Body Tattoo - blog about tattoo art

Makeup made to cover body art is becoming popular for those who need a disappearing act.

Johnny Depp found that tattoos can outlast relationships. He retooled a “Winona Forever” tattoo == acquired when his flame was actress Winona Ryder == to read “Wino Forever.” (MATT SAYLES, ASSOCIATED PRESS / June 22, 2006)

Before Stephanie Toussaint graduated from college, she got a tattoo — featuring a small letter “S” with a crown above it — on the outside of her left ankle. It represented the freedom she’d soon have.

But when Toussaint became a high-school teacher, she says, she had enough sense to cover it up. “No one ever knew I had one until I mentioned it at happy hour,” she says. “I’m not embarrassed. It’s just not professional to show it. It’s like cleavage.”

Toussaint, 24, who will teach biology at Willowridge High School this fall, frequently wears long pants and boots to hide her tattoo or covers it with makeup. Her students don’t know about it, she says.

“Most of my students have more tattoos than I do. Huge ones on their back and legs. Some of them already regret it. They just got something they saw, but I urge them to really think about what they want first and put it in a place that will withstand the professional world.”

With many young adults getting tattoos — and some having tattoo remorse — makeup designed to conceal body art is becoming more popular. It’s an alternative to hiding behind clothes or painful and costly laser tattoo-removal procedures.

Some brides are using makeup to hide their tattoos for their walk down the aisle. Other people are using heavy foundations and concealers for job interviews and work.

“The tattoo is establishing your identity, but you have to take into account getting a job,” says Lee Graff, president and co-founder of the Toronto-based Cover FX Skin Care Inc. “I don’t think young people understand that tattoos are permanent. Makeup helps give you control over something that may be controlling you.”

Graff created her makeup line in 2000 after working in a dermatology clinic where patients had skin conditions such as rosacea, acne, burns and vitiligo (the melanin-loss condition from which Michael Jackson suffers). Too few makeup lines offered colors that looked natural, she says.

Cover FX produces more than 30 foundation shades designed to hide not only tattoos but also scars, birthmarks, spider veins, stretch marks and other skin conditions.

Graff recommends using a brush to apply it, because a sponge absorbs too much of the product and is less hygienic. A setting lotion, Setting FX, makes it water-resistant. Ample coverage can require two or three layers of the foundation, plus powder and setting lotion.

Fashion Fair, M.A.C., Dermablend and other cosmetics makers also offer temporary fixes for those times when a tattoo is considered taboo.

Toussaint uses M.A.C. foundation when she doesn’t want to show her tattoo. She says it allows her to wear capri pants and other summer clothing to work.

Susan Hlavac, assistant director of career counseling at the University of Houston, says tattoos and body piercings can be distracting in the workplace and disastrous in a job interview.

“Not everyone is open-minded,” she says. “You are taking a risk by going into a job interview with your tattoo exposed. You really should err on the conservative side and cover it up.”

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IONIA - New safety laws passed by the state legislature will make tattoo shops prone to safety checks from county health officials in January of 2009, but some tattoo artists wish those laws would come sooner.

“Any safety laws for tattoo artists are a good thing. It makes the businesses who do take extra precautions and do everything right stand out,” said Hawkins ‘Hawk’ Matthieu, whose new business’ - 5th Ace Tattoo Co. - request for a license was approved 6-3 at Tuesday’s Ionia City Council meeting.

The tattoo parlor will officially open Friday.

“You’re talking about laws that regulate some things that aren’t regulated now. I wish [the laws] were in place right now,” said Matthieu.

In Ionia, there is no current way to monitor whether or not a tattoo parlor is properly maintaining its equipment or following health guidelines.

“The only concern I have is that the tattoo industry isn’t regulated in a sense that before [Jan. 2009] there won’t be a way to establish minimal standards,” said Mayor Dan Balice, who was one of the three dissenters in Tuesday’s vote. “I realize that tattoos have become mainstream and popular, I just think it’d be better if we had something set up to make sure they’re following baseline health standards. But from what I understand, the health department is gearing up for this.”

New regulations would allow county health organizations to routinely visit and verify whether tattoo shops are indeed following health regulations.

“When you do a tattoo, you have to know what you’re doing. You also have to know how to handle customer’s health,” said Angie McClanahan, who owns Playin’ 4 Keeps, a tattoo parlor just outside Ionia. “Appearances aren’t everything in a shop. If you’re sitting down [for a tattoo] and something is being reused or doesn’t come out of a bag, that’s when it’s time to cut if off and leave. You can’t risk your health.”

Although the regulations are still being finalized by state officials, tattoo parlors utilize numerous cleanly methods from sterilization to simple hand washing that keep people’s health in mind.

That’s because if they don’t take extreme care, they could risk a patient’s health.

“There are universal precautions for any place where there’s a potential for contacting blood or body fluids,” said Paul Lewis, supervisor for environmental health for the Ionia County Health Department. “Facilities have to be extremely clean, kept sanitary and the procedures they use must be sanitary. Inspecting will be a prudent thing to do to protect public health.”

Each time a tattoo artist begins printing, he or she is faced with the potential transmission any one of 375 communicable diseases, ranging from common viruses like the flu and cold to serious diseases like hepatitis or AIDS.

Modern tattoo parlors use technology like autoclaves to steam, heat and pressurize equipment to effectively kill any pathogens.

Reusable things like body jewelry have to be sterilized before they are used; most tools for tattoos-drawing come pre-packaged in a sterile environment.

“Before you’re even registered, your shop has to be registered as a medical waste producer with the Department of Environmental Quality,” said McClanahan. “But the reality is that you’re not re-using anything like needles. That stuff gets thrown away right after the tattoo.”

Until these new laws become reality, tattoo shops will continue to monitor their safety techniques without oversight from county health officials.

But, Matthieu said, a proven track record in tattooing - and following through the city licensing procedure, which includes a rigorous background check, fingerprinting, a mug shot and various fees - means a lot.

“A tattoo is the signature of a soul,” said Matthieu, who has more than 20 years of tattooing experience. “When you’re getting one done, it might as well be in a safe, clean environment. I think that give customers piece of mind.”

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A Neath man offering to sell his skin as advertising space has been joined by his girlfriend in a joint bid to become human billboards.Nigel Michael, who has just moved to Fairyland with his partner Vicky, said she has bitten the bullet and decided to support him in his efforts to raise funds for their future.

The Evening Post revealed Mr Michael’s plans to sell his body for advertising space last November. And now the couple have decided to work together.

Mr Michael said: “She is going for it now and has decided she wants it done.”

The 26-year-old said the response to their offer had so far been good. A telecommunications company has offered them five-figure sums each to have tattoos on their backs, she added

The former Briton Ferry man said the company behind the offer planned to have its name emblazoned across their backs along with images of phones.

He said: “I have seen the designs and I liked them.”

Mr Michael said he had been offered a similar sum from a company in Scotland to have a promotional tattoo.

He said he would now be considering the offers and waiting for all the responses to come back from the 140 letters he has sent to different companies.

Mr Michael said in the meantime he planned to travel to the US with his girlfriend to visit a man who made millions of dollars from the skin-selling concept.

“We are hoping to go over to America in February, if we can save enough money, and meet the man who got paid 1.6 million by a pharmaceutical company”, he said.

The pair are hoping to learn from the master when they head to the States.

Speaking of the tips from the top he has already been given, Mr Michael said: “He had the idea of writing to different celebrities and publishing their good luck letters along with articles.”

Since he went public with his idea of an indelible advert last year, Mr Michael said his phone had not stopped ringing.

“People have mainly been saying good luck although I have had the odd ‘are you mad?’ comment”, he said.

The Evening Post first reported back in November how Mr Michael came across the idea of selling his skin while surfing the net.

He said at the time that he had a number of dreams he hoped the rent-a-body money would pay for.

Summing up some of these, Mr Michael said: “I would like to pay off all my debts, get gastric bands fitted for myself and my girlfriend, travel and set ourselves up for the future.”

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I’ve decided tonight is the night I’m going to get my first tattoo. I think it will be a nice memento of my schoolies experience. Something I can cherish and gaze upon fondly, you know?

Maybe I’ll get a dragon? Or a peacock! Or an obscure Chinese symbol! Maybe I’ll just go with something bikie-gang chic.

The other decision I’m having trouble making is where to have the ink on my body. At the moment it’s a 50-50 between my neck and my left arm.

It will be fake, of course. One of those spray-on ones you can get that last a couple of weeks. I’m not going to tell mum that, though. Not until after I’ve come home, in tears, and convinced her it was a drunken impulse decision. The look on her face will be gold!

Tonight I’m also going to get a piercing, but that’s going to be real. Just my ear though - so I can say I was pierced during schoolies week.

We’ve pretty much hit the halfway mark for schoolies and people are starting to get really tired. There was a noticeable lull at events last night and most people I know were home really early.

We went to the beach dance party, which was pretty much the same as the other beach dance parties we’ve been to this week. We stayed a while, but eventually got out of there when we noticed some toolies jump the fence. Somehow they managed to blend into the crowd.

Instead of jumping around on the sand to the same DJs we’ve jumped around to all week, we decided to head to Infinity at Cavill.

The light and illusion fun-house was probably the worst place for excited and predominantly drunk schoolies, but hundreds of others seemed to have the same idea as my friends and me.

A group of us girls were the victims of giant, bright orange bouncy balls in one room. Some idiot drunk guys thought it was be funny to peg them at us.

It could’ve ended in tragedy and a need for a plastic surgeon, but thankfully one of us was able to get up off the ground and find the door. We escaped!

The last couple of days should be pretty huge because I think most people are realising it’s almost over. It’s a bit sad, really. I don’t think I want to go home.

Although the thought of scaring the crap out of mum with a thick barbed wire tattoo around my arm is mighty enticing.

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PROUD Paul Croft got a tattoo of Harry Potter wizard Albus Dumbledore on his back but is now being teased by pals after he was outed as gay.
Proud Paul, 36, spent a year having the Hogwarts headmaster etched into his skin as a surprise for his five kids.

But the factory worker has been the butt of jokes ever since Harry Potter author JK Rowling revealed last week that Dumbledore was in love with a fellow male sorcerer.

Paul, of Nottingham, moaned yesterday: “It’s been terrible. I’ve always liked Dumbledore - just not in that way.

“I went into work and everyone was sniggering.

W”hen I walked in, one of the lads said, ‘Oi, Paul heard about Dumbledore?’

“There were wisecracks about ‘Watch your backs, lads’. Someone asked me if I was planning to get a tattoo of Graham Norton. I thought, Why me?”

The huge $1200 tattoo shows Dumbledore holding a scroll bearing the names of his Harry Potter-mad children Charlotte, Deanna, Brandon, Tamzin and Paris.

Paul said: “It seemed like a good idea at the time.

The whole thing took nearly a year. I was really pleased with the result.”

The tattoo is about 2ft in length and shows Dumbledore played by Richard Harris who was the original and best.

He insisted: “I don’t regret it and Im not going to get rid of it.”

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SOMETIMES it’s difficult to walk around Worcester and see someone who isn’t tattooed,” says Rob Sampson, body piercer at Rings and Needles, Quay Street.

And, to be honest, I think he might be right.

In the single hour I was in the shop, which is owned by Gary Thorpe and Peter Watts, there was a constant flow of customers coming in to look at the different designs on the walls or ask the advice of the shop’s tattoo artists.

According to a survey by Kidderminster’s Brintons carpets, 15 per cent of the British population has a secret piece of body art.

Rob says the shop has been almost fully booked over the summer. Some of the most popular designs at the moment, especially with girls, are stars or abstract designs drawn on to the base of the spine.

He says the new trend is for new skool’ tattoos, reminiscent of the 1940s and 50s, with bolder lines and shapes such as swallows, butterflies and anchors.

But he said when customers ask to have a partner’s name tattooed, he always checks they are absolutely sure that is what they want.

“We do cover a few names over,” he says.

Brintons’ survey asked which design people would prefer - floral, a Chinese or Celtic design, animal, sporting or name related.

The favourite for women was a Chinese or Celtic design, with 38 per cent saying they would choose one of those. For men, the choice was harder, with 14 per cent picking an animal, followed by 11 per cent opting for a name-related design.

Rob says: “It does follow a trend set by a celebrity, such as Angelina Jolie or Robbie Williams. When Beckham had his back tattooed with an angel, that became popular. We have noticed an increase in women and girls getting them done, and it has increased over the last five or six years. It seems more socially acceptable now.”

But he admitted it was a big commitment to have a tattoo.

“It is going to be there for life. We do have some people, a very small percentage, who come in wanting a tattoo there and then. But we work on a pre-booking system and sometimes when they come back they have had second thoughts.

“Some people listen to our advice, but others don’t. The tattooists, if they don’t think it will look good on the skin, will tell them.”

In the shop, tattooist Paul Munslow was working on covering up a design on 35-year-old Helen Gormley, of Malvern, who is currently working on a book about tattoo designs.

She said: “I had my first tattoo age 17 and I now have 11. I have some 80s stuff but it’s difficult to alter.

“The one I don’t like I have had for about 10 years but, although I want it covered up, we are having trouble coming up with ideas that will work.

“Tattoos are about both meaning and design. For me, they started with meaning. When people get upset and split up with boyfriends they get a tattoo.

“Any kind of emotional crisis, the first thing you do is go off and get a tattoo.”

Her partner, Dave Gormley, aged 44, of Malvern, added: “I have tattoos pretty much everywhere. I have them on both arms, both legs, my neck, my back and two on my chest.

“I have a big dragon’s head on my shoulder covering an old tattoo. I am getting the body put in soon.

“You always regret one or two, but you just cover it up and put something else over it. I have done my own but they look a mess.

“It’s OK to do your own when you are younger, but as you get older you have to get them done properly.”

Aizawl (Mizoram), Oct 20: Tattoos or, patterns drawn up on skin, widely prevalent among sailors, bikers and outlaws, have now become a popular body decoration for the youth in Mizoram.

Tattoos have now over the past decade become a style statement.

Mama, a tattoo professional, who has a tattoo parlour in Aizawl, said he observed that the youth were using very unhealthy ways of tattooing their bodies, as a result of which, they faced skin ailments.

“Until 1988, the tattoo business was not in vogue. Tattooing as a business gained momentum only since the ’90s. Due to the lack of facilities, the art of tattooing didn’t catch on as a profession immediately. But, when travelling army personnel returned with tattoos, people started evincing interest. I combine creativity and my drawing skills while making a tattoo,” said Mama.

The most common designs among the customers are tribal and barbed wire designs. The youngsters lament the non-availability of tattoos that glow in the dark.

“I am so fond of tattoos that I have got one on my shoulder also. It is not just a craze, rather a fashion statement of the current generation. I do not understand why my parents are against it and I just cannot see any connection with the satanic concept, Nevertheless, I shall go ahead and have myself tattooed with more patterns,” said Thungpuii, a customer.

“I had myself tattooed in 2001 and since then I have had more and more patterns done up. I spent around Rs 500 for the one on my back and the others are a little less expensive,” added Thungpuli.

The cost of a tattoo depends on its size. While a mole tattoo or a small spot tattoo costs just Rs. 20 bigger tattoos can cost up to Rs 7000.

Efforts are being made to import tattoo-erasing equipment from Korea.

It is difficult to say from where the art originated, but tattoos have been found on Egyptian mummies dating back to 2000 B.C.

Romans used tattoos to mark criminals and slaves.

After the advent of Christianity, tattooing was forbidden in Europe, but persisted in the Middle East and other parts of the world, including India, the name of the child was tattooed on the body.

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I’ve seen people get tattoos of the weirdest things, I even encountered one guy who got an O2 broadband logo tattoo’d on his back to show he’s an o2 fanboy. There are times though, when some folks get skin art to honor someone they love. Sarah Weston has a little pink surprise peeking out from behind her ponytail. The 18-year-old Beloit Memorial High School student had a pink ribbon for breast cancer tattooed on her neck to honor her late grandmother, Adeline Mentele.

At age 71, Mentele passed away from breast cancer on Aug. 2, 2006. Mentele, a friendly and religious woman who attended St. Peter’s Church, left quite an impression on her granddaughter.

Today a pink ribbon with Mentele’s initials adorns the girl’s neck.

Before Mentele got sick, Sarah Weston said her grandmother liked to knit, sing and spend time with her 15 grandchildren. The family was saddened, though, when the woman was given eight months to live after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Sarah Weston and her mother, Barb Weston, would visit her every day.

“We got a lot closer,” Sarah Weston said.

When grandma Mentele died only one month later, Sarah was shocked. It was just too soon.

Sarah also was concerned about her aunt Cindy Gau, who was a breast cancer survivor and the other women on both sides of the family who had died from the disease.

When Sarah started thinking about getting a tattoo, she wasn’t sure what to get. When a co-worker showed her a breast cancer tattoo, she knew it was the right thing to do.

“She (my grandma) wasn’t big into tattoos, but I know she’d like it,” Sarah Weston said.

On Sept. 7, the day after Weston’s 18th birthday, she got the tattoo.

“It kind of tickled, but that’s about it,” Sarah Weston said.

Sarah Weston said her parents are fine with her tattoo. After all, her father, Roscoe police officer Billy Weston, has nine of them including a dragon and a Tasmanian Devil.

Sarah Weston might add the years her grandmother lived on the tattoo at a later time.

Weston works at the high school daycare and Kids Space. She hopes to attend the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater and become a third-grade teacher. She may get more tattoos, but hopes they can represent something as special as her first one.

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The cultural status of tattooing has steadily evolved from an anti-social activity in the 60s to that of a trendy fashion statement in the 2000s. Is the current tattoo trend simply a fad, or are we seeing a once misunderstood artform that is finally emerging toward the forefront? Learn the answers to these questions, while we show you some of the wildest body art imaginable.

Wilmington, DE (PRWEB) October 18, 2007 — Award winning filmmaker, Lou Angeli, known for his work documenting major emergencies and disasters, covers new turf in his latest documentary, “Why Do You Tattoo?” (www.louangeli.com/tattoo.html) This new film explores the history of body art through the ages and the explosive growth of the tattoo industry during the past decade.

“Our film will dispel the common belief that body art is reserved for the seedier folks within our culture.” Angeli notes. The Delaware filmmaker adds that body art — although shocking at times — is generally accepted by mainstream North Americans. The evidence, he says, is in plain view on any city street, the workplace, televised sporting events…even church.

The film focuses on the growing trend toward using the body as a canvas. Angeli interviews dozens of men and women who have chosen to be inked (or pierced), and the viewer learns why such images are so meaningful to those who wear them.

“It seems to me that many tattoo enthusiasts don’t stop at one or two images,” Angeli comments. He notes that head to toe art — once a mainstay of carnival side shows — is very common place now. The storyline also discusses the art, introduces new inking techniques, and the artists themselves. Individuals like Wilmington, Delaware’s “Tommy Rabid”, whose storefront is located in one of the most affluent sections of the city.

“It’s not just a kid thing anymore,” says Erin Fauble, of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists. “We see middle-class suburban women, doctors, and lawyers. It’s not specific to one group of people; it’s everybody now.”

With so many individuals going under the gun, Angeli predicts that tattoo removal will become a huge business in coming years. The film will review current removal techniques such as laser treatments, dermabrasion, and home remedies that suggest 100% removal in a matter of months.

Primary shooting has begun in the New York-DC corridor and the filmmaker invites those who would like to share their art and stories to contact the production team. The documentary is being shot in 1080i HD and will include an original soundtrack by composer Will Musser. The program will be completed by Spring and will be available for screening at MIPTV in Cannes in April of 2008.

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