Topper Tats scours St. Edward’s University to bring you the stories behind the most creative, the most meaningful and the most what-was-I-thinking tattoos inked on our students.            

Senior Emma Blauer sports an assortment of themes with her 20 tattoos.

The first theme she has developed through her body art is death.

“I found that a lot of my tattoos have to do with death,” Blauer said. “But that wasn’t intentional; it happened like that.”

Among these tattoos is a limbless skeleton in old medical illustration fashion and a half-sleeve based off a dream she once had which involves dead trees and skulls, a tied-up dead bird and a horse coughing up blood. The dream-inspired piece of art, which reads “None of us are lucky creatures,” is deeply symbolic to Blauer.

“It has to do with the idea that none of us are exempt from bad stuff happening, and we’re all going to die,” she said.

Blauer, who was born in Philadelphia and started her higher education in Massachusetts, maintains that these dark tattoos lead to powerful imagery. She receives considerable feedback because of the subject matter.

“I get a lot of questions about my tattoos, more so than I think if I had a butterfly or a drawing of a pretty lady,” Blauer said.

The next theme is her literary and academic tattoos. This category includes the tattooed phrase “book worm” with each letter tattooed on the inside of a finger. Also, the words “stay hungry,” which relate to Blauer’s dedication for school.

While all these carry a lot of weight, Blauer is not without a few lighter tattoos.  Behind her ear is a peanut inspired by her relationship with her ex-boyfriend. You can also find the rooster of Sriracha bottle fame on Blauer’s body.

While she has already spent around $1,500 in the past five years, Blauer aspires to receive many more tattoos in the future.

Blauer identifies herself as a “tattoo-having person” and enjoys the reactions she gets from her many tattoos.

“Some people see me and probably think that I’m not very smart or that I don’t have a lot of dreams…which is fine,” Blauer said. “It gives me an advantage to be underestimated like that.”

Another perk?

“They also make me look mean,” Blauer said. “Which I like.”

Twenty tattoos must come with a bit of regret, but Blauer is not worried about her more questionable tattoo choices.

“It’s a picture of who I was then and it’s still who I am somewhere,” she said.

Whatever the image may be, Blauer deeply identifies with the messages she puts on her body.

“I tattooed my arm because it’s my arm, and I’ve made it more mine by tattooing it.”