My 5th Tattoo - Yin Yang Symbol

I was 20 years old when I got my first ink done. And oh boy, tattoo pain is really addicting. That's why I end up having a total of 4. An sms last friday made me remember my fascination with this kind of art. Dong's sms: tattoo session on sunday. are you game?

Currently I have 1 tweety bird, 1 chinese character alphabet, 1 ancient chain design and 1 tribal drawing. Hmmm.... add 1 more on my back neck? why not right?! After hours of contemplating, I called my mom to ask permission and as expected, she said yes. Yehey!

choosing the design...

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After almost an hour of checking what art to put, I decided to go for a uniquely customized "yin yang" chinese symbol. As explained on the net, this sign represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents "everything", while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause everything to happen. They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other. While "yin" would be dark, passive, downward, cold, contracting, and weak, "yang" would be bright, active, upward, hot, expanding, and strong. The shape of the yin and yang sections of the symbol, actually gives you a sense of the continual movement of these two energies, yin to yang and yang to yin, causing everything to happen: just as things expand and contract, and temperature changes from hot to cold.

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So let the pictures continue what I wanted to tell you guys....

putting the initial marking :)

the base marking.

let's get tattooed!

initial lining using black ink.

pain is inevitable! ouch! hehe....

blue shading now. too painful! seems needle touching my neck bone.

45 minutes of continues needle piercing equals perfect art.

me with the celebrity tattoo artist (he did some work for famous filipino personalities like aiza seguerra and rosanna roses)

sending sms to my mom that tattoo is done.

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So now, Mommy Ybeth just got her 5th inked! It may seems deviant and rebellious for some, but for me it is indeed an art as I put it only on location I know I can hide it if I don't feel like showing it off. Different people have different form of self-expression. I choose this, what's yours?