Archive for the English Category

book review: temporary tattoos for girls

Posted in books, English, tattoos on February 21, 2012 by Ania

These days ‘think before you ink’ adage serves not only as a warning or a reproach (told you so!) but also as a piece of good advice and that’s how it usually appears in articles on the subject of tattoos.  And that’s where ‘Temporary Tattoos for Girls’ pick up and do the job for you.

Does the title sound wacky? It actually does and makes you not expect much from it. But then again, why you should expect much from temporary tattoos? They are temporary after all!

So what’s worth some of your time (and possibly money) about this one? First of all, it contains a few sheets of not bad quality temporary tattoos. They offer a wider choice of designs than your ordinary bubble gum ones. The designs also illustrate the chapters of the book, so if you decide you like animal or symbol tattoos the best, you can apply a tattoo of animal or symbol of your choice and just see if you are going to like it for more than just a few hours.

Secondly, the book is addressed for young women (and girls), so it offers more feminine designs (there is also a similar book offering temporary tattoos for guys, though, so it’s  an equal gender opportunity). It consists of short chapters on 10 most common designs and each chapter is illustrated with decent pictures of women with tattoos. Each chapter also provides some information on the meanings behind a given design and most popular placements (seeing as it’s all about expressing your individuality;)).

Sadly, as it’s been the case with other books on the subject published by Chartwell Books, there’s no bibliography listed, so you can’t use it as a pointer toward more detailed research in case you decide to get tattooed after all.

I’m not really satisfied with the contents of this book information-wise but seeing as I bought it only because of its choice of temporary tattoos, it’s not that bad after all. To sum it up, if you want more information, look somewhere else; but if you would like to play with some fake tattoos (just for fun or you have a kid with a tiny obsession with tattoos), this book may actually be an acceptable purchase.

        

 

A.      Rattigan, B. Badwater, Temporary Tattoos for Girls, Chartwell Books, Inc. 2010;

(un)popular enough

Posted in dress code, English, entertainment, general news, German, history/anthropology, International, Law, Polish, tattoo conventions, tattoos on February 19, 2012 by Ania

I haven’t seen the season 1 yet and here there’s news about prospects for season 2 of the Ink Master show.

This notorious growing popularity of tattoos leads to: a dating site (the site itself), tattoo apps and tattees. Pretty interesting signs of the times!

I liked this one about seniors getting tattooed; at least in their case the question ‘how your tattoo will look when you re 80’ is sooo off!

Are tattoos popular enough to make such bans are these in Australia and IA, USA totally undoable?

Speaking of bans, here’s a pretty interesting Q&A focused on tattoos.

Thanks to Bastian for an article about Thai monks and their tattoos! Always interesting to read about it.

And something in Polish: a short article about a tattoo festival in Lodz and another one about a doll ‘tattooed’ with traditional Polish designs.

ink, scars and logos

Posted in dress code, English, general news, German, indirectly related, International, movies, People, scarification, tattoos, tattoos in ads on February 11, 2012 by Ania

Some time no post and during this time I managed to watch ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,’ so let me start with links to articles devoted to this movie as they are quite interesting, even if they refer more to pop culture than to tattoos. As for the movie itself, I’m still a fan of the Swedish version.

Speaking of films, here’s a documentary on a local tattoo artist.

Tattoos and photography in ‘I heart Ink’ gallery exhibit and ‘brides in ink.’

Teachers’ dress code in two perspectives: an American one that’s all about the professional look and a British one about encouraging something different (or so it looks).

Pretty cool tattoos: 21 tech brand tattoos and ‘Tattoo Infographic’ by a Polish artist (more here).

A Canadian piece on scarification.

Thanks to Bastian for this cool ad featuring Zombie Boy.

Finally, not really about tattoos but done by a really tattooed and smart guy: another interview with Mark Benecke!

Down Under and some other stuff

Posted in body piercing, dress code, English, general news, history/anthropology, International, scarification, tattoo conventions, tattoos on January 28, 2012 by Ania

A few interesting ones from the southern hemisphere this week!

An Australian artist inspired by traditional scarification; then articles about 20 Maori heads returned to their native land and a quite interesting article about modern Maori considering revival of head preservation. On not that good side, however, there’s also an article on banning tattoos on NSW police.

Body art spiritual experience’ tries to show what it’s all about for many of us while two articles from Philadelphia discuss a growing trend of facial ink among young people. And here’s also another one about ear lobe reconstruction.

Answers to some piercing questions here and here a brief discussion on quality and price of tattoos.

A nice bunch of pics from a tattoo festival in Venezuela! And how you can’t love stretched lobes?

TV pulp and some substance

Posted in English, entertainment, general news, history/anthropology, International, movies, People, Polish, tattoos on January 21, 2012 by Ania

Still lots of buzz about the ‘Ink Master’ show. The most interesting, IMHO, so far, though, was a blog post on the subject by Shannon Larratt.

A Polish article warns against quick decisions and random tattoos, this American one points out what kinds of ‘artists’ we should avoid while this one from France briefly discusses a new fashion collection by Jean Paul Gaultier – looks like tattoos are in again.

Quite shocking (and probably that’s why the media love it!): a GA woman allowed her 10-year-old son to get a tattoo.

Nicely interesting: a little information on a tattoo documentary ‘Color Outside the Lines’ and an article from Australia focused on female convicts’ tattoos back in the 19th century.

dragon and other tattoos

Posted in body piercing, Dutch, English, entertainment, general news, German, International, movies, Polish, tattoo conventions, tattoos on January 14, 2012 by Ania

A nice submission from Bastian (thank you!): a short video covering a tattoo convention in Germany; not very new but still interesting.

More visual coverage on tattoos in articles discussingInk Master.’

Both in English and Dutch: Amsterdam Tattoo Museum.

I’m re-watching the Swedish version of the Millennium trilogy and anxiously awaiting a chance to watch the American production, so here articles on Lisbeth Salander (in Polish, though!).

Speaking of films, here’s a slide show on tattoos in films.

The body as art’ discusses mostly ear stretching which is good on its own (not that frequent a topic) but also throws in a few words on spirituality that some people associate with body modification.

Some spirituality also in this article describing Christian body art.

Finally, a touch of outrage in a silly slide show.

regrets, eye candy and dragon tattoos

Posted in English, entertainment, general news, history/anthropology, International, movies, People, tattoos, tattoos in ads on January 7, 2012 by Ania

‘You’ll regret it later’ is what is so often said about body modifications, so no wonder the mass media love to show the general opinion on the subject is right. Here we have an example of ear lobe stretching regret. The language this article is written in is definitely interesting: ‘dangling ear parts, ear distortion that needed to be overcome, unsightly.’ A nice job on staying objective?

Tattoos in church? In Flint, MI it’s quite possible.

QR Code’ tattoos and some general musings on the subject. Here’s also more on the QR Code tattoos.

Ink reality TV represented by Chris Nunez of the Miami Ink fame: him talking Ink Master, tattoos and human canvasses.

Eye candy for the masses: David Beckham advertising underwear and showing off his body and his tattoos. As a bonus, an overview of Beckham’s tattoos.

I’m in the middle of re-reading of the Millennium trilogy, so I’m into Lisbeth Salander’s story again. Here an answer to the ‘what dragon tattoo really costs?’ question and, for comparison values, a link to a picture of a dragon tattoo on Noomi Rapace who was an original Lisbeth in the Swedish version of the movie. Whose dragon tattoo is more interesting?

the first one in 2012

Posted in English, entertainment, general news, history/anthropology, International, Law, People, tattoos on January 1, 2012 by Ania

A few nice ones for a good start into 2012:

Ami James and his tattoos-related soap opera in the first episode’s recap. Quite unexpectedly for me (I had no idea such a TV show existed), he also appeared in a ‘All-American Muslim’ show.

New year brings new laws,’ also for tattoo industry.

A very interesting article from Australia about a Japanese tattoo master, Horihiro!

Finally, not body art but for the cows involved it must have felt like that – body painting!

the most amusing Christmas gift ever!

Posted in English, me and my modifications, suspension on December 30, 2011 by Ania

I love body suspension although I wouldn’t say I’m more passionate about it than tattoos or, say, running and working out in general. It’s something that tests my limits and gives me an enormous amount of satisfaction, though!

Thanks to my crazy-about-suspending friend I just  got my own set of suspension hooks and I’m definitely looking forward to trying them out (although I may actually be way more excited about running my next half-marathon or trying to run my first full marathon!) It’s good to know that from now on I’ll always have my own hook set!

What makes them so special? First, they’re from a friend (and that would be enough on its own!). Second, they’re HUGE! I do love suspension scars but they always fade with time, so hopefully these monsters will give me really long-lasting scars! Finally, never again I’ll have to rely on suspension masters to provide me with hooks – I have mine and they can be reusable once they’re thoroughly cleaned and sterilized!

And don’t they look wonderfully huge when compared with the hooks from my first ever hooks-related experience? (shame I didn’t get to save even one hook from my first suspensions, though!) The picture of my chest pull was taken on July 1, 2006 in Malmő, Sweden!

The funniest thing will be, however, when I face them right before my next suspension experience and get to hear others telling me that using them may be not such a good idea!  ;)

Mod ond hleahtor, though!

right before the end of 2011

Posted in English, entertainment, general news, German, history/anthropology, International, Law, People, Polish, suspension, tattoos on December 30, 2011 by Ania

It already happened, so now it’s more about waiting for the first reviews; hopefully the new episode(s) of the ‘NY Ink’ will prove to be as exciting as we’re led to think.

Springfield neighborhood-based suspension drama continues as this local article shows!

Is the world coming to an end? A little bit about the Mayan allegedly soon-to-come apocalypse and some body modifications practiced by the Maya people can be read here.

Samoa and its traditional tattoo revival in this article.

Modified animals (is it right?) in this German article describing things happening in China.

A Polish article about women as more frequent guests in tattoo shops here.

Finally, a bit of 2011 summary: designer logo tattoos as a fashion mistake!

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