Monthly Archives: February 2009

risks and advice

A few ‘gender-oriented’ articles today: ‘Job helps pierce veil of ignorance’ (Elayne Angel quoted here) and ‘genital piercings can cause serious health risks’ deal with female genital piercings, so it’s something that’s not widely discussed. There’s also another short one about female circumcision (and here’s another one in German, more in depth, ‘submitted’ by Bastian some time ago).

Mods and jobs in ‘expression at the cost of professionalism’ and ‘tattoo taboo’ (this one is actually pretty interesting!)

There’s also some ‘advice on tattoos and body piercing’ (spiced up with some wannabe psychological approach) and a more common-sense article from Finland, ‘the art of the tattoo;’

For those interested in tattoo removal some info on the just launched Tattoo Removal Information website.

An article about one of my favorites: Henk Schiffmacher and one of his artistic endeavors!

And the link that’s just appeared in my mailbox: news from FL about a proposed tattoo bill that might make the life of the local tattoo artists way harder! Hopefully there will be more information about it soon.

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career fairs and fun at home

One law-related piece of news from MD (‘House approves bill requiring parental consent for tattoos’) aside, today’s post is quite light in tone/selection:

Big news is that now Elaine Davidson has 6005 piercings (more here, also in Dutch);

More about Mara and an exhibition of their photos (seems like Mara and Wim Delvoye frequently appear in my posts!).

You know times change when a tattoo artist gets invited to a high school career fair: ‘kids get ink-spiration from a tattoo artist;’ quite similar and with some insight into the shop life is ‘living canvass: an inside look at the art of tattooing;’

‘New York adorned: where to get inked in this town’ – self-explanatory, I guess.

For those with lots of regrets and not much money: ‘at home tattoo removal;’ I’d do lots of research beforehand, though.

Since I like news from the exotic locations, here’s an article about ‘Taiwan’s tattoo artists winning gold at Milan Convention.’

Finally something that was supposed to be gross: ‘extreme body piercings make for one gross ‘bluetooth’ headset;’ maybe I’m weird but it didn’t gross me out.

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law, small towns and gossip

A slow weekend but there are a few interesting ones today again:

Let’s start with law: I’ve already linked on here to articles about proposed changes in tattoo regulations in IA; here’s more about it: ‘proposed tattoo regulations raise ire.’ Another interesting one is from OK, where ‘lawmakers want to ban eyeball tattoos;’ the language the said ‘lawmakers’ use to explain their reasons is very interesting.

Tattoo parlors and mixed reactions of the local communities in ‘tattoo shop raising eyebrows in Abacoa’ and ‘tattoo parlor could be an asset.’

‘street kids shown a better direction’ from New Zealand – sometimes a dream of becoming a tattoo artist is not as bad as it might seem to some people out there.

Another one from IA shows tattoos in a more artsy way: ‘photographing tattoos’ shows tattoos on the local tattoo artists.

Finally something I’ve read with mixed feelings – at first I got glad to be able to post here something with a Polish accent in it only to cringe at how trashy this short article is: ‘Celt Boruc gets tattoo;’ obviously, sometimes even a subject of the article cannot save it from the gutter!

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very pop-like

Ever since the global crisis kicked in, we can often see headlines about safe-bet jobs that will give us good income in the future; looks like tattoo removal business might be one of these ‘safe’ venues: ‘the forever portfolio; betting on aging boomers, obesity and tattoo removal.‘

A little more about tattoo removal although along less reassuring lines: ‘ taxpayers could pay to remove inmates’ tattoos’ (the readers’ comment section is definitely interesting in this one).

‘Pierced animals’ and the *in*famous ‘hog farmer from China (it’s been quite a while since he appeared in the online articles).

Scarification is seldom featured online; allegedly it’s ‘making its mark on society’ (Ryan Quellette of Nashua, NH is quoted here!)

‘Tattoos used as ads’ idea echoed in ‘the body as billboard: your ad here’ and ‘a body shouldn’t be used as ad space;’

Two interesting ones in foreign languages: the German answer to the ‘can tattoos ‘grow’?’ question and a short article in Dutch about a teenager and her short film about the right to modify one’s body (esp. when ‘one’ is young).

Something to ponder on a little: ‘Sports Illustrated responds to taking off Danica’s tattoo.‘

A short story about the Lizardman here (and since I’m pretty sure he’d like it, I’m gonna throw in this link – the Lizardman is a huge fan of ferrets!)

The last one is not about body modifications per se but it shows how one can use human bodies for some funny things: ‘Obama body art’!

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a pinch of law and concern

Recently I’ve posted a link to an article discussing a grim situation of tattoo artists in Chicago, IL; here’s another point of view from Utah – at the local tattoo convention there the artists allegedly asked ‘what recession?’

Two other links in a similar vein (see: tattoo conventions): tattoo convention in Nuernburg, Germany and a few shots from the Annual Milan Tattoo Convention.

News from WA sounds very ‘optimistic’: ‘lawmakers may pass health standards for body piercings this year;’ very reassuring, isn’t it?

Expressing the concerns in Menifeee, CA: ‘council to vote on tattoo parlors’ (it’s more interesting than it seems at first as it also shows how things look in other Californian counties and towns);

News from the southern hemisphere: ‘underage body art a concern,’ and ‘tattoo marks rite of passage’ (not new a concept!).

Would I consider the ‘tattoos are so in, they’re out’ question, if it wasn’t too late for me by now? Probably not!

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13/14 configuration

Two magical days lately, so let’s see what was going on then:

‘Got spirit for News 13? How about a tattoo?’ is about ‘13’ tattoos done on Friday the 13th. Jason Voorhees probably never had one.

V-day was also celebrated: ‘body art on display at Taubman Museum’ in VA and pretty interesting news from Bermuda: ‘local shop’s profits go to heart charity;’

I’m sure all of us heard about disastrous fires in Australia during past few days; here’s an example of turning lemons into lemonade (figuratively speaking):  ‘photos gone forever, but family has a back-up plan.’

Another piece of news from Australia sheds some light on the Generation Y and its alleged fascination with body art: ‘Gen-Yers splash out with tattoos.’

This one was probably supposed to be ‘funny’ but somehow these ideas can actually make some interesting tattoos;) : ‘some tattoos you can use.’

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selected for today

Today’s selection includes:

A new article about the case of Andrew Nilland, the piercer recently jailed in Canada (first article here; an E-Bay auction set up to help him here);

Body modification in the context of the current crisis: ‘Inkonomics: the recession makes its mark on Chicago tattoo parlors.’

News from Portugal about a sociological research stating that ‘Majority of youngsters have tattoos as a fashion statement’ (not really surprising, actually).

Two other international touches from Indonesia (‘Hooked on piercing pain’ about a local free-lance piercer) and from Argentina (‘famous tattoos of the summer 2009’).

In more positive news: Kat Von D signing her book and causing almost a sort of hysteria in Omaha, NE; a British article about ‘friends with the same tattoos reuniting after 10 years’ (makes for quite nice and sentimental a story) , two articles from Utah (the state that does not appear that frequently in the context of the industry): ‘tattoo artists redesign Utah nightlife’ and an interview with a local tattoo artist, and, finally, an article from Germany about a guy who decided to auction the back of his scalp on E-Bay.

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nicely international again

I’ve already posted the sad news about a Canadian piercer facing jail and troubles; here’s a noble action by someone who cares: Matt decided to try to raise money and give it all to Andy’s case. Click on and take part in the auction or tell someone who might be interested.

In other news, a few interesting articles to start this week:

So far I usually posted here some statistics about Americans and their (growing) body art coverage. This time it’s news from New Zealand – ‘tattoos more for her than him’ sheds some light on percentage of tattooed New Zealanders and gender ratio.

Another cool article about Russian prison tattoos in ‘uncovering the hidden world of criminal tattoos’ with stories not only about crimes but also political resistance (read also here).

A short article in Dutch about Thaipusam festival; if you don’t read Dutch, that’s still fine because it contains a slideshow with some interesting pictures.

A little more about Kat Von D and her book from WI where she’s going to tour and sign the book soon.

I almost forgot about this one: a WordPress tattoo!

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religion, glucose and ‘tattooed’ politicians

Religion and body modification for starters: ‘Walking through a test of fire’ and ‘a celebration of devotion’ from Asia and everybody’s Western favorite in ‘do commandments on tattoos and hair still apply?’

The Leu Family is well-known to those interested in tattoo art; not many, however, probably know about the Delaney family running their own shop in OH and having many interesting stories to tell.

‘Piercing safety’ – piercer’s reply to an article on the subject.

Another attemot to break the world tattoo record is going to take place on February 21: ‘tattoo studio to try to break ink record.’

I don’t know much about Dee Snider and his Twisted Sisters project but I read an interview with him with some interest. He talks here not only his recent projects but also body modification.

‘Glucose-monitoring tattoos’ presents an interesting idea how a form of ‘tattoo’ can be used in medicine.

As a fan of lettering tattoos I found pretty interesting an article ‘tattoos we get, and don’t’ – nothing new here but an interesting read nevertheless.

Finally something to make us smile one way or another – the British Spoof informs us that ‘Obama admits he has multiple tattoos.’ Believe it or not! 😉

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job markets and other places

The Microsostf’s Blue Monster tattoo guy got quite famous for a while and a few other articles covered his current situation: ‘why a Microsoft logo makes a bad tattoo?’ and ‘body art won’t save you.’

Another article about infinitink: ‘erasable tattoos.’

An interesting one called ‘the tattoo archipelago’ about, quite obviously, Russian prison tattoos.

Something light, too: ‘kitchen ink.’

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