Kanji History

Kanji is definitely one of the most popular types of tattoos in the industry right now, and has been for a while.

Kanji originated in its most basic form in China, but Japan adopted this system of writing sometime in the 5th century. Before then, Japan had no formal writing system, but rather only used spoken word. In October of 1981 Japan actually released an official list of Kanji systems that their newspapers were allowed to use. Anything outside of this list was to include pronunciation documentation along with the article.

Japanese children are expected to learn all 1,945 of the common kanji symbols by the time they graduate high school, although there are upwards of 6,000 symbols total (many of which are now defunct).

Its a well known fact in the tattoo industry that not every kanji symbol you see actually means what it says it means. One of our artists has a friend who got what he thought said “Tough Guy” in kanji symbols, only to find out later at an Asian restaurant that it really meant “Bunny Boy”. So, if you are going to get some kanji symbols tattooed on you that will be there for the rest of your life, definitely have someone you trust translate them first. Many tattoo shops will have an actual translator that they can contact for custom tattoos. We’ve got one!

New Project!

After searching through Amazon.com for all of the interesting tattoo books I could find, I noticed something. There weren’t any end all be all books out there that covered every aspect of the tattoo culture, or body modification in general.

So, I am on a mission. A mission to compile every single bit of information I can regarding body modification that I can, and create one resource that covers all of it. A body modification encyclopedia if you will.

I will be posting tidbits of what I plan on including in the book, so as you read this blog, expect to see content from many of the articles in that book itself when it is one day released.

A special bond

Today I got to tattoo my mommy! It was awesome! The same woman that shook her head when I got my first tattoo, actually wanted me to ink her up today. Not only that, but she got the same tattoo that I did on myself, Mimi from the Nickelodeon Cartoon, Invader Zim!

Sometimes its strange how life works out, eh?

Tattoo 101

Just thought this was funny. When a tattoo artist quotes a price, don’t try to talk them down. If you think its too much, go somewhere else. In the world of tattoos, you definitely get what you pay for.

Book Review: Permanence: Tattoo Portaits by Kip Fulbeck

I have decided that every now and then I will review a tattoo book that I have read, and give you a little insight into the subject matter of the book.

Permanence: Tattoo Portaits by Kip Fulbeck is a great coffee table book. Each page has a photograph of a collector with something they have written regarding their tattoos. Most of them are just simple tattoos that have a special meaning to the collector, but there are a few that really touched me. There are also a few more well known people in the book that have been interviewed about their tattoos and lives in general. Interviewees include Kat Von D, Oliver Peck, and Evan Seinfeld, among others.

If you are interested in the world of tattooing, and are looking to peer into the minds of the tattoed, then I definitely recommend this book.

You can find it on Amazon.com for $13.57 + S&H at the time of this blog posting.

http://www.amazon.com/Permanence-Tattoo-Portraits-Kip-Fulbeck/dp/0811861317

My First Tattoo

This is a picture of the very first tattoo I ever did. As you can see it is the Gears of War cog, from the popular XBox 360 game. I did it on Brian, who also works in the shop with me. *Thank you Brian*

One of my favorite things about this tattoo is that is that there is no outline to follow. This made things a little easier as I didn’t have to worry so much about getting outside of the lines. Brian was kind enough to let me just go with it on this tattoo, and do more than just the plain red that comprises the image itself. So I added some darker red around the outer parts of the cog to make it look almost 3 dimensional. Overall I would say that it turned out very nice.

Body Language

Body Language Tattoos is the name of the shop I am currently apprenticing at in Somerset, KY.

We are located at:
285 Parker’s Mill Way #4
Somerset, KY 42503

I officially became an apprentice on March 22nd, 2008 and just recently got the the point where I am able to tattoo customers. So if you want some fresh new ink and are in the Somerset area, hit us up. We have 3 extremely talented artists, and myself. Our artists can handle any style of tattoo you would want, and can come up with some amazing custom designs.

It started at the beginning…

This marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life. The beginning of the end. The start of a new path, and my career choice in life.

Sounds simple enough doesn’t it?

This blog is a combination of things, not just my day to day accounts of being a tattoo apprentice, but so much MORE! I will be posting about all things relating to the industry, as well as having music and Zen related posts (though most of the posts will be tattoo related).

Anyways, here it is. The start, beginning, alpha to the omega. Hahaha, yeah. I’m gonna go write that about section now that I asked you to read, so you don’t go there and get nothing.