Archive for best tattoo designs
Kanji Tattoos
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Kanji tattoos are nothing but tattoos of Japanese language characters and symbols. These ideographic tend to represent entire objects, ideas or expressions. The reason most people like these tattoos are because they can easily express complex thoughts with just a few characters, plus they are also visually very appealing.
Basically there are two types of characters that are used in the written Japanese language – Kana and Kanji. Kanji is the term used for Chinese characters that are used in the Japanese language. In fact, all written Japanese characters have evolved from written Chinese and over the years have come to include a few modified characters that represent some different sounds in the Japanese language.
Some of these characters may mean the same in both Japanese and Chinese languages but are usually pronounced differently. While some others characters, although written the same way, may mean completely different things. Some Kanji characters were developed fully in Japan and are often not seen in the Chinese language. And then there are those characters that are written with slight modifications but tend to have the same meaning. So basically you have a choice between the Japanese Kanji tattoos and the Chinese Kanji tattoos.
If you are contemplating a Kanji tattoo and you are not a native speaker of the language (which I’m guessing you’re not), the key thing to keep in mind is that Kanji is constructed very differently from the English language. Like I mentioned, these languages are not made up of individual letters but are made up of ideographs or pictographs (some characters consist of more than thirty strokes!)
When you don’t speak the language, you will find it very hard to say exactly what you want through those tattoos. Some problems people frequently encounter with these tattoos are with the meaning. There have been plenty of cases of literal translations which make absolutely no sense in the Japanese language. For instance, “girl power” can be easily written (??) to mean ‘sporty spices!’
Sometimes the artist (if not fluent in the language) may end up mixing up the Chinese and Japanese Kanji characters, again resulting in nonsense. There have been instances of the characters being rotated, written upside down, given mirror image versions, characters with missing brush strokes or some strokes even mistakenly joined resulting in exactly what you did not want! So before you get them on you permanently, be double sure they mean exactly what you think they do.
Sun Tattoo Designs
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The Sun has had a profound impact on almost every major civilization in our history. The sun was representative of life and its personified deity was worshipped by the Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans and many, many more. The Sun was in fact the principal figure within the temples dedicated to all gods and deities.
Today, the Sun as a tattoo design is an indication of its deep symbolic nature in almost every culture around the world. One of the common symbols of the Sun is a circle with curvy lines stemming from the perimeter denoting the sun’s rays. Sometimes these designs come with a dot in the centre of the circle which is representative of the blending of the male and female forces.
Usually the Sun is perceived as a masculine symbol and the moon and the earth its feminine counterparts. Hence it is common for the Sun to be paired with the earth or the moon. For years people believed that the Sun was the centre of the universe and it came to be a symbol of both divine and royal powers. This idea was adopted by the ancient secular as well as religious authorities. 
Almost every major ancient culture has a myth about creation. It speaks of how the Sun came into being and these stories are often accompanied by the apocalyptic myths that prophesy the end of the world. They explain that the end will come when the Sun is destroyed (quite true if you ask me, I don’t see how mankind can go on living on earth if there were no Sun!) The rising and the setting of the sun, the cyclic light and darkness is also representative of life itself in most ancient cultures. The idea of regeneration or reincarnation takes root from these beliefs.
The Sun is also symbolic of passion, courage and eternally renewed youth; vitality, fertility, enlightenment and knowledge. The different ancient cultures in our history denoted the Sun in different ways. A winged Serpent (like a dragon), an eagle with a serpent, an eagle, a falcon (which also represented the Egyptian god Horus), a phoenix, a swan, a ram, a cock, a bull and a lion are all various representations of the Sun. Some cultures even used such symbols as a rose or a rosette, a lotus, a sunflower, a chrysanthemum (a perennial garden plant) and the heart symbol to depict the Sun.
Tattoo Designs for Women
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Although tattoos have been around since the dawn of human history, they slowly became a taboo is our civilization. They became associated with criminals and those considered morally degenerate; and for a lady, it was something unthinkable! However, all that has changed in the past 25 years or so, and more and more women are getting inked today.
Some of the most popular designs among women tend to be the smaller, delicate, so called “girly” designs. Women are generally smaller and more delicately built when compared to men (nothing gets by me!) and these delicate designs look great on them. Of course, all these are just generalizations and not rules.
Butterflies are some the most sought after designs among women. If you’re contemplating your very first tattoo – these are a good choice. A small or life sized butterfly design on the ankle or shoulder is a safe bet. The butterfly is often a symbol of grace, beauty and rebirth given its transformation into a beautiful creature from that of an ugly caterpillar.
A flower tattoo also makes a good first tattoo design. In addition to its feminine look it can mean a whole bunch depending on the kind of flower you choose. A rose, for instance, (being the most popular choice) stands for love when red. Pink roses symbolize grace and white roses are a symbol of purity or innocence.
Fairy tattoos are a recent development and tend to represent a way of thinking. These designs vary from the cute tinker bell kind of images to the fiercer looking images of fairies from the Celtic mythology. These designs are also growing in popularity in the ink world.
Star tattoos are those that can be worn by both men and women. They are a universal symbol, not particularly belonging to a culture or religion and can mean a lot of different things to different people. The most popular design is that of the shooting star – a star followed by a trail of smaller stars (or star dust.) This is a great design for those who want a bigger tattoo but would like it to remain subtle.
Zodiac tattoos otherwise known as astrological tattoos are a great way to personalize your tattoo, especially if you are one to consult your horoscope on a regular basis. I’m sure you know that different sun signs have different symbols and ever one of them can be created in a contemporary delicate style.
Some of the other popular designs for women include heart designs, dragonfly tattoos, dolphin tattoos and even tribal or Celtic designs.
Popular Tattoo Artist: Chuck Eldridge
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Popular tattoo artist Chuck Eldridge speaks of his dreams and inspirations that lead to his enormous feat in the tattoo world, in an interview with TFI. As with many artists of today, Chuck also had childhood dreams of one day being a tattoo artist.
He says: “childhood dreams are always a little bit more candy-coated. There was a program in our elementary school to keep us off the street, they would hold big parties and one of the booths they set up there was a tattoo booth. One of the high school students would come over with magic markers and draw up designs and paste them on the wall and then he would do “tattoos” – I used to get my arms just completely covered with these and I would get so many that the guy doing the drawings would say “I’m not doing any more on you because your mom is going to kick my ass.” — I think [the dream] measures up. I always saw myself with loads of tattoos on my arm so that came true.”
He goes on to talk about some of his early influences in the industry: “I went into the Navy and that threw me into San Diego for boot camp for ten or eleven weeks and there I did not know any names. This was in ’65. There were no names going around in my brain where I said ‘Oh my God I got to get a tattoo by him.’ In San Diego in ’65 that was the height of the Vietnam War so there were tons of tattooists. Basically I just started going in [shops] looking at designs on the wall and then getting in line to get tattooed.
The shops there would be lined up. All the way in the shop and sometimes out on the sidewalk in front of the shop. And in the shop were five tattooists tattooing as fast as they could. Only when you got into the business you started hearing some names and then you actually started looking for people and searching them out. The first one that I really traveled to get tattooed by was Cliff Raven; buy that was actually after the Navy.”
Chuck personally prefers the more traditional tattoos like that of Sailor Jerry – the early American and European designs but is famous for inking great designs of all genres.
An Overview of the Tattoo Procedure
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Tattooing is the process of inserting pigments under the skin thereby making an image permanently part of your body. While there are ways to make a temporary tattoo, we are only going to be discussing the procedure for a permanent tattoo.
It is important for you to discuss any allergies that you have or any medication that you are taking with your tattoo artist prior to beginning the procedure. Tattooing involves inserting foreign particles into your body and it is better to know what reactions are normal and what aren’t.
The first step to getting a tattoo is of course preparing that part of your body for a tattoo. If shaving is necessary, just make sure that the artist uses a fresh disposable razor for sanitary purposes. After that the area is cleaned further by rubbing alcohol on the skin.
Now that the area is cleaned, it is now ready for the design. The tattoo artist may either outline the design free hand or they may also use a thermal paper to trace the design on your skin. Just make sure that all the needles and ink tubes used are opened from their sterile packaging in front of you – again, for sanitation.
Before the artist starts injecting the pigments into your skin, they will first apply an ointment (something like Vaseline jelly) that will aid in the easy movement of the needle along your skin.
After the design’s outline is drawn on the skin, the artist will prepare to color or shade the design. A different needle (called the magnum) maybe used at this point as it is more suited for coloring.
Once the tattoo is completed, the artist will apply an ointment that prevents air borne bacteria from getting into the open wound and will cover the area with a bandage and that’s it! Now all you have to do is take good care of the tattooed area and follow the after care instructions correctly and enjoy your new tattoo!
Tattoo Inks and Health
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We all know what tattoo inks are – yes, the stuff that is used to give shape and color to our tattoos. These inks are inserted under the skin where it stays forever or till you have them removed. Although these inks are permanent, they tend to fade a little with time as our body’s immune system tries to get it out of the system. I thought it might be a good idea if we know a little about the stuff that gets into our bodies, before we get them there permanently (or even after!)
Tattoo Inks are not to be mistaken with other types of inks that are used in the world today. The inks that are specifically made for the purposes of coloring a tattoo are basically made of two components – Carriers and Pigments.
Anything that is ground to fine particles to provide color is called a pigment. Most pigments are made from matter such as vegetable dyes, minerals, metallic salts and plastics. The liquids used to deliver these pigments under the skin are called Carriers. Good carriers are those that distribute the pigment equally without causing them to clump together. In addition they also offer a little disinfection to the tattoo wounds.
The particles commonly used to give color to the pigments are Calcium Copper Silicate (blue), Curcuma (yellow), Carbon (black), Zinc Oxide (white), Iron Oxide (red) and Chromium Oxide (green.) Some of the commonly used carriers are made of Purified water, Listerine, Vodka, Witch Hazel, Propylene Glycol and Glycerine.
Although some of these pigments and carriers are said to be completely safe, the absolute truth is that there are still certain risks associated with them. Some of these side effects include allergic reactions, reaction due to exposure to sunlight (also known as phototoxic reactions) and scarring. The plastic based pigments in particular have been said to cause reactions. Though some are safe most of them are either radioactive or toxic.
The risk frequently associated with alcohol being used as a disinfectant is that it allows more chemicals to get into the blood stream when compared to other inks. Alcohol in fact works together with carcinogens, mutagens and teratogens, thus making them more harmful than they are by themselves. When these substances are present in the ink, alcohol works with them thus increasing the chances of disease or mutation both to the part where the tattoo is located as well as other parts of the body.
Don’t fret! There are still ways you can get a tattoo without risking your health. Several medical-grade chemicals used in tattoos are safe as they are specifically made for medical uses. It is important however that your tattoo artist knows proper sterilization techniques.