Ink Yourself: Make Your Own Temporary Tattoos

My kids and I are pretty badass, so we like ourselves some temporary tattoos. The girls go for unicorns or dinosaurs, but me? I’m a skull-and-crossbones lady, through and through.

So of course the news about a dye being used in temporary tattoos that is, you know, POISONOUS, scared the crap out of me, and got me thinking, as well.

What IS in your run-of-the-mill temporary tattoo, anyway?

Apparently, a legit temporary tattoo contains FDA-approved ingredients and must have its ingredients listed on its packaging. An illegitimate temporary tattoo, however–gee, I wonder how hard it would be to come across one of those? Hey, do you have a quarter for the vending machine?

Or, you can shortcut past the entire chain of manufacture and just make your own freakin’ tat.

 It’s called water slide paper, and the temporary tattoo kind works in your inkjet or laser printer. Using whatever graphic design program you prefer, you can design your own tattoo art, or you can use scanned images, or WordArt from Microsoft Word, or even your own digital photography.

Instead of dying your skin, the ink sits on a medical-grade adhesive that you stick to your skin–some sensitive skin types could still be irritated by this adhesive, of course. Instead of scrubbing your tattoo off, then, when you gotta go to work, you can just work a corner free and peel it off.

These tattoos don’t look exactly the same as a commercial temporary tattoo–they’re oddly shiny, for some reason, and if you don’t apply them just right they can be a little wrinkly–but have you ever wanted to know what it would look like if you had a picture of your kids’ faces tattooed onto your bicep? Well, I know, and It. Looks. AWESOME!!!

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever made for yourself instead of buying it?