Unique Footer Tattoo


Today, tattoos can be seen in a wide variety of styles with many creative placement areas, reinforcing the belief that tattooing is the ideal method of self expression. The individuality behind the entire tattooing process is what initially attracts most people to the practice as each person must decide on the design and placement for themselves. Because of this, what works best for one may not for another, but don't worry if you aren't yet sure about where to get your tattoo as there are plenty of options to consider such as the increasingly popular foot tattoos.

Here are some of the facts you should know about foot tattoos:
Foot tattoos are usually more painful: Because the skin on the feet is thinner than most other places, tattoos done here tend to be a bit more painful than others. But, the good news is that foot tattoos are generally smaller in size so the pain won't last as long.

Foot tattoos are easy to hide: If need be, foot tattoos can be concealed simply with socks or footwear. This is ideal if you work in a professional setting where tattoos are normally frowned upon. Also be aware that the healing time for a tattoo is generally around the two to three week mark, in which time you would have to wear an open style of shoe to protect the skin and allow the artwork to heal properly. So if you simply must wear shoes, try also wearing two pairs of socks made of thin fabric.

Foot tattoos are usually considered to be sensual: While it's true that opinion varies widely from one person to the next, especially when it comes to inking the skin and what looks good, but even those who usually don't care for tattooing say they don't mind foot tattoos and even consider them to be rather sensual.

Foot tattoos may need more maintenance than those in other areas: The feet are one of those places on the body that are regularly exposed to harsh conditions, as opposed to other areas of skin, and tattoos here will eventually fade a bit or become blurred sooner, requiring some touching up to keep them looking their best.
Some of the most popular choices for foot tattoos: Lettering, flowers, stars and other geometric designs and patterns are common for foot tattoos, however, if you're looking for something truly unique, you can always ask your tattooist to create a tattoo just for you based on your ideas. But do keep in mind that large tattoos and those with intricate designs will of course be the most painful as well as the most expensive.

Hand made Tattoos


I have read several articles all over the internet claiming that a large amount of people around the world are having severe allergic reactions to henna tattoos.

Granted most of these people have traveled out of the United States to somewhere in Asia. A nine year old girl from Greece got a henna tattoo and within hours of getting it, it blistered and when the blisters popped the ink began to scab off. Then it got redder and hotter. They went to a doctor and the doctor advised them to go to a burn unit at the hospital. Doctors are concerned that this temporary tattoo is going to scare this little girl for life.

There is also another horrible story about a 10 year old boy from Australia that is experience something a little different than blisters, very dark hair is growing around the henna tattoo.

Dermatologists say these horrible allergic reactions are being caused by the toxic dye para-phenylenediamine, or PPD, that these people are using while giving people these henna tattoos. This toxic dye is similar to the dye that is used in hair dye. Also experts are suggesting that these places in Asia are using black ink and not the traditional brown ink.

So the best advise dermatologists and parents who have children that have had reactions to these henna tattoos is just to avoid them all together, especially if you are out of the country. Also if you notice the ink they are using is black is another huge indication to stay away from them. If you want a fake tattoo just stick to the original temporary ones.

Sexy Koi Tattoo Arts


Koi is an oriental name for fish in the carp family. In the Orient koi are very revered, and are thought to have certain mystical abilities about them. Koi stands for courage, strength, determination, advancement, and perseverance. In the English Language the word "Koi" is translated as the word "love", or the feeling of love. It can also be translated as romantic love or a very passionate love affair. However, koi can also mean selfish. In the orient koi is a symbol of good luck.


In China there is a legend that describes a koi fish swimming up the Yellow River to a waterfall, and if it is at a place called the Dragon Gate, the koi may then jump over the fall and be transformed into a dragon.


In Buddhism it is believed that people are like the koi, swimming in an ocean of suffering all their lives, yet they continue striving forward until they die. The koi fish tattoos with 5 golden koi stands for well being through our daily lives, and eternal wealth, 5 being a lucky number. And matched with the legend the koi is as lucky as a dragon. And the perfect koi tattoo art would be of a golden koi changing into a dragon, just like a butterfly does.


In koi tattoos you will often see them combined with water, cherry blossoms or lotus flowers. However, the Japanese koi tattoos have many symbolic meanings depending on what the koi is doing. Japanese koi tattoo art is a symbol of masculinity. Koi fish are a very energetic fish, and the Koi fish tattoos may often involve very lively colors, with the fish depicted as moving. Koi fish tattoos are often represented with victory as well, and are often tattooed on a person's body to represent someone who is very independent, going against the grain of society.


Any koi tattoo art is suppose to bring its wear wealth and abundance, and thus this king of fish is known as the dragon fish, and many koi tattoos are depicted in a larger tattoo. They are very popular tattoos for the back and/or both shoulders, or as Koi sleeve tattoos. The background colors are as spectacular as the fish itself. They have been depicted with suns and moons as well.


The koi has also been depicted with the Yin/Yang symbol; the Yin being the black part, which is female, night, water, earth, and it is passive; the Yang being the white part, is male, day, fire, air, and it is active. Together these two symbols meant balance and harmony. In itself the Yin/Yang makes a very strong statement, but together with the koi, makes it extraordinary.

Lotus Flower Tattoo














The Lotus flower is symbolic of rebirth, but in addition to its religious meaning, the lotus is also a symbol of all that is true, good and beautiful, representing good fortune, peace and enlightenment.In some belief systems, different coloured Lotus blooms have different symbolic meanings. There are white, blue, red and yellow lotuses described in ancient Indian sutras, or writings. Different colors have different meanings. White, for instance, represents "purity"; blue represents "goodness"; and red represents "enlightenment."

Beautiful Flower Tattoo

Tattoo is an art used to express ones individual personality. This art work is done by inserting ink into the layers of skin via needles to change pigment for decorative and religious reasons.

Tattoo artists have come up with wide varieties of tattoo designs. Tattoos are not only attractive but they also symbolize the inner meaning. Flower tattoo designs are most favored by women.

Flower tattoo designs indicate beauty and youth. Floral tattoo designs come in different shape, size and colors. Depending on the body part where tattoo is done, people can choose their favorite flower designs.

Among flower tattoos, rose is preferred by most of the women. Rose is believed to represent both inner and outer beauty. Rose tattoo is also associated with love. A rose tattoo with a thorn indicates that love is very delicate and should be handled very carefully or else it may be very painful.

Different colors of the roses are linked to different meanings. Red rose implies true love and passion; pink rose is an indication of elegance and gentleness; yellow rose depicts friendship and black rose tattoo indicates death of the love relationship and sorrow.

Sunflower tattoo attracts people's attention due to its bright vibrant yellow color. Sunflower always positions itself to face the sun. This symbolizes worship. A big sunflower tattoo is a symbol of loyalty and a small sunflower tattoo implies adoration.

Lily's long white petals symbolize purity. According some religion, the shape of the lily flower represents erotic love and reproduction. The calla lily is a symbol of beauty, the orange lily denotes hatred and the tiger lily is a symbol of pride and power.

Lotus begins its life deep in the mud and grows into a beautiful flower as it emerges from the water and it continuously moves towards the sun. Lotus flower tattoo represents the life in general. It is a symbol that whatever difficulties one has in life, with great determination he/she can overcome it. Lotus flower has symbolical ties to Indian mythology. According to Hinduism, it indicates birth and beauty.

Hibiscus flowers are one of the prettiest among the flower tattoos. Hibiscus flower tattoo is associated with the rarest delicate beauty and hence it is one of the favorites of young girls. The tropical flower tattoos like hibiscus along with a Hawaiian band are perfect for both men and women.

Flower tattoos are not only used to express the emotions but it also enhances the beauty of the person. Flower tattoos can be quite small and hence gives flexibility of placement of the tattoo on the desired body parts.

Tattooed Poets Project: Julie Kantor

As we wind up the Tattooed Poets Project on this, the home stretch of April, we are double-posting to accommodate the record number of submissions we received this year.
Our second tattooed poet of the day is Julie Kantor.
Julie sent us these photos:


Julie explains:
"It was a very early morning in Portland, OR. I picked up my best friend, Jess, to get breakfast. On the way to the cafe, we saw two guys, each had a shopping cart packed to the brim. They were laughing with each other, smiling these huge smiles. Jess turned to me and said, 'If we were bums, we would still be best friends. Bum friends.' I suggested, strongly, that we get matching shopping cart tattoos. After breakfast we found this small tattoo shop with no name off Glisan that just opened. Inside, we made a deal with the shop's very green apprentice to do both tattoos for $40. The 'bf' in the tattoos stands for bum friends." 

Here is one of Julie's poems:

From the series: Land 

12)
Waters flush north under concrete & steel, rods down
planted, now dry cracks through road we drive over, see
red lines run lengthen out from sky blue & darkening,
say “let's trace this back to where the sun doesn't even
want us w/it,” beam bridge can't take us across all the way
w/out drop before we stand safely or span the land’s
end to its own mirrored opposite. Those could be our feet
on the ground, but we ride this straight across the dividing
line where trains’ tracks alongside plains lead away from
& hear the river call us down, would one body’s dead
weight be enough to pull us into, first think we tie our-
selves w/knots we won't learn the names of, but tangle is
thick w/width, & water's feel enough for loss of, & if we can’t
sustain w/just us then we shouldn’t have to begin with.

How to Care &Feeding of Your New Tattoo

Step 1
Keep the bandage on the tattoo for at least two hours after the work is complete (or longer, depending on the tattoo artist's instructions).

Step 2
Remove the bandage very carefully and throw it away. This allows your skin to breathe and begin the healing process. Do not rebandage the tattoo.

Step 3
Put a drop of mild antibiotic soap on your hand and lightly wash the tattoo. Gently pat it dry with a washcloth (not a paper towel) taking care not to rub it.

Step 4
Dab an over-the-counter antibiotic ointment (like Neosporin) on the cleaned area.
DO NOT re-bandage your tattoo
DO NOT use Vaseline or petroleum jelly
DO NOT use alcohol or peroxide
DO NOT pick or scratch tattoo
DO NOT soak tattoo in tub or shower
get in, get clean, get out!
Stay out of pools, hot tubs, oceans, etc. for two weeksKeep tattoo out of direct sunlight and/or tanning beds
You may, instead, prefer to use a good fragrance free lotion such as Lubriderm, Jergens or Eucerin. Apply a THIN layer and work in well 5 to 6 times a day for the entire healing process. DO NOT over lubricate your tattoo; however, don't let it dry out, either. Should any seepage occur, gently dab off excess with a clean paper towel.

Tattooed Poets Project: Traci Brimhall

Today's tattooed poet is Traci Brimhall, who shares this single word with us:


Traci explains:
"I got my tattoo last April during the Little Grassy Literary Festival at Carbondale, IL. I was in Carbondale to do a reading from my first book, when I got the email that my second book had been accepted. I wanted to do something to mark the occasion, something both wild and permanent, and there was a poet and tattoo artist, Ruth Awad, at the dinner table who offered to give me my first ink. I spent that night celebrating in Ruth's kitchen getting my first tattoo.
I chose the word Duende, a word the Spanish poet Frederico Garcia Lorca said represented "a power, not a work. It is a struggle, not a thought." A guitar maestro had once explained it to him this way: 'The duende is not in the throat; the duende climbs up inside you, from the soles of the feet.' When people ask me to explain it, I usually say it's an art that asks you to do battle with what is darkest in you, and what comes out is already baptized by black sounds."
Here is the poem Traci selected for us to read:

Aubade with a Broken Neck

The first night you don’t come home 
summer rains shake the clematis.
I bury the dead moth I found in our bed,
scratch up a rutabaga and eat it rough 
with dirt. The dog finds me and presents 
between his gentle teeth a twitching 
nightjar. In her panic, she sings 
in his mouth. He gives me her pain
like a gift, and I take it. I hear 
the cries of her young, greedy with need, 
expecting her return, but I don’t let her go
until I get into the house. I read 
the auspices—the way she flutters against 
the wallpaper’s moldy roses means 
all can be lost. How she skims the ceiling
means a storm approaches. You should see 
her in the beginnings of her fear, rushing 
at the starless window, her body a dart, 
her body the arrow of longing, aimed, 
as all desperate things are, to crash 
not into the object of desire, 
but into the darkness behind it.

Tattooed Poets Project: Erica Mena


Among this year's Tattooed Poets' submissions, this is one of my favorite photos:

Photograph by Julie Chen
This was submitted by the poet Erica Mena, whose tattoo was inspired by the great Pablo Neruda.

Erica gives us the detail behind these wonderful tattoos:
 "This is my most intimate tattoo, my Neruda tattoo: 'Love is so short, forgetting is so long.' It's a full line (punctuation included) from Poem XX of Neruda's Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair in translation by W.S. Merwin. The fish in concentric circles is the symbol printed on all of Neruda's books from mid-way through his career, and was drawn from the bronze statue at his most famous house in Isla Negra. The other two images were drawn by the tattoo artist, in response to two other lines from the same poem: 'The same night whitening the same trees. / We of that time are no longer the same.' and 'Write, for example: the night is shattered / and stars shiver blue in the distance.' The design and work were done by Ram at Fat Ram's Pumpkin Tattoo in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. 
I read Merwin's translation of Neruda's Twenty Love Poems when I was fifteen, and had that conversion experience, the moment when you realize this is what you want your life to be about. Not the sentiment, but the poetry. These poems, and this line in particular, convinced me that poetry can move between languages, times and places, freely and with no loss, when put into the right hands. When getting the tattoo, I considered getting the Spanish line: 'El amor es tan corto, el olvido es tan largo,' but chose the English because that was how I first encountered it. Out of all my tattoos it also hurt the most to get, fittingly I suppose--there was a moment where Ram was outlining the circles where it felt like my entire leg was on fire. Totally worth it."
I would add that I concur with Erica completely and offer up, as proof, my post over on BillyBlog in April 2008 here. I was running down my favorite poems for National Poetry Month and #28 was any of the poems in the book, and it just so happens I pointed to Poem XX as one shining example. The original edition translated by Merwin and illustrated by Jan Thompson is a must-have in anyone's library. But, I digress.

Tattooed Poets Project: Erica Mena


Among this year's Tattooed Poets' submissions, this is one of my favorite photos:

Photograph by Julie Chen
This was submitted by the poet Erica Mena, whose tattoo was inspired by the great Pablo Neruda.

Erica gives us the detail behind these wonderful tattoos:
 "This is my most intimate tattoo, my Neruda tattoo: 'Love is so short, forgetting is so long.' It's a full line (punctuation included) from Poem XX of Neruda's Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair in translation by W.S. Merwin. The fish in concentric circles is the symbol printed on all of Neruda's books from mid-way through his career, and was drawn from the bronze statue at his most famous house in Isla Negra. The other two images were drawn by the tattoo artist, in response to two other lines from the same poem: 'The same night whitening the same trees. / We of that time are no longer the same.' and 'Write, for example: the night is shattered / and stars shiver blue in the distance.' The design and work were done by Ram at Fat Ram's Pumpkin Tattoo in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. 
I read Merwin's translation of Neruda's Twenty Love Poems when I was fifteen, and had that conversion experience, the moment when you realize this is what you want your life to be about. Not the sentiment, but the poetry. These poems, and this line in particular, convinced me that poetry can move between languages, times and places, freely and with no loss, when put into the right hands. When getting the tattoo, I considered getting the Spanish line: 'El amor es tan corto, el olvido es tan largo,' but chose the English because that was how I first encountered it. Out of all my tattoos it also hurt the most to get, fittingly I suppose--there was a moment where Ram was outlining the circles where it felt like my entire leg was on fire. Totally worth it."
I would add that I concur with Erica completely and offer up, as proof, my post over on BillyBlog in April 2008 here. I was running down my favorite poems for National Poetry Month and #28 was any of the poems in the book, and it just so happens I pointed to Poem XX as one shining example. The original edition translated by Merwin and illustrated by Jan Thompson is a must-have in anyone's library. But, I digress.
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