The economy’s in the shit.  Interest rates are as low as they can go and just as soon as OPEC can get their shit together inflation’s gonna hit like gangbusters.  As the price of everything from a gallon of gas to a gallon of milk starts to skyrocket, we can take solace that some things appear to be inflation resistant.

Like say, tattoos for instance.

In the fifteen-or-so years that I’ve been actively aware of the tattoo industry I have not seen any appreciable increase in the price of tattoos.  The $180 first tattoo I got in ’95 still wouldn’t cost more than $200 today.  In this time I’ve witnessed an increase in the expectations of the consumer, both in quality and cleanliness, that has been absorbed by the industry without fail or corresponding increase in revenue.  I believe there are two main reasons for this.

1.  While there are tattooers who charge in excess of $300 per hour, the going rate for tattoo work has been $100 an hour for at least the last twenty years.  A hundred bucks an hour is a lot of money either way you look at it, so successful tattooers, not to mention custom artists, aren’t starving even though the cost of living has been driven way up in the last few years.

2.  As the popularity and subsequent social acceptance of tattoo has exploded, so has the number of tattooers.  This influx of talent has done a great deal to promote competition in the field, both to improve the craft and fight rising prices.

What does this mean to you?  A couple a’ things.

First, the next time you get a quote for a tattoo that you think is a tad high, don’t bitch.  Nothing is more offensive to an artist than some jackass saying that their work isn’t worth the money and while tattooers tend to be hardier than your average artist, it still sucks when we know you’re just price shopping.  Second, you can bet your sweet aunt Sally that as soon the recent tattoo fad is over (TV shows and tattoo-themed clothes, cell-phone covers, cigarette packs, you name it) so too will the price-lowering competition.  A lot of tattooers are currently enjoying an artificially high income based largely on a media glut of all things tattoo than on their abilities.  As the masses get their fill of this new curiosity and the pickings start to get slim, you’ll see what I think is going to be a rather nasty backlash punctuated by the closing of many a new tattoo parlor.

When this culling begins the wise consumer will already have found a dedicated, talented tattooer who has devoted their life to this artform, not just the cheapest guy in town that can do a tattoo without totally fucking it up.  I believe that this sort of thing will be a boon for tattooing in the long run but that there will be sacrifices made on both sides of the machine if we want to keep the clean, professional, affordable tattoo within reasonable driving distances from most.  Support your local tattoo shop folks, or it may not be there when you need it.

Growing up in the South, I haven’t had what one could call the most tolerant of upbringings.  My tattoos had managed to get quite the unsolicited response from some of my older relatives at family get-togethers and my parents’ own concerns were voiced in quiet conversations they thought I couldn’t hear.  Joining the Marines seemed to quell some of their collective fears since they knew drug testing was mandatory and at least I would have a job.  Some of my more vocal detractors were silenced when they found out that the threat of impending violence from yours truly had been backed by some good ole’ military training.

I held the moniker of black sheep for some five or six years in this pedestrian Southern Baptist family until that fateful day my younger cousin brought a black girl (we’re white, try to keep up) home to meet his mom and dad.  God I love that kid.  A little while later they were married with a baby on the way and suddenly my tattoos didn’t seem so bad.  Then it hit.  The bombshell that shook my family’s foundations to its core, the aftermath of the announcement that to this very day threatens to sever blood ties.  One of the cousins came out.  It was a shockwave of gay that had people talking and taking sides on the morality of a family member’s sexual orientation.  Some folks stopped talking to her because they didn’t condone ‘lesbianism’, whatever the fuck that is.  What’s worse is that it ended a twenty-some-odd year friendship because someone thought they had to pick god over a loved one.

Meanwhile, I’m sitting in the catbird seat ’cause all I did was get a few fucking tattoos!

My interracial cousins are fine because ‘I guess it’s not so bad to like pretty girls as long as you like girls, he could have been like (insert gay cousin’s name)’

All because my lesbian cousin didn’t want to have to hide who she was anymore.  (did
I mention she didn’t come out until she was like thirty-five?  Must’ve been like a living hell  all those years…)

Tattooing’s taught me the difference between being different and being different.  I get to pick my tattoos and even whether or not to get them, but you don’t always get to pick who you’ll fall in love with and that must be horrible for those people who fall in love with someone they aren’t supposed to.

Now let’s play ‘who’s the bigot!’

Love ya, mean it,

Wildo.

Perhaps it was because of the heavily tattooed yakuza, perhaps it was because of their ability to see art in everything from pouring tea to the making of the finest swords the world has ever seen. What ever the case may be, Japan has been a major influence in the world of tattooing from at least it’s revival in the west during the 1800’s to the present day.

Even during the “dark days” of western tattooing when sterilization was little more than a bucket of water with maybe a little bit of Lysol put in as an anti bacterial agent, and the same needle was used on whoever came through the door. Every artist worth going to had a rich selection of Japanese inspired designs on the wall somewhere.

From koi fish to dragons the influence of japan’s tattoo artists have adorned the flash collection of almost every artist. Considering the length of time Japan has been tattooing western flesh, when you want to talk “old school” you’d be hard pressed to admit there are many styles as old school as traditional Japanese tattooing. Even during the 1800’s if you wanted the best, most artistic work you could get, you had to go to Japan.

Japan’s influence on tattoo’s in general continue to the present day and nowhere is that more visible that the present craze to have a Manga tattoo.

For the few who may not know, Manga is the generic term for the Japanese inspired art form used in everything from comic books to anime, and now tattooing. It’s easy to see why. Manga, with all it’s other uses, lends itself uniquely to some damn good looking tattoos.

The over the top imagery of Manga is inspiring in it’s ability to convey a wide variety of emotions and if nothing else tattoos are an emotionally inspired art form. You can see a painting by a old master and think, “Yeah that’s nice.”, with all the emotion of a scientist examining a lab rat. You can not look at a tattoo with out it pulling some type of emotion out of you. Tattoos are designed to illicit emotional responses, and so is Manga. Put the two together and you have all the makings of one hell of a cool tat.

From cyber wizards who’s very expression reeks pure evil, to scantily clad girls that give the sexiest pin up girl a run for her money any day, the power of a Manga tattoo fairly leaps off the skin with an in your face, look at me feel that is rarely equaled.

More and more Manga tattoos are showing up in the skin of collectors everywhere and the results are at times breathtaking. Especially when the artist understands Manga and can execute the design with the feeling put into the original artwork, or can make a unique piece in the same style.

Meet The Scary Guy.  

Yes, that’s his real name.  It was legally changed back in 1998, after a rival tattoo shop ran an advertisement that asked that age old question: “Are you tired of dealing with scary guys with war paint facial tattoos?”  Apparently TSG took offense to this and used his anger as a source for major change in his life.  At the time of this epiphany, Scary ran his own tattoo shop in Tuscon, Arizona.  He promptly sold the shop and his worldly possessions in order to devote his life to traveling the globe.  For what, you ask?  Well, according to his website, thescaryguy.com:

“‘His sole mission is ‘The Total Elimination of Hate, Violence and Prejudice Worldwide.’”

TSG speaks to a wide variety of audiences, from colleges to corporations to prisons.  His website lists him as a writer of classical music, a comedian, a singer and an artist, among several other things.

Wow.  What can I say?  The guy’s a hero.  It’s a noble thing to do what he does, especially at this current point in history where so many things are messed up and so much hate exists.  What I like the best about TSG is that he uses his intimidating presence as a means to illustrate his point.  He deliberately plays on what many would perceive as “scary” about his appearance to show people that you can’t judge a book by its cover.

I’ve heard of plenty of people who’ve quit their jobs and sold their possessions in order to move to a new country or travel the world.  But very few people out there quit their jobs and sell their possessions to do what TSG does.  There’s the Dalai Lama and then…really?  Don’t we have more people out there doing this other than an exiled Tibetan leader and a tattooed dude named The Scary Guy? 

That’s a sad fact in its own right, making what The Scary Guy does all the more impressive and important.

Dr. Hook recently wrote,

“The New Zealand Maori Moko is probably the most famous example of the warrior facial tattoos, but by no means the only one. Many European, and Native American tribes did much of the same thing, just not to the extent the Maori took the facial tattoo.

More than a few debates have been started on the web over Maori descendants who will either have the traditional Moko, or a modern equivalent done, and those who imitate them because they think it’s cool.”

Introducing Holly Brewer of the gypsy-punk band Humanwine who has decided to defy societal norms with a design covering her neck and chin that is more than a little reminiscent of the tattoos historically sported by the Maori. The tattoo began fourteen years ago – when Brewer was only sixteen – and has been completed over the years in friends’ living rooms and basements in Vermont and Oregon, since no licensed, reputable artists would perform it, especially on a 16-year-old girl.

“Most tattoo studios will refuse to do those kinds of tattoos on the face, or antisocial ones. If you really want that kind of tattoo, you will have to go far and wide. … A lot of tattoo studios will be thinking down the road, you’re going to regret that,” Terisa Green, author of “Ink: The Not-Just-Skin-Deep Guide to Getting a Tattoo,” told ABC news.

“People have come in and asked us to do facial tattoos, and I think it’s a terrible idea,” tattoo artist Scott Campbell, who owns Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn, N.Y. said. “People’s faces are such an important way to how they communicate. It’s such a bold statement that takes place over an extreme period of time, it obscures someone of anonymity. … You can never just be a person walking down the street. You’ll be the person walking down the street with that tattoo.”

There’s no doubt that facial tattoos are still considered taboo and invite the stigma all tattoos used to enjoy before their induction into the mainstream. Facial tattoos, generally speaking, are associated with prison culture and make a bold, antisocial statement. Utah prison inmate Curtis Allgier is a prime example, with a face full of swastikas, the words “SKIN HEAD” etched permanently across his forehead and countless other epithets of racist garbage.

Brewer admits to being accosted by people demanding to know why she did it.

“If people seem like they really can’t handle it,” she said, “I’ll say it’s henna” – a natural dye that stains the skin impermanently. Although her own mother thought the black ink that dribbles down her chin and down her neck “very feminine, like a permanent necklace,” her father couldn’t help but cringe.

I don’t have any opinions I would consider informed enough to make here so I will just post the following comment by sindelu on an article on Brewer’s taboo tattoo instead:

“I’m 46, and my mother is 79. We both got tattoos from Todd Close this past August. It was Mom’s idea. This is the same woman who, when I was 12, wouldn’t let me get my ears pierced because she thought it was slutty. Personally, I wouldn’t get a tat on my face, but I wouldn’t judge someone else negatively for doing so.”

Last week I read a crazy, emotional, interesting article about an organization called Dignitas in Switzerland, who are in the business of assisted suicide (i.e.: you want to die, they make it happen by providing a venue, mixing lethal doses of barbiturates, etc.). A little more reading led to the discovery of a similar Swiss company called Exit and even more reading led to my discovery of a 79-year-old New Zealand woman named Paula Westoby and her snazzy new “Do Not Resuscitate” tattoo.

Star blogged last month about “medical tattoos” and about how some people use them as a way of communicating diseases, allergies, illnesses and whatnot in the event that they themselves cannot. This is also the case for Westoby, who wants medical professionals to leave her be if she ever has a stroke or a heart attack.

The problem with medical tattoos is they’re not always taken at face value, and can, in fact, cause even more uncertainty and confusion for doctors, nurses and EMTs.

“The problem is when did she have it done? Did she have it done under any type of pressure? Has she changed her mind since she’s had it done?” Bioethics Professor Donald Evans told the local press.

Westoby hopes her tattoo will do more than just speak for her when she cannot speak – she hopes it will catch the attention of her country’s politicians and spark a debate and, eventually, a change.

Westoby is a member of Exit – one of the Swiss groups that supports voluntary euthanasia – and is hoping, through the attention garnered by her big “Do Not Resuscitate” chest tattoo, to inspire reforms concerning people’s right to control their destiny.

Westoby feels it’s important “to have some choice over when and how we die.”

Okay.  I need to talk about this.  Thomas Lockhart of West Coast Tattoo in Vancouver, Canada has designed more than 200 tattoos in anticipation of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.  Apparently tattooed athletes are – er, I mean tattooed athletes are proud commemorators of the Olympic spirit and artists like Lockhart are more than willing to help out.

I’m sorry, but tattoos like these give me the willies.  Eventually they trickle down to confused people caught up in the hoopla, people whose only contribution to the Olympics is happening to live in the same city where they’re being held.  That’s where things become gimmicky to me, where the art of tattoo dwindles down to a novelty that was briefly all the rage before being relegated to obscurity.  That’s where tattoos fall into the same category as Beanie Babies, Tickle Me Elmo dolls and Crystal Pepsi.  The difference being of course, that those other aforementioned fads aren’t permanent in the same way that a tattoo is.  It’s a slippery slope.

So is that a problem?  Is designing tattoos specifically to cash in some sort of violation of artistic pursuit?  Or am I just being a narrow-minded curmudgeon?  Whatever your position, it has to be acknowledged that getting a tattoo shouldn’t be taken lightly.  It’s also arguable that aligning tattoos with something as fleeting as Miga, one of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games mascots, is more about cash registers than commemoration.

Christmas is right around the corner. If you still have some shopping to do, or just haven’t found that perfect gift for the tattoo enthusiast on your list, our collection of Tattoo related gifts might be what you are looking for.

1. The Tattoo Encyclopedia: A Guide To Choosing Your Tattoo by Terisa Green: If you’ve got someone on your list considering getting another tattoo, or just likes to look at pictures of tattoos, this book is your answer. The book features over 700 tattoo designs and their meaning.

2. A subscription to Tattoo magazine: Why give one gift? Why not give 12? Tattoo magazine comes loaded with information on tattoos, artists, shops and more each month. It is a good read for any fan.

3. Tattoo Inspired Clothing: The set of T-shirts, camis and hoodies offered at the Traditions Collection.com offer tattoo like designs on good quality clothing. You can see their line-up here.

4. Sailor Jerry gifts, clothing and collectibles: Go with the classics and get something from Sailor Jerry. They offer everything from house wares, to shot glasses, to clothing and accessories, and everything comes in a vintage Sailor Jerry print. They even have a gift suggestion section if you’re stuck for ideas.

5. Organic After Tattoo Care: If you are eco-conscious or the person on your list is, you should check out this organic after care product from Rose Tattoo After Care. Their products are made from organic, all natural ingredients. You can see their line-up here

6. A Gift Certificate To a Tattoo Shop: If you know someone thinking of getting a tattoo why not buy it for them? Several shops offer gift certificates. Check around in your area.

7. Tattoo Band-Aids: If you’re looking for a stocking stuffer, check out these tattoo inspired band-aids from Perpetual Kid. Each one comes in the shape of a tattoo- which is way cooler then a regular band-aid.

8. A Tattooed Garden Gnome: If you know someone who likes things a little unique, this tattoo garden gnome is perfect. Everyone loves a good gnome and this one comes complete with an I heart Mom tattoo. See it here.

9. Tattoo Inspired Make Up Bags: For the females on your list, Mood Swings On The Net has several make up bags with tattoo designs on them. They come in various sizes and colors. Check them out here.

10. Tattooed Glassware: These glasses from Woodeye Glassware are all etched with a Tribal style tattoo design and each glass is signed by the artist. What’s better then that?

I’ve seen a lot of wordy tattoos in my day, but I have yet to see a full speech. That was, until I came across Alex Rhode’s new leg tattoo the other day. The tattoo is a full 139 words and encompasses, as you can imagine, a good portion of his leg. The tattoo is in theory pretty damn cool there is just one problem, Rhodes seems a bit unclear on the tattoo’s origin.

Alex Rhode’s is a 26 year old British football player with Rotherham United. The tattoo is a portion of an inspirational speech Rhode’s thought came from Nelson Mandela which he got because,

The speech, which reads; “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Is commonly attributed to Mandela, all though he never actually spoke it.  It was actually written by a peace activist, Marianne Williamson.

So, Rhode’s is a little off in this thinking, but the message is still clear and that’s really all the matters isn’t it? After all, Rhodes finds he draws inspiration from the tattoo every time he looks at, and that is better then being historicaly correct any day.

To read more, go to the The Herald, or Wiki.

Tattooing may very well owe it’s modern popularity to the number of celebrities who have openly sported their ink. Stars like Cher, Julia Roberts, Pamela Anderson, Ben Afflek, and Johnny Depp have all had their tattoos shown to the public form one time to another. You may find it strange but this is not the first time celebrity has given a boost to the public’s outlook on the art. Our Modern royalty were not the first to lay claim to tattoos being the “in” thing to do.

After Captain Cook returned from his famous voyage to Polynesia, something that many have accredited with bringing the art of tattooing back to Europe, in the 1800’s tales of the heavily tattooed natives were the talk of the town in England and France. Cook’s Science Officer and Expedition Botanist Sir Joseph Banks returned to England with a tattoo, and Cook had talked a tattooed Tahitian chief into making the voyage back to England with him.

Presenting him to King George seemed to set off a hidden tribal instinct in the monarch, for not long afterward the king had gotten himself inked with the ‘Cross of Jerusalem’ when he traveled to the Middle East in 1862. The royal blood must have caught the bug so many of us become infected with after our first tattoo because on a trip to the Orient he also had a dragon emblazoned on his forearm, from the needles of an acclaimed Japanese tattoo master.

George’s sons, The Duke of Clarence and The Duke of York, took a cue from ‘ol dad and soon were also tattooed in Japan while serving in the British Admiralty and setting the stage for what would soon become a family tradition, as well as starting a fad among the royalty. King Edward VII soon was sporting ink of his own and this was quickly followed by King Frederik IX of Denmark, the King of Romania, Czar Nicholas of Russia, and King Alexandar of Yugoslavia to name a few. Mostly elaborate family coats of arms.

The tattooing craze soon spread through out the upper crust of British society, as well as the privileged from all over Europe. Everybody who was somebody in the late 1800’s was getting inked. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The social elite would gather together in drawing rooms to strip and show off their ink. Even Winston Churchill’s mother had a tat, and it was long rumored that Queen Victoria, the bulwark of the uptight, had a small tattoo herself.

When the celeb’s of the day, in this case royalty, catch onto a craze you can be certain that the top dogs will soon follow suit, and to be certain that was what was occurring in Europe during the first tattoo craze to hit the western world in centuries.

Soon tattooing began to take shape as a lucrative business all over Europe. Since most tattoo artists worked out of their homes, they did most of their business in the home’s parlor. The Tattoo parlor was born, and the term has stuck with the art ever since, though some artists tend to use the more artsy term studio now.

Naturally since the rich and famous were getting inked it was only natural that the supposed “lower classes” were soon to follow suit and the craze remained in full swing for many years, until the novelty began to wear off. After that tattooing became regulated to traveling circuses, and lower portions of the social ladder, with the exception of the military. Most notably the Navy where the tradition of the tattooed sailor has continued to flourish ever since Cook rediscovered the art.

It’s all well and good to think that we are a bit more educated, and perhaps a bit more sophisticated that our counterparts were over a hundred years ago. We certainly are more health conscious, and the sterility of applying a good tattoo has never been higher. Perhaps it is this difference that will allow tattooing a continued place in modern society. Perhaps this craze will turn out to be a little bit more and tattooing will take it’s place as an accepted mode of human adornment.

We can hope.