Tattoo You Want: August 2007

Did this tattoo as a coverup of a ex-lover's name....

No explaination needed...Sometimes I run out of words to say too ya know? Haha !!

Change of venue

Hello loyal readers,

I have realized that I am no longer able to update to this blog every day, and so I have decided to move to another site which you can all check daily and get new updates, some of which will be mine.

funvampires.com

I just did a best-of-the-worst retrospective and will be making all Awful Tattoos updates to that site from here on out. I'll be posting on here to let you know when the updates are for the first few weeks or so.

Thanks,
Alice

Maori

Maori tattooing is a distinct school of patterns and graphic designs within Polynesian tattooing. While much of Polynesian tattooing is derived from straight-line geometric patterns (and thought to originate with patterns found on ancient Lapita pottery shards such as have been discovered in Samoa), a design fact which rose in part because the traditional Polynesian tattoo combs are best suited to linear designs, Maori tattooing is essentially curvilinear, and the mainstay of Maori designs are based on the spiral. It should be noted that renowned traditional Hawaiian artist Keone Nunes has demonstrated that it is possible to reproduce complex curved designs using traditional Polynesian tattooing implements.

Traditionally Maori tattoo artists followed very specific rules laid out for facial "moko" or tattoos. It is important to note that because of the tremendous cultural complexity of New Zealand's many tribes and clans, these rules often had local variations. But the idea that the tattoos followed a set of prescribed rules was widespread, and tattoos were specific to individuals, family, clans and tribes. Maori tattoos follow the contours of the face, and are meant to enhance the natural contours and expressions of an individual's face. A well-executed tattoo would trace the natural "geography" of an individual's facial features, for example lines along the brow ridge; the major design motifs are symmetrically placed within opposed design fields: lines are used in certain areas where spirals are not used; two types of spiral are used -- the koru, which is not rolled up and has a "clubbed" end, and the rolled spiral. (Ta Moko: The Art of Maori Tattoo, By D.R.Simmons)

Return of the Dragon

Been days since I updated anything up in here. Seems like some kinda voodoo spell has been casted on Immortal Tattoos !! Where have the human canvases disappeared to? Have they turned to dust? Hehe !! Well, I can't blame bad times can I?

But, on exception, there are few survivors who got away from the curse and fell right into the studio...

Here are 2 of the works done...

Tribal Dragon ( Making a Comeback )

Orchid and Aum

The orchid symbolizes perfection, wisdom, and thoughtfulness in some cultures; in other cultures it symbolizes virtue and morality. That's all I pretty much know about Orchids...Hehe !!

Wizards III: wizards with balls

Here is an assortment of my favorite tattoo theme: wizards with glowing and/or fiery crystal balls.

Glowing red eyes just make this wizard look like a snake, and what is up with the weird pointy shoulder on the left? I can't even begin to discuss the money ball...

This wizard is the best of the bunch, technique-wise, but what is up with the Q-ball? The sparkles are a good touch.

This guy gets bonus points for having eyes, but negative points for the half-assed glowing ball.

Not only does this wizard look like a zombie with shark teeth, but his magic ball is made out of DRAGONS and he has flying decapitated hands.

I love the robe but this wizard looks like he's about to hike a football, not cast some serious magic

And finally, I know this bad picture obscures the badness of the tattoo, but just pay close attention to the pointy red fingernails, the snake-eyes, and the fire that looks like it is in zero-g.

Traditional Tattoo Videos

As promised, here are the videos taken during the 2nd International Borneo Tattoo Convention,of me getting tattooed traditonally..

Day 1

Day 2

When you really, really love a musician...

It still doesn't mean that getting their portrait tattooed on you is a good idea.

Star Wars II

I got this email from a reader in my inbox this morning. Thank you so much! This chewie is amazing!
this is my friend's arm, proudly displaying chewbacca over an Irish
flag... this tattoo came to him in a dream.

It prompted me to do another search for bad Star Wars tattoos so that I could fill out a post. I already had this one saved. It's an internet classic and one of my favorite awful tattoos:

I found a couple other wonky chewies:

The color shading in this one is pretty funny:

And finally: one of the worst tattoos posted on this blog to date. It's Jabba with slave Leia, in case you can't tell! Her hair is coming out of her face, her six pack is atrocious, her arms and hands look just like her braid of hair, her nose looks alien, and she has the weirdest shoulder I have ever seen. Jabba actually looks pretty decent, but then there's the weird leafy neon background behind them.

Alien Invasion

Alien tattoos are pretty much always a little cheesy, but these ones are next level:

And finally, an internet classic:

This is for the bike punx

Just a reminder that A) sunscreen is your best friend when you get tattoos, and B) bike tattoos are not always super cool, especially not homemade ones.