If a child, say, a white, ten year old boy, got a big tattoo on his upper back (read: shoulder to shoulder), would it change a lot as the child grew into adulthood?
Since the early-ish industrial society suffers a distinct lack of tattoo machines, the application of this tattoo would therefore need to be applied by traditional means (either by inserting pigments (e.g. coal, ashes) into open wounds, or with the help of "needles" from animal bones/sticks/whatever (edit: or metal needles, as user Dewi Morgan pointed out, thank you), not sure how much that influences the answer.
Ideally, it would change as little as possible, or with minor breaks, tears, etc., that could be solved by a later retouching.
Possible problems
- As the back gets bigger, the skin needs to get bigger as well - it needs to grow somehow, somewhere.
- Would it move around and "travel" like smaller scars do? To where? How far?
- Would it simply stretch and get bigger, or stretch and tear, as new patches of skin get build inside of the tattooed area?
Optional questions: What about the colour?
- I assume it will fade, as all tattoos do, correct me if I'm wrong, - though I'm not sure how it works coupled with the wound coloring.
- Any ideas if it would change colour? Ink gets green, since the black is made from it, but natural black pigments tend to be black if I'm not mistaken?
This tatoo should be a part of a child's rite of passage of a culture that currently lives in alpine-like mountains. Is it viable? If the tattoo gets derpy, skewed, or changes too much, it would not make sense and therefore can't be a part of the ritual.
Thank you for your answers!
