Disneyland Temporary Tattoos

Happy Independence Day, everyone! I know that you’re probably busy with 4th of July festivities, but I have a fun summer project that I had to get out to you. And, since Disneyland is an American original, what better day to release these Disneyland temporary tattoos?

I found the designs online at Vintage Disneyland Tickets where the original scans were posted. I enhanced them, cleaned up some streaks & smears, and arranged them into 7 letter-sized sheets. The original tattoo book advertised “over 200 tattoos of Disneyland.” The total in the PDF comes to 307 tattoos!

Inkjet Tattoo Paper

I used Silhouette tattoo paper for my inkjet printer, and I was very pleased with the results.

The applied tattoo was crisp and clear, but the colors were a tad washed out due to the color of the skin showing through. That’s common with temporary tattoos, so I’m glad that I had the foresight to darken and pumped up the color saturation beforehand.

A glossy sheen can be seen wherever the tattoo adhesive is, so it’s best to cut closely to edges of the designs for nicer tattoos.

I also wanted some Haunted Mansion temporary tattoos, so I took some beautiful artwork by Don Carson and filled a whole sheet with his drawings strictly for personal use. They look SO awesome! These are a must-have for a Disneyland trip. What other designs can I turn into tattoos? Hmmm . . .

Testing out full-color tattoo designs, I found out that the adhesive sheet does not want to stick to areas where there are large patches of color. The tattoos can still be applied to the skin, but areas without adhesive are far more prone to rubbing off or bleeding when coming into contact with water. I remedied the problem simply by burnishing (hard rubbing) the whole sheet with a bone folder. Designs with thin lines (such as most of the Disneyland tattoos) and areas of light color don’t require burnishing.

The packaging says that the tattoos last about a day, but I got them to last a day or two longer depending on how well I took care of them. For longevity, contact with water is a no-no!

I discovered that the printer ink is actually sandwiched between two layers. First is the underlying adhesive layer that sticks the tattoo to the skin, and there is a release layer on top of the ink that allows the tattoo to detach from the paper. It turns out that the top layer helps protect the ink from rubbing off, it helps prevent bleeding from moisture, and it is what gives the tattoos their glossy appearance. Water will reactivate this layer which is then susceptible to being rubbed or washed off. Every time I washed my hands or accidentally got the tattoo wet, I lightly patted it dry with a tissue.

Temporary tattoos are exactly that: temporary. Removal was easy; with some water and light rubbing, the tattoo came off within a minute.

Laserjet Tattoo Paper

Next, I tried some Sunnyscopa tattoo paper for my laser printer. I was stoked to try these out with full-color images, but I was initially disappointed with the results.

Like the inkjet tattoos, the adhesive did not stick well to areas with a lot of color. When applied to the skin, the areas of the tattoo that were missing the adhesive simply flaked off. Burnishing the tattoos solved this problem again, although I did note that I had to make sure to burnish them VERY well.

Compared to the inkjet tattoos, the laserjet tattoos looked far less natural and more like thin, glossy stickers, but the sheen dulls a bit by the end of the day.

They are also highly prone to cracking when the skin is stretched; toner is essentially plastic, so it doesn’t have the flexibility that ink does. It really bugged me at first, but after wearing the tattoos for a while, it didn’t diminish the fun at all. The colors are vibrant (more so than the inkjet tattoos) and the tattoos hold up to wear and tear. Both the adhesive is excellent and toner is naturally waterproof. These might be best suited for use at pool parties, water parks, or trips to the beach.

Removing the tattoos took a couple of minutes. Water and rubbing was all that was needed, although picking it out of hair was as painful as ripping off a Band-Aid. Ouch! In those situations, rubbing alcohol was a happy, pain-free option.

My Preference

I attended a small family reunion last month, and I took a ton of temporary tattoos to hand out to the kids that were in attendance. They were a big hit.

I like the bright, bold colors of the laserjet temporary tattoos and I like how resistant they are to water and wear. Prep, though, took a little more time since they had to be burnished really, really well.

Ultimately, I much prefer inkjet temporary tattoos. They look more like real tattoos, and I don’t have a need for them to last a full week. If I want them to last more than a day, I know how to take care of them. If all else fails, I simply slap on a fresh, new tattoo!

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