There are quite a few people out there these days with nice looking tattoo sleeves up and down their arms. Some more intricate than others, some badly done, but most have the same drawbacks – in order to get a job in corporate America, the sleeves of their shirts would have to go all the way down to the ends of their wrists. For some that would not be in issue but for others, who might choose to work in a place that allows the wearing of t-shirts or short sleeved shirts, they might not want to wear a long sleeve shirt every day. One solution that might work for this is getting a sleeve of tattoos using UV ink.
UV ink tattoos can be completely invisible when in normal lighting but show up in vivid white or purple, depending on the ink used, under a black light. Unfortunately, UV inks are not very common and can be quite expensive. In fact, in America, there are very few types of UV ink that are approved for use. Part of the reason is because several of the UV inks are reported to be carcinogenic and they have not all been studied for their long term effects. This also makes them a little more expensive to get tattooed with.
However, should they find some stable forms of UV ink, it could be interesting to do all of your tattoos with that ink. Standing on a beach in the sun, nothing would show other than some light scarring from the tattoo machine. Standing on the dance floor within a club where there are black lights, your tattoos would light up the stage, so to speak.
Other methods for using the UV ink would be to have your tattoos outlined. The best way to make this process work is to have the tattoo you would like to be outlined created on your body with normal inks first. Once that tattoo has healed, have the artist use the UV inks to outline whatever portions of your current tattoo that you wish to have glowing under a black light. Since the colors in UV inks do not normally last and stay vibrant, this is the best way to maintain your coloring when your tattoo is being seen in the light as opposed to a black light.
As with the tattoo in the picture, the UV inks could also be used to portray depth similar to realistic looking tattoos that show bones or skin being torn apart. The UV tattoos could be used to portray the image of someone’s skeleton showing thru their skin as if they are standing in front of an airport x-ray machine. This could really confuse investigators especially with the new full body x-ray machines they are placing in airports. Although the effect would really only work if the airport was also using a black light at the same time you were being x-rayed. A person could come out of the x-ray machine; shine a black light on their arm showing their tattooed bones and say “what have you done to me??”
