This December saw one of the more unusual places to host a tattoo conference: at the seat of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican. What was even more unusual was that it was organized by Israel’s Ambassador to the Holy See along with a Christian arts association. The conference was called “Into the Skin: Identity, Symbols and History of Permanent Body Marks” and was actually conceived by Ambassador Mordechay Lewy despite the prohibition of tattooing in Judaism. In addition, the concept of a tattoo has a particularly painful association for most Jews because of the use of “death stamps” or the tattooed numbers for tracking Jews at Auschwitz and other concentration camps.
This conference looked at centuries of tattooing and how tattooing has become a part of the development in cultural groups to identify themselves. They traced this development from the tattooed brides of ancient Egypt to the First Crusaders who had cross tattoos branded to show their divine support all the way to today’s New Zealand All Black’s rugby team players who have Maori tattoos as part of their identity.
The conference is the first of its kind and was just a stone’s throw away, if you are a really good stone thrower, from St. Peter’s Cathedral at the Vatican’s Pontifical Urbaniana University. A scholarly study of the history of tattoo, it drew participants from such lofty places as Oxford University, University of Poitiers in France and the curator of the Pacific Culture Museum of New Zealand. The two day conference discussed historical tattoos, and even the current role of the commercialization of tattoos in present day pop culture.
I first heard of this a few years back and thought at first they were just talking about the temporary kind that you used to get in CrackerJack. You remember those? But then I noticed on oddee.com (a cool site for off the wall stuff on the web) that they had recently done a list of some pretty outrageous Christmas styled tattoos. So that one got me thinking of holiday tattoos in general, and Christmas ones in specific. Here are three from the ooddee site that I thought were particularly nice:
Christmas holiday tattoos
Personally I would have to really like the holiday to have something that iconic on my body, but there are some folks who really go big time for Christmas and so for them it probably makes sense to have a tattoo about Christmas. So just for fun I decided to check it out and see what I could find in case some of you are thinking of something like this to super-celebrate the Christmas Holiday Season. What I found was that most of them are from one of several animated Christmas shows. So I guess for most of us Christmas is all about watching TV after all:
Cartoon Christmas Tattoos!
Merry Christmas Everyone! Share your holiday tattoos with us here!
Okay I know some gals and quite a few guys that really love wrestling. Personally I have some great memories of watching it with my Dad when I was a kid; it is kind of like watching really bad theatre. Or really good theatre, if you really think about it. But when it comes to a tattoo design, I don’t think too many of the pro wrestlers that have come down over the ages make a great tattoo design.
Still, I know that there are quite a few of them out there so I thought I would cruise the web and see what I could find to share with all of you. Just a kind of food for thought, especially if you happen to be a big fan of Pro Wrestling and were considering a tattoo of your favorite. I mean, think about it. Who was your favorite wrestler 15 years ago? Would you still want that tattoo on your bode? Of course, if they are on a body like Tyler Reks, above, we wouldn’t care would we?
When it comes to celebrity tattoos, most of them love to share the story behind the celebrity tattoo with the rest of the world, and Demi Lovato is no different from the others in that respect.
The singer has had tattoos done before, but she says that this one is a bit different. In a recent Tweet, she sent out to her fans she said, “Sometimes you just to have a little bit of…” and below it was a picture of her new tattoo. She says that she had the word “faith” tattooed on her forearm to remind herself everyday how important that word is.
Like many of the celebrity tattoos we have shared with you here at FreeTattooPatternsOnline this one is a simple word tattoo that Demi had done to keep the faith with her fans. In this case, it was to remind her that her fans kept the faith with her during hard times.
She says that much like the heart she had tattooed on her wrist along with the words “stay strong” they were inspired by her fans who sent her pictures of their heart tattoos while she was in treatment.
She says her fans mean the world to her and she has the tattoos to prove it. “I will never forget the support you guys gave me” she says to her legion of fans across the world. And I guess that the new tattoo is just one more way that she gets to prove it.
When it comes to the history of body piercings, you would have to go back a long way to find when body piercing first began. Many forms of body piercing go back to almost pre-historic times, with earrings that are designed to be worn in piercings showing up as grave goods as far back as 5000 years ago. But each body part has its own history of body piercing and varies according to type and geography.
The History of Body Piercings- Early History for Ear Piercing
Ear piercings are the type of body piercing that goes back the farthest, and are also the most widespread with examples of ear piercing on every continent and almost every culture. One of the earliest known cultures is Mesopotamia, which had ear piercing to denote slavery or indentured servant status. Egyptian mummies have pierced ears and even the 5300 year-old mysterious Ice Man found in the mountain glaciers of Austria had pierced ears. They have been found in graves as widespread as Siberia, the Pacific Northwestern Tribes of the Americas and even in South America. Earrings are mentioned in the Bible, are part of Hindu culture in relationship to the goddess Laskshimi in the Vedas and were an important part of the potlatch culture for the Tlingit tribes until very recently.
The History of Body Piercings – Europe and Ear Piercing
Although earrings fell out of fashion in Europe from around the 4th to 16th century, they returned when hair began to be worn in a way that showed the ear again around the 1500s.The rise of nation states and emergence from the Dark Ages brought jewelry in all forms back into fashion, including earrings. Soon they became a status symbol for wealth but as the Middle Ages progressed into more elaborate fashions pierced ears and the earrings that went with them faded from view again. From the 1500 on men actually wore pierced earrings more than women, and in fact sailors would have their ears pierced in the belief it would improve their hearing.
In the early 1800s the rise of jewelry designers made earrings and pierced ears popular and a statement of support for the arts amongst the wealthy. But when times changed and an ostentatious show of wealth became unpopular and even considered vulgar, earrings again went out of fashion as ears were covered and hats became a more fashionable and demure accessory.
The History of Body Piercings – Modern Fashion and Ear Piercing
As the 20th century dawned clip on earrings were developed and so ear piercing stayed out of favor and was generally only seen on sailors or disreputable people. The sixties changed much of that, bringing pierced earrings back into fashion. We then saw an evolving of the art of ear piercing as the gay community adopted it for men. Soon after, the punk movement enlarged on it with multiple piercings that quickly after this became simply a new part of the fashion scene. Today it is not unusual to see multiple ear piercings on a conservatively dressed woman. Where ear piercings can go from here will be interesting to see.
If you are someone who has been considering getting your first tattoo and are not sure where to begin, it is always a good idea to do a bit of homework first before you decide on a shop and a design for your first tattoo. One of the smarter things to do is to put together a list of 10 questions to ask a tattoo artist before going out to the tattoo parlors in your area. It is always a good idea to research three or four shops that look clean and well lit first. Then you can take those 10 questions to ask a tattoo artist with you and find out how each of the tattoo parlors score.
Five Health Questions
The first five questions to ask of the 10 questions to ask a tattoo artist have to do with health and regulations. We all think of tattoo artists and tattoo parlors as pretty wild and free places, and while I think most of the artists who work in them are fairly non-conventional it is still a business. More importantly it is still a business that does things that involve needles and blood, so it is important to ask these questions to be sure that they practice giving tattoos in a way that is safe for their customers. So here are the first five questions out of the 10 questions to ask a tattoo artist that I would ask a tattoo artist or tattoo parlor owner about safety and health:
- Ask to see their license and ask them for references, at least three.
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration have outlined Universal Precautions regarding the disposal of blood. You can follow this link to see them and ask if they follow them.
- Do they use latex gloves, an autoclave for sterilizing the tattoo equipment, disinfectant on all surfaces and sterile disposable needles? These are vital.
- Do the artists thoroughly wash their hands with antibacterial soap before and after each client? Watch before asking to see if they do.
- If you are under 21 you will need to research the age of consent for your state and make sure the tattoo parlor knows the age, has papers that everyone signs and follows the age of consent laws for your state. This assures you they are careful about illegal tattoos.
Five Design and Art Questions
In every set of 10 questions to ask a tattoo artist are ones that have to do with the artist’s individual approach to the art of the tattoo. These answers will tell you if the tattoo artist you are considering does work that have the same aesthetic taste as you. This will be important in finding someone who can design a tattoo you can love.
- How long has the parlor been in business and how long has the tattoo artist you are going to work with been doing tattoos?
- Ask for the samples book to see work they have done before.
- Does the shop have a specialty that they do? Some do and some do not, but it is always a good idea to ask. This can be an area of the body or type of design.
- How much custom work do they do versus set designs (see the book for these)?
- How are their prices set? Always make sure you clearly understand what they would charge for various tattoo designs and what that price is based on.
Now that you have your 10 questions to ask a tattoo artist, make sure you ask these to each of the tattoo parlors you are including in your quest for the perfect place to get your first tattoo. You will end up with a better tattoo that you truly love if you take the time to ask these 10 questions to ask a tattoo artist first and know just what you can expect.