THE ART OF TATTOOING

You may wonder about tattoos and where the art of tattooing originates from and when.  Well, as long as man has walked the earth, there has been some form of tattoo art.  We will look at the history and what tattoo art is today.

In the earliest form, tattoo designs were used to separate different classes of people that made up religious groups, parts of the world and tribal groups.  It was not until the eighteenth century that the Western world caught up with the idea of tattoo art.  Sailors were probably the first of western societies to start wearing tattoo designs, which is probably where the anchor designs come from.

The process of getting tattoo art on to the skin is achieved by inserting permanent ink into the skin’s layer that lies just below the surface.  This changes the color of the skin’s pigmentation.  Depending on the time and place, it was often inserted by using sharpened skins, bones or anything else sharp enough to tap into the skin.  Until the invention of the electric tattoo machine, the tattoo art was put onto the skin using needles.

As well as the choice of tattoo designs, there is also often a choice of dyes and pigments for the customer.  The pigments are often made from titanium dioxide or carbon blacks and dyes made from ash or acridine.  One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is the tattoo flash.  This is a piece of paper or card with a drawing on it of what the customer would like.  The tattoo artist then uses this as  a basis for the tattoo.

During the lengthy process of bringing the tattoo to life, the tattoo artist will go over a stencil of the design.  This will be repeated several times.  The first time he draws it onto the skin, then uses a single tipped needle and thin ink to produce the outline of the tattoo art.  Then he goes over the outline and starts shading it using a variety of needles and thicker ink.  After this is done, color is added, usually a few coats to ensure a balanced looking color.

In early days when everything was done by hand, the tattoo art was less than refined than anyone but the most seasoned expert.  Nowadays, the electric tattoo machine and computers have aided the tattoo art form to something quite magical.  While it’s true that anyone could use tattoo equipment with a little training, like most art forms, tattoo art requires an artist’s touch.

Many people get tattoos for a variety of reasons.  Some have a message that they want to get across or just something that means something to them.  It has been quite popular practice to pay tribute to a loved one who has passed away by having tattoo art in their likeness or something that reminds the tattooed person of them.  Other people just see it as a chance to make their body into a walking piece of tattoo art.  Whatever the reason for people getting tattoo work done, there is no doubt that it will remain a part of human history for the foreseeable future.