What Can I Do With My Coat of Arms? Part 35 - Just for Fun

We're going to finish up the "Just for Fun" section of things you can do with your coat of arms with what many consider to be the ultimate self-identifier: tattooing your heraldry onto your body!

Now, such tattoos can range from the comparatively small and fairly discrete, like this Scottish clan crest:

To something a little larger, say on your upper arm at the shoulder:

Or something on your chest:

Or side:

I will state here for the record, that I do not recommend getting a tattoo of your "family crest" taken off of some on-line bucket shop heraldry website, since the odds are very great that the coat of arms shown there is in fact not your family's coat of arms, but is the arms of someone whose surname you share. Just sayin'.

You can also go for a full "sleeve" with your arms:

Regarding this last, you may note that some of the hallmarks of the bucket shop heraldist is the oft-times generic crest of ostrich feathers, and placing the surname in what would normally be the motto scroll. Once again, Don't Do This! If you are going to go to that much time, money, trouble (and physical pain), however impressive it may look when it is done, people knowledgeable about heraldry are going to shake their heads and mutter "Tsk, tsk" under their breath because, once again, the odds that this is not your family's coat of arms, but the arms of some other family with whom you share a surname.

And then, of course, you can pretty much go "whole hog" and have your arms (or, as in this example, someone else's arms; again, note the clues that this depiction came from another bucket shop heraldist) tattooed across your entire back:

So, as I said, the ultimate self-identifier, just for fun!