It used to be tradition to tie a black cloth band around the arm when you were in mourning. This was a way to show that you had lost someone.
The black tattoo band shows create a permanency to that mourning, some believe you never stop mourning the one that you lost. It’s not uncommon to get one band tattooed for each loss.
Line tattoos are often armband tattoos. They replace the physical armband with a permanent mark.
Some see them as a symbol of simplicity and elegance. Some people may choose a black line tattoo as a reminder of a loved one who has passed away, or as a symbol of their spiritual beliefs
The solid armband tattoo can also symbolize strength, resilience and luck.
Manifesting this strength through an armband means a great place to have the tattoo is on the bicep. The bicep has always been a symbol of strength.
Armbands stencils are tricky to place and many tattoo artists can fail to place them correctly and end up inking flawed armbands on their clients. These flawed armband tattoos don’t go well with the natural flow of the arm.
Having a tattoo band go all the way around the wrist, arm, ankle or leg take time, precision and extreme attention to detail.
You can test this area with the help of someone else by tracing a band or a wrapping a straight piece of paper around your arm. You can trace around it with a semi-permanent marker. Then check for symmetry and see how is looks and if it allows for movement when your skin stretches. Remember that these areas are not a perfect sphere shape, you are expecting a perfect circle to go around an area that isn’t naturally shaped that way.
People are under the impression that because these tattoos look simple and elegant that arm bands and lines are easy and quick to do, when in reality an artist’s spends considerable time ensuring the stencil is accurate and they have allowed for how the skin will stretch when moved. They need to take their time to ensure the lines do not bleed and the line is precise and the tattoo appears as symmetrical as possible all the way around.