Archive for free tattoo patterns
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.
Why Do Some Tattoos Fade Over Time?
Posted by: | Comments
People have thought about tattoos – how it will affect their lives, their chances of landing the job they really want, how it affects others’ perception of them etc. and they have come to terms with it, but what most people don’t think about is that these permanent tattoos are not actually permanent. Yes their mark on your skin will always remain but it will never look the same as it did the day you first got them done.
Tattoos are cool but not when they are all faded, sagging or shriveled up! I guess this is where the body part used for tattoos plays an important role. Every part of your body will age with time and there’s nothing we can do about that! But we sure can save some of our tattoos from fading prematurely.
Tattoos on the arms or shoulders tend to fade faster then those on butts or bellies mainly due to their exposure to the sun. By using sun block lotions and periodically getting touch ups on those that are exposed to the sun; you can save some of those old tattoos from becoming a faded mess.
Some people grapple with fading tattoo issues when in fact the tattoo is pretty new. This can happen for a lot of reasons – either the tattoo artist has failed to apply the ink correctly or you have failed to follow the after care instructions carefully.
Keep the following pointers in mind:
Like any other wound, tattoos also need time to heal. Be sure to take off the bandage covering your tattoo after an hour or two. To avoid scabbing of the skin make sure you remove all traces of blood by washing the tattoo with your fingertips using a mild antibacterial soap and apply some ointment.
Give the tattoo at least two weeks to heal completely. You can say goodbye to those long baths or showers during this period; also avoid swimming, sitting in saunas and hot tubs. Keep your showers as short as possible. Keep the tattoo well moisturized to avoid scabbing, but beware of overly moisturizing it (this may cause blotchy tattoos) – it’s a thin balance really!
Be sure not to scratch, pick or scrub your tattoos. This is very harsh on a tattoo and causes the colors to fade quickly. For this reason tattoos on your hands or feet are usually not guaranteed. It also takes longer for tattoos on these parts to heal, so be patient and allow it to heal right so you can keep it looking good for a while!
Gangster Tattoos
Posted by: | Comments
Since the ancient Roman Empire tattoos have been related to criminal deviancy. Although such a taboo against tattoos does not exist today, many gangs use tattoos as a means of identifying with a particular group. Many gang members use tattoos for several reasons not the least among which is a sign of having spent time in prison. Gang members sometimes have several tattoos, each symbolizing or representing something unique in their lives.
The famous (or is it infamous?) tear drop tattoo usually tattooed on the cheek below either eye represents prison time. However, some say it actually stands for the number of people they have killed. Some gangsters have their name tattooed real big and bold (so they are visible from any distance?) in an effort to intimidate rival gang members.
Some gangsters are known to take pride in identifying themselves outside the premise of conventional society. They use tattoos (more often than not) to express their beliefs and life philosophy which is a complete rejection of conventional moral and religious beliefs – popularly known as the nihilistic philosophy. They commonly have the name of a person tattooed on the back of their neck or a gang motto etched on the chest. These tattoos are usually done in black and grey and often showcase bullets, firearms, numbers and secret letters in old English or the gothic script.
One of the biggest gangs in California is that of The Sureños (which means Southerners in Spanish). They were one of the very first to use colors to set themselves apart from other gangs. They started using blue bandanas (the color of the railroad handkerchiefs provided in the California prisons) as their identity. Numbers are also sometimes incorporated in their tattoos – they use the Tres Puntos (meaning three dots) and X3 (the number 13.)
The other major gang of California is the The Norteños. Yes, you guessed it – it means the Northerners. They are also popularly known as Nuestra Familia meaning ‘Our Family’. As you may have also guessed the Northerners and the Southerners traditionally have been rivals with Bakersfield (in California) being their geographical dividing line. The Northerners are more notoriously known for their involvement in the drug trafficking trade and armed conflict with rival gangs.
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
Bird Tattoo Designs
Posted by: | Comments
One of the most popular designs for tattoos (among both men and women) is bird designs. Bird designs have been used in tattoos for more than a hundred years now simply because of what they represent to us, humans. Americans are very fond of the Eagle just as the Japanese are of the phoenix. Birds, both real and legendary are used as a strong metaphor for human emotions and have come to play a central role in tattoo designs.
The dove is a bird that is most often associated with gentleness. It also symbolizes devotion and the divine. The playful partridge and the proud cockerel have become the symbol of passionate gentlemen. Likewise the rooster is associated with France’s proud heritage.
Geese supposedly choose mates for life and have become famous symbols for matrimonial celebration. Perhaps the most popular bird that has come to symbolize love is the lovebird! These are tiny Mexican parrots that surprisingly snuggle up close to its partner in a seemingly affectionate manner and have thus earned the nick name.
Almost every culture in the world has myths and stories where birds play a central role. It is said that the Egyptian god Atum chose the stork like Benu to appear at the very beginning of creation. Birds like the vultures, eagles and hawks – birds of prey – were a symbol of victorious conquests for the Vikings and the Goths. The raven however has different meanings in different cultures. In some cultures the raven was viewed as a wise bird. In North America however both crows and raven are considered tricksters. The Bible views the raven as a symbol of evil, likewise among the Arabs who consider ravens as bad omen.
The swallows and Bluebirds world over are considered a good omen. It brings hope of the summer with its appearance in spring. For those sailors at sea, the swallow was a definite sign that land was nearby. They have long been associated with sailors and a life at sea. Notice the tattoo of a swallow on Johnny Depp’s forearm the next time you watch Pirates of the Caribbean.
Cat Tattoo Designs
Posted by: | Comments
The cat, for many is representative of freedom of thought, independence and quick recovery. The Cat supposedly has nine lives – the animal earned this reputation primarily due to its inexplicable ability to land on its feet no matter what great a height it falls from.
Studies show that Cats have walked the earth for about 50 million years now. It first appeared as a small clever animal which was a predatory carnivore with retractable claws. The Cat has always evoked different reactions from different people – love, hate and even fear. Similarly, various ancient cultures viewed the cat in different light. Some considered it good luck while others thought it was a bad omen. Some considered it sacred, even as a god and some considered it an instrument of evil.
The cat was most revered perhaps in ancient Egypt. It is believed that by 3000BC the cat had become an influential totem. It was symbolic of the feminine representing fertility and motherhood. It was also associated with the moon in early Egypt. It appears as the defeater of evil Apep in the book of the dead. The Egyptians even depicted many of their gods in the form of a cat – either fully or as a half breed (half human half cat). In Egyptian mythology the lion headed goddess Sekmet appears to be the ruler of human fate who had a twin sister Mafdet – the domestic cat. Cats were so sacred to the early Egyptians that killing one earned the death sentence. It is popularly believed that the Persians while at war with the Egyptians captured thousands of cats and threatened to kill them unless they surrendered. The Egyptians surrendered!
In other parts of the world cats were loved for several other reasons. In Japan and China it was valued for its ability to rid the silkworm cultivators of mice. In Thailand, the Siamese cat was a revered temple cat and the cat supposedly guarded the temples of Buddha in India.
Some cultures however associated the animal with Witchcraft and witches leading to the superstitions associated with a black cat. It was believed that a black cat crossing your path brought bad luck.
Many today have come to love the creatures and regard them as silent companions. For many they make a great house pet as they are cleaner and you don’t have to deal with all the poop scooping – like with dogs. I personally don’t like cats all that much but I do think they make great tattoo designs!