BS: 16% have at least one tattoo

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!

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 16 Oct 03 - 09:55 AM

Well said!

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: 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: 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 - 10:00 AM

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

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: bbc
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 10:13 PM

Thanks, Homeless. I'll check it out & forward it to my son.

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 05:29 PM

Interesting site. I don't go for piercings, but to each their own.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Homeless
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 05:00 PM

bbc - check out this site Body Modification Extreme. Near the top you'll see a link for Scarification Photos/Stories. Follow that to find out insider's views (both good and bad) about branding and scarification.
WARNING: This site is very graphic, both in pictures and text. The pictures and the stories are not the antiseptic propaganda of someone writing about a subculture, they are done by the people IN the subculture. The site does, however, give you a very detailed, realistic idea of what these processes are like from the views of both people who give them and receive them.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Mark Ross
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 02:52 PM

I have three; the Rose Tattoo on my left forearm, A steam locomotive on the inside, with smoke coming out of the stack and the first five notes of HAALELUJAH, I'M A BUM in the smoke; and, on my right arm, an eagle rampant with a banner that reads, "Mors Ante Servitium"(Death before Employment"). The amazing thing is they didn't cost me anything, in cash that is. Traded CD's, guitar lessons for them. It's hard to explain the last one if I ask for a job though.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Wesley S
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 01:04 PM

I do know that there are some african-american fraternities that use an omega brand on the upper arm. I noticed a pro football player with one and asked about it. Yes- it seems painful { and foolish too } but thats just my opinion.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 11:14 AM

Does anyone know anything about branding or scarification? My 18-year old son is discussing them as possibilities. Sounds unsafe & painful to me!

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Gurney
Date: 14 Oct 03 - 05:38 AM

Have none myself, but I'm not repelled by a good professional one. However, not a few kids here in NZ get out the needle and ink-bottle at playtime/recess and do-it-(on)themselves. The serves, in my opinion, to establish (A) A lack of esthetic sense, (B) A lack of common sense, and (C) Handedness.
They often end up with one hand heavily tattooed, covering up youthful 'artwork.'
Then there are the individuals who have a full facial tattoo, in the traditional Maori fashion. I've heard it said that this denotes a wish to never be offered a job.....

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 05:52 PM

I like to think of my tattoos as outward expressions of the adornments on my soul. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 05:06 PM

Not my thing.

"I wear my adornments upon my soul!"
                        --Cyrano de Bergerac

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 03:59 PM

Tattooing is a transformational experience, not just in the physical sense. Getting a tattoo reminds me of what I am capable of putting up with. And all of mine are where I can control who sees them and who doesn't. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: ossonflags
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 01:21 PM

I had a mate who had a tattoo of a wasp on his penis ,when he got an erection it turned into a bumblebee!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,Strollin' Johnny
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 12:36 PM

I was 53 when I got my first Tat - a Celtic knot on my right arm. The second, a tribal band on my left arm followed a year later and I'm planning additions/enhancements to both of them.

Why in hell's name did I wait so long? They're the best thing I've ever done! (Being a slaphead, I don't have the option of making my personal statements via hairstyles/colours etc.)

Johnny

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 10:29 AM

Cat - I shall expect a full display of your epidermal art gallery at our next BBQ.

Neither Linda or I have any tattos, although Linda has thought about havving a henna one.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 13 Oct 03 - 03:05 AM

I've got three.....a sun on my left shoulder and a moon on my right and a lovely celtic design in blues and greens with forget-me-not flowers at the bottom of my back! I agree with Peg they were a powerful experience and will still look beautiful when Im old!

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Amergin
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 10:02 PM

when i was getting my first professional tattoo...i did research...I looked around on the net at local shops and found faqs on how to see if the shop is clean...what to expect...and whatnot...one shop refuses to ever do names...and they say that if you come in and want a name covered you gotta promise never do it again...lol.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: AliUK
Date: 12 Oct 03 - 09:53 PM

Alice,
tats are transitional. I started off some years ago with a small dragon and then got fed up with it and had it incorporated into another tat wich I then got tired of and had incorporated into another tat, whilst having a couple of others done. I am now contemplating having something else done to them, and still they cover only a small part of my body surface area.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 11:25 PM

I look at all the young girls with tattoos around hip level (fully or partly visible with hipster jeans) & wonder what will be the next fashion. And what they will do with their unfashionable tattoos then?

I also remember an 18 year old permanently wearing a 2" square of plaster on her upper arm to cover the tat she got in a drunken moment when she was 16. Nowadays lasers remove them permanently (or so the ads say) but we still hears stories of famous (& not so famous) folks getting their tats modified to cover an old love's name.

Years ago I borrowed a book on tattoos written by a Naval surgeon from the library. Naturally he'd seen a lot in his career! Some were in amazing locations - a fox hunt came over the shoulder, down the back & chased the fox into ... Certainly this was the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable.

Anyway, not for me - even tho I'm very conservative in my clothes & jewellery (I hate throwing away favourite clothing & wear stuff long after other folks would throw it away as old fashioned or shabby) I still like to change & would not like a permanent tat even if it was a teddy bear!! Besides needles hurt.

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: open mike
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 06:18 PM

photo? any one got pix of musicians with tatoos?
...and the ad below was for a henna tatoo site
problem is that if you write a message, then
click the link your message disappears before
you can send it. and if you send it then the
link disappears...gotta be quick

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 06:16 PM

How about well-known folk musicians with tattoos ?

I will start the ball rolling by nominating Martin Simpson, who has a
beautiful Celtic design covering his right breast (or maybe that should be "pec"), and shoulder. Very tasteful.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: open mike
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 06:09 PM

this is based on a song by tom russel
and was done temporarily in honor of
a concert by him! which i see is not
in the Digi trad data base...this
should be corrected!! (=Blue Wing)

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,open mike
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 04:49 PM

my tatoo

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: bazza
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 04:19 PM

I had a tattoo in Hong Kong while on a drunken run ashore in the 60,s I had a look at the designs on the wall and thought for some strange reason that the head of christ with a crown of thorns would look great on my arm but after a week when the scab came off it looked like a chinaman with a sweat band ,I then had it covered over with a black panthers head now 40 years on it looks like a black blob, beware. I also heard a tale of a drunken Scotsman in a foreign port trying to explain that he wanted a thisle with Scotland underneath but ended up with a pineapple

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Kim C
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 11:19 AM

Heheh! I'm with Peg. By the time you're 100, who cares anyway?

The inks are much better now than they used to be - you've probably seen old tattoos that have bled out around the edges and become fuzzy... That doesn't happen so much anymore. And the people doing them consider themselves artists, and are very serious about their work.

Tattooing isn't for everyone, that's true. But that's okay. Vive le difference. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Peg
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 09:39 AM

I love my tattoo. It's beautiful. And I and it will still be beautiful when I am 100, if I live that long.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 09:20 AM

Does this also mean that one has 16% of a tattoo?

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 09:17 AM

The Republicans and general population may only have 14% tattoos, but the under 25 population surely is much, much higher.

I'm with Alice. I'm all for transformation, not fixation. And the old cliche "nothing lasts forever" is one that more people should consider, when it comes to how their tattoos will look on wrinkled skin, especially if they pursue that other bizarre skin fixation of tanning. Then there are the distorted tattoos on people who have gained weight...

No thanks!

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 11 Oct 03 - 06:56 AM

I couldn't bear to spoil this peaches and cream complection!

RtS

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Peg
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 11:39 PM

I have one. Thought about it for years before deciding to finally   do it; never wavered on the design.   Almost passed out twice getting it though it's a very simple design. Needle phobia. But one is enough, and it was a powerful experience.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Sleepless Dad
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 11:21 PM

No tattoos here either.

My wife had an interesting question awhile back. There were some white racists on TV an several of them had multiple tatoos covering large portions of their bodies. She asked why someone who hated people of color and was so proud of being white would want to cover up their white skin and make it darker. I had no answer for her.

Neither of us have anything against tatoos. We just doen't want one ourselves.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Rapparee
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 09:38 PM

Nope, no tattooes. No piercings, either, 'cepting for those more-or-less accidental ones that have scarred over. I've never found a design that I liked enough to live with forever and besides, I'd have to give up giving blood for a while if I got either a tattoo or a piercing.

My ex-USMC nephew has one, a modest "USMC" in a scroll on his upper right bicep. His then-fiance-now-wife thought it "dumb", threatened to get one herself and asked me what I thought she should get. I suggested a tasteful flaming skull encircled with the legend "Booze Boys And Harleys" and nephew nearly went through the roof! We managed to calm him down; as far as I know he's still the only one in his household with a tattoo.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 09:17 PM

I don't even like having my hair cut. Nature does a better job than any tattooist, given time, what with frown lines and laughter lines and scars from things that happen along the way.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Alba
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 07:34 PM

Body Art, I love it. I have 4 (all of a reasonable size and all Celtic Designs. Sun, Moon, the Phoenix and a Knot. Rob (my partner) and I finally had the Celtic Moon put on our right shoulders on our 5th Anniversary last year. Like Kim's Mister...it was a huge decision for Him as we had been "maybe" going to do it for 4 years!!!:>)
I doubt that I am done with them as yet as there is a lovely Celtic "J" I have been looking at a lot!!!
JD

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 07:20 PM

I've never even considered getting one...but I don't mind them on other people if they're within reason.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Amergin
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 06:04 PM

well it took me almost ten years to finally decide to actually get one...professionally...

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 05:42 PM

I have #4 already picked out, and was planning to get it weeks ago... when the brakes went out on the truck! (sigh) But I am slowly building my tattoo fund back up. Mister says he wants one too, but if this were Middle Earth, he'd be an Ent - not one to make hasty decisions. ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: Amergin
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 05:40 PM

i have two...been wanting to do another or so...but i havent been able to afford it.

Subject: RE: BS: 16% have at least one tattoo
From: GUEST,harp
Date: 10 Oct 03 - 05:26 PM

I my line of work, I meet lots of adolescents and young adults with
piercings. The tongue piercings really give me the shivers. But if I could find a beautiful autoharp tatoo I would get it!