Body Tattoo – blog about tattoo art

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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