Tattoo Instruction
Tattoo Designs Reflect Who You Are
Sunday, December 21st, 2008 | Tattoo Instruction | No Comments
A well-chosen tattoo design makes an emotional impact – it sends a powerful, thought-provoking message about you, your life and what you believe in.
Choose the design of your tattoo wisely and it can even explain how you came to be the unique person you are.
Even the most “ordinary” or popular tattoo design can be made uniquely yours by your personal choice of placement, colors and size.
You can shout your message loud and clear to the whole world, or deliver it in symbols that only close friends or lovers will understand.
Either way, you want to be sure your tattoo design sends the right message and that it will still be the right message tomorrow and beyond.
Because of this choosing a tattoo design should not be rushed into. You need to make your choice slowly and carefully. Because a tattoo is the most personal of art forms, the choice must be yours.
However, here are some things to think about when choosing a design for your tattoo.
Where Should Your Tattoo Be?
Your choice of tattoo design will be affected by where you want your tattoo. For instance, a beautiful flowing phoenix will fit well on your shoulder, but not your ankle.
First decide where your tat will be, to narrow down your design choices.
To help you decide where to place your tattoo think about who you want to see it. Not all tattoos are for everyone’s eyes. If you are convinced that you want to show the world your tattoo then consider the back of the neck, throat or hands. If your tattoo is meant to be seen only by intimate friends perhaps the inner thigh is best.
Consider that there may also be occasions when displaying your tattoo will be inappropriate. In this case a tattoo inked onto your shoulder, lower back or leg is easily concealed with clothing.
Draw Out Your Thoughts and Feelings
Even if you can’t draw well, try sketching out your design ideas. These sketches will be very personal and unique. You can then look around at available designs for some that are similar. Show the tattoo artist both your sketches and the closest matches you have found. A good tattoo artist will be able to come up with a perfect mix of both – a tattoo design that is unique.
From www.tattoomuse.com
Four basic types of military tattoos
Friday, December 5th, 2008 | Tattoo Instruction | No Comments
Patriotic images of past wars. Religious icons. Fear of dying. Memories of those lost. No matter their inspiration, many U.S. service men and women use tattoos to remind themselves of their time served.
As reporter Michael May of The Texas Observer noted in “The Skins They Carried” (March 2008), there are four basic types of military tattoos. Often chosen by those going off to war are “vintage, gung-ho Americana style tattoos perfected during the World War II era by Sailor Jerry, a Honolulu-based tattoo artist whose stock images of eagles, weapons, and pinup girls evoke a more innocent, patriotic era.”
A second type is for those who wish to make their uniform permanent, May said. “Some do this for practical reasons, tattooing dog tags complete with military ID and Social Security numbers onto their torsos in case they become separated from their heads during combat. These tattoos, called ‘meat tags,’ can be elaborate,” May said.
The third most common military tattoos are those that portray religious iconography, most often images of crosses, rosaries, and Jesus Christ. Tattoos in honor of other religions and various denominations are also quite common.
The last of the four types is of recent origin, according to May, and “stands as a reminder of the human cost of the Iraq war. All the tattoo shops in Killeen [Texas] now do dozens of memorial tattoos each month.” The most common of these, May said, is the iconic combination of boots, a machine gun, and a Kevlar helmet. Such tattoos serve as a reminder of those lost in battle, and are often accompanied by a fallen comrade’s name and dates of birth and death. Recently the trio of gear stands alone, as many service members today fear the loss of more friends in the future and wish to allow the memorial to stand in recognition of all of those lost, past and future.
From HonoluluAdvertiser
Tattoo Flash
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 | Tattoo Instruction | No Comments
Tattoo flash refers to tattoo designs that hang on the walls of a tattoo parlor and are available for potential tattoo customers to choose from for tattooing. Such displays of tattoo designs originated from traditional Western tattooing styles and the way flash is drawn is highly systematic.
For example, flash found in tattoo parlors within the same neighborhood often differ only in slight subtle ways and the designs mainly involve pinups images of women, military insignia, ships, fierce animals, knives, and skulls.
Sheets of tattoo flash were first put up for sale by a certain “Lew the Jew” Alberts, a wallpaper designer and tattooist in the early 1900s. Before the availability of tattoo flash, a tattooist who would like to reproduce another tattooist´s design has to copy that design off of a customer´s body.
The brilliant Alberts spotted the business opportunity and started producing tattoo flash that any tattooist could buy and quickly set up a tattoo parlor. Once a flash sheet is acquired by a tattooist, he can simply copy it entirely or make slight alterations, and then use it as his own. Because of such flagrant but legal copying and reproduction, it was quite difficult to identify the original creator of the flash.
Nonetheless, the introduction of tattoo flash gave rise to a win-win situation as the tattooist improved the possibility of sealing a deal by rapidly offering different design choices to customers. In turn the customers can save on valuable time and money. However, even if a tattooist had multiple sheets of flash, the number of choices was still rather limited.
As a result the use of tattoo flash, certain designs or variations of these designs subsequently became classics, worn by a majority of tattooed people in a particular social group. Fads can certainly change over time but certain classic tattoo designs such as the rose remain wildly popular today.
Currently tattooists who offer tattoo flash will use a piece of translucent rice paper to transfer a design to the customer´s body. First, the rice paper is placed over the sheet of flash. Then, the design is directly traced on the paper thereby producing a stencil. Finally, the tattooist will apply a little carbon powder onto the stencil and transfer the design onto the body before actual tattooing.
In the 1980s a wave of change came about when tattoo parlors began to move towards contemporary tattoos or custom designs. Until then, most tattoo parlors had flash covering most walls, the front windows and often the ceiling as well. For those who enjoy the intricate flash designs, you can easily buy a “pork chop sheet” or a sheet of cheap flash designs for a dollar or so.
Article from www.americanchronicle.com
Preparing For Your First Tattoo
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 | Tattoo Instruction | No Comments
Getting your first tattoo done can be quite a nerve-wracking experience. Most people are not fully aware of exactly what the procedure involves so it therefore makes sense to fully familiarise yourself with the equipment that will be used to administer your tattoo.
When you first enter a tattoo parlour the various implements can seem somewhat daunting, but once you get accustomed to each one, you will soon realise that there’s nothing to worry about. It’s important to remember that all tattoo equipment is designed to be as painless as possible, and if you’re still not convinced you can always ask the tattoo artist to discuss the various tattoo equipment that they use.
The main piece of equipment used by the tattoo artist is of course the tattoo gun. This consists of needles that penetrate the skin and create the actual tattoo on your body using black or coloured ink. The tattoo gun has been designed to be very precise so as long as you have an experienced tattoo artist with a steady hand, then there is no reason why they can’t recreate your dream tattoo design for you.
There are two types of needle used in the tattoo gun - liner needles and shader needles.
They are pretty self-explanatory, as their name describes what they do, but liner needles are basically single needles used to create the outline of the tattoo design and shader needles are generally a combination of needles used to fill in the shading and colour of the tattoo design.
The tattoo gun is obviously the main item of equipment. A lot of the other equipment is generally used for sterilization purposes, with the main one being the autoclave. This is an important piece of equipment because it uses steam and pressure to sterilize each item of equipment used by the tattoo artist. This helps prevent any diseases being passed on from person to person.
You should be aware that not all tattoo parlours are as strict about sterilization as they should be so always make sure you ask them about their sterilization procedures before they start work on your tattoo. The last thing you want is to come away from the tattoo parlour with a great-looking tattoo, but a nasty disease or infection as well.
So overall you should now have a little more knowledge about some of the equipment used by a tattoo artist. There is not really anything to worry about regarding the equipment used. The procedure is not completely painless but the equipment has been designed to be as painless as possible and the tattoo artist will of course do their best to reassure you during the actual procedure.
Article from www.americanchronicle.com
