It’s hard to believe that one of the historical bastions of tattooing, the military, would turn its back on a tradition that goes back decades, if not further. But yes it is happening. The military is turning its back on tattoos.

Not only has the Marine Corps, and the Navy enacted stricter tattooing regulations, but now it would seem having visible tattoos can actually keep you out of some branches of the military.

Recently the Air force upped it’s tattooing regulations to the extent that having certain placement of tattoos will disqualify you from service un the USAF.

Such is the case for one  George Sanchez of Sacramento Ca. One day before shipping off to boot camp in Texas, the 19 year old was told that his tattoo disqualified him from service. (Damn, couldn’t they have told him that before he took the physical, and oath?)

In truth they couldn’t because the regulations about tattooing didn’t apply to George until recently. Still it would seem to me that once you were sworn in you are in that particular branch of the armed services. I do know that if you don’t report for duty after taking the oath they will treat you as a deserter. So it seems to me that George beat the deadline on that one.

The changes did not take effect until after he was sworn in. So what are they going to do? Discharge everyone in the Air Force who has tattoos that violate the new standard?

According to the USAF regulations:

“For Air Force members, tattoos and/or brands anywhere on the body that are obscene or advocate sexual, racial, ethnic, or religious discrimination are prohibited in and out of uniform. Any tattoos and/or brand prejudicial to good order and discipline or of a nature that tends to bring discredit upon the Air Force are prohibited in and out of uniform. An Air Force member is not allowed to display excessive tattoos that would detract from an appropriate professional image while in uniform. Excessive tattoos are tattoos which cover over 25% of the body part.”

According to the revision :

4. Exposed body parts. If the authorized tattoo(s) covers more than 1/4 (25%) of the entire exposed body part or if it detracts from an appropriate professional image while in uniform, the applicant is not qualified to enter the AF.
a. Arms: from the elbow to the wrist. From just below the short sleeve to the elbow. No tattoos on the saluting arm.

So where was George’s offending tattoo? You guessed it, Gang. On his saluting arm. Damn! I knew a shitload of people in the sixties and seventies who could have saved a trip to Canada if that reg had been in place then.

I’m still betting it won’t hold water if they suddenly reinstate the draft for a national emergency.

It’s strange how I’ll blog about something only to discover something similar but far more intense a week or two later.  After recently blogging about getting tattoos that honor various celebrities in my Idol Ink post, I discovered Steve Porter. Steve lives in Strelley, Nottingham, England and his hobby is – you guessed it, tattooing images and autographs of celebrities on his body.

At present time, Porter has 12 tattoos of his favourite celebrities and their autographs on his body.  Among these tattoos are Ozzy Osbourne, the entire Iron Maiden lineup, Suzi Quatro and most recently, Alice Cooper.  Porter’s next tattoo/autograph combo is going to be Lemmy from legendary metal band Motorhead.

Porter, who is 41-years-old, started his celebrity tattoo obsession because:

Originally I had them done because I was into female faces and I liked their beauty. But rather than just go for faces off the wall, I decided to go for celebrities.

The routine involves getting his celebrity of choice – one who has influenced him in some way – to autograph his body.  Porter then heads over to his favourite tattoo shop and gets the signature inked over, plus a portrait of the celebrity.  At present time, Porter wants to contact the Guinness people to see if his tattoos qualify for a world record.

Some attempts at getting the signature and likeness of his idols have been more successful than others, however.  Actor Anthony Head turned down Porter, saying that the idea made him feel “creepy”.  I don’t really think Porter’s hobby is creepy, but I can see how some people might be a little wary about the idea of having their likeness and signature permanently inked on to a stranger’s body.  After all, it isn’t your every day, typical request.  Then again, Steve Porter isn’t exactly your every day, typical kind of guy.

Whenever I think of trends or fads, I never think of anything cool or interesting.  I think that’s because fads and trends aren’t interesting; they’re just fads and trends which ultimately end up disappearing and in most cases, only function as some sort of obscure embarrassment in years to come.  One thing that absolutely should never be a fad or a trend is a tattoo, for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately, tattoos still remain rather trendy in some circles, the worst of this being what’s going on in Vietnam right now.  Not content to ride the trendy wave of “normal” tattoos, the popularity of UV tattoos has grown in Hanoi, Vietnam.  I’m sure you’re all familiar with the UV tattoo: special “ink” is used to design your tattoo so that you can then go to a nightclub and have the lights make your tattoo glow.  Aside from looking like a total D-Bag, recent studies have also discovered that the “ink” used in these UV tattoos actually causes cancer.

Yes, I know that you’re all stunned to hear that ink that makes your flesh glow under the pulsing strobe lighting of a Vietnamese nightclub has adverse health effects, but it’s not just cancer that fans of UV tattoos can look forward to.  Says Dung, a hair dresser in Hanoi:

“I got a dragon on my belly, but then it hurt like bee stings, and spread to my chest. I couldn’t bear it and I had to go to hospital to have it cleared.

“Doctors said I was allergic to some chemical.”

Ah yes, some chemical.  Some chemical indeed.  According to Doctor Nguyen Thanh of Hanoi’s Central Dermatology Hospital, tests on the chemicals used in a UV tattoo were studied, revealing that the ink can burn the skin, cause ulcers or swellings and can thicken the skin.  But first and foremost is a heightened risk of cancer.

I’m really hoping that this is a fad/trend that dies an extremely quick death.  Just say NO to UV tattoos, kids.  Learn from Dung who felt the wrath of a hurt like bee stings and stay far, far away from this nonsense.  You’ll thank yourself for it one day real soon.

One of the dangers of working online is sometimes bad things happen. So, if you noticed that the Ol’ Doc has been conspicuous by his absence, it’s because my computer was hit by a virus from a hacker site, and I had to wipe the hard drive clean. As a result all of my research went out the window and I’m left playing Heinz 57…or as it’s better known catch up.

What does all that have to do with tattoos, you may ask? Well considering the boneheaded things people will do to screw with someone else’s life. Quite a lot, actually.

Take the Department of Health and Environmental Control of our old friend in stupidity, South Carolina, for instance. Now I know I pick on SC quite a bit, but believe me if they would just stop making it so easy with stupid crap, I would quit. Fortunately for me, I don’t think it’s gonna happen. You see, their civic leaders would have to grow a reasonable brain first.

As most of you who follow Tattoo Blog know, SC has a law that a tattoo studio may not operate within 1,000 feet of a school, or playground. Much like it’s a felony to sell drugs within 1,000 feet of a school or playground. And we all just know that if a tattoo studio were to operate within those boundaries we’d be up to our eyeballs in tattooed six year old juvenile delinquents. Revving their tricycles at all hours of the night. Smoking candy cigarettes. Drinking grape flavored cough syrup for a cheap high. Wearing spiked leather Oshkosh. All because of tattoos.

Well Atlantic beach tattoo studio Five Jesters has had its license pulled by the DHEC for being within 1,000 feet of a public playground.

So what, you say? It’s the law, and they should have known better. Well, gang, they did know better. Former Atlantic Beach Town Manager told DHEC, and Five Jesters, the park was closed. Town Manager Kenneth McIver claimed the town had condemned the playground, that it was not in use, and that the town had no plans to reopen the park.

Turns out that a local news station had to stick its nose in and investigate. The Park was not condemned, and was still in full operation. Must have been those newly tattooed toddlers jacking old ladies for bubble gum money that tipped them off, huh?

Maybe he thought it was a Hell of a good joke. But he’s not the one who has to pay the price for his little faux pas, is he?

Now Five Jesters artists have to pay the piper, lose revenue, lose the money they have laid out to comply with SC’s often ridiculous laws, and the rent, and renovations that had to be done to make a safe, workable tattoo studio.

I think at the least, since they were not the ones at fault, the town should have to reimburse them for all the inconvenience and loss of revenue. If it were any other business you could bet your bottom dollar they would have to pay for such a screw up. Let’s see if they have to do so when the business is the evil practice known as (shudder) tattooing.

I, for one, am not going to hold my breath. I’m still trying to find out who actually owns the hacker site…the SOB owes me quite a bit at the moment. That, and I’d like to give him a good old fashioned hammer party…lets see how many viruses he can write with powdered hands.

Sam
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:52 am
I’d like to know how you got into tattooing if you didnt start at home with your own kit? Did you waltz in to a tattoo parlour and show them some pictures you drew? I want to know how it happened. Im not a ’scratcher’, yet, and ofcourse Id love to avoid being labelled as one but I think everyone starts somewhere and there is no other logical place to start. An email explaining this would be great.
From a budding artist
Sam

In case any of you don’t read back, or read the comments, I received the above from Sam on my article “Tattooing is Not Easy”. It’s true, especially in today’s world. Now I have heard just about every pro-scratcher argument there is, (most of which I ignore because they usually show nothing more than ignorance, or a complete lack of regard for the one person who means more than anyone in tattooing…THE CLIENT.), none of them hold much more water than a bucket that someone took a shotgun to.

The plain fact is, anyone who is too goddamned lazy to do things the right way is too goddamned lazy to be a good tattoo artist. And you are a fool to trust them with your health End of argument.

That being said, there is a way to become a legitimate tattoo artist, and sorry, but hell no it isn’t easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is. The one thing that will matter more than anything is…”How bad do you want it?” That’s it kiddies…the real secret to becoming a tattoo artist. Do you want it bad enough to do anything to get it? (And I do not mean taking the shortcut of scratcher, Chuckles.)

Do you want it bad enough to work a shit job while you save up the money to get an apprenticeship?  I did.

Even with the introduction to a tattoo artist, I still had to pay him to teach me, and buy my own equipment. It wasn’t a free ride.

Do you want it bad enough to work at the studio for free, while you hold down said shit job? I did.

For well over a year I held down a shit job that I hated, and cleaned the studio, cleaned the station, sterilized and cleaned the equipment, maintained the equipment, cleaned up the puke from drunk clients, colored the flash, etc…ect. FOR FREE! Because I wanted to be a tattoo artist.

Do you love tattooing enough to do whatever it takes to learn the right way? I did, but then again, I wanted to be a tattoo artist more than I wanted to do anything else.

That is the difference between a tattoo artist, and a scratcher. A scratcher makes excuses as to why they can not become a legitimate tattoo artist. A tattoo artist does what it takes to become a tattoo artist.

Now you tell me, who has the right to be a tattoo artist. Someone who loves tattoos and art enough to make sure they are doing it right? Someone who has the balls to get the training they need to do tattoos safely and expertly? Or someone who is so goddamned lazy they will settle for a short cut? Someone who cares so little about the sacred art of tattooing they will just save up enough money to get the equipment and start fucking people up?

Why didn’t they put that money into the effort of getting properly trained? Because they couldn’t wait, they couldn’t be bothered with pounding the pavement to find an apprenticeship, or, now days, a tattoo school. They wanted to start making the big bucks right away…In other words the only thing they really cared about was themselves…NOT TATTOOING.

That’s it in a nutshell, Gang. All you really have to do is love tattooing enough to not let anything stand in the way of getting the proper training. If you don’t love tattooing that much, you have no business trying to become a tattoo artist.

It ain’t easy, but it can be done…if you have the heart.

BTW: If anyone wants to know the rest of how I did it, check out my reply to Sam. And Sam, Bud, The ball is in your court now. Do you love Tattooing enough, or are you just looking for a fast buck? Only you know the answer to that question, and the answer will be what makes you a tattoo artist, or not.

Good luck to you, M’man…I have faith in ya. 😉

Every week, for those of you out there who are paying attention, I write a tattoo artist profile in my Meet! series.  Well, this week I wanted to focus on Monica Henk, a very talented young woman whose life was tragically cut short at the age of 26.

In the morning hours of Saturday, April 7th, 2007, Monica Henk was riding her motorcycle when she was struck by a black SUV.  The driver of the SUV fled and by the time Monica was taken to hospital, she had gone 26 minutes without oxygen.  Her lungs, kidney and liver had all stopped working.  Monica was essentially brain dead and was kept on life support until shortly after 12pm on Thursday, April 12th, 2007.  She left behind a loving family and husband (her husband Dan, also a tattoo artist) and tons of close friends.  It was a true tragedy, with the killer(s) still not apprehended.

Monica came to New York from Colombia.  She had been in America for less than 10 years before she was killed. In that short time however, Monica created some truly striking and beautiful work.  There is a darkness to her tattoos that reminds me of characters in Tim Burton films – creepy yet attractive, all rolled into one.  Prior to her death, Monica was working at two different tattoo shops: Cliff’s Tattoo in Centerach, Long Island and Pure Body Arts in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  She was an artist on flesh as well as on canvas, often painting with tattoo inks.  She enrolled in university in New York, hoping that by studying anatomy she could better round out her perspective and skill.  Although she ended up not liking school, the effort to better herself and her craft was the marking of a true, fearless artist.

It is indeed a tragedy that someone’s life could be so quickly and needlessly ended like this.  I have managed to find a couple of early interviews with Monica in which she talks about her life and her work.  I sincerely hope that her killer is one day brought to justice and I hope that you enjoy Monica’s work as much as I do.

In this crazy world, crazy things often occur, leading people to make mistakes and to regret their past actions.  When tattoos happen to be one of such mistakes, there are few affordable and painless options that will wipe away the offending ink and leave its bearer with a clean slate.  Some might say that’s just the way it goes: get a stupid tattoo and pay the price for your stupidity.  Others, like Richard Simpson-Birks will hold a competition called Tatts Off 2010 so that those of us with terrible tattoos can potentially have them removed for free.

Simpson-Birks is the managing director of Tattoo Erase International AG (Tattoo Erase), a tattoo removal process that uses natural products.  In a bid to get the word out about Tattoo Erase, a contest is being held with the grand prize of one male and one female entrant receiving a free Tattoo Erase procedure.  Entrants are required to be residents of the United Kingdom and must provide a good story behind the offending tattoo that they want removed, as this will be the basis for the judges final decision.

The Tattoo Erase procedure is an interesting one, which doesn’t use lasers, but does rely on needles.  According to Richard Simpson-Birks:

“All treatments are carried out in our clinical treatment rooms by fully trained and experienced therapists. The skin is treated by making a series of dots using a needle similar to the way the tattoo was applied. Instead of putting ink into the skin, we use Kataderm®, a mixture of natural products that persuade the body to expel the pigment through natural processes. Small scabs form on the treated area that fall off over a period of two weeks taking the ink with them.

Because the body is sensitive and naturally regenerative, we need to give the treated areas their own time to recover to normal before working on an adjacent area. This is a minimum of 8 weeks. The process is repeated until the entire tattoo has been treated and removed. On average a tattoo takes between six and eight treatments but this will vary according to size and complexity.

This removal method is of significant benefit compared to laser treatment, which breaks down the tattoo ink pigment by the application of intense heat. In these cases the burnt pigment is absorbed by the body, putting consequential trauma and strain on the body’s excretory systems.”

All I can say is that I hope someone is recording all the bad tattoo stories and saving them for a book, because that would be well worth reading.  “Yeah, so I was with my buddy Chris and my buddy Chris says, he says, I bet you wouldn’t get like, a massive dick tattooed on your back.  And I was like, hell yeah, I’ll do that.  And then I went and did it and when my wife saw it, she divorced me and man, now I hate having a big dick tattooed on my back.”

Good luck to all the entrants!

You know how sometimes people will stare at your tattoos?  Well, tattooed Australian model Dani Lugosi recently took the promise of people’s attention and used it to spread the word about animal rights.

Lugosi appeared naked at Sydney, Australia’s Pitt Street Mall, holding a small sign down-under, which read: “Ink Not Mink.”  The protest was organized by People For the Ethetical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Lugosi was doing her part for the organization, attempting to get the word out about animal cruelty.

True, maybe it wasn’t exactly the tattoos that got people’s immediate attention, given that Miss Lugosi was in fact, pretty much naked, but let’s not split hairs here.  An attractive young woman with a variety of tattoos is a definite attention grabber and I would even go as far as to say a positive endorsement of the tattoo community.

Now, you might be asking How is this a positive endorsement of the tattoo community?  And yes, that is indeed a fair question.  But let’s not waste time trying to decipher and interpret the meaning behind all this and instead, let’s just enjoy the photos from Dani Lugosi’s day of protest.  Shall we?

Yes.  We shall.

I think that anyone who has tattoos or plans on getting tattoos can easily identify with the desire to have something from one of your idols tattooed on your body.  That something can be anything from a portrait of your favourite historical figure, to the lyrics to one of your favourite songs, to the logo of of your favourite band – it can really be anything.

Right now I’m sitting here listening to the debut album from Them Crooked Vultures, the rock supergroup put together by Dave Grohl (Nirvana, The Foo Fighters), Josh Homme (Kyuss, Queen’s of the Stone Age and a whole bunch of other side projects), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin).  Anyone who is familiar with Dave Grohl knows that he has plenty of tattoos, but what you might not know is that it was Grohl’s own personal obsession with late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, that spurned him on to get some of his first tattoos.

Grohl’s first tattoo was an attempt at the iconic Black Flag bars on his forearm when he was 12 or 13.  He did the “tattoo” himself with a needle and pen ink, but quit after gouging three bars into his left forearm rather than the required four, because according to Grohl: “It hurt.”

Grohl didn’t exactly come away from that episode learning a lesson.  Instead, he discovered Led Zeppelin and the man that he still considers to this day to be the greatest rock n’ roll drummer ever, John Bonham.  At the age of 16, Grohl decided that he wanted to be set up with Bonham’s three circle Led Zeppelin IV logo.  Once again, Grohl was plunged into the world of self tattoo.  This time however, he got his hands on three different colours of ink in order to make the tattoo look “pro”.  The end result?  “…now it looks like someone put a fucking cigarette out on my arm,” says Grohl.

Still not deterred by his previous attempts at getting tattooed, Grohl went for a second attempt at the John Bonham logo while in Amsterdam.  This time, he had the work done by a Dutch scratcher/squatter who rigged up a tattoo gun out of an old doorbell machine.

It wasn’t until he was making a little bit of money while playing with Nirvana, at the age of 21, that Grohl finally got his Led Zeppelin tattoo properly and professionally done.  He used part of his first check from the band for $400, buying a Nintendo and BB gun and the tattoo.

Hell, that’s some determination.  Of course all the scratching was bad news and Grohl no doubt regrets it now, but it just goes to show that when you’re determined to honor your idols with a tattoo, sometimes people go to great lengths.  For Dave Grohl, it was a third time’s the charm scenario.  Me personally, I’m waiting for the day that I meet either Woody Allen or Larry David, getting them to autograph my arm and having it immediately tattooed over.

Not very rock n’ roll, but heroes of mine that I want to preserve, none the less.

Pain sucks.  Nothing new in that statement I guess, but a couple of days ago I had my wisdom teeth pulled and the whole thing really got me thinking about pain.  I think that one of, if not the biggest concerns that people who have never been tattooed before have prior to getting their first tattoo is: How much is this going to hurt?  It’s a valid concern, as none of us (okay, there are a few people here and there who don’t mind pain or those who dare I say, like it.  For now though, I’m just going to stick with the general public that doesn’t like pain – myself included).

I can remember the first time that I ever went to get a tattoo.  I was pretty nervous and quite concerned about the pain factor.  The tattoo was on the side and back of my calve and I wasn’t the least bit sure of what to expect and so I just expected the worst.  Well, to my surprise it didn’t really hurt at all.  Sure, there were a few brief moments where I clenched my teeth a little, but the tattoo artist was friendly, had mellow music playing and carried on a conversation with me as he worked.  All of those things really helped to make the experience a reasonably pleasant one.  Not only that, but the tattoo studio itself was widely recommended, professionally run and very clean.  That’s the sort of peace of mind that anyone who is contemplating a tattoo really needs.  For a procedure that requires no anesthetic whatsoever, I would have to say that tattoos can be pretty painless.

The wisdom teeth on the other hand, well…sure, it’s not all that fair of a pain comparison to pit wisdom teeth against a tattoo.  But know this: if you’ve ever undergone the experience of having your wisdom teeth pulled, then you’ll know that it’s not the extraction of the teeth themselves that is painful (okay, the needles suck), but rather the aftermath – that is, the days following the procedure that are unpleasant.  So if you’re reading this and considering getting your first tattoo at some point but are worried about the potential pain, I will tell you this: getting your wisdom teeth pulled is more painful than any tattoo I’ve ever had done.  If you’ve had your wisdom teeth out and survived, a tattoo is no problem.

Naturally, everyone’s pain threshold is different and there are places on the body that are more sensitive to being tattooed, but in general, my advice is not to worry about it.  And if that still doesn’t help, then I suggest reading up on some of the information out there:

Complete Guide to Getting a Tattoo for Beginners

Which Hurts More: Outlining or Shading?

Tattoos: How Much Do They Really Hurt?

Cope With and Minimize Tattoo Pain