So it’s official Marked TV has been picked up by the History Channel and debuts August 27 at 9:00 PM eastern. Mario Barth and Billy Burke have reunited for this show after collaborating on “Under the Skin.”

Rumor has it that the crew from Low Rider Tattoos will be featured in one of the episodes based on the quote below from there blog. “Lowridertattoostudios.com is proud to announce the upcoming feature on the History channel featuring some of the best chicano tattoo artist in the world. Artist like Mark Mahoney,Jack Rudy,Freddy Negrete and Jose Lopez will be featured in the show so stay tunned for more details on this historic event.”

“MARKED,” a six episode series, will explore the world of tattoos belonging to the intense modern day tribes that operate at the edges of society, including 1% motorcycle clubs, hardcore prisons, urban gangs and street culture. “MARKED” will go inside the minds of members as they explain what the mysterious symbols decorating their bodies mean in their world and mean to them personally. Initiation rites and the fierce pride of belonging to an outlaw family are all part of the territory. Tattoo artist, members and cultural experts will explain the technique and history behind the ink and the group it adorns, putting the personal experiences of the show’s main characters into perspective.

Mister Cartoon does the Ed Lover show in New York City on August 5, 2009. Cartoon has a great publicity team he seems to be everywhere he just launched a new shoe with Nike in partnership with Lance Armstrong’s Live Strong Campaign and also just launched a phone he designed with Samsung. He’s renowned in the hip hop community for tattooing rappers starting with Cypress Hill… then Eminem and the famous 50 on the back of 50 cent.

A great quote from the interview when Mister Cartoon is discussing scratchers in the industry
… “I don’t want to get a bum crooked tattoo and be in the danger zone when I get it, that’s like going and bare baggen a hood rat back in the day.”

Think that temporary tattoos are safe? Think again. Every year there are cases, usually underage minors who cannot be legally tattooed, who get the shock of their young lives. Not to mention skin damage that Ajax won’t take off.

Now I’m not talking about the cute stick on tattoos for kids here, neither am I speaking of the painted on tattoos such as the Temptu brand of semi permanent body paints that Hollywood uses on actors. Believe it, or not, I’m talking about Henna tattoos.

Let me be clear here, this is not natural henna, but a harmful product called Black Henna. Black Henna is a powder that is laced with PPD, a very toxic chemical known to cause allergic reactions. This product is not supposed to be used for anything but hair dye according to the Food and Drug Administration. This hasn’t stopped vendors in several Malls and vacation spots from deliberately harming kids by offering it as a way to make the temp tattoo look like the real thing.

The reason is that Black Henna leaves a deep black stain instead of the usual orange/brown colored stain derived from natural henna.

Henna paste, in its natural state, is made from a natural substance derived from a plant. there is nothing in henna powder that can cause irritation or allergic reactions. Black Henna is made by adding paraphenylenediamine, or PPD to the henna powder. This is a chemical that contains a compound that is derived from phenylenediamine, which is a toxic substance. It was never meant to come in contact with skin for long periods of time and even the hair dye can be dangerous to those with an allergy to PPD.

In January of 2007, two lawsuits were filed against a distributor of black henna after children were scarred by receiving Black Henna tattoos while on vacation. The PPD burned and blistered their skin so badly that the children have been permanently scarred. Black Henna is simply not a safe substitute for tattooing.

Now I know that Temptu and similar body paints don’t last as long as a henna tattoo does, but if you are dead set on having a “real” looking tattoo, please do not allow anyone to talk you into a Black Henna.

Even better, wait until you are old enough, or you have parental permission to be legaly tattooed. The sad truth is, only a real tattoo looks like a real tattoo.

Name: Rachel Napier
Age: 21
Occupation: Piercer/Tattoo Apprentice at Icon Tattoo and Body Piercing

Newest Tattoo: Top hat on my right arm
Favorite Tattoo and Why?: The diamonds on my hands. They mean a lot to me because they represent my growth as a piercer and a person during the last four years here in Nashville.

We always love parents who set their toddlers on top of the jewelry cases. It’s even better when they urinate on top of the jewelry cases!….

Especially when driving from west coast, literally, Santa Cruz to Providence, one coastal town to another. With a lot of white bread in between.  I will be following the Anatometal Tour Bus, driving the Miss Tattoo booth out in the truck… As we say in Texas, yeehaw.

It’s a long drive though. The only blessing is the fact that a fun and adventure filled weekend awaits me at the Rock the Ink Show.  Miss Tattoo Lady of the day will be swapped for live camera feeds, and updates of the happenings in the show, and if you are lucky on the road… Cause I get bored driving for long periods of time…

Is anyone going that reads this blog? Let me know, and say hi at the Miss Tattoo booth.

xoxo,

Jen

Exciting news TattooBlog.com’s very first contest! We got an email from a company just the other day Trendsetters telling us they’d be willing to sponsor a contest on the site where they’d give away a bunch of Ed Hardy gear for any contest we came up with… so this being our first contest I thought I’d keep it simple.

Rules click this link and upload your tattoo picture and tell us the story behind the tattoo… that’s it! At the end of 1 month we will declare 4 winners who will get 1 of the following:

1. Ed Hardy “Love Kills Slowly” Leather-wrapped Flask
2. Ed Hardy “Love Kills Slowly” Leather-wrapped Pint Glass Set
3. Ed Hardy “Love Kills Slowly” Belt Lanyard
4. Ed Hardy “Gorilla” Keychain

Each week we will post the stories & tattoos for users to comment about and discuss who deserves which prize. The contest will end at Midnight Pacific Time September 10, 2009.

If you’ve never heard of a woman named Olive Oatman, then you’re not alone.  After all, Oatman died over one-hundred-years ago in Texas, at the age of 66.  You didn’t study her in your high school history class and chances are that no one ever mentioned her in any of your university or college courses either.  Yet Olive Oatman lead a remarkable life.

For starters, she was the first white tattooed woman in the history of the United States.  I’m not talking about some little anchor tattoo on her shoulder, either.  Oatman’s tattoo was hardcore even by today’s standards: 5 blue vertical bars that ran from her lower lip to the base of her chin.  What made a teenage Mormon girl do such a thing?  The story of how Olive Oatman became who she became is even more interesting than the tattoo itself.

In 1851, at the age of 13, Oatman and her family set out from Illinois to California.  Along the way, the family lost its bearings and ended up in what is today known as Arizona.  Here they were ambushed by Yavapai Indians.  Olive’s family was murdered, except for her brother (who escaped without Olive knowing), her sister Mary Ann and of course, Olive.  The two sisters were taken captive by the Yavapais and became slaves for a year until they were sold to a Mohave tribe.  Shortly after, Olive and her sister were tattooed by the Mohave people with the dust from ground blue stones.  Mary Ann died of starvation and Olive continued to live with the Mohave people, who treated her as one of their own.

It wasn’t until 1856 that an army search was launched for Mary Ann and Olive Oatman.  Olive was found after two months and brought back to live in white America.  Olive was devastated by this removal from her adopted tribe.  Some time later, Oatman began to sell her story and speak in public – which attracted quite a lot of fanfare, given her extremely unusual tattoo.

Olive Oatman’s story has much more to it than what I could ever hope to cover here.  If you’re interested in learning the entire story from beginning to end, author Margot Mifflin has just released an entirely comprehensive book on the subject, called The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman.  The book’s already received rave reviews and for good reason.

Why not check out a fascinating dose of both tattoo and American history?

After getting Viioleteyes.com, and Nutriadvice.com tattooed on me, it would be a few months before I would auction off my body again. I was working at a local pizza restaurant delivering pizzas. Not a bad job but let’s be real here this is not where I saw myself working when I was a kid, dreaming about my future. It is what it is I guess. I was also getting ready to fly to Arizona to the Mayo Clinic to undergo tests to donate part of my liver to a friend. At the time my friends and family called me 7 pounds for my willingness to help others by donating my organs and blood. They said that donating a kidney, and 20 gallons of blood was enough, and that donating a liver was too much. Thankfully my friend received a cadaver liver and is doing well now.

It would around a month after hearing the good news about my friend that I decided to be a male prostitute again. That sounds so wrong doesn’t it? I should make it clear I am not actually a male prostitute I just say that because it sounds funny. Ok back to my adventure. I put the auction on EBay for my left calf muscle. The winning bidder would get to tattoo advertise on my calf muscle for life with any design they would choose. The winning bidder was Tapinko.com, a website for buyers and sellers of advertising. 

The owners of Tapinko.com are awesome and even put me on the website so people can advertise on me through them. I got Tapinko.com tattooed on me, and am proudly advertising for them.

So far during my tattoo adventures I have had fun, made a little money, but there is one thing that I have not been able to do. That one thing is get media coverage, to raise awareness for the need of people to sign up to become organ donors when they pass away, and for people to donate blood. Hopefully that will change during my adventures in tattoo advertising. You can checkout my tattoo advertisement photos at http://checkoutmyink.com/profile/billythebillboard

Some people may not be aware of this, but there are a lot of other things to do in the gorgeous city of Amsterdam other than smoke pot and ogle prostitutes.  Fortunately, one of those things happens to be getting tattooed by the wicked Dutch tattoo artist, Rob Admiraal.

Tattooing professionally since 1993, Rob owns and operates Admiraal Tattoo, a private tattoo studio in the heart of Amsterdam.  Aside from Rob, Admiraal Tattoo employees three other talented tattoo artists.  Rob specializes in Japanese tattoo, and has journeyed numerous times to Japan in order to study the art form as well as to have his back piece completed by the incredible Japanese tattoo artist, Horitsune II.

As a matter of fact, one of Rob’s most recent projects has been the completion of the documentary film Onko Chishin, which details his quest to have his Horitsune II back piece completed during a journey to Osaka.  In addition to this, the documentary takes a look at tattooing in Japan, its legacy, its artists, its taboos and the Western impact on traditional Japanese tattooing.  The film is directed by Rogier Postma.

Rob’s work definitely showcases the time and study that he’s put into it.  His attitude toward tattooing is a great one, acknowledging the importance of individuality in each piece that his clients receive from him:

“Every tattoo is specifically created for the client. I thoroughly visualize the image beforehand. Since I consider my work a service I am used to working together with my clients to get the look they want. An inherent restriction of a tattoo is that the black ink tends to spread on the skin over a period of time. With the restrictions in mind I simplify the essence of the image to create a strong, longlasting tattoo. It’s not the image itself but the way it is done which determines it’s distinction and gives it it’s power and expression. If the tattoo is applied immaculately, it’s going to stay looking good on the skin for life. Obviously, all this is something you can only come across with tattooing.”

There you have it, an artist who understands his craft and the importance of applying that craft precisely to ensure a great looking piece of art.  It’s not just about drawing pretty pictures and Rob Admiraal knows it.