BS: 16% have at least one tattoo

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Oct 03 - 01:08 AM

I agree with you, Kim, they need to be under your control, i.e. where you can easily cover them. Each time I've had one done it has been a transcendant experience, esp. the last one as it is a unique spiritual symbol which has strong meaning for me.

Thanks for the link, Homeless, very interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 15 Oct 03 - 10:00 AM

I prefer for them to be little surprises, to be uncovered. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Micca
Date: 15 Oct 03 - 03:17 PM

I have 4, all have spiritual significance, 2 are "initiation" symbols,and mark "Rites of passage" and the Green Man on my arm is very important to me for personal reasons. Receiving all of them was an awareness raising matter(it may be the endorphins released during the process) and I felt "changed" for the better afterwards, but that may be due to the event the tatoos were commemortaing rather than the symbols.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 15 Oct 03 - 04:54 PM

Micca, that is sort of what the artist who does my tattoos said. I wish I could remember his exact words, but he expressed very well something I had thought all along.

I may as well say what mine are. On my right hip, I have a violin rising from the water. It covers my first tattoo, a heart and dagger. I wasn't sorry I got the heart and dagger, but over time it faded some and I wanted to spruce it up. Discovering the violin added a whole new dimension to my life, so having it cover a broken heart is pretty appropriate. On my left side, I have a Zuni bear surrounded by a red and black tribal-style heart. The bear was old and faded - I had my artist recolor it, and add the heart. (I like hearts. I plan on getting some more at some point.) On the inside of my left ankle, a hummingbird - small, fast, and colorful. Pretty to watch, but they will defend their territory from intruders.

I have plans to get a viney-knotwork sort of thing on my lower back. I used to want to get a gila monster on my foot, but I thought better of that. Some artists won't do feet. I have also thought about getting a phoenix on my thigh.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Bearheart
Date: 15 Oct 03 - 10:34 PM

I have quite a number, most of them fairly small and all for spiritual/healing purposes. My husband did most of them. I did a few myself. I got my first one in 1982.
As a shamanic healer I feel that the tattoos I have are all about expressing, in the most comitted way I can, what I believe in. Also tattoos have been used in many tribal cultures to mark initiations of the spiritual sort, but also to effect emotional spiritual or physical healing. I have done many tattoos for others for those purposes, and have seen people who experienced healing from arthritis and endometriosis, from emotional wounding, and so on. The power of the mind if you will, or the power of putting one's faith to work. My tattoos consist primarily of the animal spirits who help me do shamanic healing, but I also have a harp tattoo on my left wrist (the design is of a harp made of a blooming rose vine) and a thistle and rose design on my left shoulder. Most of the tattoos I have were ones seen in my visioning work. I have also had the experience of going into shamanic trance while having tattoos done, but probably that was because we usually do it with a support team of drummers playing African rhythms.

There is something very empowering for me in decorating my body with symbols and images of things that really matter to me: music and spirituality. And it's really not about beauty in the conventional sense, because how long does that really last? -- but about trying to express the beauty that drives my soul, that requires expression, that won't let me rest until I express it, in the same way that my fingers and my vocal chords want to make something beautiful...

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 09:55 AM

Well said!

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: bbc
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 08:14 PM

Wow, Homeless, you were right about that site being graphic! It's not something I'd be interested in, but I sent it to my son & he was not deterred. Does anyone know how you go about locating a body artist who is reputable (particularly for branding/scarification)?

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Homeless
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 09:14 PM

bbc - There are a lot of people who start businesses that really don't know much about tattooing/piercing/branding. Finding someone who is reputable isn't the same as finding someone who is knowledgable. Reputation is only as reliable as the people spreading it. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who aren't too bright who recommend artists.
I just found this via BME Mod before Client and it fit right in with what I was thinking about while writing the above.

Big cities tend to have better studios who deal in more volume, and correspondingly have more experience in the more extreme mods. Go into a city and talk with someone at a studio there. I once spent about an hour and a half talking to Mad Jack in Chicago about some unique piercings, only to find out that they probably wouldn't have worked. But he knew beforehand that they wouldn't work and why, and was happy to spend the time to educate me.

Educate yourself on the mod you're interested in so that you can tell if your prospective artist knows what (s)he is doing.

Get magazines on the bod mod you're interested in. If there isn't one devoted to branding, get tattooing magazines (there are lots of those). The people featured in the articles (not the ads) are the ones respected in the field.

Attend a tattoo convention - people there will know who knows what they are doing and is good at it. Body mods *are* the kind of thing where it's worth driving 5-600 miles to do the research as well as having it done.

Talk to people that have had scarification done, then decide whether you trust their judgement. When going to a studio ask legitimate, knowledgable questions. If an artist can't answer a question about what muscles and nerves in the area might be affected, go elsewhere. The better places will not service a walk-in - they want to do a consultation, then schedule the work for later.

Always remember that any kind of mod, particularly scarification, can (read that as "possibly," not "probably" Mom!) go really wrong, and that you should plan to spend a lot of time and money on getting this done, and done right. This is *not* a time you want to scrimp to save a few bucks.

Before you start doing research, know *why* you want to do this. "Because it's cool" isn't a good enough reason - eventually it won't be cool, and you can't get rid of it.
Finally - if you're in a hurry to get this done, Don't Do It.

Hope this helps.
Homeless (who has more mods than he should probably admit to)

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Homeless
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 10:09 PM

beebs- even if you don't look at any of the rest of BME, you might want to check this out - Parents FAQ

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Hrothgar
Date: 17 Oct 03 - 12:46 AM

I don't have any tats - I just look a bit drawn.

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 17 Oct 03 - 11:19 AM

Thanks, again, Homeless--great info & advice; I will pass it straight on to Jay. He & I have been having some good conversations on the subject & I'm trying to stay open-minded, even though the thought of most of this stuff makes me cringe. I keep thinking that, if someone did these things to you against your will, it would probably be considered torture!

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: LilyFestre
Date: 17 Oct 03 - 07:19 PM

I don't mind folks having tatoos one bit...but you know....having walked around the campus of Cornell University recently, I can tell you that there are going to be some pretty ugly people residing in nursing homes about 50 years from now..........saw a bald man with skulls tatooed on his head at lunch last week! A few years back I saw another bald man with a sunny side up egg tatooed right smack at the top of his noggin!!!!! Cracks me up!!!!! LOL

Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Oct 03 - 06:46 PM

Homeless, it's good to see responsible info out there.

Bekki, well said!