Well it seems to me that if last year was the year for celebrities getting stupid tattoos, this year has started off with a bang. Now when Rihanna decides that she just has to have her little tribute to Tupac by getting her knuckles tattooed with the words “Thug Life” – well that is her decision. She is an adult and totally allowed to make knuckleheaded decisions like that. When I saw the picture below of her little tribute, I thought for sure she was teasing us all; it looks like pink nail polish on her knuckles, not tattoos.
But then there were some paparazzi pics of her that definitely showed off her knuckles, and this time it looks more like the gal has indeed gone and done the deed.
But the celebrity tattoo bonehead move to beat them all came when boxing champ Floyd Mayweather tweeted pics of his 13 year old son’s new tattoos, which are not small or insignificant.
Of course, part of me is not exactly pleased that Mayweather has bad enough judgment to allow someone like 50cent to “babysit” his son. Yes, I have heard the word –they are good friends and both have sons and have been seen hanging together a lot lately. Doesn’t change the fact the kid is just 13. In fact, without the father to give permission, whoever did the tattoo should not have done it.
But I guess if you are a tattoo artist and 50Cent walks into your place wanting a bunch of tattoos for his friends son, who am I to deny that bit of glory? With any luck, the things will fade in a week or two. But they look pretty permanent in the pics I have seen.
And finally, Dallas Bradan has to have gotten one of the silliest tattoos for any celebrity tattoo I have seen for a while. Dallas is the pitcher for the Oakland As baseball team. He had recently done a commercial shoot with famed baseball pitcher Rollie Fingers and must have been really impressed by the guy. Not long after the shoot, there he was showing off his latest tattoo – of Rollie riding a dolphin over a rainbow. Not sure what the significance of the dolphin and rainbow are – but aren’t they cute?
So it may only be January but I think this may be the biggest year yet for a new batch of weird and wild celebrity tattoos. I guess only time will tell!
Back in 2010 there was a big furor about the city of Hermosa Beach deciding to ban all tattoo parlors in the city. It all began when tattoo artist Johnny Anderson decided to push to have the city allow him to open a new location of Yer Cheat’n Heart, his tattoo parlor Gardena. He was very interested in an area that happened to be in nearby Hermosa Beach, a small beach community is Southern California. But the city continued to rebuff his efforts.
City Claims Health Risk
When Anderson applied for a city license he was told that tattoo parlors posed a health risk in the city and so Hermosa Beach did not allow them. When asked to clarify, they stated that the “open wounds” that are created in a tattoo could lead to infection and disease. In support of their claim, the lone tattoo parlor inspector in Los Angeles County said that he saw many violations and plenty of tattoo parlors that do not follow proper hygiene rules.
9th Circuit Ruling Protects First Amendment Rights
When Anderson took the battle regarding tattoo regulations to the courts, he spent three years fighting the city-wide ban on tattoo shops. Finally the court case came before the Court Circuit of appeals that ruled Anderson was entitled to his First Amendment right of freedom of expression. The court ruled that it still applied to tattoo parlors and that freedom of speech should not be abrogated simply because it was on a person’s body.
Today several tattoo parlors have opened in Hermosa Beach. Although the city was not happy with another tattoo parlor that opened with a punk rock concert that it was not licensed for, it looks like tattoo parlors are here to stay. And that suits tattoo artists Johnny Anderson just fine.
For those of us who love body art and can’t get enough of it, Tattoo Magazine is a good addition to the pile of glossy pictures of various tattoos. It may not be as flashy looking as its competitors, but the pictures are decent, the articles are informative and if you ignore the sleazy ads, the magazine is definitely a worthwhile buy.
The publisher is EasyRider and since it is a company that primarily publishes magazines about the world of street motorcycles, it is pretty easy to see how they happened to decide on a couple of tattoo magazines. The fact of this relationship is seen in the publication, which centers more on the lifestyle aspects of bike-riding tattoo folks then it does on the “artsy” aspects that other tattoo magazines often focus on. They also publish two other tattoo-themed magazines: Savage and Flash.
The upcoming March issue is a pretty good example of the type of articles they tend to carry – with the emphasis on street culture (Barcelona and Will Rise Tattoo) but some spotlights on bands with tattoos (Eve to Adam) and of course the usual Tattoo Parlor Spotlight that has become a staple of many tattoo magazines.
All in all, it isn’t the most flash tattoo magazine out there, but it has some solid articles every issue, always shows off some of the reader tats and even has contests for the best tattoo. If you were going to get another tattoo magazine to add to your collection, it is worth checking out. Hint: if you get one and like it, get the subscription as they give you a big discount over the newsstand price.
For most of us, the thought is that tattoos are a modern thing, but nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is tattooing was popular among the lower classes in 19th Century Europe. It has been estimated that as much as 80% of the British Navy had a tattoo by the end of the century. Because the tattoos were used to denote ports of call and oceans travelled, they were important status symbols amongst the sailing class in Europe at the time.
Royal Tattoos
The one person who really made tattooing popular amongst the upper class however was when the Prince of Wales visited Jerusalem in 1862 and had a tattoo done at the time to commemorate the visit. It was a tattoo of the Jerusalem Cross and he not only got the tattoo done, but his sons when they were older had the same tattoo done by the same tattoo artist. We know this because they wrote home about it at the time. Both of them, including the Duke of York who was later to be King George the V were said to have even more tattoos, as they also had tattoos done while they were in Japan. This is because their father instructed their tutor to take them to the master tattoo artist Hori Chiyo while they were there. The truth is, many royal houses in Europe embraced tattoos. For a look at just how many, be sure to read this reproduction of an article from a magazine published in 1898 that names just who in the many royal houses of Europe had tattoos. You may be surprised.
Tattoos and Crime
Another area where tattoos began to surface in Europe in the 19th Century was for the identification of bodies. The most well known case was of a body found in Berlin in the 1850s that started a discussion of the use of tattoos to ID the dead. The publicity that surrounded this particular case created a storm of discussion on the use of tattoos for identification amongst the various law enforcement groups in Europe. Criminologists and forensic scientists soon were brought into the discussions with police officers and the talk continued throughout the century. A record of these discussions on why people got tattooed, what various tattoos could tell us about the person (such as their country of origin) and the various techniques employed for tattooing are still a valuable resource for tattoo historians today.
As you can see, the use of tattoos was much more widespread during the 19th Century then our fuzzy concept of “Victorian Europe” could possibly comprehend. Royalty had numerous tattoos, the underclass used them as a source of pride and many police experts looked upon tattoos as an identification device for unidentified bodies. All in all, it seems that there may well have been a fairly vast underground world of tattoo art during the 19th Century in Europe.
When it comes to getting a tattoo, not every tattoo has to be there forever. The fun thing about a temporary tattoo is that you can get any kind of tattoo you want; because you know that it will be gone in time. There are all kinds of reasons to get a temporary tattoo, from fashion to sports to just plain fun.
But the tattoos that pretty much floored me the other day were ones I saw in a fashion blog I was checking out for a client. It seems that a couple of gals decided it would be fun to create some temporary tattoos that you can sport on your boobs. On your ta-tas. I don’t know- what do you call them? Whatever you call them, I am not so sure that I would want even a set of temporary tattoos on them.
All I know is I tend to avoid t-shirts that have slogans placed strategically across “the chest” so why on earth would anyone want to put a couple of slogans on the skin? But it has gotten some good press across the web, well heck here I am writing about it! If you really do want to check it out, the site and I think company name is Ta-Ta Toos (okay- I will admit that is kinda cute) and you can see if this is what you want for your next birthday party right here.
We all have that time when it was our first tattoo. It is important, especially if this is your first tattoo, to know what to look for when considering a tattoo artist for your tattoo. There are, obviously, really great artists and like every profession there are some no so good ones.
In fact, you might want to be sure to not end up with a tattoo from some friend of yours who maybe doodles all the time and “always wanted to do a tattoo!”.
So if you are smart enough to go looking for a good tattoo artist for your tattoo, here are a few pointers to help you find one that will give you a tattoo you will happily show off for many years to come.
Take Your Time
It is important to take as much time as you need to find just the right person. We all get excited about getting a tattoo once we make the decision, but relax, think a while about what you want and where you want it done. Talk to your friends who have tattoos about their decisions. Check out lots of tattoo sites to see what others have done. Once it is done, it is there for a long long time. So be the smart one who thinks about this and doesn’t just go out and do it because you want one now.
Check Out Lots of Studios
Chances are, unless you live out in the country, you have several tattoo parlors to choose from in the town or city where you live. Go to them, talk to people there, look at their samples books. Maybe hang out a bit and see what the clientele is like. Are these your kind of people? Different parlors or studios have different kinds of clients and this will reflect in the tattoos that they are best at doing. Make sure the vibe is the right one for you.
The Work is the All
Don’t hesitate to check out not only the sample books on any place you are considering, but hang out and see them in action. Does the work that you see them do live up to what is in the sample book? It is pretty obvious when the art isn’t up to par, and not everyone can be a rock star in the tattoo world. But you should be able to see if they can deliver the goods. And don’t hesitate to walk, no matter how much you like the place, if they can’t give you a piece of art on your bode that you will love for a long time.
Trust Your Friends
Chances are if you are considering getting a tattoo, your friends have one or two of them already. Face it, most of us hang with people who think like us. So talk to them about their choices, their regrets and what they think is important. If they have an awesome tattoo, who did they get it from? Everyone loves to share expertise, and your friends would love to drag you to their favorite tattoo studio and introduce you to the awesome dude or chick that did their favorite tattoo.
So take your time, talk to friends and check out the scene thoroughly as you make this decision. The tat is going to hang with you for some time, so make sure it isn’t one you are going to be needing to find a way to disguise in a few years – make it one you are going to show off proudly for years to come!