(Spell)Check Yourself

Avoid tattoo nightmares with lettering tattoos. Learn how to prevent misspellings and ensure your ink is perfect the first time.

It’s the nightmare we all fear when we go into get lettering tattoos: misspellings. When it comes to tattoos there is no “backspace” button to fix typos and lettering is both hard to correct and cover up, so it needs to be right the first time. If you’re anything like us you probably get ultra paranoid and quadruple check not only the correct spelling online, but also the spelling in the stencil before it’s inked into your skin forever. We recently heard the “Bang Bang” singer, Jessie J, admit to having the tattooed phrase ‘Don’t lose who you are in the blur of the stars” spelled “Don’t loose who you are in the blur of the stars.” That extra “o” makes a world of difference, and Jessie J is not the first to have a tattoo spelling mistake blow up the media. Hayden Panettiere‘s back piece of Italian lettering is spelled incorrectly in a foreign language therefore technically rendering the phrase meaningless in English, and Kevin Durant had the word “mature” botched in his back piece, though according to Instagram he has since fixed the problem somehow. To help insure that you never have this problem here are several tips for getting a lettering tattoo that will help you avoid any permanent spelling errors!

1. Always double check the spelling of your word, quote or phrase before you even enter the tattoo shop. Google the spelling. Look up the quote. Make sure all of the words are initially spelled correctly and the words are phrased in the correct order. Even if you think you know it by heart, check it again.

2. Bring a previously written down version of the word, quote or phrase to the studio with you. Don’t just write the phrase down at the counter, have that hard copy with you as a reliable reference.

3. Get lettering pieces in languages you speak. If you absolutely have to get it in another language, find someone you trust who speaks that language to look over the spelling and phrasing for you.

4. Bring someone with you or have somebody else not as close to the project look at the stencil before it’s permanently inked to make sure it looks and reads the way you want it to.

5. If you want large intricate lettering, look for artists who specialize in that style. Artists like Big Meas, Big Sleeps, and BJ Betts are all highly talented lettering masters known for their great fonts and layouts.