TATTOO
e n i z a g a M
BEHIND THE SCENES Listening to the stories of others
HOW TO TAKE CARE OF A NEW TATTOO
“The best feeling ever is to wake up in the morning and go to work”
4 How tattoos are made pages of
CONTENT DANIEL THOMSSON Editor in chief
The editor-in-chief of the Guardian is appointed by The Scott Trust, and is responsible for Guardian content across all its forms - the Guardian, The Observer, theguardian.com and all related journalist properties.
JAMES SANDERS Art Director
Various artists may create or develop specific parts of an art piece or scene, but it is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vision. In particular, the art director is in charge of the overall visual appearance and how it communicates visually.
MIRIAM JONES Layout artist
Layout artists, sometimes called electronic publishers or desktop publishers, occupy a profession which is closely related to that performed by graphic designers. The field of layout artistry and desktop publishing is moving away from physically printed items.
SAM YORK Writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in various styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce various forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, poetry, plays, screenplays and essays.
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TATTOO WATERPROOF TATTOO The new place on the block.................4 - 5
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THE SALON
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Who are we?..............................................6
HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED Daniel tells us his story.......................8 - 10
BEHIND THE SCENES
Listening to the stories of others..............11 The procedure step by step...............12 - 13
TRUTH ABOUT TATTOOS
They never tell you.............................14 - 15
13 Statement of Copyright: TATTOO Magazine™ is owned and published electronically by Trend Ventures LLC. Copyright 2015 Trend Ventures LLC. All rights reserved. ® “TATTOO Magazine and distinctive logo are trademarks owned by Trend Ventures LLC. “trendmag.com” is a trademark of Trend Ventures LLC. No part of this electronic magazine may be reproduced without the written consent of Trend Ventures LLC. Requests for permission should be directed to: TATTOO Magazine PO Box 1099 Carnation WA 98014 USA
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Foto: Mikaela Ramos
Waterproof T
he word tattoo, or tattow in the 18th century, is a loanword from the Polynesian word tatau, meaning “correct, workmanlike”. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology of tattoo as “In 18th c. tattaow, tattow. From Polynesian (Tahitian, Samoan, Tongan, etc.) tatau. In Marquesan, tatu.” Before the importation of the Polynesian word, the practice of tattooing had been described in the West as pricking, painting, or staining. Sailors on the voyage later introduced both the word and reintroduced the concept of tattooing to Europe. This is not to be confused with the origins of the word for the military drumbeat — see military tattoo. In this case, the English word tattoo is derived from the Dutch word taptoe (OED).
Tattoo
A tattooed man’s back, Japan, c. 1875 Mainstream art galleries hold exhibitions of both conventional and custom tattoo designs such as Beyond Skin, at the Museum of Croydon. Copyrighted tattoo designs that are mass-produced and sent to tattoo artists are known as “flash”, a notable instance of industrial design. Flash sheets are prominently displayed in many tattoo parlors for the purpose of providing both inspiration and ready-made tattoo images to customers.
“The best feeling ever is to wake up in the morning and go to work”
The first written reference to the word tattoo (or tatau), appears in the journal of Joseph Banks (24 February 1743 – 19 June 1820), the naturalist aboard Captain Cook’s ship the HMS Endeavour: “I shall now mention the way they mark themselves indelibly, each of them is so marked by their humor or disposition”.
The word “tattoo” was brought to Europe by the explorer James Cook, when he returned in 1769 from his first voyage to Tahiti and New Zealand. In his narrative of the voyage, he refers to an operation called “tattaw”. Before this it had been described as scarring, painting, or staining.
The Japanese word irezumi means “insertion of ink” and can mean tattoos using tebori, the traditional Japanese hand method, a Western-style machine, or for that matter, any method of tattooing using insertion of ink. The most common word used for traditional Japanese tattoo designs is Horimono. Japanese may use the word “tattoo” to mean non-Japanese styles of tattooing. Anthropologist Ling Roth in 1900 described four methods of skin marking and suggested they be differentiated under the names “tatu”, “moko”, “cicatrix”, and “keloid”.
Tattoo enthusiasts may refer to tattoos as “ink”, “pieces”, “skin art”, “tattoo art”, “tats”, or “work”; to the creators as “tattoo artists”, “tattooers”, or “tattooists”; and to places where they work as “tattoo shops”, “tattoo studios”, or “tattoo parlors”. TATTOOmagazine | 5
THE SALON such accidental tattoos is the result of a deliberate or accidental stabbing with a pencil or pen, leaving graphite or ink beneath the skin. Tattooing among females of the Koita people of Papua New Guinea began at age five and was added to each year, with the V-shaped tattoo on the chest indicating that she had reached marriageable age. Photo taken in 1912.
The American Academy of Dermatology distinguishes five types of tattoos: traumatic tattoos, also called “natural tattoos”, that result from injuries, especially asphalt from road injuries or pencil lead; amateur tattoos; professional tattoos, both via traditional methods and modern tattoo machines; cosmetic tattoos, also known as “permanent makeup”; and medical tattoos. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. According to George Orwell, coal miners could develop characteristic tattoos owing to coal dust getting into wounds. 6 | TATTOOmagazine
This can also occur with substances like gunpowder. Similarly, a traumatic tattoo occurs when a substance such as asphalt is rubbed into a wound as the result of some kind of accident or trauma. These are particularly difficult to remove as they tend to be spread across several layers of skin, and scarring or permanent discoloration is almost unavoidable depending on the location. An amalgam tattoo is when amalgam particles are implanted in to the soft tissues of the mouth, usually the gums, during dental filling placement or removal; another example of
Many tattoos serve as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility, pledges of love, punishment, amulets and talismans, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts. The symbolism and impact of tattoos varies in different places and cultures. Tattoos may show how a person feels about a relative (commonly mother/ father or daughter/ son) or about an unrelated person. Today, people choose to be tattooed for artistic, cosmetic, sentimental/memorial, religious, and magical reasons, and to symbolize their belonging
to or identification with particular groups, including criminal gangs (see criminal tattoos) or a particular ethnic group or law-abiding subculture. Some Māori still choose to wear intricate moko on their faces. In Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, the yantra tattoo is used for protection against evil and to increase luck. Biblical tattoos in western culture are still very popular. Many people mainly Christians will have a Psalm or verse from the Bible tattooed on their body although some people will still have tattoos from the Bible despite not being Christian. Popular verses include, John 3:16, Philippians 4:13, and Psalms 23. In the Philippines certain tribal groups believe tattoos have magical qualities, and help to protect their bearers. Most traditional tattooing in the Philippines is related to the bearer’s accomplishments in life or rank in the tribe.
have also been forcibly tattooed. A well-known example is the identification system for inmates in Nazi concentration camps during The Holocaust. The Nazis introduced the practice of tattooing at Auschwitz in 1941 in order to identify the bodies of registered prisoners in the concentration camps. During registration, they would pierce the outlines of the serial-number digits onto the prisoners’ arms. Tattoos have also been used for identification in other ways. As early as the Zhou, Chinese authorities would employ facial tattoos as a punishment for certain crimes or to mark prisoners or slaves. During the Roman Empire, Roman soldiers were required by law to have identifying tattoos on their hands in order to make desertion difficult. Gladiators and slaves were likewise tattooed: exported slaves were tattooed with the words “tax paid”, and it was a common practice to tattoo “Stop me, I’m a runaway” on their foreheads.
Extensive decorative tattooing is common among members of traditional freak shows and by performance artists who follow in their tradition. People
Moko tattoos were facial designs worn by women and men to indicate their lineage, social position, and status within the tribe.
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HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED “We really did start from the bottom and now look at us, dreams do come true”
T
attooing has been practiced for centuries in many cultures and spread throughout the world.[citation needed] The Ainu, an indigenous people of Japan, traditionally had facial tattoos, as did the Austroasians. Today, one can find Atayal, Seediq, Truku, and Saisiyat of Taiwan, Berbers of Tamazgha (North Africa), Yoruba, Fulani and Hausa people of Nigeria, and Māori of New Zealand with facial tattoos. Tattooing was popular among certain ethnic groups in southern China, Polynesia, Africa, Borneo, Cambodia, Europe, Japan, the Mentawai Islands, MesoAmerica, New Zealand, North America and South America, the Philippines, Iron Age Britain, and Taiwan. A tattoo on the right arm of a Scythian chieftain whose mummy was discovered at Pazyryk, Siberia. The tattoo was made more than 2,500 years ago. It is a myth that the modern revival of tattooing stems from Captain James Cook’s three voyages to the South Pacific in the late 1700s. Certainly, Cook’s voyages and the dissemination of the texts and images from them brought more awareness about tattooing (and, as noted above, imported the word “tattow” into Western languages), but Europeans have gotten tattooed throughout history. On Cook’s first voyage in 1768, his science officer and expedition botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, as well as artist Sydney Parkinson and many others of the crew, returned to England with tattoos, although many of these men would have had pre-existing tattoos. Banks was a highly regarded member of the English aristocracy and had acquired his position with Cook by putting up what was at the time the princely sum of some ten
thousand pounds in the expedition. In turn, Cook brought back with him a tattooed Raiatean man, Omai, whom he presented to King George and the English Court. On subsequent voyages other crew members, from officers, such as American John Ledyard to ordinary seamen, got tattooed. The first documented professional tattooist in Britain was established in the port of Liverpool in the 1870s. In Britain tattooing was still largely associated with sailors and the lower or even criminal class, but by the 1870s had become fashionable among some members of the upper classes, including royalty, and in its upmarket form it could be an expensive and sometimes painful process. A marked class division on the acceptability of the practice continued for some time in Britain.Recently a trend has arisen marketed as ‘Stick and Poke’ tattooing; primitive figures are permanently inscribed by the user himself after he obtains a ‘DIY’ kit containing needles, ink and a collection of suggestions. Tattooed sailor aboard the USS New Jersey in 1944 As most tattoos in the U.S. were done by Polynesian and Japanese amateurs, tattoo artists were in great demand in port cities all over the world, especially by European and American sailors. The first recorded professional tattoo artist in the United States was a German immigrant, Martin Hildebrandt. He opened a shop in New York City in 1846 and quickly became popular during the
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American Civil War among soldiers and sailors of both Union and Confederate militaries. Hildebrandt began traveling from camp to camp to tattoo soldiers, making his popularity increase, and also giving birth to the tradition of getting tattoos while being an American serviceman. Soon after the Civil War, tattoos became fashionable among upper-class young adults. This trend lasted until the beginning of WWI. The invention of the electric tattoo machine caused popularity of tattoos among the wealthy to drop off. The machine made the tattooing procedure much both easier and cheaper, thus, eliminating the status symbol tattoos previously held, as they were now affordable for all socioeconomic classes. The status symbol of a tattoo shifted from a representation of wealth, to a mark typically seen on rebels and criminals. Despite this change, tattoos remained popular among military servicemen, and the tradition continues today. Over time tattoos have become increasingly popular in the U.S., and according to a study in 2006; nearly 25 percent of Americans between the ages of eighteen and fifty have one or more tattoos. Since the 1970s, tattoos have become a mainstream part of Western fashion, common among both sexes, to all economic classes, and to age groups from the later teen years to middle age. For many young Americans, the tattoo has taken on a decidedly different meaning than for previous generations. The tattoo has “undergone dramatic redefinition” and has shifted from a form of deviance to an acceptable form of expression. In 2010, 25% of Australians under age 30 had tattoos Tattooing involves the placement of pigment into the skin’s dermis, the layer of dermal tis-
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sue underlying the epidermis. After initial injection, pigment is dispersed throughout a homogenized damaged layer down through the epidermis and upper dermis, in both of which the presence of foreign material activates the immune system’s phagocytes to engulf the pigment particles. As healing proceeds, the damaged epidermis flakes away (eliminating surface pigment) while deeper in the skin granulation tissue forms, which is later converted to connective tissue by collagen growth. This mends the upper dermis, where pigment remains trapped within fibroblasts, ultimately concentrating in a layer just below the dermis/epidermis boundary. Its presence there is stable, but in the long term (decades) the pigment tends to migrate deeper into the dermis, accounting for the degraded detail of old tattoos. A traditional two coil tattoo machine Some tribal cultures traditionally created tattoos by cutting designs into the skin and rubbing the resulting wound with ink, ashes or other agents; some cultures continue this practice, which may be an adjunct to scarification. Some cultures create tattooed marks by hand-tapping the ink into the skin using sharpened sticks or animal bones (made like needles) with clay formed disks or, in modern times, needles. The most common method of tattooing in modern times is the electric tattoo machine, which inserts ink into the skin via a single needle or a group of needles that are soldered onto a bar, which is attached to an oscillating unit. The unit rapidly and repeatedly drives the needles in and out of the skin, usually 80 to 150 times a second.
BEHINDthe SCENES
Listening to the stories of others Wanted a pic of my moms face with a fancy pancreatic cancer purple ribbon saying beloved mother. They cant do it. They would require a professional photo of my mom and honestly, not many folks get professional photos done being that mobile photos are so common place now. Looks like I can’t find a true artist to help. I’m sad and disappointed, but I did go to other tattoos shops to inquire after this place.
I walked in and w a s greeted by a pretty girl behind the desk and was passed to a guy to her side who took care of tattoo quoting. He was busy with some other girls so being the patient guy that I am, I didn’t have a problem with it and waited. After setting up the tattoo table and some papers for the girls, he rummaged through some papers while I waited a few feet away waiting. Finally he looks up at me, I said hi, and told him what I wanted.
I was looking for a touch-up on a tattoo on my shoulder which was done about 11 years ago to get the color redone and the lines remade. He told me that what’s done is done and there wasn’t much he could do help me, that I don’t need any more work done. Funny, every other artist said they could help me out and even I could see that the color is starting to fade. Then, I ask if I could add some fire to my tattoo since it was a tribal phoenix design that I drew up. TATTOOmagazine | 11
The Procedure Step by Step If you are thinking about getting your first tattoo, but are unfamiliar with the process, the thought might meet you with anticipation. Fear of the unknown can sometimes hold us back from doing things we really want to do. You might be concerned that it will hurt too much. You might be worried that you wouldn’t know if the artist was doing something wrong. The best thing you can do is educate yourself on the process of the tattoo application, and that way you will be prepared and know what to expect when you sit in the artist’s chair. Please keep in mind that the following outline describes the most favorable situation for getting a tattoo. There will always be differences between one artist and the next, but any major deviance from these guidelines could indicate a problem. Once you have decided on your tattoo design and your artist, you will be required to show valid identification for proof of age. You may also be asked for your address and phone number, so your artist can contact you in the future if need be. In most studios, payment must be made before services are rendered. It is up to each studio to decide which methods of payment they accept. Whatever method you pay with, make sure they give you a receipt. After your paperwork is filled out, you will be seated in the tattoo chair. Sometimes this is in an open work area, and sometimes a private room depending on the location of your tattoo. If you are shy and don’t want others to watch, you can request a private room, but be sure you have done this in advance. A lot of studios use dentist-style chairs, some use regular table chairs, and some use benches. Now it is time for the preparation. The area of your body you have chosen for your tattoo will be cleaned, usually with rubbing alcohol. Then, any hair will be 12 | TATTOOmagazine
removed from the area by shaving it with a new disposable razor which will be discarded after being used. Even the finest of hairs can get in the way and cause problems, so this is a crucial step, even if you can’t see any hairs. Then, the area will be cleaned again to make sure it is smooth and ready for the transfer. Most studios today use a wonderful machine called a thermal-fax to make their stencils. This saves on literally hours of tracing time by simply inserting your tattoo design into the machine, and it transfers it onto a special thermal paper in seconds. Once your stencil is ready, it’s time to create the transfer onto your skin. Some artists will use soap or water to moisten the skin, and some will use stick deodorant. These aid in making the design transfer better and darker onto your skin. When the paper is pulled away from your skin, it will leave you with a purple-ish blue likeness of your future tattoo. It is at this time that your artist will start preparing their tattoo machine. The inks will be placed in little tiny cups called “ink caps”, and the needles and tubes will be removed from their sterile pouches and placed in the machine. Clean, distilled water will be poured into a cup for cleaning the needles during the tattoo process and to change from one color to the next. Some A&D ointment or Vaseline will be placed on a clean surface for your use only. *Note: This photo is an example of the type of equipment you will see, but it is not the actual sterile set-up from a tattoo artist’s booth. I always forget to get a picture of the work station - I’ll get one soon! Now it is time to get down to serious business! A little ointment will be placed over your transfer design for a few reasons. One is that it helps keep the transfer on longer without accidentally rubbing it off, and it also helps the needle to slide along the skin more
How to take care of your tattoo The healing of your tattoo is the final aspect of your art piece. The opinions and advice given are endless, and there are more experts out there than tattoos. Since we guarantee our work we ask you to follow our advice and not your buddy’s that has three tattoos. Just as with a psychiatrist, you’ll probably never get the same advice or instructions from different artists. But after many years of combined experience, you will find this information very beneficial in healing your Unique Ink tattoo.
smoothly, which is certainly going to be more comfortable to you! After the ointment is applied, it is time for the first line. If you’re nervous, don’t hold your breath. Some people have passed out during a tattoo, and trust me - it wasn’t the pain, it was the panic! Take a nice, slow, deep breath and try to relax. The first minute or so will the be roughest. After that, your skin will kind of get used to it and the pain will begin to subside. Once all the linework is done, your artist can breathe a little bit easier knowing that they won’t have to worry about the transfer anymore. Now it’s time to get creative with a little shading and possibly color. Depending on the size of your tattoo, your artist may switch to a different set of needles called magnums (or mags) which are designed for coloring and shading. They may even switch tattoo machines altogether. The shading and coloring can go along quite quickly, and before you know it...you’ve got a complete tattoo. Your artist may like a picture of your tattoo for their portfolio.
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THE TRUTH ABOUT NEVER TE F
ifty years ago, tattoos were the watermark of rebels and social outcasts—bikers, sailors, carnival freaks. But today, your average sorority girl probably has a unicorn on her ankle or a butterfly fluttering above her butt crack. Tattoos have been a part of the human experience since the Stone Age and were present in nearly every culture across the globe, from the ancient Greeks and Romans to Africans, Native Americans, and Polynesians. Below are 10 facts about tattoos, from tramp stamps to gangsters to mummies and back again. Today, the streets of cities like Boston and New York swarm with tattoo parlors, but few realize these are extremely recent developments. Many states took the extreme measure of banning tattoos entirely during the 1960s, when the hysteria of hepatitis outbreaks reached critical mass. It was illegal to get a tattoo in New York City between 1961 and 1997, forcing artists to operate on an underground basis. In Massachusetts, tattooing was illegal all the way up until 2000, with severe penalties including possible jail sentences. Today, all states allow tattooing, although the rules for minors vary from state to state—some allow kids to get inked with parental permission while others require waiting until 18, no exceptions. Leaving the social connotations of the so-called “tramp stamps” well alone, there is at least one possible unforeseen drawback for women wishing to get a tattoo on their lower back. Some anesthesiologists have expressed concern that giving epidurals to pregnant women with tattoos may ex-
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UT TATTOOS THEY TELL YOU pose them to the potential complication of ink fragments entering the spinal cord. The risk would seem very minor, especially for a tattoo more than a few months old, but the possibility remains. Of greater concern, it has been reported that the iron oxide in tattoo ink sometimes reacts during MRIs and may cause burns. For those not bold enough to commit to permanent inking, there are alternatives. Small children adore the temporary tattoos that come in the machines in supermarkets, and at carnivals, boardwalks, and the like, you can often encounter booths providing henna tattoos. Derived from a plant, henna dye has been used for thousands of years, both to color the hair and to draw intricate designs on the skin. Natural henna goes on with a light orange color and darkens to a rust red over a few days. As the skin exfoliates, the patterns gently fade away. However, the commonly used “black henna,” contains synthetic ingredients, most notably p-phenylenediamine (PPD). PPD is found in coal tar and has been known to cause horrifying reactions and permanent scars. Worse still, some black henna contains carcinogens which might cause life-threatening issues down the line such as leukemia. Macy’s was founded in New York City in 1858 and quickly grew into an empire. It has long since worked its way into the American public consciousness with its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade and 4th of July fireworks spectacular. The department store’s logo is simple and classic: a red star.
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MADE BY SWEDEN Welcome in to your Volvo retailor
Disclamer
All content were taken from the web and is not used in a comercial matter, only for study purposes of Ă–rebro University 2015