new hope ;)

2015 is going to start nicely for tattooed German soldiers as the ban on their tattoos will be lifted to a degree!

Think-before-you-ink

In the UK there is a tattoo awareness campaign named “Think Before You Ink!” going and it’s nicely focused on raising awareness of the law and warning against the “scratchers.” More about it here!

think before you ink campaign

Finally, it’s always worth the effort to be original when it comes to a tattoo but a bit of sense of humor wouldn’t hurt, either and here you have a pretty cool combo of tradition and custom tattooo in a form of an old vending machine and Kinder Surprise-like eggs – Rusty Needle Tattoo and their cool idea! Chekc out their *iggit* FB page as well!

Rusty Needle Tattoo

another take on …

Syracuse tattoo artist

New year, new plans … Before you decide to go for your first/ (insert the applicable digit here) tattoo, here are 5 tips before getting inked (courtesy of a tattoo artist from Halo Tattoo, Syracuse, NY).

septum kitten

Funnily enough, here’s a grumpy kitten kind of against a septum piercing but only if you choose a DIY route and you don’t know what you are doing!

Here’s a woman that kicked the cancer’s a$$ by means of self-affrmation and good body art!

senior tattoos

Screw the stereotypes, also these focused on age, and follow an example of this lovely elderly lady!

A small update on ‘toys for tatsdrive in Springfield, MO – a huge success, warm hearts, giving back to their community and, hopefully, a small victory against the silly stereotypes!

*not* good!

tattoo kit

As the end of the year is approaching, we’ll be seeing more and more articles like this one about the old (septum) and new (stick and poke tattoos) trends. But seriously, would you buy a stick and poke tattoo kit for 40 bucks with a high risk of a DIY ugly tattoo included?

old tattoos exhibit

Especially that, as you can see in photos in this article about the 19th and early 20th century tattoos displayed in Bucharest, Romania, tattoos as an art form have been undergoing a tremendous progress! Worth mentioning is that also in Poland there is a similar collection of the 19th century tattoos!

Afghan tattoos

Interesting articles about tattoos in India, Afghanistan and Egypt! Not always easy to sport them tattoos but it is always great to actually have some good body art on you! 🙂

ho ho ho

Frohe Weihnachten

It’s an old article (from last year) but some Christmas-themed tattoos are almost obligatory now (altho they are not that popular). A German article on the subject points the rarity out but also shows that who knows, maybe this year Santa will bring someone a possibility/ opportunity for a tattoo in the form of a gift card? This MO shop nicely combines charity, merchandise and Christmas in their ‘toys for tats’ fund raising event! Giving is more rewarding than just taking after all.

curves and looks

art body

‘curvacious,’ ‘curves’ and related words were kind of popularized thanks to Kim Kardashian and media obsessing about the Keeping with the Kardashians show but many women (myself included) are actually trained to think that ‘skinny’ equals ‘beautiful’ and it’s not easy to achieve in the real world – is that posisble to Photoshop the real, tangible, physical you after all? Victoria Janashvili is working on the photography project that aims at changing the way the ‘regular’ female body is perceived and showing that female curves, even when far from so-called perfection, are still beautiful. As she writes on her Kickstarter page: “A book of that sort has not been made before and we strongly believe that it it sends a very strong message that would spread love, happiness and relief. In today’s society the suicidal rate is the highest in recorded history and it’s mostly appearance based. This means that by spreading an image of a realistic and beautiful body that women of all ages can relate to and find beautifully portrayed we can save some lives.

lauren fleshman

Interestingly enough, yesterday I got to read a piece by Lauren Fleshman, an outstanding American runner, who tackled a hard question of so-called feminine looks. The old running adage says that ‘runners come in all shapes and sizes’ and that, obviously, applies also to all other men and women!

And all of the above is relevant here as our bodies matter, in all shapes, sizes and … colors, of course!

Totally different but also an interesting read is an article about a local tattoo artist from AZ and his road to tattooing!

better late than never!

Helen Lambin

Tattooed seniors are not new here but i do always enjoy reading about them. Body modification doesn’t know age boundaries after all. Helen Lambin (and I think some articles about her have already been linked to on here) spent most of he rlife ink-free but now she’s a full-blown tattoo lover and it suits her!

It’s never too late to change things for better! 😉 And it’s OK not to have any love for tattoos at all a slong as you don’t condemn us for feeling otherwise!

for our lil bros (and sisters, too)

NYC outrage

It didn’t take *that* long! When a *cough* “tattoo artist” tattooed his dog and posted about it online, it sparked quite an outrage in NYC and everywhere else (it’s a small world these days). Now tattooing or modifying animals in other “unconventional” ways is going to be forbidden in NY. The law is not anti-body mod at all, it’s againts all the irresponsible people who don’t think about their furry/ scaly/ feathery friends’ wellbeing!

body and psyche

From Germany an article teasing us how body modification changes not only our bdoies but also our souls!

take a stroll, learn a thing

museum exhibit

An interesting project can be seen and experienced by means of “Skin Datain one of museums in NYC; the process of tattooing is going to be translated/ transformed into visual images combining technology, art, perofrmance and neuroscience. The person behind it is Amanda Wachob, a tattoo artist herself.

Something more traditional from Poland – an exhibition devoted to Thai tattoos.

It actually goes without saying that it’s important to know our roots and roots and meanings of the symbols we are using. Not always obvious, tho. It’s great, however, that so many native (to a given cutlure) tattoo artists appreciate and protect their tattoo art and start organizing tattoo conventions focused solely on indigenuous tattoo art – here ‘Indigenuous Ink‘ and a few words about Mo Naga and his efforts to protect and develop his native tattoo art.

Finally, a few interesting articles about the very first Scottish tattoo artist, Prince Vallar.

screw the stereotypes!

Maybe not really but, in a way, I’m a lil like this Brazilian Santa (after all, every year I dress like a Santa and run a half-marathon and some of my tattoos show, too 😉 ). Does he look bad or evil? Does he scare the kids away? Is there really anything wrong with/ about him???

Santa

A tattooed athlete is nothing unusual these days but all of them are unique in their own ways as they put their feelings and memories behind their tattoos, just like this guy!

body and story 2

A tattooed monk seems to be a rarity but his mere existence shows that God, if you believe in Him/ Her, embraces everyone and their skin color does not matter at all!

monk's tattoos