Build-A-Story update: Show us your tatts

Story Lab readers, you’re already on the way toward building a very interesting story. Through your comments since our original query and many messages sent by email and Twitter, a tale of Washington’s tattoo tolerance is taking shape. Let’s just say this: take a look around your office…beneath all those Arrow shirts and long-sleeve blouses, a secret multi-color party is raging. Tattoos may be becoming as common as lapel flags, but you wouldn’t know it in the cubicles of the Washington workplace, where keeping the art covered is still very much the rule.

One downtown worker who responded to the blog told of an office bull session in which they talked "theoretically" about one of them coming in with blazing new color. "I just really don’t like tattoos on people," was the boss's final contribution. That's when our reader realized it would be a while before she revealed to her colleagues that beneath the schoolmarm collars and ankle-length dresses, she is ink from toe to neck. "They would be very, very surprised," she said.

More to come in our story coming up soon in The Post. And it all started with your contributions here in the Lab. But our work's not done:

We’d like to hear what you have to say about your body art, and get a glimpse too. Video a minute or two of your own reflections on being a person of Technicolor in a buttoned-down workplace (or perhaps your work has a different, more open atmosphere--we want those stories too), show what you can of your tattoos on a family-friendly web site and put it on YouTube. Send us the link and we'll compile a collection of video testimonials to run along with our story. Or email me at hendrixs@washpost.com if you have questions or comments.