So, it’s not just us regular folk who get decorated. According to an article in Roll Call, there are several members of Congress who have tattoos.
Reading the article, I was actually surprised that the numbers were so small. I’m sure not every member of Congress was asked, and I’m sure that not everyone would own up to it if they were asked, but it just seemed to me that people who are as comfortable being in the public eye as most politicians are, would be more in favor of body art, even if it was only to be revealed behind closed doors.
I wonder what designs politicians would pick, if they could do it without penalty? A discreet presidential seal on Michelle Obama’s bicep? A tramp stamp on Michele Bachman? Men’s Ruin on Larry Craig? Fuzzy dice for Harry Reid? The possibilities are endless.
I wonder if both Bush presidents had something discreet and Yale related? It’s been said that George Schultz had a Princeton tiger on his behind, and Barry Goldwater had a Native American symbol on his hand.
Have you seen, or heard of, people in public life (not entertainment) who’ve got ink? I’d be interested to hear about it.
We’ve had several discussions here over the years about whether tattoos are safe for diabetics. There really is no set answer to the question, since there are far too many variables. The size of the tattoo, the skill of the artist, the ability of the diabetic to keep his or her blood sugar under good control–all of those can play a huge part in whether any individual diabetic is going to be OK with a tattoo. And, unfortunately, there really is no way to tell in advance what’s going to happen.
I got my first tattoo two years before my diagnosis with Type 2 diabetes, and the other two tattoos afterwards. I had problems with the third tattoo, a reaction to the red ink, but that could have happened to a perfectly healthy person too. For me, the answer is ‘Yes, you can have diabetes and get tattooed.” I can’t give an answer for anyone else but me.
I just got this month’s issue of Diabetes Forecast, the official publication of the American Diabetes Association (and if you’re a diabetic, it’s well worth signing up so you can get the magazine). On the cover was a heavily tattooed basketball player named Gary Forbes. According to the story, he’s doing just fine in the NBA with Type 1. And he certainly seems to have had his arms covered with ink with no problems at all.
Read the full story here.
Of course, the ink appears to be all black, which might have helped keep him safe from reactions. Diabetics heal much more slowly, so any problem with the tattoos would very likely have lasted a long time (like mine did).
Have you had experience with tattoos and diabetes? How did things work out for you?
I love the How-To Geek blog, which is always full of interesting tidbits. Today, they explain how to create a fake tattoo with Photoshop or other image editing software.
It’s not really a fake tattoo, as in a tattoo you can actually affix to your body, but it’s a good tutorial in how to combine a picture of yourself with a picture of the tattoo you want. Or do a little creative decoration on a picture of someone else.
You can find the article here.
I”ve read the Moderncat blog for a long time (and I’m sure our three cats approve of this). Today I discovered that
Moderncat has a new blog called CattooDesign. It is, as you can guess, a showcase for cat tattoos (I mean, human tattoos with a cat theme, not tattoos on your actual cat). One thing I really liked about the site is that they sell temporary tattoos that have a cat theme.
If you like cats and tats, please do check out CattooDesign. It’s a keeper.
photo credit: issye
The other day, I was standing in line at the local Walgreens and looking at the array of goodies they had placed along the front counter to entice people to make impulse purchases. In among the usual candy, lip balm, toothpicks and other vastly appealing items I noticed a small display box of what looked like small tins of shoe polish.
Looking closer, I saw that the shoe-polish-style tins actually contained Rocco’s Old School Tattoo Healing Balm! I was delighted to find such a useful product in such a tempting position in the store. This just reinforced my feeling that tattoos are becoming so popular that the products one uses to help heal them aren’t just a niche item any more.
I’ve never used this product and I have no link to the manufacturers. I was just happy to see a tattoo product right out where people could grab it on their way through the Walgreens checkout. I need to go back in there one of these days and see what other tattoo related products I can find. I’ve already mentioned that Burt’s Bees Hand Salve contains almost the same ingredients as Tattoo Goo–maybe the Tattoo Goo is there on the shelf as well.
I recently found a book called One Million Tattoos: Designs to Create and Color at the library. It’s targeted at the young-adult audience, and comes with a CD containing the “one million” designs. I thought it had possibilities, so I checked it out.
The “one million” is somewhat of a stretch. It counts all the possible variations on the designs, including the different ways they can be combined and the different ways they can be colored or altered. The designs themselves are fairly standard and include old-school-style sailor flash, fairly generic tribal designs, and Asian style fish and birds, among others.
To tell you the truth, I wasn’t particularly impressed. Of course, I am way beyond its target age range, so that probably had a lot to do with my reaction to it. There are instructions for using Photoshop and other draw/paint applications to fill in the colors and manipulate the images (which are all black and white line art) and there are some suggested combinations of the images for inspiration.
In the end, I took the book back to the library without doing much more than reading through it. I should probably have asked my teenage nieces to take a look at it, but I wouldn’t want their parents to get on my case about giving them ideas. Let’s just say I’m the only multicolored person in the family. :)
I just heard about a great new resource for people who plan to get a tattoo. On this web site, you can upload your design and try it out on a photo of yourself, or on one of the site’s models. There’s a large collection of pre-made tattoos to try out, too.
You’ll need to sign up to use the site, but that’s free, and so is the tattoo try-out. Definitely worth a look!
Virtual Tattoo on TattooDesigns.net
I don’t know about you, but as a lifetime cat owner, I think cattoodesign is a match made in heaven. 
Sorry I haven’t been posting much lately–life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans!
The Gizmodo web site had a story today, saying that a mathematician has come up with a way to predict how your tattoos will look as you and they get older. The general assumption is that they’ll look pretty bad. (Note, that link is to the Canadian Gizmodo site, because I really prefer that interface to the new one on the American site.)
You know what? I’m 60. If I’m still around in 20 years and looking at my tattoos, I will be happy no matter what they look like.
Are you concerned about how your ink will look later on?
Yesterday I was browsing through the bookstore and noticed Tattoo Sourcebook: Pick and Choose from Thousands of the Hottest Tattoo Designs on a clearance shelf. I was intrigued by the concept–a large, “coffee table” style book with page after page of tattoo flash, ready, says the book, to take to your favorite tattoo artist.
I browsed through the book to see what the TattooFinder web site felt worthy of publication. I’ve visited that site, and they have a huge collection of flash of all styles and extremely variable quality. The images are for sale, so they are copy protected by Flash animation of black bars that scroll through the designs when you click to enlarge the thumbnails (the thumbnails themselves are watermarked). I completely understand why they do this, but it makes it difficult to see the details and decide whether you want to make the purchase.
The book was an extremely mixed bag. Some of the artwork was very good indeed, but all too much of it was amateurish at best, and I was left wondering how intoxicated one would have to be to allow it to be applied. Perhaps that’s why it’s on the clearance shelf. Amazon notes that it’s “currently unavailable” but it is available through other sellers (you can click on the title of the book above to get more information on that).
I’d be interested in a sourcebook full of great art (I am still thinking of getting a bracelet done) but I don’t know if I’d buy a book whose images are so varied in quality. Have any of you seen the book? What do you think?
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