Orlando Bloom gets tattoo fixed: How to avoid mistakes in your ink

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Orlando BloomImage source, Getty Images

Orlando Bloom learnt the hard way that his new tattoo was incorrect - people on the internet told him about it.

Earlier this month he shared a photo of a new tattoo on his arm, which was meant to be his son's name Flynn written in Morse code.

The mistake wasn't huge (just one missing dot) but it was enough for the actor to get the ink amended and re-posted on his Instagram.

"Finally dot it right! How do you make a mistake like that?" he wrote.

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"Babe you spelled it wrong," one follower commented on Orlando's original Instagram post.

Another had pointed out that it actually read "Frynn" not Flynn."

Orlando's tattooist - Balazs Bercsenyi - corrected the work and added the name of the actor's former dog, Sidi, which is spelled correctly.

"We added the missing dot to the Morse Code, and did a small one in memory of Sidi, his dog," Balazs wrote on Instagram., external

"Conclusion: never fully trust what your clients find on Pinterest. Life is officially back to normal."

'If I can't speak a language, I'm trusting you'

Ricky Williams runs a tattoo studio in London. He says it's really important that people wanting to get a tattoo, especially if it involves words or language, do their research first.

"You need to make sure that wherever you source it from is legitimate," he tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

Ricky says it's common for people to take text they want tattooed from a Google search, and when it's another language - such as Morse Code or something like Arabic - recommends someone who has a knowledge of it check it before you take it to a tattooist.

"I don't speak or write in Arabic for example, so I'm trusting you more than me," Ricky says.

Image source, Ricky Williams / South City Market
Image caption,

Ricky says it would be unprofessional not to point out a mistake to a client, but it's their responsibility to do research first

He says doing research into available tattooists is also important to make sure the customer can trust the studio they choose to do what they want, whether it's text or an image.

And it's common for people to come to his studio with requests to fix other tattooist's work.

"You can go anywhere and get a tattoo because there's loads of studios everywhere," he says.

"But just because someone owns a tattoo shop doesn't mean that their work is any good.

"You get people that go to the nearest tattoo shop because that's all they know. Then they get a bad one and that's when they do their research to find someone who is actually good."

Ricky's 'Serenitiy' typo

The tattoo artist is happy to admit he's made his own mistake - he once tattooed "serenitiy" instead of "serenity" on a customer's face.

"I put it on Instagram but my colleague commented saying to remove it because I'd spelled it wrong," Ricky says.

"I had to call the customer back into the studio so we could see how to rectify it."

He says the script used on this tattoo meant it was one that could be easily fixed.

Image source, Ricky Williams / South City Market
Image caption,

Ricky admits he made a mistake once when tattooing a client's face

For people who have mistakes in their tattoos, or just have ink they don't like any more, Ricky advises laser removal instead of trying to cover it up with a new tattoo.

"Laser is a good option, because a tattooist could just be making more of a mess," he says.

"So that's what I tell everybody now. Basically, I don't just go in and do it."

He says covering up older tattoos is a complicated and difficult process which isn't as straightforward as reality shows like Channel 4's Tattoo Fixers might suggest.

Orlando Bloom isn't the only star with a tattoo mistake

Mistakes and bad ink can happen to the best of us, and being famous does not protect you from ending up with a typo tattooed onto your skin.

Just ask Ariana Grande - who ended up with "small charcoal grill", external written in Japanese on her hand when what she wanted was lyrics from her hit 7 Rings.

Harry Styles had incorrect lyrics by Australian band The Temper Trap inked on his arm, and that was spotted by the band themselves., external

And Rihanna ended up with some grammatically confusing French tattooed on her neck - "rebelle fleur"- which some said meant nothing at all,, external but which she argued made perfect sense.

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