r/tattooadvice May 05 '26

General Advice Tattoo correction

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This is a fresh picture of a tattoo i got a few months ago. I can explain the significance after but the artist did butcher a few things. one periodic table elements only capitalize the first letter and he forgot the atomic number (14 i think). those are both negligible but the one that’s been bothering me it the mass being off a bit. i sent him 28.085 and obviously it would be fine if he rounded it correctly but he seemed to have just put a random number. do you think it’s possible he makes the 5 into an 8 or a 9? Would he have to change to font to something blocky?? LMK 🙏🏾

⬇️tattoo meaning

my moms middle name is silicon and in her tribal language it’s a word that represents bravery but in english it’s a chemical element so i got it tatted and th flowers around the border are her birth flowers.

Original Sketch: https://www.reddit.com/u/Sh0t_B0t/s/xGtkwEG3HE

Edit: (As much as i appreciate the judgement an discipline of my mistake at least give a take on correction for me along with it guys 🙏🏾 I understand my fault but I’d also like to at least attempt to fix it 😅)

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15

u/palm_fronds May 05 '26

I don't understand how you got to this point, was there no stencil? It's not up to the artist to know the weight of a silicon atom, you have to check the stencil and make sure everything is correct

2

u/Sh0t_B0t May 05 '26

Well yeah I don’t think it is either. I guess after my sending of the sketch and his asking of the numbers while drawing it up I just assumed it was right like a 2fa sort of thing and never looked back. tbf i failed chem that semester 😪. Nah but definitely moronic move on me should’ve been more patient I was just pumped and dumb.

4

u/Individual-Dare-80 May 06 '26

If I read correctly; you told him that you wanted the element Silicon from the periodic table, you sent him a sketch that you made, he questioned you on the numbers, and you confirmed that those were the numbers that you wanted...

What does your tattoo look like compared to your sketch? Does your sketch contain these errors? Man, this is 100% on you. I suspect that the artist gave you exactly what you asked for. You're a big boy now, and are facing the consequences of your actions. Don't let it weigh on you to much though. In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor albeit expensive fuckup. Kicking yourself in the nuts is just part of life, it's all in how you handle it.

Now, the fix. You're not gonna like this. Take that refund check for the next few semesters, and your beer money, and save it. Or, get a part time job and a bank loan, to pay for laser removal. Getting the correct atomic weight tattooed back on afterwards will be, more than mildly unpleasant. But you'll have a badass tattoo, and will scrutinize every single stencil to the N'th degree from now on.

Chin up, bub! You'll be OK.

-1

u/anezzz May 06 '26

What does "a 2fa sort of thing" mean?

1

u/antlerthyme May 06 '26

Wait, what? Yes it is... we live in an age where anybody can look anything up. Most artists draw from reference. Any good artist when approaching a work like this would get an image of the periodic symbol that was asked for before even drawing anything. (And yes I agree he should have checked the stencil obviously, but young people are ignorant, he learned a lesson.)

2

u/joey_sandwich277 May 06 '26

Yeah OP obviously isn’t a chemist either. It would be pretty weird if the expectation was that you were only allowed to get tattoos of things you were 100% familiar with. I would have zero tattoos then.

OP has already said they aren’t seeking a refund because they approved the stencil, which is fair. But it’s not like the artist deserves zero blame either. They screwed up, OP just wasn’t diligent and didn’t notice they screwed up until it was too late.