In my humble opinion, the worst thing that could happen to someone who was actively seeking and hoping for a temporary tattoo would be to have the temporary tattoo end up being permanent.  See, this goes against the very fiber of the notion of “temporary”.  And yes, just incase you happen to be keeping track, this is indeed my second post in as many weeks on temporary tattoos.  I apologize.

It’s just that I was perusing the news and I came upon this article about this 16-year-old kid, one Christopher Smith, from Glasgow, Scotland, who was on holiday in Greece with his family.  Christopher was interested in getting some Henna work done, which is an all together different sort of temporary tattoo, but a temporary tattoo none the less.  After locating a henna tattoo parlor, Christopher made an appointment and had three black stars hennaed on to his back.  He loved it.  But by morning, the stars were leaking yellowish fluid and the skin around the star designs was badly inflamed.

“I’d always wanted a real tattoo but decided to get a little henna one to see what it looked like. It felt itchy just after getting it but I assumed that’s what it would be like. But I woke up the next day and my bed was full of yellow puss and scabs. It was horrible.”

To make a long story short, Christopher had an allergic reaction to the henna dye – a particularly nasty and painful one.  But that’s not the worst of it.  The worst of it is that the skin on Christopher’s back is now scarred with the three stars that were intended to be temporary.  Terrible indeed, considering that the artwork is hardly on a professional level and that the stars look something along the lines of a basement scratcher style tattoo.  In fact, a basement scratcher style tattoo wouldn’t even be as bad as what Christopher is now left with, because even the worst tattoo can be removed.  According to Christopher’s mother, the stars on Christopher’s back won’t be coming off:

“We have to take Christopher back [to the doctor] in a month but the doctor has said he will be scarred for life. He even mentioned the possibility of needing plastic surgery.”

Christopher is reluctant to agree to plastic surgery, which would involve skin grafting.  Ironically enough, perhaps the best option to get rid of the stars would be to get a real tattoo done as a cover up?  A permanent tattoo to cover a temporary tattoo.  Bizarre.

It seems that the biggest lesson in all of this is to know your allergies.  If you aren’t certain about what will or won’t potentially have an adverse effect on your skin, maybe just take a pass until you know for certain.  Unless of course, you don’t mind taking the risk of ending up like Christopher Smith.

We all know that tattoos are cool. Well, those of us who have them do, anyway. But, lately we have been seeing more and more practical uses for tattoos. One that springs to mind at the moment was a piece that I did about having your medic alert information tattooed, and there by eliminating the need to keep track of that bracelet, or necklace.

It would seem that yet another lifesaving addition to the art of tattooing has come about, only this time it is aimed at people who are usually advised not to get a tattoo. As a matter of fact, it would also be the first tattoo ever to be actually prescribed by doctors. The tattoo is for use by diabetics.

Now most tattoo artists already know that the wavier the client signs has the proviso that you are not a diabetic. The reason why is the notoriously compromised ability of a diabetic’s skin to heal afterwards. That was for you guys out there who barely look at the wavier, and just sign the damned thing after a two second look.

So, why on earth would a doctor either apply, or prescribe a tattoo to a diabetic?

A new innovation in a very special tattoo ink. Scientists at the Cambridge-based Draper laboratories are developing a nanoparticle tattoo ink that changes color to indicate glucose levels in the skin. No longer would diabetics have to prick their fingers up to a dozen times a day, neither would they have to worry about running out of test strips, or leaving their monitor on the sink of the last motel they stayed at. In short, total freedom from constantly having to wonder what their blood sugar level is.

The ink is composed of a glucose-detecting molecule, a color changing dye, and a molecule that mimics glucose, all of which float in spherical polymer bead. If glucose levels are high the ink will turn yellow. If glucose levels are low the ink will turn purple. If everything is hunky-dory, the color will be somewhere in between. All the diabetic would need to do is give the tattoo a quick look see and know immediately what they need to do.

I know several diabetics, and believe me, they would love to have something like this. I’d bet the monitor and test strip makers aren’t going to like it, though. Well they don’t have to worry just yet.

One of the concerns is whether glucose levels taken from the skin are as accurate as those taken from blood, and how well the ink will do on different skin shades. It’s still a few years away from human testing, but so far things are looking good.

As a community, we of the tattoo world have had our share of prejudice because of our art. Many of us have had the nagging suspicion that we may have been denied basic rights, or lost out on a job because we were tattooed. Granted, this is not as prevalent as it was when tattoos were not as mainstream as they are now, but every once in a while the “good old days” seem to rear their collective ugly heads.

The Mesa City Council in Arizona rejected an application by Ryan Coleman to open Angel Tattoo studio about six months ago. Coleman promptly hired attorney Michael Kielsky, and filed a claim against Mesa seeking $69,800 plus interest for the money they spent to try to open the business and profits lost, as well as asking for either the right to open the parlor, or an extra $25,000 plus interest. The city has 60 days to respond.

According to Kielsky, Ryan has a case against the city because his application was denied based on “a negative perception” about such establishments, not any tangible proof that it would be detrimental to the neighborhood. Also, there is a recent court ruling of a case in which a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ordered Tempe, AZ to reinstate a couple’s tattoo studio permit. Judge Robert Oberbillig ruled that the Tempe City Council’s decision to revoke the permit was arbitrary and lacked credible evidence that the business would have decreased the area’s property values.

“In my case, city staff could not provide any reason to deny the permit because my client met every criteria laid out, but still for the council, it all boiled down to ‘We don’t like tattoo people,'” Kielsky said. “These things have to be decided on merits beyond mere whim.”

Kielsky also claims Mesa’s decisions have been arbitrary in that the council previously issued a permit to the now closed Damage Ink, a tattoo studio, despite that store being within 1,200 feet of a school, which is a required buffer under city ordinance and current tattoo laws there.

Kielsky said, “In that case, too, there was similar resistance from the neighbors, and the city even had a valid reason in the code to deny the permit. But the council issued the permit anyway.”

So now I’m wondering what the problem is with Angel Tattoo? Is it that they just don’t like Ryan’s face? Something is definitely rotten in the state of Denmark, or Arizona in this case, here.

You would think with the state of the economy they would be happy for the additional revenue and a few more jobs that could keep someone from turning to crime as a solution for their financial woes. Then again, I rarely try to understand the twisted logic of politicians. Most of the time their solution for a bad back is to rip out the spine.

Remember, these are the same kind of people who, trying to curb the woes they thought drinking brought on made alcohol illegal. As a result they turned street hoods into millionaires, and gave us what we now know as organized crime.

If I kept my head where they obviously keep theirs, I’d be getting tired of the smell of my own shit by now.

Anyway, I wish Ryan and Angel Tattoo all the best, and hope that maybe, just maybe, there will be another safe sterile environment for getting some killer ink in Arizona.

Image ©Thomas Boggan, East Valley Tribune

Every art form evolves, regardless of what that art form happens to be.  Tattoo is no exception.  Without the artists and visionaries who push the boundaries of what we think we know and understand about the art of tattoo, creativity would quickly grind to a halt.  I don’t want that?  Do you want that?  Of course not.

As it so happens, there is a tattoo artist based in Mexico City who is going about his own quiet revolution with the tattoo needle, blurring the lines between fiction and reality.  His given name is Jeronimo Lopez Ramirez, but he is more commonly known as Dr. Lakra.  The name came from his early days when he used to do tattoos with his own crudely designed equipment and jars of ink.  Ramirez would carry all these things in an old briefcase, wearing gloves and earning himself the name of “doctor” in the process.  “Lakra” is Spanish slang for “scum” or “joker”.

What differentiates Lakra from other tattoo artists however, is his desire to see past conventional means of tattoo and to push the art form forward by tattooing everything from human flesh, to images from vintage magazines, to figurines. This different view of the possibilities of tattooing as an art form gives legitimacy and credibility to tattoo’s place in the world of art.

“I see my work, my tattoo work and other formats, as a mixture of different iconography’s from different cultures and places. I’m always trying to deal with this basic primal urge. Primitive instincts like sex, violence, graffiti, are all innate into human beings and not tied to one culture.”

Some might argue that what Lakra is doing beyond his tattoo work on flesh isn’t tattoo at all.  This is a mistake however, because Lakra’s ability to change say, an image from a vintage magazine by adding tattoos to the model in the photo, has the power to completely alter what we will think and feel about that vintage image. I might be way off here, but doesn’t the same thing occur when tattoo ink is put on to human flesh?

I don’t know about you, but I really like the idea of tattoo art blurring the lines of flesh and gallery style art, of reality and fiction.  In addition to his work, Lakra has appeared at numerous high profile galleries and exhibitions, including the Miami Beach Art Basel gallery.  Here he combined his tattoo work as well as his drawings in an exhibition which:

“…asked questions as to whether art could be transferred mechanically onto any format or medium.”

What Dr. Lakra is doing may not be for everyone, but it’s value can’t be denied, just as any artistic movement gains momentum and spawns its own variations, tattoo will only continue to do the same as time passes and more artists decide to experiment beyond the conventional.

If you’re interested in getting a tattoo from Dr. Lakra, you’ll most likely have your work cut out for you.  Word has it that he’s something of a recluse.  Your best way to start however, is probably by getting in touch with the art collective that he communicates with, Kurimanzutto.

Ok, most of us are not foolish enough to believe the “Gonna catch the bad guys” image that the glass toilet would lead us to believe about cops. Cops are only human, after all, and are as subject to being “bad guys” as the rest of us are.

Here is a prime example, first reported in the Connecticut Post, about one such bad guy, and yes he was a cop.

Quite often tattoos help law enforcement to catch suspects. This time the tables were turned, and the tattoo in question was what got the cop busted. Or, perhaps I should say the lack of. Read on and see.

Officer Jared Rohrig, 25, of Flax Mill Lane, Ct, has been placed on paid administrative leave from his job since July 23, pending the outcome of an internal investigation; according to Orange Police Chief Robert Gagne. Rohrig was charged with posing as his twin brother to trick a 25-year-old woman into having sex with him at his parents’ Milford home. By all definitions of the law, that is called rape.

The unnamed woman told police on July 22 that she had been sexually assaulted July 19 at the Rohrig home, where she went to meet Joe Rohrig, Jared’s identical twin. The woman had been having a sexual relationship with Joe Rohrig since March. When she arrived, she got into the hot tub with the Rohrig brother she believed was Joe, began kissing him and agreed to go to an upstairs bedroom with him. But as they were having sex, the warrant states, she noticed something missing: the cowboy tattoo on Joe’s left buttocks was not there. The female victim realized at this point that this was not the person that she had previously had sexual relations with.

At this moment it is not known what will become of the investigation, but should these allegations be true, I know what should be done. The same penalty that is given to any other rapist.

Just remember that Officer Rohrig has not been convicted of anything, and is assumed innocent until proven guilty. These are, after all just allegations, and we’ll try to keep an eye on the situation to let you all know how it turns out.

In hindsight, though. I knew having a tattoo can be used to bust you, but I’d bet this is the first time not having a tattoo has busted someone!

Urban legends abound, and tattooing has more than it’s share of them. Lord knows that just about every tattoo artist with more than one year in the business can let fly with a couple dozen, or more. I’ve heard more than my share in my time.

This time, however much it might seem like an urban legend, I can assure you the story is true.

While most tattoo artists won’t willingly adulterate the ink they are putting into your hide with anything, we can be a sympathetic lot from time to time. I don’t advocate doing this to anyone, and if you do think about doing it, check your local laws first. No tattoo artist deserves to have their license pulled just because they had a soft heart at the time.

Dwayne Courtney, of Olympia Washington, lost his best friend, David Comstock,  to cancer and was looking for a special way to pay tribute to him. According to Courtney, “One of the biggest things he feared in all the cancer – he didn’t fear passing, he didn’t fear the cancer itself – he feared being forgotten.”

Now we all know that a memorial tattoo is one of the best ways to ensure that a lost loved one is going to be remembered. People look at tattoos, and as such even folks who didn’t know the deceased will at least know that they were cared for. But, Dwayne wasn’t interested in another run of the mill “In memory of” tattoo. This one had to be special.

Friends since their teens, Dwayne had once made a necklace for David, which he wore every day, and that was what he wanted tattooed on his leg. Comstock had been cremated, so Dwayne walked into Old School Tattoo with some of the ashes, and with the permission of Comstock’s children, asked artist Buddy Green to add some of the ashes to the black ink.

Comstock was more than just a friend to Dwayne, as should be obvious by now. To Dwayne he was also a father figure, and Courtney always referred to him as “Padre.”

As Buddy Green said, “I lost my mother 10 years ago to cancer, so I can sympathize with Dwayne on this piece. This man was obviously his father.”

According to the state of Washington Courtney’s actions are legal and pose no health threat. I’ll add that they also have resulted in the ultimate “Memory of” Tattoo. I think David would be honored.

First off… Miss Betty Ann Peed, Miss Tattoo 2008 is going to be on Next Weeks LA Ink, with Kat Von D. (So Tune into it on Thursday the 17th, check your local listings for showtimes :))

And here is the scoop…

We are currently casting for contestants for the upcoming pageant October 16-18, 2009 in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Rock the Ink Tattoo and Entertainment Festival held at the ABQCC. Inked Magazine has been so kind as to help me out with some damn fine ladies, and we are looking for a few more…

The Miss Tattoo Pageant will appear in the new TLC reality series “American Pageants”.  The series
highlights the unique pageants happening across America. The Miss Tattoo Pageant will be an hour-long episode featuring tattooed ladies from the perspective of the Miss Tattoo Pageant.  Miss Tattoo contestants will be a part of a greater endeavor to showcase the positive side of pageantry and being a tattooed female.

This is a great opportunity for a few ladies to gain exposure and I am sure a couple of stars will emerge in the process.  If you are interested in participating please contact us directly: MissTattooPageant@gmail.com

Eric “Taz” Pagan was a customer of our tattoo shop in the Lower East Side. He was a customer for over 12 years. He had become a friend. We tattooed his friends and family. On August 23 at 4:30 am Eric “Taz” Pagan was shot and killed in front of the bar where he worked at as a bouncer. Just across the street from where our shop stands. I just wanted a little time to reflect on a beloved customer. Taz was a great man. It was always smiles when he was around. He would get a tattoo and even in pain he could crack jokes. I literally never saw him angry even once. 

He had two children. One was a child he adopted after the child’s mother died of cancer. He was a class act. Words can’t truly express the loss that we feel. I knew Taz for about 9 years. I met him and we quickly became friends. I still feel he is going to walk through the door asking for me or my boss. Wanting to talk about the current events in the neighborhood or maybe to tell me how much the Mets suck. The ability to see him once more would be huge. Its a sad thing when you do a memorial tattoo on someone. When its a memorial tattoo of someone you knew it becomes 1000 times harder. Rest in peace Taz. A great customer and most of all a great friend. Thank you for being you. The Mayor of L.E.S