DIY Tattoo Machines - Good or Evil?

DIY Tattoo Machines - Good or Evil? Many people are interested in tattoo art as well as in the process of tattooing itself. The process it not that difficult at all, it consists of the following steps: you choose a pattern, find a sketch, than mark contours of your future tattoo. After it is done, you paint it and yet it heals. Than correction goes if necessary.

It might seem very easy, but you need skills and experience to make high-quality tattoo. But not every body can afford a professional tattoo gun at the very beginning, so lots of amateur tattoo masters show a great interest in so called DIY tattoo machines that can be made from household supplies and engines from household appliances.

Using a DIT tattoo machine is, well, rather a dangerous trial-and-error approach to your creative work. While tattooing, you make an enormous number of holes in the skin. Each of these tiny wound may invite infections, including dangerous one. That’s why proper sterilization is a must. Heating a needle under a flame or cleaning it with alcohol is not enough. The needles must be sterilized in a machine called an autoclave that really kills germs.

Remember that the disregard of hygiene (in a tattoo saloon as well!) often leads to complications such as inflammation and never-healing wounds.

So if are brave enough to use a DIY tattoo machine, don’t save money at least on coloring agents (pigments). Cheap pigments are made of sot, ink and gel pastes with low light-reflective capability. That’s why the ink under your skin grows dim and a tattoo may as well blow out. The same concerns needles. Give you preference to original ones and don’t make them at home.

Tattoo professional assume that it is impossible to achieve a high-quality beautiful tattoo with a home-made gun. Especially if you are going to tattoo your own body. If you want one, you’d better go to a tattoo saloon. And if you’d like to devote your life to tattoo art, the purchasing of all the equipment will cost you large sums of money, but it will not be spent in vain, at least.

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Now You Can Draw a Henna Tattoo by Yourself: Henna Tattoo Recipes and More

Henna tattoo stems from the antique technique used by the women of Ancient Egypt, who spent hours adorning themselves. Later it became widespread across India and Central Asia and today henna tattoo enjoys wide popularity all over the world. These tattoos last about 2 weeks (even more with proper care), and gives you the chance to think whether you’d like a permanent one or not. The process itself is painless, and if you’ve got a steady hand and some patience, then it will be easy for you to create a henna tattoo. And should I mention the kids that are going to love the idea of having a temporary tattoo?

Below you will find a simple but effective guide on creating a henna tattoo.

Henna is a powder made of leaves of Lawsonia Alba, the plant indigenous to North Africa, the Middle East, and India. Its leaves that gathered from the lower part of the plant are used for hair and nail dye. Upper leaves have a more intensive dying effect, thus providing material for body painting. Henna should be stored in vacuum-sealed packages; otherwise it won’t provide a bright image. The tattoo’s color will also depend on the skin shade: the paler you are – the more reddish shade your tattoo will have.

Stage1: Preparing the skin

Henna tattoo will remain longer on the smooth skin, so do a peeling if needed, dab the area of the future tattoo with alcohol or alcohol-containing liquid and rub three drops of eucalyptus oil in.

Before you start you should make sure that you’re not allergic to henna. Simply put a few drops of the henna mixed with water on the inner side of your elbow and wait for 12 hours. If there’s no allergic reaction, then you’re ready to get a henna tattoo.

Stage 2: Preparing the dye

1. 30-40 g (1 – 1.5 oz) of pure green henna powder + 500 ml (18 oz) of hot water

2. 30-40 g (1 – 1.5 oz) of henna powder + 500 ml (18 oz) of water + 2 tbsp of ground coffee + 2 tsp of black tea. Add tea and coffee to the boiling water and boil for an hour, than pass through a sieve and mix with henna

3. 30-40 g (1 – 1.5 oz) of henna powder + 250 ml (9 oz) of water + 250 ml (9 oz) of red wine. Boil the water, add wine and mix with henna

4. 30-40 g (1 – 1.5 oz) of henna powder + 500 ml (18 oz) of water + 2 tsp of sugar + 2 tsp of lemon juice. Boil the water, add sugar and lemon juice. After the sugar has dissolved – mix with henna

5. 30-40 g (1 – 1.5 oz) of henna powder + 500 ml (18 oz) of water + 5 tbsp of clover. Boil the water, add clover, and steam on a slow fire for 20 minutes and mix with henna.

Mixing should be done slowly. Avoid lumps: if there are some – pass the mixture through a sieve. Henna paste should be a bit thick. If you want to make the color of your tat more intensive – you can add 1-2 tsp of lime juice.

Cool the mixture – and you’re ready to paint!

Of course, you can buy a cone with prepared henna, in that case - skip the stage

Stage 3: Creating your tattoo

Traditionally henna paint is applied with the help of thin wooden or metallic sticks, a paintbrush or a special syringe. If you are planning to use a ready-made henna paste, you can buy a special easy-to-use tube of henna.

You may draw the tattoo free-handedly or use some special techniques, if you’re no good at drawing. The easiest technique consists of the following steps:

1. Pick a design and copy it from the source on a sheet of parchment with a water-soluble soft-tip pen.

2. Apply some deodorant on your skin in the area where you plan to draw your tattoo (use the roll-on deodorant)

3. Adjust the sheet of the parchment with the drawn image to the skin and press for a few minutes. The deodorant will dissolve the pen’s pigment and the lines of the drawing will remain on your skin.

After you have applied the henna paste – let it dry for at least 2 hours. If you want it to be brighter and to last longer, then don’t remove the paste for 6-8 hours. Avoid watering the tattoo during the first 24-48 hours. Keep in mind that at first the tattoo will be of a light orange-brownish color, but it will get darker with time.

Fine points:

Henna tattoo stays longer on the places that are usually covered by clothes
While drying the image – try to expose it to the sunlight or keep it under infrared lamp in order to make it last longer
Henna tattoos drawn on feet or hands turn out to be the brightest
While drying your tattoo – dab it with a tissue moistened with mixture of lemon juice (2tbsp) and sugar (1 tbsp)
On the next day apply a thin layer of henna paste on your tattoo – it will make the color brighter
Rub in some almond, mustard-seed or sesame oil after removing henna paste. It will also brighten the tattoo
If you want the tattoo to stay as long as possible don’t rub or soap the image – simply rinse it with water. Also avoid excessive sweating
If you liked your henna tattoo – you can renew it by applying henna paste on it again before it has completely faded away
Henna is a strong dye, so be careful and remove stray drops and smudges at once with the help of a q-tip moistened with alcohol

(Images from Flikr.com)

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Pig Tattoos: Some Artists Can Tattoo Whatever Moves

Have you ever tried to tattoo your pet? Have you ever wanted to have a machine that produces poos? Have you ever thought of getting x-rayed while having sex? Have you ever heard about Wim Delvoye?

After all that modern artists have done, you might think that nothing would be more shocking. After seeing Jeff Koons make statues of celebrities giving birth and Damien Hirst slicing up sharks. Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Wim Delvoye and his controversial art of tattooing pigs.

Delvoye first began tattooing pigs in Belgium (where he is actually from) around 1992, at that time he inked dead pigs only. By 1997, he decided to explore the concept further. Thinking of the pigs as living “piggy banks”, that is to say as investments, he began to tattoo designs on live pigs. The animals are sedated first, and then shaved and tattooed all like a human being.

In 2004, Delvoye rented a farm in China, where he wouldn’t be hindered by prohibitive animal welfare laws and established his Art Farm project. Pigs are tattooed when they are young and the designs change and grow as the pig grows. Interested art buyers can purchase a pig, although Delvoye has noted that none of them have actually taken their pigs home to live with them. Some buyers have waited until the pigs dies of old age to have the skins turned into art, but others have preferred that the pigs be slaughtered and the skin stretched and framed. Delvoye has also exhibited some of the tattooed pigs as fully stuffed and taxidermied statues, sitting as he puts it “like a stone lion outside a Chinese restaurant.”

In September of 2008, Delvoye was scheduled to have eight of his pigs appear as part of the Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, but shortly before the exhibition was set to open, officials decided the pigs, tattooed with Disney designs and the Louis Vuitton logo, were in poor taste and the Art Farm exhibit was removed from the event. Delvoye was somewhat disappointed as he had interested buyers coming to China from Europe. The tattooed porcines can fetch as much as $160,000.

Apart from tattooing pigs, Wim has several projects which I consider to be worth seeing. You can find them in the artist’s official website. You can also read an interview with Wim Delvoye here.

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Discover The Mysterious Tattoo Art: Runic Tattoos

According to the Nothern legend, the God Odin by name possessed the knowlege of runes, for which he sacrificed himself. The legend says, he has pinned himself to the ash tree of peace “Igdrazil” with a holy spear and spent there 9 days. The word “rune” itself does not mean “letter” or “sign“, but means “secret“.

A runic sign connects its keeper with the egregor of the Northern Gods, lit with the thousand-years polar lights. The egregore of Vikings would not stand for lies and double-dealing.

You should never thoughtlessly put runes together or rewrite runic spells. And offcourse I strongly recomend you NOT to tattoo yourself the runes you don’t know! This could be as dangerous as a drunk tank driver!

Here are some good runic tattoo ideas for you:

Thor Mjolnir’s Hammer - you may use these runes in case you need a protection. This runic sign is simple, but rather strong.

In case you want to increase the power of a spell, you may unite the runes, make them look more compact. For example, here is the rune for deeply understanding the truth:

The names of Scandinavian Gods have an amazing power too. You may get a tattoo of an animal connected with Odin (eagle, wolf, crow, horse or snake) and place his name written in runes nearby:

One more name for you to use is Tyr. He is the God of law & justice and likes rational way of thinking. I would recomend this rune to people with a high IQ level:

Thor is a god of unswerving loyalty and honour. He is a defender of humans. I would recomend his rune to somene with a srong personality:

And here are some very storng united runes patterns for you: (From left to right: Long life, Good Luck, I exist, Constant Success, Power of mind)

P.S.: You should know that once you’ve decided to get a runic tattoo, you shall have a glass of beer standing in front of you during the process as a gift to Odin (you may dink it yourself afterwards) and mentally prepare yourself for the contact with Gods!

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