By Diego Lucille
Tommy Lee set a new, mile-high record this year for flying 45,000 feet in the air while getting penetrated … with a tattoo needle.
Mario Barth of Starlight Tattoo gave the infamous drummer a black and gray tattoo of a peacock on his thigh as they flew from Burbank to Miami aboard a private jet (Tommy’s). The stunt landed Lee and Barth in the Guinness Book of World Records for “First-Ever to Perform a Tattoo in High Altitude.” Barth, whose client …
By Padraig Mara
From the margins to the mainstream - attitudes toward tattooing and piercing from the late 1950s to the present day.
“…Scars of self-harm, tattooing and body piercing are often associated with diagnosis of personality disorders or substance misuse.”
You can’t judge a book by its cover. Or can you? The practice of cosmetic alteration of the body, as ancient a human practice though it may be, has gone through peaks and troughs of popularity in the modern world. A trend of the …
By Dennis G
The world of tattoos has always been associated with the divisive, the weird, and the unusual. The wayward comparisons have softened over the years, with tattoos consistently inking mainstream society, however the remnants of the past are hard to erase entirely.
In honor of the bizarre history of the tattoo industry, we discovered the most amazing tattoo and piercing stunts ever completed by human beings as listed (or soon to be listed) in the Guinness Book of World …
By Dennis G
If a tattoo virgin stumbles upon a parlor, he or she may quickly realize shop talk can be hard to understand. Select key words and phrases are as common as tribal tats to typical parlors. This wayward language is intrinsic to the tattoo industry and, over the years, both artists and collectors have become fluent in the native tongue. This inked dialect is what we dub tattoo slang.
A noob (newbie or tenderfoot) is sure to get lost in this ocean …
By Dennis G
While the body art industry is highly visual, tattoos are not always images.
Though we often associate tattoos with pictures or symbols of particular objects, there is a growing population of word tattoos. From bold words to statements to live by and quotes to admire, with or without accent images, word tattoos are increasingly popular in the modern age of self expression.
There is a great range of word tattoos and each tattoo features specific type fonts or lettering styles. …
By Diego Lucille
An employee who is heavily tattooed. Images likely to surface are that of a bouncer, mechanic, Carny, or a Mcdrop-out. Thanks to white-collar professionals who have white-hot bravado coupled with artistic balls, stereotypes surrounding tattoos in today’s workforce are not only being challenged, they are being altered.
A hat goes off to these 20 tattooed professionals who are making big figures, and a difference, in today’s corporate world:
Dave Kimelberg: Dave works as both a photographer and corporate lawyer in Boston. …
By Diego Lucille
Getting inked for the sake of your religious beliefs is a large cross to bear, if you will.
It is a commitment that subjects the tattooee to more judgment and possible controversy than any other tattoo choice. Wearing your religion on your skin takes resounding faith, unshakeable conviction, and yes, balls. But it is refreshing and in fact admirable in these days of the prolific slut-stamp and lifeless tribal sleeve to see folks stepping out of the ink herd and …
By Diego Lucille
Not long ago, when tattoos had yet to sprout like crabgrass on the bodies of our friends and loved ones, publicized photographs of tattoos and tattooed folks were scant at best.
Tattoo magazines were few, the Internet was still learning to walk, and tattoo photos that did surface were typically flat and featured poorly inked, head-banging youth or old-school aficionados whose once discernible, pectoral sailor maiden had since turned into a smudgey, re-entry club stamp.
But times have changed. Sure, there are …
By Dennis G
We are fully aware that tattoos were initially associated with criminals. Thanks to the realizations of modern society, tattoo designs nowadays are as normal as pierced ears.
But back to that early association of tattoos to gangs and criminals, it somehow follows that tattooing is quite a normal routine done inside prison cells. There, in the absence of appropriate materials and sterilizing tools, a prison tattoo machine (tattoo gun) has been created. The homemade version of the real deal accomplishes …
By Nick McCann
Hip-Hop is a culture made up of prominent figures that express themselves in extreme fashion with respect to virtually every aspect of their lives.
No matter what they do, these rappers never cease to project their own story, striving to remain interesting in the ever saturated rap game. From media interviews to advertising campaigns and personal ink style, these performers all know and embrace their role as icons in the hip-hop scene.
From The Game to the non-stop Lil …