A Guide To Flag Tattoos And Designs

Flag tattoos definitely have a lot of meaning behind them.  They wholly represent one’s pride in heritage, family and home.  They can be anything from a small, basic flag (with a lot of meaning), or something very stylish that features a country or region’s official colors.  One popular choice is to get a tattoo of the outline of a country and have it filled in with its flag’s colors.  Some flag tattoos can have a wind effect to make it appear as if the flag is blowing in the wind.

Another idea is to have something that is symbolic of a specific country, state or region and have it colored with the official colors.  For instance, an American could have a red, white and blue eagle tattoo.  An Irishman or woman could have a green and orange leprechaun tattoo.  One popular choice for Americans who live in Southern states is to have a rebel flag design.  It could be by itself or combined together with the official US flag.  There are even yin-yang designs with the US flag on one side and the Confederate flag on the other!

Flag tattoos do not necessarily have to represent particular places, either.  Some represent ideas.  For instance, the rainbow flag represents gay and lesbian pride.  It is featured in some tattoo designs.  Schools and universities usually have a flag designed with school colors.  Military organizations and charitable organizations each have their own flags, also.  A soldier could get a military flag tattoo—there is one for every branch of the military in just about every country.

Many families have coat of arms that can be designed as a flag.  Some people choose to get these types of flag tattoos to show pride in their family, heritage and name.  If you think you want a coat of arms flag tattoo, good luck trying to find an image of it.  It can be hard to locate coat of arms information on uncommon names.

Some people choose to get memorial tattoos dedicated to their fallen loved ones or comrades.  These designs can feature a flag at half-mast, fallen or draped.  These images are sad, yet powerful, as they serve as reminders of the sacrifices that are made in war.  If you want to get a flag tattoo to honor a fellow service member or a family member who died, make sure you choose the right tattoo artist.  Not all tattoo artists have what it takes to do memorial tattoos justice.

Anything that you want to show your pride in can be made into a flag tattoo.  Whether you want to support your favorite sports team, ancestry, country, etc, you can find some great design ideas online.  You can get a tattoo of a flag waving in glory, wrapped around a symbolic image, as a centralized theme in a large, detailed design and so forth.  Just make sure that flag tattoos are truly want you want, and that the one you get is something you will proudly display for the rest of your life!

If you think you want a tattoo, you need to make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.  Hopefully, you do not just decide to get one on a whim without doing research first, or else you will regret your careless decision for the rest of your life. A tattoo is not at all like a clothing item or pair of shoes.  You can change clothes or accessories anytime you want.  A tattoo is something that will be on you forever, and there is nothing you can do to change it after you get it.

You need to ask yourself these questions:

• Why do I want a tattoo in the first place?
• Is there a particular theme I want?
• Do I want something large or small?
• Is there a certain message I want to convey with my choice of tattoo design?
• On which part of my body shall I get the tattoo?
• Does my choice truly reflect my personality?
• Will my choice be something I can live with for the rest of my life?

Another thing you want to consider is the type of message your tattoo will send to others.  If you could care less what others think, that is fine, but if you do not do proper research first, your choice of tattoo could end up being a mistake.

You will not want to get a tattoo design because you think it looks cool, only to find out later that its symbolic meaning is something you do not appreciate or care about.  Also, be careful if you get a Kanji tattoo—they are the craze these days, but some people rush in to get them without making sure the translation is correct.

If you want your tattoo to be special, then do not pick a design out on a website that many other people visit.  Obviously, if a lot of people are viewing the same designs you are, there is the possibility that they will choose the same one you do, hence your tattoo will not be unique!

So, is there a solution?  You can always pay for a membership to a private gallery.  There are far fewer people viewing paid membership galleries, thus your chance of choosing a unique design is significantly increased.  You could also ask a tattoo artist specifically for some ideas.  A custom tattoo may cost you some extra money, especially if takes awhile to design, but at least you know it will be 100% unique.

Once you have the tattoo design picked out, you need to make sure you pick the right artist.  Ask others for recommendations or look online to find out information about the tattoo artists in your area.  Make sure that you choose a clean shop in which the artist uses sterilized needles and other equipment.

As for aftercare, your tattoo artist will probably give you instructions to take home and read.  You can also look online for tattoo aftercare guides.  You will not be able to wash the skin around the tattoo for awhile after getting it.  You probably will not be able to wear restrictive clothing, either.  Make sure you take precautions before, during and after you get your tattoo.

How To Find A Good Tattoo Parlor – Tattoo Shops

Finding a good tattoo parlor is probably more important than finding a good place to get to a hair cut or shop for new clothes. After all, your hair will grow back and you can give clothes away, but a tattoo is permanent.

You want a good, comfortable experience getting your tattoo, so look for place that is right for you.  In the past, you might have felt you had to make sacrifices and go to a part of town you did not like or place yourself in circumstances you ordinarily would not just to get a tattoo. The industry has become too popular and is now such a part of American culture that the tattoo parlor has left the back alley it once called home for the outlet mall and downtown corner store front.

In the early days of tattooing only bikers, sailors and prisoners usually got body art of any kind.  Tattooing was an underrated art form and artists often found themselves in seedy locations far from affluent neighborhoods.  Now celebrities, soccer moms and business people get tattoos and the level of work and availability of good tattoo art is much improved.

To find a good tattoo parlor, you need to find an artist whose work you like.  Try asking those who you see with good body art where they got it. Check out tattoo parlors and ask to see photographs of the artist’s work.  When you are looking at the photographs, check to make sure these are designs you like. Look also to make sure the art has no broken or jagged lines.  There should not be any lines that do not meet up either, unless this is the style of the tattoo.  Make sure the coloring is solid and does not look bare or under-done in places.

Do not let yourself fall in love with the first place you find. Check around at different shops to make sure you see a variety and know what you want.  Do not look for cheap prices. This is a permanent piece of work on your skin so this is not a time to cost cut.  You are finding an artist, and you should keep this in mind.

Prices do not matter so much, but cleanliness certainly counts.  Make sure the tattoo parlor is following all disease-control procedures carefully.  The shop personnel should always be ready to answer questions about safety and health procedures and take this topic seriously. Most importantly all equipment should be single service, which means that each needle and tube set comes from individually packaged materials.  The artist should wear gloves at all times they are working on or near a client and when they move away to another one or change place in the parlor they should change gloves.

With the popularity of tattooing at an all-time high you can enjoy getting your tattoo in a safe, comfortable environment.

Tattoo Designs Are Part Of History – Tattoo History

Tattoo designs are often the joining of two worlds. Most often they incorporate the world as you see it every day, and as you would like the world to be. When you pick a tattoo design and get body art you are becoming a part of history. It is no wonder then that the word tattoo is the joining of one world with another. The term comes from ‘ta’ which means ‘striking something’ in Polynesian with the Tahitian word ‘tatau’ which means to mark something. Wherever the word tattoo comes from, the history of this art began 5,000 years ago.  It began with people actually cutting the designs into their skin and flesh and pressing ink and ash into the wound.

We know that tattoo designs started this early by the discovery of a five thousand year old corpse in remarkably good condition on a mountain near the borders of Austria and Italy.  He had a collection of 57 tattoos.  There was a cross inside his left knee, six lines above his kidneys and numerous lines on his ankles.  They might have been marked off to show some accomplishment or they might have had some type of therapeutic purpose, but we can understand that tattoos have been around for a long time.

We can also look back to the Egyptians of the XI dynasty of 2160 BC, who tattooed lines, dots and geometric patterns probably for some ritualistic practice.  The Egyptians are the ones who spread this practice around the world as they developed trade routes.  Many countries such as Japan and China used the art of tattoo, but in Polynesia especially the practice is of huge historic significance.  The Polynesians became well known as the experts in this art as they passed down their secrets of tattoo in legends, songs and ritual ceremonies.

In modern times in the west, the sailors brought the colorful art to the shores of American and the United Kingdom.  The most common tattoo designs for these early fetishists were mermaids, flowers, hearts, snakes, birds, names and naturally nautical themes such as anchors, stars, pirate flags and waves.  From the shores, the art spread to prisons no doubt as way for the criminal subculture to express its separation for the rest of the society. The general public was fascinated by tattoos, but didn’t view them as decent.  Circuses exploited this by making freaks of people with large tattoos or who were covered in body art.  This allowed the masses to view tattoos from a safe distance.

In the 1990s there was major shift in how people saw others with tattoo designs.  Body art became an exciting means of expression for celebrities, college students, business men and women, and really anyone from any walk of life.

Some of the current most  popular types of tattoos are tribal, heart, butterfly, star, fairy, fish, lower back tattoos, dragon, flowers, angels, sun, Celtic, rose, tiger and dragonfly tattoos.

What does it take to become a tattoo artist?

Becoming a tattoo artist is not easy, but then no job that takes a certain amount of innate talent is ever easy.  These days there is more money to be made than ever before in this field, which will in the end drive up competition for spots in good tattoo parlors and shops.  It can take years to become a competent artist and still more time to become skilled in the art of tattooing.  Depending on the degree of natural talent for the job, it can usually take from one to five years to become proficient as an artist.

Natural talent is of course a necessity. Someone who has naturally ability to draw and sketch is best suited to creating tattoos as it is an art.  Taking art classes and studying the work of others is necessary to becoming a good tattooist.  This does not mean just looking at tattoo designs, but studying other types of art and looking at the different periods as art as evolved and changed makes for a better understanding of how to take tattooing to new levels.

Once you can make yourself understood attractively on paper you need to start building a portfolio. This is a collection of your best work that represents all the different styles and skills you have as an artist. These are usually kept in a binder or small case.

Then you need to look for a tattoo artist who is looking for an apprentice.  Basically as an apprentice you are paying to learn the ropes.  You might be able to find a situation where you can work off an apprenticeship by doing manual labor or receptionist duties, but this is becoming rare.  You will find yourself having to work as hard to learn this new profession as any college student.

Not only does a tattoo artist need to be a wizard with the tattoo pen, he or she needs to understand the equipment and be able to keep it running safely.  It is up to the artist to keep the client from being exposed to disease and to know safety procedures. More than any other type of artist, a tattooist works closely with the public so understanding people and enjoying interacting with others is important for this job. There is no way to learn everything about tattooing in just a few short years.

This is an ongoing learning experience, but eventually an apprentice will look for paying work and beginning the journey to working on their own.  The goal for a tattooist might be to one day own their own salon or parlor. They might simply just want to have a strong customer base or following, which is in many respects just as important as owning a shop.  Being a tattoo artist is an interesting job for a talented person who is willing to work in a growing market for body artists.

Aztec Tattoos are Still Popular After Many Centuries

The Aztecs lived from around the 13^th century to the 16^th century in what is today known as Mexico.  Even though they were only around for a few centuries, they left behind a lot of amazing art, much of which is the inspiration for Aztec tattoo designs.   Religion played an important role in daily Aztec life, and practically everything they did was done in order to please their gods in some way.

Aztec tribal tattoos were an essential part of their art and culture.  Many Aztec tattoos designs are still popular to this day.  While most people these days do not get them for the same reason as the ancient Aztecs, there is still a lot of symbolism behind them.  When it came down to it, the Aztecs got tattoos not only for decorative purposes, but for a variety of symbolic reasons.

They were done during rituals as a way to honor a certain god.  The designs were all different, and were used to differentiate between the various tribes.  Aztec tattoos designs were also used as a way to mark an individual’s status, as class structure was important.  A warrior, for instance, would get a tattoo designed specifically to show a warrior’s accomplishments and rank.

The Aztec culture was once considered to be very thriving and superior to other cultures in that part of the world during those centuries.  The tattoo designs can be very striking, intricate and complex.  It is obvious, when looking at surviving art, that the Aztecs placed a lot of value on their art and religion.  Many of the symbols were considered to be sacred, and were placed on particular body parts in a way that had meaning.

One of the most common elements seen in many Aztec tattoos designs is the sun.  Huitzilopochtli, their sun god, was one they held in high regard.  The sun was extremely important to the Aztec people, as they believed it was the guardian of the heavens.  An Aztec sun tattoo design is believed to symbolize heaven and the afterlife.

Quetzalcoatl was another important symbol in Aztec mythology.  He was the feathered serpent god, and was considered to be the most powerful figure of them all.  Elements associated with Quetzalcoatl have been adapted into modern tattooing.  It was believed that he had power over fertility, the weather and creativity.  It was also believed that he was the creator of the calendar, and Aztec calendar tattoos are indeed quite popular these days.

If you have been considering any type of tribal tattoo, then you should look over some Aztec tattoos designs.  There are plenty of images available online.  Whether you feel a deep connection with the Aztec people or find the art fascinating (or both), you need to look over all the amazing art.  Make sure you read about the designs and the meanings behind them so that you can have some ideas about what it means to get an Aztec tattoo!