Archive for tattoo patterns
Tattoo Barbie – The *@# Now Has Everything!!
Posted by: | Comments
Well I guess it was just a matter of time, but I am shocked I tell you. Shocked! The latest collectable Barbie to come out has pink hair, a mini skirt and tattoos on her shoulder, back and neck! What is the world coming to when staid old Barbie, that retro to the world of Jackie O has tattoos?
Obviously this is not your run of the mill Barbie that your kid can go out and get at Toys R Us. There have for a long time been collector versions of Barbie, many put out by fashion houses and high end designers. Bob Mackie has been releasing specialty dolls for years. And that is where this particular tattoo Barbie (I never thought I would say those two words together) has come from. The “tokidoki Barbie” is the creation of the Italian-based Japanese-inspired fashion house of the same name.
These may be just intended as a collectable doll to sit in a box on a shelf, but I for one would find it a hoot to find one in my stocking this Christmas (hint, hint). She really is a cutie, and the little dog that comes with her in a cactus coat is too much! Although finding a way to put that little gal in my stocking may just be expensive to do, since the $50 dolls are all sold out on the main collector site called Barbie Collector and I saw a few listed on eBay for around $700. So I guess she is already beyond my reach.
Sigh! But a tattoo Barbie! You have to admit that never in your wildest dreams could any of us thought this one up! Truly the tattoo has come of age when the doll that has it all, now has tattoos.
Zombie Boy is the Sexy Rick Genest
Posted by: | Comments
If you saw Lady Gaga’s video “Born This Way” you couldn’t miss the amazing body and tattoo of Rick Genest, better known as “Zombie Boy” in the video world. It is kinda funny that someone could be so well known for his tattoos that it is hard to even imagine him without the facial tattoos that have made him so famous.
There have always been tattoo boys throughout history, often they got work in a circus or place like a circus to show off their tattoos. In many ways, it is almost a tradition to have someone in every era that is considered “the tattoo boy” of 
his time. I guess we could say that Rick is The Tattooed Man for our time. And instead of a circus, it’s the world of music video that has become the platform to show that off. But then, there are some that say that rock videos are like a circus, so it may just be the perfect place for the 21st Century Tattooed Man.
Personally, I could sit all day and check out the gorgeous tats that this man has covering every inch of his lovely body. I 
mean, when you do for a living what this guy does, you have to be in great shape. Because when the tattoos are out in all their glory there is nowhere to hide the body. You know they would not look as good if he wasn’t in such obviously great shape.
And for those who always kinda wondered what the guy looks like without the tattoos on his face, German style magazine Schon has done us the favor of using makeup to show us. I always thought he probably had to have great bones to pull off this amazing look, but who knew?
So enjoy my friends – because Zombie Boy or Rick Genest is still hot!
Tattoo Artist Shaw Arrested on Weapons Charges
Posted by: | Comments
Jonathan Shaw, a popular tattoo artist and writer, developed more than just an image of an outlaw. He was recently charged with possession and storage of a rather large stash of knives, guns and ammunition in his storage locker.
Sources have it that Jonathan was trying to ship about 96 knives, in excess of 2,800 rounds of ammunition, a loaded AK-47 assault rifle and three other fire arms to his home in Los Angeles when the mover, First Global Xpress, notified authorities. Jonathan was charged under the New York state law that calls for the need of a permit for certain types of guns. Also, people are generally prohibited from having a loaded gun outside their home or work place.
The court complaint claims that a ‘First Global Xpress’ employee first noticed the boxes of ammunition when one of Jonathan’s suitcases fell open in the process of moving. The employee then opened a duffel bag and a blanket-wrapped bundle which revealed the firearms which were later reported to authorities.
Jonathan’s defense lawyer Brian T. Pakett said that he had receipts as evidence to show that all the weapons in question were bought legally. They were apparently bought at least 15 years ago and Pakett also added that Jonathan had “no intent to use” the weapons. “We are confident this case will be cleared up,” said Defense lawyer Pakett. “Mr. Shaw is a very peaceful man. He’s a very caring man.”
Jonathan Shaw who is now 57, was born in New York to American Actress Doris Dowling (The Lost Weekend) and the celebrated American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader Artie Shaw. Jonathan is a self-proclaimed “world-traveling outlaw artist” is a noted figure in the tattoo scene of New York which was semi-underground for several years. For more than thirty years tattoo studios were illegal in New York City till the ban was lifted in 1997.
Jonathan is known for his tribal tattoo designs and has quite a list of celebrities that followed his work. He is the owner of Fun City tattoo shop, located in Manhattan’s bohemian East Village. In a novel (Narcisa: Our Lady of Ashes) he released in 2008, he boasts admiration from noted actors and musicians such as from Johnny Depp, Marilyn Manson and singer Deborah Harry (Blondie.) He was called the “the great nightmare anti-hero of the new age” by Punk-rock star Iggy Pop. Jonathan has now retired from tattooing.
Five Types of Tattoos
Posted by: | Comments
Tattoos are nothing but the insertion of permanent ink under the skin to change its pigmentation. They have been used by people for several centuries now and their reasons or need for these tattoos are quite different – decorative or religious purposes on humans and identification or branding purposes on animals.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, tattoos are essentially of five different types namely: Traumatic tattoos also known as natural tattoos, Medical tattoos, Cosmetic tattoos, Amateur tattoos and Professional tattoos.
Traumatic tattoos or natural tattoos occur as a result of injuries. For instance injuries with pencil lead or asphalt from tar roads. George Orwell, an English author and journalist of the nineteen hundreds speaks of some very unique tattoos that coal miners could develop due to coal dust getting into open wounds. This is similar to the kind of tattoos that develop when asphalt is rubbed into a wound by way of an accident. Other similar tattoos result when a pencil or pen is stabbed into the flesh leaving graphite or ink beneath the skin.
Medical tattoos are tattoos used in the medical field for several reasons. For example tattoos are used by radiotherapists to mark the number of points on the body where the beams are aimed. These beams may cause damage to the surrounding tissue when used for treatment and these tattoos help radiotherapists keep the damage as minimal as possible by marking needed the spots on the body. It is also used to replace the areola (the colored skin surrounding the nipple) on patients who have undergone mastectomy (cancer treatment by removing the breast) or breast reduction surgeries.
Cosmetic tattoos also known as permanent makeup, as the name suggests, uses tattoos to replicate designs that resemble makeup. It is used for artificial eye brows, lip liner and lipstick, and eye liner.
Amateur tattoos and Professional tattoos are those that are made by traditional methods or by means of modern tattoo machines. Some of the differences between them are that amateur tattoos are often made up of just one color (India ink) while professional tattoos contain several colors. The other major difference is in the level of penetration. Professional tattoos are applied evenly under the skin while amateur tattoos are done at irregular depths. And of course the most obvious difference is that anyone can make amateur tattoos with a needle and a bottle of ink but professional tattoos can only be done by trained professionals in a tattoo studio!
Popular Tattoo Artist: Kat Von D
Posted by: | Comments
Katherine von Drachenberg, popularly known as Kat Von D is a famous tattoo artist and TV personality. She was born in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico on the 8th of March, 1982. She is of a mixed descent – with a German father and Italian / Spanish mother and moved to California at the early age of 4.
What most people wont guess about her is that she is a classically trained pianist and enjoys the work of elite musicians such as Ludwig van Beethoven. Kat Von D’s first experience with television was when she appeared in Miami Ink (a reality TV show). She initially appeared as a substitute for Darren Brass who had hurt his arm and could not tattoo. After her falling out with some of the cast members of the show she was asked to leave the show which turned out to be a good thing for her. She subsequently got her own reality show on TV – LA Ink – featuring her work and tattoo shop – High Voltage Tattoo, in Hollywood, California.
Subsequently she went to gain the Guinness World Record for the most number of tattoos given by a one single person in twenty four hours. She gave 400 tattoos in 24 hours to create that record. Today the record stands with Hollis Cantrell with 801 tattoos in 24 hours.
At such a young age Kat Von D has even come out successful in the publishing world. Her first book – High Voltage Tattoo – was released in 2009 with a foreword by the famous Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe. Her book was No. 6 on the New York Best Times Best Seller list. The book is a compilation of her artwork and tattoos – tracing her career as a tattoo artist and shedding light on her influences and inspirations. The book is “not an autobiography, you know, ’cause I’m too young to do that. But this is just kind of like a picture-driven outline of my career as an artist. So, you see everything from my drawings when I was six to tattoos that have never before been seen” said Kat Von D about the book.
She later (in 2008) created a whole line of make-up products for Sephora that now also includes fragrances. She is also the founder of MusInk Tattoo Convention and Music Festival. She went on to publish another book – The Tattoo Chronicles – that reached no. 3 on the New York Times Best Seller List in 2010.
Lucky Diamond Rich, the world’s most tattooed person
Posted by: | Comments
Lucky Diamond Rich holds the Guinness book of world records for being ‘the world’s most tattooed person’ since the year 2006. The title was previously held by Tom Leppard (more popularly known as the ‘Leopard Man of Skye’) of Woodbridge, Suffolk.
Lucky Diamond Rich was born in New Zealand in the year 1971. As you might have guessed that’s not his real name. He was born Gregory Paul McLaren. As a young boy Lucky read a lot about the most tattooed mean and women and soon found himself intermittently thinking about being one himself. His dreams did not go much further till he got his very first tattoo at age 17. It was of a tiny juggling club located on his hip. “It made me feel a little better, changing myself” he said. Today his whole body (including the inside of his mouth, ears and even foreskin!) is 100 percent tattooed.
For lucky tattoos had become a way of dealing with life – “For me, pain … that has been my dance most of my life. I did not value myself … but the more I accepted the pain, the easier it is to deal with the pain. Tattooing, the obsession, it became the best way for me to deal with what I had come from.”
“My most painful body change? My mind. Learning to live with myself, daily, to the best of my ability,” he answers without a hint of doubt. “The dichotomy of me is that it’s taken me to behave physically this way to reach normality” Lucky said in an interview.
When asked how people react to his unusual form he said: “Yes, I am very confronting to a lot of people. But asking me how people react to me is like finding one word to describe the weather: it rains, it hails, it’s thunder, it’s lightning, it’s calm, its sunny,” he said yesterday. “It is the full array of reaction and expression I get from people. My biggest lesson in life now is to accept whatever it is …”
Lucky is as known as much for his circus acts as much as he is for his tattoos. After his stint with major circuses and travels, he has retired as a street performer. His acts include unicycling, juggling and sword-swallowing.
Watch this: Interview with Lucky Diamond Rich