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History lesson 101.The word tattoo comes from the Tahitian "tatu" which means "to mark something. Tattooing has been used all over the world in different cultures and many other reasons as far back as 12,000 B.C.This practice is still uesed today all over the world from the old tribes in the amazon and just ordinary people like me and you.
The Greeks and Romans used tattooing for communication among spies. Markings identified the spies and showed their rank and marked criminals and slaves.In the west, early Britons used tattoos in ceremonies. The Danes, Norse, and Saxons tattooed family crests a tradition still practiced today. In 787 AD, Pope Hadrian banned tattooing. It still thrived in Britain until the Norman Invasion of 1066. The Normans disdained tattooing. It disappeared from Western culture from the 12th to the 16th centuries.
What kept tattooing from becoming more widespread was its slow and painstaking procedure. Each puncture of the skin was done by hand the ink was applied. In 1891, Samuel O'Rtiely patented the first electric tattooing machine. It was based on Edison's electric pen which punctured paper with a needle point. The basic design with moving coils, a tube and a needle bar, are the components of today's tattoo gun. The electric tattoo machine allowed anyone to obtain a reasonably priced, and readily available tattoo. As the average person could easily get a tattoo, the upper classes turned away from it.
In the 1990's tattooing had lost a great deal of credibility. Tattoist had moved to the more trasher part of towns and people who abused the practice and had more than just a few tattoos traveled with the circus or where just looked down apon.
The start of tattooing in American was in Chatham Square in New York City. At the turn of the century it was a seaport and entertainment center attracting working-class people with money. Samuel O'Riely cam from Boston and set up shop there. He took on an apprentice named Charlie Wagner. After O'Reily's death in 1908, Wagner opened a supply business with Lew Alberts. Alberts had trained as a wallpaper designer and he transferred those skills to the design of tattoos. He is noted for redesigning a large portion of early tattoo flash art.
Tattooing took a hault when newspapers reported stories of blood poisoning, hepatitis, and other diseases.Most tattoo shops had sterilization machines, few used them.A health code violation went into effect and the tattoo shops at Times Square and Coney Island were shut down. For a time, it was difficult to get a tattoo in New York. It was illegal and tattoos had a terrible reputation.
In the late 1960s, the attitude towards tattooing changed. Much credit can be given to Lyle Tuttle who knew how to use the media. He tattooed celebrities, particularly women. Magazines and television went to Lyle to get information about this ancient art form. Today tattooing is making a strong comeback. It is more popular and accepted than it has ever been. All classes of people want the best tattoo artists. This rise in popularity has placed tattoists in the category of "fine artist". The tattooist has gotten the respect it has not seen for over 150 years. Current artists combine there skill and artistic view to make unique and phenomenal body art. With the addition of new inks, tattooing has certainly reached a new plateau and is getting better recignetion than ever.