Inked Talk

Steampunk is a fantasy/fiction subgenre which can be described in its most basic terms as the incorporation of new technology with Victorian style. Imagine a truck powered by a steam engine, or a zeppelin with smoke stacks. Infuse the Victorian style - wood paneling, polished brass, gears and mechanisms - with futurism and high technology, and you have a good idea of what steampunk entails. Sometimes it takes the route of a “path not taken” type of alternate history, and it is in some ways similar to cyberpunk. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is probably the most recent, well-known movie that exemplifies the steampunk style, and the XBOX 360 game Bioshock is an excellent exemplar of the genre.*

Elements of steampunk have certainly attracted the attention of some tattoo collectors. Where tattoos are concerned, the theme of “the machine in the man” has inspired some great ink which its bearers attribute to the steampunk genre. By its very nature, the steampunk feel can make for some beautiful tattoos that go beyond a simple picture on the skin.

Here is a relatively common tattoo concept: the skin appears to be torn away, revealing the biomechanics below which power the man. Strictly speaking, it is debatable whether this is completely “steampunk,” but the blend of machine and man really has a great steampunk feel.

Another great steampunk-inspired tattoo - the cogs at the elbow joint and down the arm suggest something more than human.

This tattoo is a good thematic blend of the two previous - here, the shoulder area appears cut away to reveal underlying mechanical works.

From a visual standpoint, steampunk-inspired tattoos seem almost obvious. When skin is the canvas, it isn’t a stretch to envision what lies beneath. Imagining something greater than reality is, artistically, the next logical step. Steampunk tattoos have such great potential that it is only the genre’s relative obscurity that makes them as uncommon as they are.

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*For more of an explanation on steampunk, MTV’s website actually has a nice video that serves as a decent introduction to the genre, with some great accompanying visuals.

The neck tattoo is a bold statement. Like hand and facial tattoos, neck tattoos are very hard to conceal, meaning that every first impression - be it an employer, a police officer, or even a neighbor - can be colored by their perception of tattoos. Tattoos have clearly become more mainstream since the 1990s, but are the more visible and more difficult to hide tattoos following the trail blazed by the tramp stamp?

An article in the New York Times on Tuesday asserts that neck tattoos, once reserved for “gang members, prison inmates, members of the Russian mob and the rapper Lil Wayne,” are now entering the domain of the mundane. However, the article also goes out of its way to acknowledge that those who sport facial and neck tattoos, as well as those with unusual or excessive piercings, still face plenty of obstacles to acceptance in the workplace. Courts have repeatedly upheld workplace appearance requirements, including those that forbid visible piercings and tattoos. However, times are changing and workplaces are certain to evolve as our culture’s perception of tattooed people changes.

While the New York Times piece reads more like a cautionary tale than a real look at the increased prevalence of hard-to-conceal tattoos, the fact that the NYT has taken on the subject at all is a statement in and of itself.

You can find the original New York Times article from September 24, 2008 here at this link.

Readers: what are your thoughts on this? Have you noticed more neck tattoos on “unlikely suspects” in recent years? Tattoo artists - have you found more customers with “mundane” jobs seeking more prominent tattoos?

While Inked Talk doesn’t usually delve into the shiny, glittery land of temporary tattoos, a new product called the Eyedentity Label is attracting some interest among parents of young children. The Eyedentity Label is essentially a temporary tattoo customized with parental contact information. The label provides the child’s name, the parent’s telephone number, important allergy or medical information, and the Eyedentity Logo for easy recognition.

Eyedentity’s website suggests using the Eyedentity Label for Consider Eyedentity Label for airport travel, trips to theme parks, malls, sporting events, school field trips, and vacation travel.

The Eyedentity Label, of course, isn’t really a tattoo issue (although perhaps these temporary tattoos are the gateway for future ink), but it was a neat concept, so Inked Talk had to spread the word.

I feel a little bit dumber every time I accidentally catch a few moments of TMZ or other celebrity-centric shows. It is as though my brain cells, one by one, commit seppuku, and I can’t say I blame them entirely. Today I visited TMZ.com for the first time because I had seen a link for a gallery of celebrity’s “Dumb Tattoos.” While I don’t favor coverage of celebrity tattoos, dumb celebrity tattoos could certainly be fun. I thought I’d be seeing a lot of bad ink, which admittedly there were a few “WTF” tattoos in the gallery. But the vast majority of the pictures were just tattoo photos, or worse: tattooless photos.

I guess this is why I don’t understand TMZ.

Sure, there were a few bad tattoos in the gallery. Everyone’s favorite whipping girl Britney has some faded looking dice on her wrist. Maybe she could fix those up when she’s done being nuts.

But on the next page they proceed to use this photo to mock Angelina Jolie’s tattoos:

I feel like I’m playing a game of “Where’s Waldo?”. What tattoo are they mocking in that picture? I don’t see it. Well…maybe that was a mistake. Certainly Angelina has tattoos - there are certainly enough pictures of them on other websites - but why use a picture featuring zero tattoos to mock someone’s tattoos? Maybe I’m missing something…perhaps those brain cells that died the last time I caught TMZ on television were the brain cells in charge of visual recognition of tattoos. Then again, it could just a fluke, a solitary mistake in their otherwise quality gallery.

No, wait, there are more invisible tattoos to mock.

A quick web search tells me that Mena Suvari has a tattoo on her back. So clearly this frontal picture is an excellent choice to mock her tattoo.

Maybe I’m not the one with the dying brain cells here.

And here’s another gem from their “bad tattoo” gallery:

Hmm. Maybe that goofy looking facial hair is really a tattoo?

I’m the last person you’d see criticizing another website on this blog because my purpose here is to talk ink, not to bash other sites. But dammit TMZ, don’t tease me by proclaiming to have a whole gallery of bad celebrity ink only to show me more generic pictures of Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.

Ah well. Thanks for reading.

-Jenn

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Parenting Teens Blog

I was at Zoe’s Vicious Circle watching some tattoo artists at work a few weeks back when a twenty-something woman came in for a tattoo. She decided to get a nautical star on her hip. The owner of Zoe’s commented that nautical stars were the new tribal tramp stamp, meaning that it was becoming the tattoo of choice for the twenty-something party babe.

Nautical star tattoos have a long history. Obviously they were originally associated with water, specifically sailors who would rely upon the position of the stars for navigational purposes. In later years, the punk movement adopted the nautical star tattoo to some extent, and this adoption can probably be traced to a Sailor Jerry influence. While this sailor-to-punk lineage seems unlikely, perhaps the punk adoption of the nautical star makes a lot of sense as a symbol of finding one’s own way in life. Around the 1950s the nautical star was also adopted in the gay and lesbian circles as a symbol of their sexual affiliation.

The prevalence of the nautical star tattoo today suggests that there is a much wider audience attracted to this simple symbol now. Sailor Jerry’s resurgence in popularity as well as the growing fanbase of rockabilly and all its accouterments have almost certainly contributed to the recent interest in the nautical star. In addition, the nautical star’s versatility makes it a relatively easy tattoo to work into a larger piece. The nautical star can be done in any color, made any size, and because it is a relatively simple piece to ink it really doesn’t take much to work it into a more complex tattoo or a sleeve.

Is the nautical star really the new tramp stamp? There are thousands of hardcore Sailor Jerry fans, sailors, and rockabilly guys and gals out there who hope not. But for every one of them I’d wager that there are four college girl party babes thinking that a nautical star on their hip would be really hot.

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Frugalmania.com

Geek culture has gone mainstream. It isn’t hard to remember a time when video gamers and computer users were a small group of socially awkward guys who never got prom dates. These days, video games are just another form of entertainment, and computers are ubiquitous, so it is no surprise at all that geek tattoos are becoming more and more commonplace.

A quick stroll through BMEINK.com’s Geek Tattoos section shows that there are plenty of video game tattoos around, although some characters and games are far more popular than others. Mario and his cast of friends are easily the most prominent video game tattoos on the site, while other classics like Pac Man enjoy some love there as well. Fan favorites like The Legend of Zelda are everywhere, with Triforce tattoos being the most popular theme from that game. Even newer games like Halo seem to have a strong following among the tattooed.

Are video game tattoos just another trend? Or are video games so mainstream now that tattoos were certain to follow?

Mario is a very popular candidate for video games tattoos. The Mario Brothers franchise has been successful across multiple platforms since Mario made his appearance as Jump Man in the arcade version of Donkey Kong in 1981. That means that anyone under age 35 grew up with one Mario video game or another - it’s no wonder that Mario tattoos are among the most common geek tattoos.

Like Mario, Pac Man is another very recognizable character. Although the Pac Man franchise is, for all intents and purposes, pretty darn dead, you’d be hard pressed to name a more merchandised video game in the early 1980s.

While Mario and Pac Man have stood the test of time and are very recognizable characters, the extreme success of a more modern game - Bungie’s Halo and its successors - has prompted some Halo fans to get tattoos of the characters or logos from the game.

Will Halo enjoy Mario’s longevity or Pac Man’s recognizability? Only time will tell, but that is a risk that anyone takes when they get pop culture related ink.

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Think spring!!

Your best friend just got his girlfriend’s name tattooed on his arm. He and “Angela” have only been dating for a few weeks, but they are completely in love. You razz him a bit about the tattoo, saying he’s going to regret it in a few weeks when Angela has moved on, but he’s convinced that she’s the one. And if she’s not, the “Angela” on his arm is going to stay with him forever.

Many of us cringe a bit when we see a name tattoo. Perhaps that’s because we think that permanently placing another’s name on your skin is an excellent way to jinx a good thing. Or perhaps it’s because people outside of a relationship can see the future of the relationship far more clearly than someone who is blinded by love. But is a name tattoo, in and of itself, always such a bad idea?

The answer depends upon how you view tattoos. To some, tattoos are accessories, like a pair of earrings or a purse. They are there because they look good, and while they may have some meaning or significance to the wearer, their primary purpose is decoration. For these people, the name tattoo functions like wearing your lover’s class ring - it is a symbol of the relationship at its present time. But a class ring comes off when the romance is gone. For those whose tattoos are mere accessories, name tattoos may not be a good choice, particularly in the context of a dating relationship.

Amy Winehouse has her husband’s name tattooed on her chest:

For others, their tattoos are more like memorials - they are symbolic of a special time and place in their lives. Some get tattooed to commemorate the birth of a child or the passing of a loved one. Others get tattooed to memorialize an achievement or life experience as is the case with some military tattoos. If your tattoos are more than merely decorative - if they function as a record of your life - then isn’t a name tattoo completely appropriate? Perhaps your friend and “Angela” break up after a few years - he may get over her but he won’t ever forget her completely. What is the harm in having an ink tribute to that time in his life? For those who view their tattoos as their own living records, name tattoos seem entirely reasonable.

And if not, there are always cover-ups.

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Watching House

Has the availability of laser tattoo removal changed people’s attitudes towards getting a tattoo?

Not long ago, a tattoo was a lifelong commitment. The ink you selected would stay with you for the rest of your life. Time may fade it and scars may mar it, but it will be there, for better or worse, forever. The significance of that is obvious: choose carefully when selecting a tattoo. Don’t get a tattoo on a whim, don’t pick something out that you aren’t one hundred percent certain about, and don’t get inked in a place you’ll regret five, ten or twenty years down the road.

Have those careful considerations changed with the availability of laser tattoo removal? Has the decision-making process on the part of the consumer changed because he or she knows that if they end up regretting their ink they can have it erased?

The laser tattoo removal process works by using short pulses of intense light to actually break down the tattoo ink pigments. These fractured pigments are eventually broken down by the body’s immune system. Different colors and different types of inks break down differently, which means that complete removal of all tattoos may not be possible, but the vast majority of tattoos can be substantially “erased” by this procedure. The procedure is far from painless, and it is relatively pricey. But even with these well-documented drawbacks, it is still an option that the consumer is aware of when getting inked. Does that fact change how people shop for tattoos?

Statistics on tattoo regret and removal are sketchy. A Harris poll from 2003 suggests that about 17% of those surveyed regret at least one of their tattoos. Would that 17% have the tattoo removed if given the option? That’s hard to say. Certainly there are good reasons to remove certain tattoos. Reformed gang members may wish to remove the markings of their past affiliations in order to become gainfully employed. But anyone with the cash and the gumption can have their tattoo remove by laser, no matter how innocuous their ink is.

It is difficult to say what is in a person’s mind when they are selecting a tattoo, but for better or worse, certainly the availability of laser removal has played a factor in some people’s tattoo decisions.

Tattoo artists, I pose this question to you: What has your experience with your own customers been? What would you say to a customer who, when selecting a tattoo, says “I can always have it taken off later if I don’t want it anymore”?

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Retro TV

Today is Valentine’s Day, and what would be more appropriate for the occasion than a look at a timeless classic: the heart tattoo.

There are endless variations of the heart tattoo. Many people emblazon a heart with their lover’s name as a permanent tribute to their love. Others use the heart as a symbol of respect and admiration for family, such as the “Mom” heart tattoo. People find the permanence of a tattoo to be strongly symbolic, as sort of a monument to the endless nature of their love or feelings that do not fade away. Fortunately, for those who make mistakes, tattoos can be altered and covered up, and even removed entirely.

The heart with a dagger through it is another common variation, with interesting origins. A pierced heart may modernly be symbolic of a broken heart, betrayal, or love withheld. The dagger is symbolic of stealth and secrecy: the classic weapon of the assassin. It is effective only in close range, and on a symbolic level that is very appropriate because the harshest wounds and the deepest hurt can only be inflicted on us by someone who is intimately close to our hearts.

These wonderful love-related metaphors associated with the dagger through the heart conceal an even more interesting origin of the tattoo: the dagger through the heart as a symbol actually finds its beginnings in Christianity as the Sacred Heart of Mary. In Luke 2:35, Simeon prophesies over Jesus and speaks of what salvation will come through Him and says to Mary, “…and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.” The rendering of the Sacred Heart of Mary with a dagger piercing the heart is symbolic of Simeon’s prophecy coming true.

Perhaps even more interestingly, Voodoo lore, which often co-opts symbolism associated with Catholicism, also attributes meaning to the dagger through a heart. It is a symbol of the Voodoo loa (which can be interpreted roughly as a Voodoo “goddess”) Erzulie. Erzulie is the feared and loved symbol of beauty, female energy, and vengeance.

Like any tattoo, the heart tattoo can have as much or as little meaning as its bearer attributes to it. It is interesting to dig deeper into the origin of some of these more enduring designs, such as the heart tattoo, to find out what lies beneath the basic assumptions we make about such tattoos.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Angelina Jolie in Iraq

This website is really great. It is a project by Nathan Black. People send in their knuckle tattoo pictures and stories behind them then the images and stories are posted to this website. The FAQ answers a lot of questions about knuckle tattoos (having them, wanting them, asking about them etc.)

The art section is great with different knuckle tat images involving interesting sources.

So check the site out and bug Nathan to update. I just might bug him…

UV tattoos have been all the rage with ravers in recent years. They glowing works of art are popular among people that want to be more discreet about their tattoos. UV ink is used to spruce up an old tattoo with some black light glowing accents. Although UV tattoos look cool there is mounting concern they might not be too good for you health.

The chemical makeup of the different UV ink has some worried. UV tattoos have been responsible for skin rashes, infections and some doctors fear it is a carcinogenic. Some artist won’t work with the ink and others have no problem using it. With no ink regulations artists can use what they deem safe and make their own ink. Phosphorus has been taken out of UV inks due to the body rejecting the ink.

Regardless of what is being eliminated from UV ink, there is no telling what is safe to use until the Federal government steps in to regulate tattoos. Some tattoo shops advertise that their UV ink is approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) It is approved as a tracking liquid that is injected in to fish, not for human body art.

I think that more studies should be done and that inks should be regulated by the Federal government. Artists might know what they are dealing with, but there are also some that don’t want to mess with it. Regardless of the lack of regulations, or cancer warnings, there are some that still want a UV tattoo.

Oh yes… The Tramp stamp. This is the nickname/derogatory/offensive name for the tattoo women get on their lower back. Whether they peak out from under low rise jeans or a baby tee, the tramp stamp has become popular among women.

The lower back tattoo gained popularity among women in the late 1990’s. The lower back tattoo has been a symbol of empowerment for women and enables them to assert their sexuality. In some circles the lower back tattoo suggests promiscuity. This area of the back is ideal for oblong or “V” shaped designs. Tribal tattoos are popular on the region of the female body as well as vining flowers.

The lower back tattoo accentuates a womans lower back and can be hidden easily under business attire. Women usually wear low rise jeans, a baby tee or a mid-drift showing shirt to show off their lower back tattoo. Although lower back tattoos are more common now, they are associated with the Raunch Culture, or women exploiting themselves.

Celebrities with tramp stamps Include Angelina Jolie, Nicky Hilton, Julia Roberts, Britney Spears, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Janet Jackson.

Sources: http://ezinearticles.com/?Lower-Back-Tattoo-Designs&id=476468
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_back_tattoo