My name is Elizabeth. I got this tattoo because I was abused as a child. My Dad told my teachers that my black eyes were from my clumsy tripping. He soon discovered that it was easier to hide the beatings when he punched me in the stomach. It took a broken rib and punctured lung for me to gain the courage to report him.
This tattoo reminds me to play nice all the time. It also shows my strength. I'm nice by choice, not from weakness.
Not that many people venture into Nepal. Despite its close proximity to the Himalayas and its once prominent status as a hippie getaway in the 60’s and 70’s, Nepal has in more recent times become something of a dubious travel decision. Part of this is attributable to the civil war that raged there from 1996-2006. That period certainly wasn’t much for luring in travellers and even today there has been problems with Maoist insurgents who create a somewhat unstable environment for visitors.
Regardless of these setbacks in hospitality, Nepal is once again on a mission to lure back the tourists that had previously arrived in hordes. Their solution? A series of newly created and funded state initiatives called Nepal Tourism Year 2011. The first part of this was bringing Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams over for a concert. Once state officials realised that no one actually wanted to see Bryan Adams, they came up with the next idea, this one much better suited to bringing in new and different people and points of view. So, this past weekend, Kathmandu was the site of the Nepal International Tattoo Convention.
‘Despite being an integral part of some of Nepal’s ethnic cultures, tattoos have had a sketchy reputation in the nation’s past.
They were once synonymous with the “free love” ideology made popular by the hippies who strolled Kathmandu’s backpacker hub known as Freak Street during the late-1960s and 1970s.
Another reason for disparagement was cultural. For centuries, members of Nepal’s lower castes would decorate their bodies with stars and moons in the belief that once their soul left their body they would be recognized in heaven.’
This may sound a tad naive, but I am continually surprised by the amount of people in this world who are willing to permanently alter their appearance with a tattoo for cash or some other sort of material incentive. That’s not to say that I disagree with someone getting a tattoo across their forehead in exchange for a fistful of cash or a lifetime’s supply of laundry detergent, though. I mean, if that kind of stuff is that valuable to you, then by all means, tattoo away.
The latest in the tattoo-your-face-for-a-prize scheme comes from the Czech Republic where an unnamed man has had the name of a restaurant listing website tattooed across his forehead. In addition to a year’s free lunches at any of the restaurants listed on the Czech website Obedvat.cz, the man also received 200,000 Kč (just over $12,000 USD) for his trouble. And, according to the unnamed and now tattooed man, he’s more than happy with the arrangement.
‘”I feel fine and checked myself in the mirror, and I like it,” he said. “I don’t regret it at all, and I will certainly enjoy the money.”
He admitted he had been getting some strange looks when he went out in public, but seemed unperturbed, if not pleased, by the extra attention.
“People have slowly started to turn around and see what I have on my forehead,” he said. “It is strange and extravagant, and I like that.”‘
Glad to see that he’s happy with that tattoo because as we all know, money isn’t permanent. A tattoo however…
Tags: Ads, czech republic tattoo, Dislike, forehead tattoo, News, obedvat forehead tattoo, Stories, tattoo blog, VideoI disagree. That dude is an idiot. Now he has the rest of life to realize how he has literally "defaced" himself. When you break it down, 12,000 bucks is a JOKE for the amount of time:
Average Life Expectancy: 79 years
His Age: 22 (a guess)
Life of Tattoo: 57 years (almost 3 times his life already)
57 years is 20,805 days
That comes out to a little over $0.57 a day!!! Not even a cup of coffee.
Is your face worth more than that? Worst of all the longer he lives, the less value he gets. So, his only choice is finish himself off early. That way, he at least gets a half-ass deal out this fiasco.
BTW, that lettering will look like a smudge in about ten years.
More news out of Hermosa Beach today where city residents have been making a great deal of effort to chase tattooist and tattoo studios from the area, despite a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision last year which stated that tattoos and the business of tattooing are forms of expression protected by the First Amendment.
If you’re familiar with this story, then you’ll probably also know that back in March, the Hermosa Beach City Council asked the Hermosa Beach Planning Commission to hold a public hearing this month in order to determine what can be done about the city’s current tattoo ordinance. Here’s the list of proposed regulations that concerned residents came up with, which will be discussed at the next planning commission meeting on May 17th.
Tattoo businesses in the Hermosa Beach area will be required to:
1. Not be within a 100-foot buffer zone around residential property.
2. Not be within a 200-foot buffer zone around parks, schools and religious facilities.
3. Operate between 8am and 9pm.
Honestly, can’t these whiney city residents just let it go already? They’ve lost. Tattooists are protected by the First Amendment. It is their right to open and operate their own businesses. Imposing the above restrictions on tattooists is not only unconstitutional, but it further stigmatises these legitimate artists and businesses.
What the concerned group of citizens and homeowners in Hermosa Beach don’t understand is that it’s they who are maintaining and adding to the bad reputation of tattooists. These people believe that tattoo studios are going to create a criminal element and drive down the real estate value. Obviously these people are not aware of how much money tattooists make. They’re also only serving to keep a negative stereotype alive by trying to push the tattooists out. While the tattooists quietly go about their business, these obsessive residents are carrying on about how undesirable tattooists are. Get it residents? You’re creating, maintaining and spreading the lie that tattooing is somehow dangerous, morally corrupt and detrimental to your living space. Let the businesses flourish for a year and then try and tell me that tattooists are bad for your community.
I guess we’ll see what happens at the next meeting in May, but something tells me that there is no way in hell that these residents are going to win. And that’s a very good thing.
Tags: hermosa beach, hermosa beach city council, hermosa beach planning commission, hermosa beach tattoo ban, tattoo blog, Uncategorized
Erica sends us these knuckle tattoos and a short description:
Since baseball season is upon us it always reminds me that my pride is there no matter who is on our team this year or who may or may not be retiring. I found your website & thought you might like the pics!
You can check out a more in depth description at: http://stellatattoos.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-york-yankee-pride.html
The execution for this one is OK, the design is a little dicey for a knuckle though. That's something I'd expect the owner to have, not a mere fan. To each her own.
No offense to the Australians out there, but something tells me that Sydney isn't the best place to open up a tattoo studio. Of course, I could be wrong (believe it or not, it has happened before), but it seems like there is a lot of violence toward tattoo studios over there. Typically I'm not too interested in news that revolves around crime and tattoo studios, but in the case of Australia, there just seems to be incident after incident that catches my eye. Check this out:
December 29th, 2010: A tattoo studio in Coogee is firebombed.
January 13th, 2011: A car is rammed through the front entrance of a tattoo studio in Mount Druitt.
March 26th, 2011 : A 40-year-old man is shot and killed inside a tattoo studio in West Ryde.
And now, as of April 19th, someone broke into a Sydney tattoo studio during the night with a sledgehammer. They then doused the premises in some sort of flammable substance and lit the entire place on fire.
Sheesh, those are a lot of bad incidences for the tattoo folks of Australia. Is it due to some sort of fanatical anti-tattoo group? Well, no. It's actually a result of Australian motorcycle gangs (or bikies as Australians seem to call them). I'm not sure exactly what these guys have against tattoo studios, but my guess is that it's probably not something very nice. The violence is most likely over turf or something of that nature. I'm not an expert. All I do know is that it's slightly troubling any time that a consistent streak of violence seems to plague tattoo studios for no clear reason. Really gives tattoo a shitty name and reputation.
Tags: australia motorcycle gangs, australia tattoo, bikie gangs, Coogee, Dislike, Health Risks, Mount Druitt, News, Stories, Sydney Tattoo, tattoo blog, West Ryde, WorkforceGet up to anything interesting this weekend? Norwalk, Ohio residents Robin H.M. and Jeff Garton certainly did. Surviving on a steady supply of bananas and orange juice, the two set a new Guinness World Record for the longest tattoo session. How long is long? Well, the tattoo started on Friday, April 15th at 9:05am at Norwalk’s 546 Tattoo Studio and it didn’t end until Sunday, April 17th at around 9:30am. All told, the running time was 48 hours and 26 minutes. That’s a long time to tattoo and that’s a long time to sit still for a tattoo.
The tattoo was a design by Robin H.M. and it was done on Garton’s thigh. Though Guinness has not yet officially recognised the feat, Robin and Garton’s tattoo marathon beat the old Guinness record by 11 minutes. Throughout the tattoo, Guinness records stipulated that neither participant could sleep, though they could take occasional 2 minute breaks.
In addition to breaking the Guinness record and gaining recognition for their achievement, the event had an entirely charitable purpose:
‘Robin, who has been a tattoo artist for the past 14 years originated the idea as a way to generate donations and raise awareness for the current and baffling cancer cluster in the nearby area of Clyde. A case that has affected scores of lives, including many children. ”It just seems like there are more and more of them all the time, and something needs to be done.” says Robin who has been frustrated with the tragic medical mystery for years. Meanwhile, Jeff Garton, says he was doing the event to raise awareness for a local rehab center in the Norwalk area.’
Nice work, guys! Hope you’ve caught up on your missed sleep.
Tags: 48 hour tattoo, 546 Tattoo Studio, Guinness Book of World Records, Jeff Garton, News, Norwalk Ohio, Robin HM, Stories, Tattoo Artists, Video, Workforce, World Record TattooThe Swedes continue to invade the tattoo world. The weirdest thing keeps happening to me lately where I’m seeing the work of tattooist, then looking more into who that tattooist is and finding out that they are Swedish. Again and again it happens. I don’t want to give the impression that I’m favouring the Swedes over everyone else out there, slaving away in their shops. Oh well, when all is said and done, it doesn’t matter where someone comes from. It’s their work and only their work that truly matters. Right? Right.
When I was a kid, there used to be this arcade game called Dragon’s Lair. It was unlike any of the other video games in the arcade because it was literally a cartoon that you could control. It pretty much blew my ten-year-old mind and even though the game itself wasn’t that great, I was incredibly drawn to the game’s animation. I hadn’t thought about that game or its crazy cool animated graphics for years. And then, I saw the tattoo work of Emil Edge and I was instantly reminded of the Dragon’s Lair animation style all over again. I love the fact that Edge’s work also retains a kind of creepy three dimensional aspect to it - something that works especially well with skulls and creepy little dudes with skinny fingers. That’s what I think, anyway.
Edge has been tattooing since 2004 which obviously isn’t that long, yet it’s apparently been long enough for him to come up with his own particular style. Between 2006 and 2008, Edge was running a shop called Dedication Ink, but these days he can be found at Fisheye Ink in Karlstad, Sweden.
Someone likes A Day To Remember, I think it’s Josh! Wait, I know it’s Josh:
Hey my name is Joshua Ellis. I recently got this done. Homesick is an album that I listen too daily, and have done so for the past almost 3 years.
