Unique Armband Tattoos

Quite possibly the most diverse designs among tattoos I've ever seen is with the armband tattoo style.

While there are some very popular armband styles that are ubiquitous in the genre, there are numerous customized armband tattoos; so many that it was impossible to include even a wide variety in this article.

Rather I chose to include some of the more traditional tattoo armbands like barbed wire, Celtic and tribal, but added some very interesting and fun tattoos to look at, that obviously appealed uniquely to the one that had it designed for them.

This is one of the few times when I've written about tattoos that I wish it would make sense to include a larger number of images, as there were many of them I had to keep out just to be pragmatic about the article.

Just about any area and interest of life is represented with the armband tattoo, and I included some that were whimsical and fun, and surprising as to their particular theme.

Here is what most would consider a traditional armband tattoo, one with a barbed wire design. We'll show a couple of more of the more popular types, and then get on to those that are far more customized and unusual.

But barbed wire tattoo, in whatever form, are still great to look at, as this one is.

Going beyond the barbed wired standalone tattoo is this one, which gives the impression the barbed wire is sticking in the skin of the one wearing the tattoo and is causing him to bleed.

The bluish tint and shininess of the barbed wire is very well done and gives the appearance it just came out of the store. Pretty cool!

This is another very popular armband tattoo style: the Celtic tattoo. It always has a similar look and design as this, and is always good looking if done right.

I don't know if the designer or recipient of this Celtic tattoo had two separate tattoos made, or included the Alpha and Omega Greek letters as part of the design. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The letters above the design spell that out in the original Greek, with the larger symbols being that of the capital letters themselves.

Since we're connecting letters from an alphabet and armband tattoos, here's one which is made of letters from Hebrew.

This is a very cool, for lack of a better way of describing it, bead and feather tattoo. It seems the designer was including an American patriotic element in the design, with the base of the feathers being white and the tips red and blue. That's the colors of the American flag, if you're not familiar with that. Either way, great tattoo design.

This is a great tattoo design of an armband made up of a band and feathers. Tremendous detail and very difficult to do.

The American flag wrapped in barbed wire looks very compelling below, as does the talons of the eagle swooping down to apparently grab it. Both are powerful symbols in American history (flag and eagle).

To say the tattoo designer caught the essence of the sharp point of the thorn, and what it represents is an understatement. It's simple but very well made.

This could have been a very disturbing tattoo design, if only it didn't look too cartoonish. If it looked more real, it would have been very powerful in what it was attempting to convey. But as it is, it still looks good at what seems to be the point of entry at both places in the skin.

Here is one of the more fascinating of the armband tattoos, one made of bullets. It looks real and does what it is meant to do. It's obviously not for everyone, but the design and execution is great.

What was unusual about this Hawaiian armband tattoo was the two different designs. The top includes a stenciled look, while the bottom is completely different. I'm not sure how, but it actually works, even with that somewhat unappealing green color on the top.

The cross, rose and thorn tattoo below is one from Christian symbols, with the crown of thorns being placed on Jesus' head right before He was put to death. The cross was of course the means of His execution. Nice touch the red rose in the middle.

The next several armband tattoos will be less intense and symbolic and more whimsical and fun, like the lion tattoo below. While an enjoyable tattoo to look at, it is a great design and could be underestimated because of the uniqueness of the lion as a theme of the armband tattoo.

The music and guitar armband tattoo is just too cool. I've never seen anything quite like it, and it's really a lot of fun. Somebody says this may be the actual song "Rocky Top." I don't know, may someone out there could comment on that.

Here's another great, whimsical armband tattoo, one of elephants walking together. It would be interesting to hear the stories behind some of these unusual tattoo choices.

What's not to like about this hilarious frog armband tattoo, where the frogs appear to be making fun of the viewer by partially covering their eyes. Each frog with a distinct color adds to the fun.

Talk about a wide range of themes within a single tattoo genre. I'm not sure how they do it, but the tattoo artists were able to take a disparate number of subject matter and make into an armband tattoo that works. You of course have to account for personal taste with some of these as to whether you believe they work or not. But overall, I like every one of these.