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By infmom, October 21, 2009 10:47 am

Thanks to Gizmodo for posting a link to this fabulous time-lapse video of a tattoo being applied.

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By infmom, February 2, 2009 5:55 pm

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Geometric designs are among the oldest tattoo patterns in the world. It was easy to create them with primitive tools (especially using the horribly painful technique of “sewing” a pigmented thread just under the skin to make the designs) and a surprising variety of patterns could be created with just a few simple shapes.

In modern times the tribal tattoo has brought the ancient geometric shapes back into fashion, even though it might be difficult to find an actual tribe out there with any of those designs.    One of the major advantages is that the design’s size can be easily changed to fit the amount of skin available–an arm band can wrap around perfectly, for example, or a bracelet or sleeve be made to fit as though they were clothing on the skin.

The geometric pattern can be made with solid colored shapes, or outlines, or anything in between.  It can be the same shape repeated, or mirrored, or a selection of harmonizing shapes.  It can be created in such a way that small mistakes are not noticeable, which would not be so easy to do with writing or a recognizable image.  Many tribal patterns today are done in solid black ink, but I have seen them applied in a rainbow of colors as well.

The down side to a geometric pattern is that if it is applied by a less talented artist, it can quickly look muddy or blurred.  If the ink is applied too deeply, the spaces between the elements can fill up and destroy the pattern.  If you plan to have a geometric or tribal tattoo done, be sure to check your artist’s portfolio for similar work.  Don’t rely on the selection of flash on the wall–anybody can put flash on a wall.  What’s important is how the flash translates to body art.  If you have a particular design in mind, be sure to bring a clear photo, drawing or printout of what you want, just so you and the artist understand what’s to be done.

Geometric designs are striking and attractive when done right, and their popularity is well deserved  I don’t have any geometric designs myself, but I have often contemplated a bold bracelet in bright colors.  Maybe this will be the year I’ll get it done.

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By infmom, January 25, 2009 6:04 pm

Some of the most ancient tattoo designs appear to have been intended to protect the well-being of their bearer.

Sometimes this takes the form of a geometric design, sometimes  a design representing a protective symbol,

infmom and her newly applied dragon

sometimes a design representing a protective animal.

When you think about it, a protective tattoo makes sense–an amulet could get lost, but a tattooed design was with you for life.  That kind of protective marking is widespread even today.

Ötzi the Iceman, the 5,000-year-old mummy found in the Alps, was tattooed with lines and dots over areas of his body that turned out to be arthritic.  Many of the tattoos found on ancient people are straight lines, which might be due to the tools used to make them, or the lines might have had mystical significance of their own. We’ll never know.

In ancient Egypt, as far as we know, women were tattooed with dots and lines that seem to indicate a connection with the goddess Hathor, or perhaps a wish for fertility.  Not many tattooed mummies have been found, so there really is not enough information available to make an educated guess about what the designs signified.

The ancient Celts were described as “painted” by the Romans, and this could have included tattoos as well as paint.  Celtic art is full of mythical creatures that appear to represent protective elements.  Whether the Celts tattooed these symbols on their bodies as well as carved them into rocks is unknown, but given the strong association of those designs with the protection of the spirit world, it seems likely.

In recent years, archaeologists have turned up tattooed mummies in central Asia.  It is very likely that these people were Celts, or Scythians, or closely related people, so there seems to be a good basis for believing that the Celts were tattooed as well.  The designs these people chose were quite elaborate.

Today, of course, people choose protective designs that come from their religious beliefs and their personal history.  I talked about spiritual designs before, and the profound significance they can have.  One of my tattoos is a Chinese dragon and another is an Eye of Horus.  The dragon had special meaning to my grandmother, and the Eye of Horus has special meaning to me.  So, I hope, I am doubly protected. 

Have you chosen a design for protection or for spiritual reasons or for personal protection?  What did you choose, and why?

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By infmom, January 14, 2009 2:52 pm

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Let’s start off the new year by talking about tattoo designs.

Some designs have been around for a very long time.  I have one of them–stars.

No one knows when the five-pointed star symbol was first drawn, nor how our ancestors decided that it represented what they saw in the sky, but it’s a very ancient symbol.  Ancient people saw meaning in the stars, and the rising and setting of the stars throughout the year signaled changes in the seasons.  So it’s not surprising that the star was used for body art in ancient times, and continues to the present day, along with its variation, the pentagram.

The pentagram is also a religious symbol and its orientation changes according to religious beliefs.  (Some people think that any pentagram is a representative of Satanism, but not so.)

The six-pointed Star of David is also used to represent religious beliefs.  This is also an ancient symbol and has deep symbolic meaning.

Then there are other variations such as the shooting star (or comet) and the nautical star, which has been popular for hundreds of years as a sailor’s tattoo.  The nautical star has variations such as the compass rose, and they share a similar pattern of alternating colors on each spoke of the star.  The nautical star also has symbolic meanings for some people.  It is commonly rendered in shades of red and black.

When I got my first tattoo, I chose a design of seven five-pointed stars.  The stars have personal meaning for me and I used them to symbolize something I felt deeply about.  I have never been able to articulate exactly what I meant by them for anyone else, though.  I originally wanted just the stars, but the artist suggested a “swoosh” of multicolored dots around them, and when he drew what he had in mind I could see that it was a much better idea.  So that became my very first ink.  The colors have faded a bit in the ten years since it was applied, so one of these days I’ll go back to the shop and have it retouched.  The meaning stays the same. 

Do any of you have star tattoos?  Would you care to share a photo?  I don’t have a good picture of my stars, but this might serve as a reminder to get one.

photo credit: corvidmagic

photo credit: MAMJODH

photo credit: Allmightymo

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By infmom, November 18, 2008 6:06 pm

Sorry I have taken so long between posts lately! I have been working as an intern on the Lifehacker web site, and the time I used to spend browsing around for body art information has been spent on other things. 

However, to make up for that a little bit, here’s some great links.

Evil Tattoo’s Tattoo Gallery
Tattoo Finder
5 W’s Tattoos
Tattoo Art of Pat Fish
TattooArtists.org
BMEInk (a lot of adult oriented material; viewer discretion advised)
About.com’s tattoo and piercing galleries

What are your favorite web sites featuring body art?  I’m always up for someplace new to look!

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By infmom, November 12, 2008 1:07 pm

In my last couple posts I talked about rude, crude tattoos and images of death. In the wake of the elections in the USA, I think it’s now time to focus on upbeat, positive images that reflect well on us and send a positive message to the world as well.

I wrote earlier about spiritual designs.  Putting an affirmation of your spiritual beliefs on your skin could be one way of sending a positive message, although in today’s increasingly fractured world other people might not see the message you are trying to send.   But in thousands of years of religious art, there are plenty of examples of designs that uplift both the wearer and the observer.  It’s worth doing research to find exactly the right design.  The usual run of religious (mainly Christian) flash can be found just about anywhere.  You want something that represents you, not a bazillion others with exactly the same flash, right?

Another form of positive design is a memorial to a lost loved one.  I have mentioned before that I am not a fan of fine-line portraits.  I think there are plenty of other ways to honor those we have lost.  Think about what mattered to that person and find a design that showcases that.  I have a stylized dragon on my back to honor my grandmother.  That, to me, is more profound than just getting her name or a portrait inked on my skin.

And of course there is a wide lexicon of images that are upbeat and postitive all on their own.  “Sunshine, lollypops and rainbows” is more than just the title of a 60s bubblegum song.    Well-done Celtic designs can combine the spiritual and the decorative.  The tried-and-true images of four-leaf clovers, lucky horseshoes and the like are popular for good reason.  There are more elaborate designs representing good fortune from pagan beliefs and non-Western cultures.  Once you set your mind to it, the possibilities are limitless.

What kinds of positive images does your ink show the world?
photo credit: showbizsuperstar

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By infmom, October 19, 2008 11:58 am

While I’m not a regular watcher of “LA Ink,” I do tune it in from time to time, and I watched “Miami Ink” while Kat Von D was working there.

Kat does excellent fine-line portrait work.  I must admit that up till the time I saw what she could do, I was definitely not a fan of tattoo portraits.  Maybe because I’d never seen a really good one.  It always seemed that the pictures might have looked good when drawn on paper, but when translated to skin they were distotred and amateur-artist-looking.  I couldn’t understand why someone would want to honor someone else by putting a mediocre junior-high-art-class-looking drawing on their skin.

Transferring a drawing on flat paper to the curved surface of someone’s body requires a certain amount of adjustment and talent.  And of course a tattoo needle is nowhere near as forgiving as a pencil, and you can’t just go back and erase your mistakes.  But does that account for all the sappy-looking tattoo portrait art out there?  I saw some fairly mediocre portraits turn up on “Miami Ink” and the recipients always said they were pleased, but was that just for the TV cameras?  Who knows?

I’ve even seen portraits of “Jesus” (the standardized Western portrait of a man who certainly wasn’t the blonde-haired, handsome dude used to represent him) that look bad enough that they could be taken for mockery, not faith.

The Total Tattoo Book includes a photo of a man’s back completely covered by a portrait of Charles Lindbergh, which left me wondering why someone would pay good money for something like that.  Of course, my opinion of LIndbergh and his politics might color my opinion a bit. 

What do you think about tattoo portraits?  Do you have one?  Whom does it honor, and who did the work?

photo credit: R.O.K.E.N

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By infmom, October 11, 2008 1:11 pm

I’m taking an art class this semester, and yesterday I wore my TATTOOS ARE MY WAY OF INVESTING IN ART t-shirt to class.

This led to an interesting discussion with one of my classmates, who has several tattoos herself.  She said that all her tattoos have a common theme, something very spiritually meaningful to her.  Like me, her ink is usually covered by clothing, but she described some of her tattoos and explained why they fit her theme.

I obviously never had a “theme” in choosing my tattoos, but all of them have deep personal meaning to me, so in that sense they go together even though visually and stylistically they don’t match in any way.  But the idea of planning each tattoo with one central theme in mind intrigued me.  I wonder how common that approach to body art must be?

Obviously, the people who get whole-body Japanese tattoos are following that kind of philosophy.  But is a gangbanger whose ink reflects gang sensibilities even though not coming together in one unified design doing the same?  What about a person whose tattoos relate to the same general principle (religious art, for example) but are all done in varying styles or by different artists and present a mish-mosh of visual effects when seen as a whole?

What happens if a person starts out with one theme in mind and then goes off in a different direction?  Can the original ink be altered to match the new theme?  Should it be?  I’m reminded of the tattooed lady in Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land who starts off as a standard-issue sideshow performer and then has her tattoos transformed into a religious work of art by her husband, the tattoo artist.

And what if some of the art is done by one artist and some of it is done by another artist with an entirely different style?

I guess what I’m asking is whether having a theme results in a “unified field” of body art or not. 

Do you have a theme?  Do you know anyone who planned their ink in advance?  I’d be interested to hear what others think about this.
photo credit: rasseon

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By infmom, August 24, 2008 3:42 pm

….put a sports logo on my arm?

There’s a TV commercial that’s getting a lot of airplay these days, showing sports fans displaying their lovefor their teams in different, mostly creative ways. Painting a car like a team uniform. Wearing a costume representative of the team name. Getting a credit card with a team logo. Getting the team logo tattooed on your arm.

It’s obvious, of course, that the team logo in the commercial isn’t a real tattoo. (Obvious to anyone who’s ever come within ten feet of a real tattoo artist, that is.) But I have no doubt there are people so devoted to their teams, or to their favorite athletes, that they’ve got some kind of sports logo inked on their skin.

I’ve never been a big enough fan of any team or athlete that I’d want a sports emblem permanently attached. Heck, I never even replaced my Green Bay Packers jersey when it finally wore out (I’m not as big a Packers fan as I once was–I guess the days of “The Pack will be back! Way back!” did my early enthusasm in). My grandfather was a lifelong Pittsburgh Pirates fan, but I can’t imagine him buying a jersey, much less getting a tattoo.

On the other hand, I watch “American Chopper” and look at how crazy Grandma Teutul is about the Yankees. I could totally see her getting a Yankee logo tattooed on her arm (and Paul Sr. paying for it with no questions asked). Sometimes I tune in the Channel 5 news a few minutes early and catch the last minute or so of their wrestling extravaganza du jour, and I can totally picture the people screaming in the audience lining up at the local tattoo parlor to get a pro wrestling emblem or a portrait of their favorite bruiser permanently applied.

Would you get a tattoo of your favorite team emblem or something else related to a sport of some kind? Or is that the kind of thing you might be seeing a tattoo removal specialist about after a few bad seasons or big losses? Is that kind of “sports memorabilia” worth the money?

photo credit: Mac(3)

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By infmom, May 7, 2008 11:22 am

I am a big fan of tattoo web sites, as one might imagine. This one caught my eye today and it definitely deserves a wider audience.

Carl Zimmer’s Science Tattoo Emporium. My daughter the Linguistics Ph.D. candidate would like the tattoo of the glottal stop.

Yet more proof that not all tattooed people are hirsute bikers.

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