Aside from all the stuff about tattoo artists, tattoos, new products, etc, etc, sometimes I see something that just needs to be mentioned on the Tattoo Blog for no other reason than it ranks incredibly high on the idiot meter.  To be honest, I don’t really like mentioning a lot of news on the blog that associates tattoos with criminals.  I mean, yeah there are criminals out there who have tattoos, but there are also criminals out there who don’t have tattoos.  To focus on news that specifically relates to tattooed people is to do more harm than good to the tattoo community, in my opinion.

All that being said, sometimes you just have to admit that funny is funny and leave it at that.  The incident in question occurred in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  A shirtless drunkard, one Daniel Beavers (23), decided that it would be a good idea to throw rocks at some cars.  After successfully smashing the rear windows of three different cars, Beavers fled the scene but was quite easily picked up by the police some time later.  Why?  Well for starters, as I previously said, he was shirtless.  The clincher however, would have to be that he had a very easy to spot tattoo on his stomach: his last name.  Yes, that’s right, dude had “Beavers” tattooed across his gut.

First off, what is this guy, five?  I stopped throwing rocks at cars around the same time that I learned to read.  Second, if you can’t handle your booze and you’re prone to committing criminal acts, maybe your name – first or last, it really makes no difference which – is not the best thing to have tattooed in huge letters on your body.  And third, if you’re stupid enough to do both of the aforementioned things, then you might want to consider wearing a shirt.

Daniel Beavers was released on $2,500 bond.

Because it’s summer, the urge for a new tattoo or maybe even that first time tattoo seems to grow exponentially.  I guess it’s the weather, the beach, the freedom and happiness that often comes along with the summer season.  People want to show some skin and quite often, people want to show off some of the beautiful art that they have tattooed on their bodies.

Well, if you happen to be one of the many people out there who are contemplating their first tattoo this summer, you might feel a little overwhelmed with all the information to be found on tattoos and/or getting a tattoo done.  If you’re already past the initial first-timer question of Does it hurt?, and have decided that you still want a tattoo regardless of whether or not it does in fact, hurt, then you’ll no doubt have more important questions that you want answered.  While I personally can’t answer all your questions – actually, I can answer one: no, the guy you met at 7-11 who says he’ll tattoo you in his basement for a pack of cigarettes and a box of wine isn’t a real tattoo artist and yes, you should stay far, far away from him.  Seriously though, if you’re looking for an abundance of information on the vast tattoo world, then it might serve you quite well to pick up The Tattoo Bible, a 164 page reference manual of sorts, from British publisher Jazz Publishing.

According to Jazz Publishing’s website:

“The Tattoo Bible is the manifestation of erudition assimilated over many years and is the most comprehensive body of work for a prospective tattoo collector to date, providing an insider’s view of the tattoo world to those looking in. Amongst its informative pages, it explores the roads and avenues an individual faces when deciding upon a piece of body art and offers thoughtful insight into every single aspect of this, whilst also providing a complete overview of the many genres available, all exquisitely illustrated with a selection of outstanding tattoo photography.”

“Education is paramount when it comes to making decisions that will echo through the hallways of one’s life. The Tattoo Bible provides wisdom and a balanced perspective in a book by which you may live your tattooed life.”

Seems like a good place to start.  At the very least the book can most likely serve as inspiration for the type of tattoo that you may want to get.  It certainly isn’t essential, but it can provide a wealth of information on a life long commitment that far too many people rush into.

From the first moment that I saw one of Jeff Ensminger’s tattoos, I was immediately drawn to his work.  The tattoo in question was colourful and odd and pulsed with so much of a life of its own that it practically threatened to walk right off the flesh it was inked on to.  In short, it was very fine work that left no doubt in my mind that I needed to see more of his stuff.

Once I started to work my way through Jeff’s portfolio, I came across another beauty and this one spoke right to my demented, Evil Dead loving heart.  A tattoo of Ash, the main character from the cult classic Evil Dead film series, wielding his chainsaw for a hand while grinning maniacally.  As if that wasn’t perfect enough, the caption that Ensminger had written below the photo of the tattoo was “If you don’t know what this is…then I don’t want to know who you are.”  The icing on the cake.  As far as I’m concerned, Jeff Ensminger is officially awesome.

Not surprisingly, Ensminger keeps good company.  He lives and works in Austin, Texas and pals around with the likes of fellow tattooing legend Nick Baxter.  Baxter actually sports one of Ensminger’s tattoos on his neck, a smooth flowing and just plain phenomenal pomegranate blossom.  I think that maybe the craziest thing about Jeff is that he’s only been tattooing since 2002.  I don’t know what else I can say about the guy.  I actually had to stop myself from looking at anymore of Jeff’s tattoos.  When I see the work of an artist who blows me away like this, the more of the work I see, the more desperate I am to be tattooed by them.  Eventually I just can’t take it anymore.  Jeff Ensminger makes me want to catch the next flight to Austin and get tattooed.

Crazy.  As the tattoo world expands and becomes more intertwined amongst mainstream culture, so do the methods and styles in which people tattoo and are tattooed.  Art is something that constantly evolves and while exactly what “pushing the boundaries” means in terms of tattoos can be entirely subjective, I am the sort of person who always likes to see new things being tried with any art form, even if they are well, a little bit silly.

What do I consider a little bit silly?  Well, how about jumping out of a plane and getting tattooed while falling 11,000 feet to earth?  Silly?  Yup.  Pushing the boundaries?  Sure, why not?  Canadian musician Zeke Galt got the initials of his band Surefire Machine (SFM) tattooed on his arm while skydiving last year, becoming the first person ever to be tattooed while skydiving.  I have only one question:  why the hell did it take me almost a year to hear about this???

The stunt required a custom tattoo machine to be built and was tested on some fruit during a couple of trial jumps prior to the big day.  Satisfied that the best possible tattoo machine had been built for Galt’s jump, he set out with another friend Al Christou who graciously did the tattooing.

“I always thought tattooing was the most extreme and dedicated form of art so I thought, ‘Why not push it one step further?'”

-Zeke Galt

The end result looks pretty much exactly how you would expect a tattoo done 11,000 feet in the air to look like, and the entire thing took 15 seconds.  That’s a pretty fast tattoo.  So fast in fact, that it also earned Galt the title of receiving the fastest tattoo in the world.

It’s different, I’ll give Galt that much, and no doubt that it was a lot of fun.  What’s next?  Tattooing underwater?  Oh man, I sure hope so.  Anyway, here’s an interview with Zeke as well as video footage of the actual jump.

Enjoy.

Over here in Canada, Thursday marks the arrival of a new tax called the HST.  As with most taxes, it’s completely unnecessary and doesn’t serve the public in the least.  But across the border into the United States, Thursday brings the arrival of a new government sanctioned law that really does serve the public.                           

As of Thursday, July 1st, Washington state will adopt a law that requires tattoo artists to apply for an annual license and tattoo shops must also apply for a license.  The cost of these annual licenses are $250 for tattoo artists and $300 for the tattoo shops.  In addition to this, all Washington state tattoo studios will now be inspected on a 2 year basis.

While these licenses are an expense for tattoo artists, I must admit that I am really glad to see Washington do this.  Aside from regulating and legitimizing all tattoo operations and artists that function in the state, this new law gives more respect to the tattoo industry by acknowledging that it is a professional industry that needs to be licensed, and that the government should be responsible for ensuring that these legitimate businesses are on the up and up.  Without laws such as these, scratchers and other undesireable elements of the tattoo scene are capable of giving a bad name to all the clean and responsible artists out there.  This way, if there is a foul up somewhere along the line, the blame lies strictly with the government institutions whose responsibility it is to ensure that the public are going to have safe and clean environments to be tattooed in.

But for the most part, this law will help to strengthen the understanding that tattooists and their places of business are clean and professional places to be tattooed.  And the faster the general public’s confidence grows with regards to the cleanliness and professionalism of tattoo artists and studios, the faster old lingering stereotypes and misinformation about the art form becomes a thing of the past.

In terms of the extent to which tattooing has branched out as a commercially viable product, fashion isn’t exactly the most recent merchandiser of tattoo inspired art.  Anyone who has even the vaguest idea of the tattoo world can easily recognize Ed Hardy’s designs and has been able to do so for years now.  And while not everyone agrees on the quality of Hardy’s designs, there is no denying that Hardy’s ability to take tattoo art and transfer that to clothing has in many ways paved the way for others to do the same.

With that being said, it also isn’t surprising that later rather than sooner, the high end fashion industry has come along and decided that maybe tattoos aren’t such a bad way of being able to further overcharge people for their stuff.  If you’ve ever seen a photo of American fashion designer Marc Jacobs (look right, btw), then you’ll know that the guy’s no stranger to tattoos.  After Chanel began selling temporary tattoos last year, the fashion world further warmed to the idea of tattoos and fashion, and Jacobs decided to enlist the help of his personal tattoo artist Scott Campbell, to do some work for him (but not on him).  Campbell has just designed a line of tattoo inspired goods for Louis Vuitton, for the first time in the brand’s history.

“At most periods of history, the dominant role of luxury brands has been to demonstrate social status — to uphold the cultural structure. However, there are clear signs that we are moving into a new environment, a shadow side, where luxury brands can powerfully demonstrate tribal affiliations.”

Incidentally, I don’t know what the hell the above quote is talking about  – tribal affiliations?  Huh?  But at any rate, now there’s a whole line of really, really, really expensive Louis Vuitton stuff that has been designed by a very good tattoo artist.

Incase you care.

Without a doubt, the worst thing about this summer has been the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  If you haven’t heard about the BP oil disaster, then I’m guessing you’ve recently scuttled out from beneath a rock.  For the rest of us out there who are well aware of the oil spill and cringe every time we think about it, here’s something even worse for you to consider: between April 30th and June 25th, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recovered 555 sea turtles from within the oil spill affected area.  Of those 555 turtles, 417 were dead.

Man.  And that’s just the beginning.  Turtles are certainly not the only aquatic life being affected by this nightmare, but of the seven species of sea turtles in the world, five of them inhabit the Gulf of Mexico.  Furthermore, the most endangered species of sea-turtle, the Kemp’s Ridley turtle, also lives in the Gulf.

All of this is extremely frustrating and distressing news.  But what can the average person do?  Well, Tantrix Tattoo, a Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada based tattoo shop is doing their best to answer that question.  Shop owners Leanne and Mike Thompson-Hill have devised a one day campaign on July 4th, during which time turtle tattoos will be done for $50 each.  All the proceeds from these tattoos will then go to Florida based The Turtle Hospital, an organization which works to rescue sea turtles from the oil saturated Gulf of Mexico.  In addition to offering tattoos on July 4th, Mike Thompson-Hill will continue to do turtle tattoos for $50 for the remainder of the year, with all the proceeds going to The Turtle Hospital.

“The tattoo shop is already nearly booked solid for the event, but shop owner Leanne Thompson-Hill says it’s as much about motivating others to make a difference as it is getting the art.

“We’re all a part of it. We all use oil; we all use gas; this is all our problem,” she said.”

This is just awesome.  I really applaud the Thompson-Hill’s for getting involved in a unique way and doing their part to incorporate their tattoo shop into the ongoing effort to help out with one of the worst manmade disasters in decades.  I’d also like to encourage other tattoo shop owners or artists out there to consider doing something similar.  What a great way to really emphasize the kindness and sense of community that is so prevalent amongst tattooists and their art.  If we could get something like this going at even one tattoo shop in every state or province that have tattoo shops, a really big difference could be made.

Come on folks!  Let’s make it happen.

It’s a good thing that Claire Reid didn’t pursue her university degree in sociology.  I guess that’s bad for the world of sociology, but Reid’s desire to pursue art as her number one passion ultimately led to the tattoo world gaining an indispensable tattooist.  That’s not to say however, that it was an easy path for her.

After finishing university with the aforementioned sociology degree, Reid opened her own contemporary art gallery, which specialized in the sale of paintings, ceramics and glass.  While running the gallery she studied art and did her best to learn as much as she could from such artistic surroundings.  Despite being very much a passion project, Reid’s art gallery simply couldn’t bring forth the sort of money that Reid needed to survive, and so she had to close up shop.  In no time at all however, she found herself a job piercing in Luton Market.  It was here that after much pleading with her boss, Claire Reid eventually began to learn to tattoo.

After numerous hours of study and practice and hours spent learning from tattoo artists across the world, Claire Reid has very much come into her own particular style of tattoo.  Rich in colour and texture, Reid’s tattoos are alive with a painterly style, which makes perfect sense because painting is also a passion of hers.

“I try to think of the tattoo machine as an extension of the paintbrush, I’d love to achieve the depth, texture and shadings that are possible with oil painting; I try to aspire to the looseness and fluidity of painting in tattoo.”

– Claire Reid

In my opinion, Claire Reid has very much achieved such an extension with her tattoo work.  I’ll admit that when I first saw her tattoo work, I didn’t know exactly what to make of it.  It really was like no other tattoo artist’s work that I’ve ever seen before.  But wow, the more that I looked at it, the more I really see the influence of painting and particularly oil painting.  It’s a very refreshing style that certainly deserves to be noticed.

An advertising campaign that encourages young Hawaiians to get tested for HIV/AIDS in conjunction with this Sunday’s National HIV Testing Day is utilizing tattoos as a way to get the message across.  The Life Foundation recently held an event in Honolulu in which photos of people tattooed with the message “Get Real, Get Tested.” were on display.  The tattoos are of course, all fake, but many people at the Life Foundation sponsored event still took advantage of the Get Real, Get Tested spray on tattoos that were offered.  Apparently HIV/AIDS patients count for over 3,000 people in Hawaii.

“This says something, it says something to the person who sees it, it says get tested, get tested for what? Get tested for HIV/AIDS, don’t you want to find out?” Life Foundation executive director Paul Groesbeck said.”

When I first saw this, I thought it was a pretty good way to get the message out to the main demographic that the foundation is trying to reach: Hawaiians aged 25 years and younger.  Tattoos are very popular and people take notice when they see tattoos (especially of the typographical variety).  Obviously HIV/AIDS is a problem in Hawaii and if this can encourage responsibility and prevention in people, then yeah, I’m all for it.

However. The entire thing does give me a bit of a slightly uneasy feeling.  Maybe I’m being hyper critical here, but I don’t know if tattooing really needs to be associated with an HIV/AIDS campaign.  I think it can potentially (and completely unintentionally) send out the wrong message.  I don’t know, I can totally see where the Life Foundation is coming from with this campaign, but at a quick glance, I think it would be easy for someone to assume that the campaign is suggesting that if you’ve been tattooed you should get tested for HIV/AIDS.  Or am I looking into all this a little too much?

Check out the full news article and video here.

Now that summer is officially here, it’s always a good idea to head out to the beach, swim, enjoy the sun and pretty much completely take it easy.  The beach also provides a pretty good opportunity to check out other people’s tattoos.  Personally, I never feel all that good about staring at people as it can lead to a multitude of problems.  Try explaining to your girlfriend that you were only looking at that girl in the bikini’s tattoo and you’ll quickly understand what I mean.  So for those of us who want to look at other people’s tattoos but who also want to avoid the stress that can sometimes come along with such a pursuit, might I suggest one of the all time great summertime activities: reading.

If you don’t feel like doing much reading while you’re lying in a near comatose state on the beach, then I’ve got just the thing for you.  Body Type 2 is the latest book by author, designer and art director Ina Saltz.  The book is the follow up to her best-selling first volume, Body Type: Intimate Messages Etched in Flesh.  Inside Body Type 2, you’ll find over 200 diverse photos of people’s typographical tattoos.  So instead of reading, you can just leisurely flip through the book’s pages, checking out tattoos that are pretty much guaranteed to impress you with their originality and style.

If you head over to Mediabistro.com, you can check out a short 7 question interview with Saltz regarding her books and her love of typographical tattoos.  There’s also a quick video teaser of some of the tattoos that can be found on the pages of Body Type 2.

See you at the beach! (Just don’t stare at me.)