Flash Your Tattoo » body art

Auctioning Off Some Skin

Tattoosue — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:47:22 +0000

One woman from New Zealand has been an inspiration for other individuals now offering auctions for picking out – what will be inked on their rears. Tina Beznec, the 23-year old woman, came up with a unique method to raise money. Utilizing a New Zealand auction site, she’s taking bids to auction off a space of 9cm by 9cm on her butt for the tattoo of the winner’s choosing!

Her ad suggests –“advertise your business”, propose to your loved one (I doubt this would be a great idea), “destroy her love life” ( chuckle), get creative! The winner of the auction will receive a framed photograph of the final piece of art. If they’re lucky enough to live in the area, she said it’s OK to observe her getting the tattoo. The auction ends in February and as of today – the highest bid is $12,200!!

Now this idea is catching on and men and women are auctioning off space in the same area. In some cases, these people are strapped for cash and are planning to keep the money, while others are using it as a tool to raise money for a charity they believe in.

For example – Hannah Wesley, a nursing student, is offering the same options as Tina but she’s handing over half of the cash raised to her favorite animal welfare organization, the SPCA.

It’s an easy way to raise money for a good cause and shows that tattooing can be used for good causes.

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A Fan for Drake Shows Her Love

Tattoosue — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:07:40 +0000

Kevin Campbell, the now infamous tattoo artist who inked this woman’s forehead, said the woman came into the shop completely ready to get “Drake” tattooed on her forehead. He got the impression she actually thought it out. She felt strongly about where and what and even brought in a sample of the font she wanted. Drake is a rapper.

Campbell noticed that the woman’s excitement quickly went south once she saw the tattoo. Second thoughts perhaps? Guess she’s schedule to come in for a second sitting and get the lettering filled in. Because that’s just what she needs – is to make it more prominent.

Wonder if she’ll show. I think she’s more likely to keep an appointment at the laser tattoo removal clinic.

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Zombie Boy Transformation

Tattoosue — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:47:05 +0000

Zombie Boy is a Montreal-based fashion model who you may recognize from the startling tattoo work that covers the majority of his body and face. His intent is to look like a rotting corpse. This transformation has actually turned into a couple of working gigs for Genest. This year he joined Lady GaGa in the ‘Born This Way‘ video and now he is being used by Dermablend for advertising purposes.

Removing and covering up tattoos has turned into a big business. The advertising big shots at Dermablend came up with a winner when they choose Rico Genest, who is better known as Zombie Boy, to advertise their tattoo covering product. Check out the video.

Print Tattoos!

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It’s Tatman!

Tattoosue — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:52:50 +0000

Well, I’m not into watching sports on TV but my husband loves it – so last night a baseball game was on and I glanced up from my reading to see fans holding up signs that were plastered with love for “Tatman” – almost sounds like a Superhero. This quickly got my attention.

He was one of the most popular players in last night’s game – he hit a grand slam against the Milwaukee Brewers – and that’s why people were holding up these signs for Ryan Roberts of the Arizona Diamondbacks. His nickname stems from his many tattoos. The man is covered with tattoos from his neck to his toes.

I think high profile, successful sports figures like this are the type of public figures that will help change the negative attitude some people have about tattoo work. The 31 year old Roberts says he gets tattoos to show what inspires him. A lot of his fans are intrigued with his body art and the better he performs in the playoffs, the more inquiries he’ll receive — about his body art and about his performance on the field.

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Stereotyping – We’re All Guilty

Tattoosue — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:04:57 +0000

At least I’ll make that statement about myself. I try to be open minded but there are certain lifestyles that we tend to associate with certain social groups. Well – this story shows you can’t always judge a book by its cover. You have to look deeper. It also shows how tattoos are now popular with people from just about all walks of life.

Mitzi Britt is a tattoo artist and a Christian who wanted to help get rid of stereotyping when it came to her faith. She wants to show that even Christians can love motorcycles and tattoos. She’s spreading the word with her own clothing line called Soul Candy Brand. The images are favorite tattoo images like skulls with religious images incorporated in as well. She wants to show people that the life of a Christian isn’t dull and boring.

I think this works to prove a point in 2 ways. You shouldn’t stereotype people because of their faith and you shouldn’t stereotype people that have tattoos.

Another mention- Britt donates a portion of each Soul Candy Brand sale to local community organizations and to their church.

You can buy their products at their studio, Wildfire Tattoo Studio, and online. Wildfire is located in Walnut Cove, North Carolina.

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Cattoo Design

Tattoosue — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:18:52 +0000

I wanted to tell you about a new tattoo blog with a specific topic – cat tattoos. They call the cat tattoos they are featuring Team Cattoo. They are combining tattoos and helping animals by bringing needed attention to animal rescue groups. They are featuring people that help out animals and volunteer to work with organizations that desperately need help. Any of these volunteers that have any cat tattoos will be pictured on this blog.

The latest blog post is about the San Francisco SPCA which is supported by the community.

Hopefully this blog will remind people that these groups could use any support you can offer. With the economy being in rough shape, people are turning in their animals in record numbers. They can’t afford to feed and keep them anymore. All of the foreclosure in the last couple of years caused many families to give up their pets when they were forced to move. To compound the problem, funding is being cut to animal shelter across the country. If you can spare some cash, donate to your local animal groups. If you can’t afford a donation, see if you can give your time. Most shelters are always looking for volunteers to help out.

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Discover Roman Abrego

Tattoosue — Fri, 13 May 2011 23:51:41 +0000

I haven’t done a post about a specific artist in awhile. I’ve been concentrating that type of research for other projects – but in case you haven’t heard of this guy – I’d like to draw your attention – because the guy will knock your socks off. He is so exceptional; I want to share this with anyone that wasn’t aware of his art work. Roman Abrego is one of those artists that was born to tattoo. It would have been a sin if this man had never been drawn to tattooing.

Although his career started out rocky – as in spending time in jail – this opportunity gave Roman an opportunity to shift his focus on his art. He worked construction for a bit but eventually tried his hand at tattooing. He now owns his own tattoo shop – Artistic Element in Yucaipa, California. Visit his shops Facebook page – you can see more of his work there.

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Keeping Your Loved Ones Close

Tattoosue — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 23:36:40 +0000

When you lose a loved one, it is common to keep something belonging to them so you can feel that you have a part of them forever.

But this has been taken to a whole new level in a craze which takes the cremated remains from loved ones and mixes it with tattoo ink and then the ink is used by the artist to create a piece of art that pays tribute to the deceased.

This process has been going on for at least 30 years but only caught on recently. These tattoos are called commemorative or ritual tattoos. Using cremation ashes, known as “cremains”, is occurring more and more often. Individuals are getting their loved one’s ashes injected into their tattoo work.

It’s more of a symbolic gesture in my opinion. The amount of remains used in the process is microscopic and has to be sterilized to allow it to be safe to be injected into your skin with the ink.

Some medical officials are advising people to be cautious. Even with the cremains being sterilized, you are still injecting a foreign substance into your system. I can understand that opinion but considering the amount used and the process of sterilizing the ash beforehand, it seems like any risk would be minuscule. To each his own. If it gives you peace then good for you.

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Adopt a Tattooed Pig Program

Tattoosue — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:49:19 +0000

I wrote about this farm almost 3 years ago and the business is still in existence and going strong. I admire the beautiful tattoo work that these artists are laying on these pigs and the pigs seem to be living a good life and are well taken care of. They are the draw and the key to this business.

In Yang Zhen, Beijing artist Wim Delvoye tattoos hogs. Large crowds come out to the farm to observe the colorful tattooed pigs.

The pigs are anesthetized during the process and while they are out a total of 3 artists work on the pig to get as much work accomplished as possible. Delvoye works with 2 co-artists.

Animal rights activists are complaining about the pigs being used for commercial gain at the expense of their suffering. I thought at first this was a little over the top considering the pigs enjoy a fairly good life while the tourists gawk and stare. Each pig has a person taking care of their skin and applying daily moisturizer to keep the tattoo in good shape.

THEN I heard about another aspect of the business which is pretty disgusting in my book. Delvoye offers an “adopt a pig” program. Sounds like a good program until you hear the details.

Sponsors pay to have the pig stuffed so they can display the artwork. Or you can get their hide to hang on a wall or stretched over canvas so it looks like a painting. Disgusting.

How can you look at these wonderful friendly and intelligent animals and be thinking about hanging their skin on your wall? It reminds me of Hitler making lamps shades from skin of concentration camp prisoners. Wim said “Instead of producing art I wanted to harvest it.”

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What’s Your Sign?

Tattoosue — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:47:13 +0000

I don’t know if you’ve heard the latest regarding Zodiac signs. It seems the astrological sign you thought represented when you were born and what type of personality was typical, may no longer be the case. Certain dates that used to fall under Aquarius are now Capricorns. Not everyone has changed. There’s even a brand new sign called Ophiuchus which has pushed around the other signs. The sun’s relationship to other stars had changed since the first zodiac was created by the Babylonians. This means we’ve been incorrect for quite some time. It seems strange to have something you thought was etched in stone to be so wrong.

I started thinking about the effect on tattoos. Although it seems very silly to think of removing a tattoo for this reason, getting a second tattoo of your “new” sign may be the perfect answer. If possible getting the two tattoos in the same general area and possibly of the same style I think would be a great idea. See if you need a new tattoo:

Capricorn: Jan. 19 – Feb. 15
Aquarius: Feb. 16 – March 11
Pisces: March 12- April 18
Aries: April 19 – May 13
Taurus: May 14 – June 21
Gemini: June 21 – July 20
Cancer: July 21 – Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 11 – Sept. 15
Virgo: Sept. 16 – Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30 – Nov. 22
Scorpio: Nov. 23 – Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 – Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 18 – Jan. 18

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