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Alice in Wonderland temporary tatts

Cory Doctorow at 6:19 am Thu, Jun 12, 2008

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Amazon's got a four-pack of Alice in Wonderland temporary tatts (inspired by the Tenniel engravings) for a mere $1.50. Link

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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  • chgoliz

    These temp tats are in little books made by the Dover company:
    http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-children-dover-little-activity-books-tattoos.html

    There are indeed the kind that has the cellophane protector sheet. They can last from a day or two to a week, depending on how often the area of application gets wet and/or soapy (so, several weeks for some kids!!).

    Dover sells the books for $1.50 as well. You can also get them at a lot of independent toy stores for the same price.

    Yes, I have indulged upon occasion. My children made me do it!

  • minTphresh

    temporary tattoos? where’s the commitment?

  • minTphresh

    BTW, this may sound a little creepy, but…that Alice is kinda hot!

  • tikaro

    #3: The consumer-printable temporary-tattoo paper I’ve used always has a noticable plastic layer on it, almost as if you were applying a piece of cling-wrap to your skin. The last time I tried was a couple of years ago, so it might have gotten better.

    But that’s the reason that I like the paint approach — if you put it on carefully, it looks plenty real (if that’s what you’re going for.) I worked on the set of Nickelodeon’s Pete and Pete, and Little Pete’s Petunia tattoo was painted on (retouched daily)

    I don’t have a point here, I just love temporary tattoos right now.

  • tp1024

    I wonder when they will finally have tattoos that can be reliably switched on and off like e-ink, for about 10 billion times (enough for 100 years of 30 fps movies 24/7 or 100000 times for 3 changes a day in 100 years). And not to forget the necessary wiring under the skin. Then I just might think about getting one.

  • Junior Mad Scientist

    a few sites sell temp tattoo paper for ink jets. haven’t tried it yet, so can’t vouch for the quality.

    anybody used this stuff? how’d they come out?

  • Santa’s Knee

    @#4: Will yours say “Eat at Joe’s”…?

  • Halloween Jack

    Wow. Something that gorgeous, I’d want it to be permanent.

  • membeth

    Where does one acquire the version where you spray paint through a stencil?

    I’ve always wanted but never managed to get a tattoo, and after having injections of painkillers into my sacroiliac joints, I don’t think I’ll ever voluntarily allow anyone near my body with a needle. (Was thrown from a horse, landing didn’t go so well for my back. Discovered that breaking vertebrae isn’t necessarily a big deal, but soft tissue injuries to the lower back suck a lot.)

    What I’d really love is longer term temporary tattoos, like a month or two. I want faeries and flutter-bys mixed with punk rock ness which don’t have to be strategically placed to hide them when I need to pretend to be a respectable grownup. I doubt such a thing exists, but still, I can dream…

  • tikaro

    Oh, yay! Temporary tattoo meme! This popped up in my RSS feed just as I was finishing the vector art for an “ice cream cone in flames” airbrush tattoo for a local ice-cream shop crawl.

    There are two flavors of temporary tattoos — the kind like the ones above, which are basically ink on a plastic substrate that you glue to your skin, and the kind where you spray on alcohol-based pigment through a stencil. (Well, three — you can also roll on prosthetic glue through the stencil, then sprinkle glitter.)

    You can see pictures of a tattoo booth I set up two weeks ago — my first ever trying airbrush tattoos — on Flickr, at:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tikaro/sets/72157605393627081/

    If you have access to a vinyl plotter (every local sign shop has one), plus a cheap airbrush, you can start making every kid in your neighborhood like like a grizzled stevedore. Unless they opt for the magical unicorn design, that is!

  • squirrelgirl

    it should be noted that temporary tattoos can easily be applied to other surfaces. i had one on the frame of my bunk bed for several years.