A tattoo artist has revealed all on some of the blunders she made in the early stages of her career.

Sydney Mulvaney is a tattooer based in Saginaw, Michigan, with 12 years of experience under her belt, but like many of us before, she was an apprentice learning the ropes in her industry.

The 31-year-old has built up a following on her TikTok page, @sydneytattoos, after sharing her experiences as an artist, in addition to the honest admissions she's made about mistakes in the past.

No doubt being a tattoo artist comes with huge pressure, but the experienced professional admitted in an exclusive interview with VT that she's made her fair share of mistakes when starting out.

The artist has revealed some of the tattoos that she refuses to ink on clients, but she also told us some lessons she learned early on in her career.

Sydney has always been honest about her experiences as a tattoo artist. Credit: Sydney Mulvaney/supplied

Misspelling tattoos as an apprentice

Over a decade on from venturing into the industry as an apprentice, Sydney has looked back and admitted that there were a number of learning curves.

She explained: "We've all had those when it comes to misspelling a tattoo, or getting the time wrong on a clock, which I have done before, and it feels like your gut is going to fall out of your body - it is the worst feeling ever when you mess up a tattoo."

Sydney accepted that being a tattoo artist is a "huge responsibility," as while they may be spending a few hours on the ink, that person will "have that tattoo forever."

Opening up on an incident which took place in her early days, the tattooer recalled: "A woman came in, and she wanted the word Smurf on her wrist, so I told her to write it down for me because I was new to tattooing at that time, and I'd already misspelled one or two things, so I wanted to be sure."

After the customer wrote it down, Sydney gave her a selection of fonts, and remembered what she saw: "I saw her paper, and it looked like she wrote 'S M I R F' instead of 'S M U R F', so I showed her six different fonts with the word Smurf spelled S M I R F, and she didn't notice it until she picked a font, and I was almost done tattooing her.

"I dot the I, and she goes, 'Why did you dot the U?' and I was like, 'that is an I', and she said, 'Smurf is spelled with a U', but the stencil had an I on it too - that was so awful," she admitted.

The tattoo artist opened up about some of the lessons she learned early on in her career. Credit: Sydney Mulvaney/supplied

A tramp stamp with a twist

But Sydney wasn't done there, as she said: "I also misspelled the word separate, which is a hard word!

"It was huge - it was a tramp stamp that said 'Separate thyself from the pack', it's massive, it's her whole lower back, and we were friends at the time when she came to get it.

"I think it was a free tattoo, because I was an apprentice; if not, she paid maybe $50 for it," Sydney reflected.

But once it was done, her team thought it was really cool and posted snaps of the finished product on Facebook before disaster struck.

Sydney revealed: "Then, everybody in the comments is like, 'separate is spelled wrong', oh my god, so she came back in and because I spelled it 's e p E r a t e', instead of 's e p A r a t e', we ended up turning the e into an a, but it never looks as it would if you just did it right the first time."

She said that early on in your tattoo career, you don't think about spelling until you realize it's going to be on someone forever.

"That goes back to it being a huge responsibility to be a tattoo artist, because you have to remember that these people have lives, and they'll live with that tattoo for the rest of their life, and they'll think of you every time they look at it, especially if it's f**ked up," the 31-year-old said.

Luckily, she has learned from her past errors, as the designer explained that she "makes clients check the spelling," more than once.

"When I show them the design, I say double check the spelling, and then when I put on the stencil, I say no, double check that spelling again, because I draw pictures for a living, okay, I'm not a rocket scientist."

Featured image credit: Sydney Mulvaney

Being a tattoo artist is a huge responsibility - people rely on you to correctly mark their body for life, with a design that needs to come out perfectly.

No pressure and all that, but Sydney Mulvaney, a tattooer based in Saginaw, Michigan, understands the importance of getting an ink design just right.

Known on TikTok as @sydneytattoos, the 31-year-old is known for her candid stories and experiences as an artist, which can range from the insightful to the outrageous.

While she has previously admitted to misspelling tattoos and getting the time wrong on a clock design as an apprentice, over a decade later, Sydney is extremely experienced and has seen it all.

But with several years of experience under her belt, the artist has a clear list of do's and don'ts, which she revealed in an exclusive interview with VT.

Tattoo artist Sydney Mulvaney is known for her candid stories on TikTok. Credit: Sydney Mulvaney

The one type of tattoo Sydney refuses

When asked about any tattoo designs which she may turn away, she admitted that anything hate speech-related isn't tolerated, but aside from that, she "rarely refuses to do a tattoo."

After 12 years of inking clients, the tattoo artist explained in an honest conversation: "I've gone through some trends.

"Millennials tend to get larger scale pieces - we want sleeves to connect, we want large planned out things, but the Gen Z crowd is getting little sticker style tattoos.

"It's a trend, and it can be cute, but it's so different from what we, as artists, objectively want to see as art," she admitted.

Sydney then admitted: "I think what they maybe shouldn't do is those little designs on fingers and hands, because they usually don't heal as well, especially on the bottoms or the sides of the fingers.

"I always try to sway people away from doing that, especially if they're not heavily tattooed already, because a lot of younger people are getting them on their hands, they're getting them on their neck, they're getting them on their face - these are places where we would call it a job stopper tattoo."

The artist added that she would "stay away" from these kinds of tattoos, adding that you may want to steer clear if "you haven't earned them yet."

Sydney explained that she isn't the biggest fan of "sticker tattoos." Credit: Sydney Mulvaney

Why "job stopper tattoos" aren't the best idea

"If you've got the majority of your body covered, go ahead and get the neck tattoo, get the hand tattoo, but if you don't already have that, you shouldn't be getting tattoos in super visible places, because even though tattoos are more acceptable, they still aren't held as professional in a lot of places," she highlighted.

"The first thing you do when you meet someone is shake their hand, and if you've got tattoos on your hand, they will make a presumption about you, whether it's true or not."

She added that while ink is "more acceptable" in this day and age in the workplace, there's a long way to go until it's fully normalized.

"You should still think about that before you get a bunch of little sticker tats all over your hands and face and neck," the artist further emphasized.

Sydney also warned about getting tattoos that you may not know the true meaning of - a more common occurrence than you'd think.

"I've heard stories of people getting like prison tattoos and not realizing that they had certain meanings, like the elbow tattoo of the spider web, which I think means you killed somebody," the artist shared.

"There's the tear drop on the eye too, but I feel like with the newer generation, Gen Z is getting tattooed differently than older generations."

The experienced tattooist doesn't refuse many tattoo designs. Credit: Sydney Mulvaney

Tattoo trends change over time

Getting a specific design, like a sticker or even a sleeve, says a lot about when you got the tattoo, according to the expert.

"The thing about trends, tattoo-wise, is they end up time-stamping you in whatever time period that you are in," she pointed out.

"For example, with the tramp stamps from the 90s and early 2000s - whenever you're at the beach, and you see a woman with a tramp stamp, you'll likely know how old she is, because that was around the time they were popular," Sydney said.

She added: "I also love that, because now Gen Z is getting tramp stamps again, they're bringing them back!"

Featured image credit: Sydney Mulvaney

We're all human here and we're all allowed to make our fair share of mistakes. But, the thing is, with most mistakes you can learn from them and eventually move on with your head held high. But when it comes to tattoos, if you make a foolish blunder, you have to live with it forever (or, you know, until you get enough money together to correct the error or get it removed).

That's exactly why it's so important to get your markings spell-checked before you head down to the tattoo studio. Sure, it may sound geeky to those of you out there who were more popular than me in school, but in the end, you'll thank me for this piece of life advice. If you still don't believe me, check out our list of 10 tattoos with hilariously embarrassing spelling mistakes. Trust me, by the time you see these, you'll be down on your knees begging me to spell-check your future inkings.

1. Well, this is hartbreaking

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2. I think someone has had a little too much

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3. I don't think dad will quite be so proud now

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4. I hope this person believes that imperfection is truly beauty

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5. This is what Bieber Fever does to you

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6. Let the past teach you how to spell "decisions" though

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7. I bet you have some big "regerts" now

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8. Why would you ever say "goobye" anyway?

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9. This person had a mighty good number one

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10. I thought familey came first?

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Despite what this article may suggest, not all tattoos are bad. In fact, some inkings are simply heartwarming. For example, take this big brother who got a tattoo of his little brother who has Down Syndrome, and then showed his sibling in an adorable video.

When it comes to selecting a tattoo, you need to do your homework. The last thing you want is to be one of those people who goes into an inking parlour, doesn't request the right thing, and ends up with the poo emoji on your ankle for the rest of your natural life.

If you're going to get a marking that lasts forever, you need to think of something somewhat meaningful, slightly tasteful, and definitely spelled properly. After all, whatever you choose is going to be etched onto your bare skin, so you might as well pick something cool in the first place.

Ultimately, what you choose to have tattooed on yourself is up to you, and nobody can stop you from doing what you like. But the nature of personal autonomy means that not everyone is careful when it comes to body art. Indeed, over the years, we've seen some pretty cringe-worthy tattoos, and it seems like even celebrities aren't immune to screwing up from time-to-time.

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This week, artist Kane Navasard, shared a picture of a tattoo he'd inked for Ariana Grande, accompanied by the caption: "If you didn’t know, @arianagrande is a G. [sic]"

The thank u, next singer's new tattoo is a pair of Japanese characters, which according to Navasard translates as "seven rings" -  a reference to her newest track. At first glance, the tattoo appeared to be pretty tasteful. That was, until Japanese-fluent followers noticed that the tat didn't actually say "seven rings."

There appeared to be a mistake with the ink, and it now apparently translates as something else entirely. You see, the kanji character '七' means 'seven' while' 輪' can mean 'hoop,' 'circle,' 'ring,' or 'wheel.'

However, when put together the meaning is completely different! In actual fact, '七輪' (shichirin) directly translates as "small charcoal grill" and not "seven rings."

Predictably, when the public learned this they wasted no time in mocking Grande's screw-up.

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However, while followers were making a fuss about the bizarre markings, Grande took to social media to state that she knew the tattoo was misspelt, but that getting the tattoo done had been too painful for her to finish, and she was happy with the markings regardless.

Ariana explained: "Indeed, I left out "つの指" which should have gone in between. It hurt like f*ck n still looks tight. I wouldn’t have lasted one more symbol lmao. But this spot also peels a ton and won’t last so if I miss it enough, I’ll suffer thru [sic] the whole thing next time."

A woman who went viral on social media over the summer has revealed the end result of her back tattoo after people thought her original inking looked a little NSFW.

TikTok user @bekah.milly took to the platform back in August to show off her new tattoo of a guardian angel in the middle of her back.

However, she revealed in the captions of her videos that despite the tattoo being a tribute to her late grandmother, many people thought the inking looked very rude. In fact, she captioned her first post in the amusing series: "When someone says your new tattoo looks like a girl eating a$s."

Sadly, what appears to be the shoulder of the guardian angels looks more like... well, a butt. (And don't try and change my opinion on it, it totally does.) And once somebody points out the fact it looks x-rated... it's hard to unsee it.

People were quick to take to the TikToker's comments section to offer some support, with one person writing: "Hey tattoo artist here my suggestion would be to continue the outline of the head further to make the distinction that it's a person."

A second added: "Might help to just add the outline of the other shoulder? Then it could be clearer that it's a person although I did not see it until it was mentioned."

Well, after paying a visit to Eden Body Art Studios in Dallas, Texas, bekah.milly has finally had her tattoo blunder fixed - and it looks absolutely beautiful!

Taking to Instagram to show off her new ink, Bekah captioned the post: "I’m actually obsessed." And over on TikTok, she proclaimed that Eden Body Art Studios "literally changed [her] life"

And over in the comments section, people certain agreed, with Bekah's new tattoo being hailed as "beautiful" and "stunning":

It just goes to show you - no matter how much your tattoo looks like somebody eating a**, you can always find somebody talented enough to cover it up. (Sorry, I couldn't think of anything more profound.)

Featured image credit: Humberto Chaidez / Pexels

An influencer has been left in tears after she flew to Bali to get her "dream tattoo" and it all went wrong.

Getting a tattoo is a big commitment that usually requires some pre-thought into the design that you want to have permanently on your body.

Being lectured about a tattoo having to have "meaning" is boring, because a cool piece of art is justification enough - but that doesn't mean that it's something that should be taken lightly.

So when getting a "dream" tattoo, it's best to triple check the design is correct as well as the placement on your body is where you'd like it.

One unfortunate influencer flew all the way to Bali to get what she dubbed her "dream tattoo" but things quickly took a turn for the worse.

Taking to TikTok, Tia Kabir revealed that she wanted her tattoo to read "angel energy", but it somehow ended up reading "energy angel".

"So I came to Bali to get a tattoo, right, and I’ve been dreaming to get this tattoo because I just don’t get tattoos all the time," Tia said in the video.

"I get one every few months, and it’s supposed to say Angel Energy, and now it just says Energy Angel," she said while wiping away tears.

It's safe to say that some people weren't overly sympathetic towards the influencer, as one person wrote: "Surely you would have seen the stencil before he started."

A second said: "That's why you look at placement and stencil before you let them near you with the ink and needles."

A third penned: "Just tattoo Angel above Energy and get a decent artist to create something out of the Angel."

Clarifying how the unfortunate mistake unfolded, Tia told News.com.au: "I had a piece of paper that said ‘Angel Energy’ but it was a little too big on the arm after they put the stencil on.

"So after they made it a tiny bit smaller, somehow it flipped around saying ‘Energy Angel’ but I didn’t notice. It was only after it was done that I checked it. It put me into shock."

The tattoo is definitely fixable - but it goes to show that everything should be triple-checked before making it permanent.

Featured image credit: Lucas Guimarães / Pexels