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Content:
 
Tattoo:  A Short History
 
Tattoo Instruments
 
Ink
 
Risks
 
Tattoo Removal
 


Tattoo:  A Short History------------------------------------------------------

     Tattoos have been around as long as time can tell.  Signs of tattoos date
 
back to the Paleolithic era, where artifacts have been found with markings
 
portraying this art form.  While running around in loin clothes and killing prey
 
with wooden mallets and rocks has ceased to exist, many people still get
 
tattooed today.
           
     The word tattoo is a mix between the Polynesian word “ta” meaning
 
‘to strike’ and the Tahitian word “tatau” which means to make a mark on
 
something.  Another definition that is not as familiar is “tat” being the part of
 
the word that signifies the striking and marking, and “au” being the sound that a
 
person makes to confirm the pain of the process.  Setting aside the literal
 
meaning of the word tattoo, the idea of tattooing was practiced from one
 
culture to the next and played many important roles their upbringings.   
           
     Rising from what was believed to be an accident, tattoos have a long
 
and lasting role in world history.  An accident tattoo that started the hysteria of
 
tattooing was said to have come from small wounds on the flesh of the body. 
 
The open wound was than soiled with dirt or ash leaving a permanent design
 
on the skin.  
           
     Ancient tattoos were done for numerous reasons.  Some tattoos were
 
performed ritualistically, others done for the sole act of showing beauty
 
amongst woman.  To some people, the more tattoos on the skin, the stronger
 
the person was.  Tattoos were used to show certain skills different people
 
acquired throughout the years.  Identification is a significant reason for
 
tattooing.  Tattoos were also important for use in spying, or sending/receiving
 
secret messages.  The list goes on and on from proving adulthood, to warding
 
off evil spirits. 

 
TATTOO INSTRUMENTS------------------------------------------------
           
     The earliest recorded tattoo instruments come from the Paleolithic
 
period (10,000-38,000 BC) when disks and sharp needles made of bone
 
were used.  The disk provided a place for the ink to be held and the needle
 
was used to engrave the design into the skin.
           
     Also seen early on in Africa, razor blades were used to carve the
 
design into a person’s flesh.  The wound was than filled with charcoal leaving a
 
permanent mark.
 
            Polynesian tattooing is still a popular form of tattooing today.  The
 
needles could have been made from any of the following materials:  bird bone,
 
turtle shell, bamboo, pig s teeth, and on occasion, sharks teeth.  A number of
 
needles were used depending on the design being done.  The needles were
 
placed on the end of a wooden handle to resemble a present day gardening
 
rake.  The top of the rake was than tapped into the skin, leaving its design.
 
(Refer to Picture 1)  
           
     Samoan tattoos were done using primarily the same instrument at the
 
Polynesian tattoos, but the needles were preferably made of human bone.
           
     Again, Philippine tattoo devices resembled that of the Polynesian
 
device.
                        Tattooing instruments were made from a piece of wood or
 
water buffalo (caribou) horn about 10 cm long and 2 mm thick. At about a
 
sixth of its length it was bent at a right angle and, in the shorter arm, three to
 
five needles were affixed. The needles were laid on the skin and driven in with
 
blows of a wooden hammer at the rate of 90 to 120 taps per minute. Soot
 
from resinous wood such as spruce was used for pigment and rubbed into the wounds, causing the flesh to rise in great welts, which sometimes became infected.”  (Hemingson.)
            Inuit tribes used sewing to obtain their tattoos.  Needles much like
present day sewing needles were made and threaded.  The thread was then dipped in ink and the person tattooing literally stitched the design beneath the other person’s skin.  Pulling the thread completely out of the skin after the process was finished, all that is left behind is the ink and its design.
            Along with man, the tattoo machine also evolved.  The first tattoo machine was patented in 1891 by Samuel O’Reilly.  Electromagnetism is described as the following:  
the phenomena associated with electric and magnetic fields and their interactions with each other and with electric charges and currents.”  (Dictionary.com.)
            “Homemade” tattoo instruments are being assembled and used more frequently these days.  Electric toothbrushes, mechanical pencils, erasers, and guitar strings are popular items to use to make homemade tattoo devices.

INK-------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Using the resources around them, early civilizations used materials from nature to create their tattoo inks.  Ash and charcoal from the fire was often used as a form of ink.  An early recipe for tattoo ink is as follows:
            “Egyptian pine wood (acacia) and especially the bark, one pound; corroded bronze, two ounces; gall, two ounces; vitriol, one ounce.  Mix well and sift.  Grind the corroded bronze with vinegar and mix it with the other ingredients to make a  powder.  Soak the powder in two parts of water and one part of leek juice and mix thoroughly.”  (Hemingson.)  
     Here is a chart showing what ink is made of today:  

Composition of Tattoo Pigments

 Color

  Materials

 Comment

 Black

Iron Oxide (Fe3O4)

Iron Oxide (FeO)

Carbon

Logwood

Natural black pigment is made from magnetite crystals, powdered jet, wustite, bone black, and amorphous carbon from combustion (soot). Black pigment is commonly made into India ink.

Logwood is a heartwood extract from Haematoxylon campechisnum, found in Central America and the West Indies.

 Brown

Ochre

Ochre is composed of iron (ferric) oxides mixed with clay. Raw ochre is yellowish. When dehydrated through heating, ochre changes to a reddish color.

 Red

Cinnabar (HgS)

Cadmium Red (CdSe)

Iron Oxide (Fe2O3)

Napthol-AS pigment

Iron oxide is also known as common rust. Cinnabar and cadmium pigments are highly toxic. Napthol reds are synthesized from Naptha. Fewer reactions have been reported with naphthol red than the other pigments, but all reds carry risks of allergic or other reactions.

 Orange

disazodiarylide and/or disazopyrazolone

cadmium seleno-sulfide

The organics are formed from the condensation of 2 monoazo pigment molecules. They are large molecules with good thermal stability and colorfastness.

 Flesh

Ochres (iron oxides mixed with clay)

 

 Yellow

Cadmium Yellow (CdS, CdZnS)

Ochres

Curcuma Yellow

Chrome Yellow (PbCrO4, often mixed with PbS)

disazodiarylide

Curcuma is derived from plants of the ginger family; aka tumeric or curcurmin. Reactions are commonly associated with yellow pigments, in part because more pigment is needed to achieve a bright color.

 Green

Chromium Oxide (Cr2O3), called Casalis Green or Anadomis Green

Malachite [Cu2(CO3)(OH)2]

Ferrocyanides and Ferricyanides

Lead chromate

Monoazo pigment

Cu/Al phthalocyanine

Cu phthalocyanine

The greens often include admixtures, such as potassium ferrocyanide (yellow or red) and ferric ferrocyanide (Prussian Blue)

 Blue

Azure Blue

Cobalt Blue

Cu-phthalocyanine

Blue pigments from minerals include copper (II) carbonate (azurite), sodium aluminum silicate (lapis lazuli), calcium copper silicate (Egyptian Blue), other cobalt aluminum oxides and chromium oxides. The safest blues and greens are copper salts, such as copper pthalocyanine. Copper pthalocyanine pigments have FDA approval for use in infant furniture and toys and contact lenses. The copper-based pigments are considerably safer or more stable than cobalt or ultramarine pigments.

 Violet

Manganese Violet (manganese ammonium pyrophosphate)

Various aluminum salts

Quinacridone

Dioxazine/carbazole

Some of the purples, especially the bright magentas, are photoreactive and lose their color after prolonged exposure to light. Dioxazine and carbazole result in the most stable purple pigments.

 White

Lead White (Lead Carbonate)

Titanium dioxide (TiO2)

Barium Sulfate (BaSO4)

Zinc Oxide

Some white pigments are derived from anatase or rutile. White pigment may be used alone or to dilute the intensity of other pigments. Titanium oxides are one of the least reactive white pigments.

 
     Most inks today are made by the tattoo artist themselves.  They use
 
various pure pigments that come in powder form to create their own colors.
           
         A new ink being used today is black light ink.  Barely visible on the skin,
 
the tattoo shows only in full force under a black light, usually in night clubs.
RISKS----------------------------------------------------------------------
           
     Common sense:  If a tattoo is done safely and properly, the harmful risks of
 
tattooing are practically none existent. 
           
     From way-back-when to today, the number one risk of tattooing is
 
infection of the tattoo or surrounding area.  In history, death due to infection
 
from a tattoo was a high risk with lack of supplies needed to keep the area
 
clean.  A tattoo is an open wound and must be treated with care.  Applying
 
lotion to a new tattoo and washing once to twice daily make the risk of
 
infection slim to none.
           
      Another risk is tattoo allergies.  Reactions to the dyes used for a tattoo can
 
make the skin glow or scab.  While an allergy could be deadly, they can also
 
be cured using medicine from your local pharmacy.
           
      Unsterilized needles can also lead to disease.  In early tattooing, one needle
 
was shared between many people, often whole villages.  The chance of
 
receiving a disease transferred through human blood was at jeopardy. 
 
Hepatitis is the number one disease associated with tattooing.  Most tattoo
 
artists today use single use needles, and sterilize all of their equipment and
 
tattooing area after every client.
TATTOO REMOVAL------------------------------------------------------
           
     As unpleasant as it sounds, early tattoo removable was done by materials
 
such as sandpaper or rock.  The area of the skin containing the tattoo would
 
be rubbed until the design was scraped out of the skin.  Another form of
 
ancient removal was the cutting out of the flesh containing the tattoo.
           
Another formula for tattoo removal is defined as:
                           
       In cases where we wish to remove such tattoos, we must use the
 
following preparations…There follow two prescriptions, one involving lime,
 
gypsum and sodium carbonate, the other pepper, rue and honey. When
 
applying first clean the tattoos with nitre, smear them with resin of terebinth,
 
and bandage for five days. On the sixth prick the tattoos with a pin, sponge
 
away the blood, and then spread a little salt on the pricks, then after an interval
 
of stadioi (presumably the time taken to travel this distance), apply the
 
aforesaid prescription and cover it with a linen bandage. Leave it on five days,
 
and on the sixth smear on some of prescription with a feather. The tattoos are
 
removed in twenty days, without great ulceration and without a scar.”  (Hemingson.)
           
     The most popular form of tattoo removal today is done by laser.  Easily
 
put, a laser is used to blast the pigment of the tattoo which is then broken up
 
into smaller portions which are easily washed out by the blood stream.
           
 A wise piece of advice:  Do not get a tattoo unless you are 100 percent sure
 
you want it.       

Polynesian Tattoo Instruments
polynesiantattooinstruments.jpg
Picture 1

Samuel O'Reilly's Tattoo Machine
oreillytatmachine.jpg
Picture 2

Pictures from Google.com

Melissa O'Brocto
Technical Communications - Online
Daniel Shapiro
Final - The Tattoo Guide

Melissa O'Brocto - Dec. 2007