Craig Thornburrow asked:


Currently, there are hundreds of thousands of online sites wherein you can pick and choose a tattoo design, print it out and take it to one of many tattoo parlors in your area. Incredibly, there are well over 40 million individuals who have tattoos. What is it about tattoos that are so appealing?

The history of tattoos dates as far back as the Stone Age. However, you may recall that in 1991, a 5300 year-old frozen mummy was discovered in the Otztal Alps and aptly named “The Iceman.” Upon examination, he was found to have 58 tattoos.

In other cultures around the world from the Maori in New Zealand to the Ainu in Japan, the art of tattooing – although its origin can be traced back to the fourth millennium and earlier – still exists today and has morphed into a more contemporary art form.

While the Mendhi is a temporary tattoo made primarily of henna, it is nonetheless a popular form of tattooing that originated in India. The difference between this form and traditional tattoos is that the Mendhi does not penetrate the skin, but the patterns applied to the skin last for a period of three to four weeks.

Why have tattoo designs become so popular? It has become a symbol of individuality. Considering there are well over 40 million individuals who have tattoos, it seems clear that the reasons are uniquely their own. As seen on the program “Inked,” people decide to have tattoos commemorating loss of a loved one, or utilize symbols denoting their specific culture or religion, or a tattoo design that represents a sentiment they feel aptly describes their own convictions.

An indication of just how popular tattoo designs have become is evidenced by the more than thirty thousand tattoo parlors available today. As state earlier, there are close to 200,000 online sites that offer a tattoo design in every genre imaginable. While there is certainly no shortage of tattoo designs, there are occasions when a person may outline a specific design or idea that he or she cannot find on the internet.

Tattoo designs can range from the more simple design such as a small butterfly to the more intricate and larger images such as a caricature. Over the last several years, tattooing has been used as a method by which permanent makeup can be applied. For example, some women may have their lips or eyebrows tattooed with a color of their choice.

There is no doubt that the art of tattooing has become a more acceptable form of self-expression. To this end, the tattoo design will continue to emerge and become perfected by those artists whose vision and creativity serve to enhance the scope of this ancient art form into the next millennium.



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Robert Hill asked:


Tattoos have been around for thousands of years and are more popular today than at any time in recorded history. They are everywhere. Some studies show that around 35 percent of Americans aged 18-30 have tattoos. To most people tattoos represent a form of self expression and they view them as some sort of statement of their individuality. Most adults also feel sexier with tattoos.

So what exactly is a Tattoo?

A tattoo is a permanent mark, design or pattern made by inserting pigment (ink) into the second layer of the skin. Scientifically – tattooing is micro pigment implantation.

A tattoo is produced by puncturing the skin with special needles dipped in indelible inks. A needle injects ink into the cells of the dermis – the second layer of the skin.

Our skin consists of three layers: the epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous tissues. The outer layer that acts as a protective barrier and contains no blood vessels is called the Epidermis. Below that is a thicker layer called dermis and that is where tattoos go.

Because epidermis is constantly being replenished (we continue to produce and shed the top layer of the skin throughout lifetime), the tattooist pushes ink through the epidermis and leaves it in the dermis. The dermis stays pretty much the same for our entire life and this is why tattoos stay permanent while many other things done to the skin don’t.

A tattoo needle goes approximately 1.5mm (1/16 of a inch) into the skin. A tattooist must make sure that the ink goes in just deep enough to be permanent, but not to deep. The depth varies across the body – it’s deeper on the soles of the feet and thinner in other places like ********.

If tattoo is done too deeply, into the third layer of the skin called subcutaneous layer, it can cause unnecessary pain and bleeding. It can also look blurred even as soon as it’s healed, because you have to look deeper (through more layers of the skin) to see it. If any less than a millimeter, it might leave scratches and simply wear off.

The skill with which the tattoo is properly applied takes years to learn, so it is very important to choose an artist with experience and a portfolio of work that demonstrates quality. There are a lot of wannabes out there, so be careful.

Remember: A tattoo is as good as the artist who does it!



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The Hussy asked:


Once an explicit symbol of individuality or conformity to something other than the norm, body modification now appeals to a wide range of people from all social groupings and all walks of life. Similarly to music, fashion and hairstyles there are trends that appear and disappear and always the outrageous statements that lie on the fringes of it all. Not being afraid of having a few needles inserted into my skin I am interested in the world of body modification today and what it means. Tiff Badhairdo from Magnus Opus Tattoo parlour, Brighton helped answer a few of my questions to delve into the world of needles, scalpels and human flesh…

 

I think there is a fairly standard route of entry into the world of body modification; pierced ears, maybe a nose, lip or eyebrow, with a progression into cartilage and surface piercings (piercings that enter and exit along the same piece of skin e.g. wrist or ankle) later on. From Tiff’s experience, the tragus (a particular area of cartilage in the ear) is one of the most popular piercings he performs now and he certainly believes over time that popularity comes and goes for certain piercings as is the case with tattoos. New trends and methods appear over time and in turn grow in popularity as more people exhibit them.

 

In recent years, those looking for a new way of expressing themselves through the medium of body modification can turn to scarification. This has become the latest form of body art that grown in popularity. Like tattoos, scarification is a permanent design achieved through scarring the skin with, most commonly; a scalpel or the use of heat (branding). Scarification can be seen as a step on from tattooing, it is a permanent modification with the added element that it is raised unlike a tattoo so has a more tactile element. Tiff explained that scarification was always a more ‘underground’ form of body art which is now appealing to a wider range of people, as he remembers a time when there was no interest in scarification at all. Tiff believes a major factor that has brought scarification to the forefront of body modifications is the internet. Websites such as www.bmezine.com allow the browser to enter into a world of common body modifications or experience a whole new realm of extreme modifications that are definitely not for the faint hearted! Tiff does acknowledge that some people see scarification blurring the lines too much between body modification and self harm, but when carried out by experienced artists this link becomes weak. Self-harm has a serious psychological element involved when it is carried out, when someone wants to become scarred for purely aesthetic reasons this does not hold the psychological elements of self harm.

 

Microdermals are another modification that has recently increased in popularity. A microdermal displays the combined appearance of an implant (inserting something under the skin) and a piercing. A single stud is ‘anchored’ under the skin after a small incision is made with a scalpel. They are a lot less likely to grow out of the skin than regular surface piercings. This is because there are holes in piece of metal under the skin, so tissue can grow through them and keep the jewellery anchored in place. Microdermals are being incorporated with tattoos in some cases adding a 3D element to designs and with a far less invasive procedure than involved in a surface piercing.

 

I have only managed to touch the surface regarding body modification in this article as there are many other procedures that are carried out today. As much as trends in body modification have changed over the years and have become more widely acceptable in our culture (in my last office job I was often given piercing care advice from my manager!) it is definitely true that those whose bodies are heavily modified are still open to receive prejudice from a large majority of society. Tiff comments that those who have a lot of visible modifications will usually be limited to working within the body modification industry or within a few other workplaces that will not discriminate. In this sense there is still prejudice against people just because they choose to decorate their body. Is this fair? I don’t think so; unless offensive material is displayed on someone’s body I don’t think it is right to make an assumption about their character purely based on that. However, it is undeniably human nature to react to those that are different from you and maybe opinions will change over time. Just make sure if you do get any modifications yourself, get them done professionally and look after them, infected modifications are not so fun!

 

By Jen Blakeley

The article can be seen with illustrations in this Brighton Magazine

See The Hussy for other Brighton Art

 

Thanks to www.magnusopustattoo.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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