Is this sick or weird?

[Miss Chicken]

I have just read an article about using human ashes in memorial tattoos and of the three people who have commented two have said they consider it sick and the other said it was weird.

A TASMANIAN tattooist has developed a way of using his art to help grieving people.
Shane Dyson believes he is the only tattooist in the state who offers memorial tattoos created using cremation ashes.
Since opening his business, Angelic Ink, a year ago in Wynyard in the state's North-West, Mr Dyson has used his skills to help five grieving families.
"I love all my tattooing work but the memorial tattoos are particularly special because it really does help people to be able to have a piece of their loved one with them at all times," he said.
"Losing a loved one is always traumatic and if I can do something to help with that it's really cool."
Mr Dyson said his clients included women who had lost newborn babies, people grieving for their parents and families of teenagers lost in car accidents.
"The most beautiful occasion was when an entire family came in to get memorial tattoos for their lost daughter and sister," he said.

Rest of story here


I can't imagine ever getting this done to myself but I guess people grieve in different ways.

 

[auntiehill]

I'm going to cover my bases and say "both."

 

[Marie1]

Losing people you love is a tragedy, but I think there are unhealthy ways of dealing with it, and tattooing yourself with ink made of cremated human remains isn't how I'd go about moving on...

 

[P0sitr0nic]

I think its kinda cool, myself. Tho id much rather my own ashes be compressed into a diamond.

 

[thestrangequark]

To sick I'd say no. To weird I'd say very.

 

[F. King Daniel]

It's very weird. I wouldn't quite say sick, as I can see how having a small piece of someone with you forever can be, in theory, sweet.

But I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Mr Silver]

Its a bit controversial, but if people want to do it, its their choice, I can think of worst things to do with Human Ashes, just ask Keith Richards...

 

[Pingfah]

Not sick no, just a novelty.

It's just ash. If it means something to someone then good for them, but I don't see why it's any more sick or weird than burning our loved ones and keeping them in a jar.

 

[JiNX-01]

To each his/her own (as long as you're not harming anyone) so I'll just go with weird.

 

[iguana_tonante]

To sick I'd say no. To weird I'd say very.

I guess that's my position as well. But, as P0sitr0nic said, it's also kinda cool. As many weird things tend to be. Mh. I'm sensing a pattern here.

 

[Goliath]

Yeah, I'd have to with "not sick, but weird" as well.

 

[JarodRussell]

Not any more weird than keeping the ash of a burned corpse on the mantelshelf.
Not any more sick than receiving an organ that previously belonged to someone else.

 

[Australis]

Ashes on the mantelpiece. Ashes compressed into a diamond to put in a ring.

I'm no tattoo boy, but... yeah, I think if I had some, I'd do it. Something of them is always with you.

 

[Lookingglassman]

Sick

 

[Itisnotlogical]

It's not sick, but it definitely is somewhere far beyond the norm of grieving. I'm sure to a Tasmanian, digging a hole and placing our dead in the ground makes us nutty as fruitcakes. It's kind of sweet in a bizarre way actually.

 

[Miss Chicken]

It's not sick, but it definitely is somewhere far beyond the norm of grieving. I'm sure to a Tasmanian, digging a hole and placing our dead in the ground makes us nutty as fruitcakes. It's kind of sweet in a bizarre way actually.

No digging a hole is how a sizeable proportion of Tasmanians deal with their dead. Not the majority, as cremation is more popular (I think about 55% are cremated).

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

I am not sure I would say sick, because many different cultures have had unusual ways of honoring the dead including eating them so to each his own.

I would definitely say weird, but then again I am one of those people who think putting aside valuable land so we can have a place to stick corpses in little private rooms is kind of weird.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Weird. Not sick.

 

[RoJoHen]

I actually think it's kinda neat.

 

[Eld Phaedrus]

Weird, but in certain contexts it can be highly symbolic. The antagonist in Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol derived the inks for his tattoos in similar fashion.