If you like cats and tats, please do check out CattooDesign. It’s a keeper.
photo credit: issye

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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

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Sorry I haven’t been posting much lately–life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans!

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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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The site offers a trial membership, so you can see if it’s for you.  But this is a “risk free” membership, rather than a really free membership.  They’ll give you your money back if you change your mind within 60 days.  They offer some freebies for joining, the alleged price of which seems somewhat inflated to me, but others might find them worth having.

If you’d like to have original flash that’s really your own, this site might be worth checking out.  I chose not to register with them, so I can’t give it any kind of personal review, but I thought I’d pass it along as a site that might be useful for my readers.

(if you’d like to follow me on Twitter, you can click the link at the top of the page. Let me know you read my blog.) 

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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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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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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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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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