a small section of the new design then it will be much harder to spot.

2. Choose a flowing non-geometrical design such as a butterfly wing or flower to disguise your old tattoo. If the new design is very symmetrical or geometric then the old design will be much easier to spot due to the imperfections inherent in the new composition.

3. If you are limited in space for your cover up (for example if it on your neck and you don’t want to make an even larger statement) then make sure sure your design has some good dark colours and some light complimentary colours to really distract from the old design.

4. Even in the very best cover ups you will be able to see a small bit of the old design and that is only due to the fact that you know it is there! If it is done well then people who haven’t seen your tattoo before and even friends who have, should not be able to tell it’s a cover up.

5. If in doubt put a Panther on top! Traditional style tattoos of panthers, eagles, snakes, dragons and fish always work well for cover ups as they have as a rule a lot of black, colours, and scales always cover things very well.

6. Older tattoos are easier to cover up. They are generally lighter in colour and easier to work with.

7. The new design does not sit on top of the old one as ink never really dries in the skin. It is held in place by macrophages or white blood cells which essentially encapsulate the ink deposits within them. When more ink is introduced during a cover up then the inks basically mix within your skin to make new colours. Hence the preference for darker coloured inks to successfully cover your old tattoo.

8. Sometimes the old tattoo may just need to be reworked as it has faded into obscurity, or been poorly executed. If this is the case you may be able to get that tattoo that you wanted in the first place!