Posted on 02/02/2010 4:26:21 AM PST by Badabing Badablonde
Aaron Funk has come a long way since he inked his first tattoo.
Funk was only 13 years old when he took a tattoo needle and a friend's arm and wrote the word "Irish" in Old English lettering. It was the beginning of a career, but there was a little problem.
The "I" looked like a "U."
"His nickname for the next 10 years was `Urish,"' Funk said. "I covered it up 15 years later for free."
Funk, along with fellow tattoo artist Brent Vann, now owns Tattoo Revolution in Redlands and said he is constantly driven to improve his skills.
"You want to compete with the next best out there," Funk said. "It's our curse."
Tattoo Revolution has been open for nearly seven years. The parlor's lifespan not only overlaps with a nationwide growth in the popularity and social acceptance of tattooing, but increased efforts to make sure that tattoo shops engage in healthy business practices.
Funk and other artists said much more care is now taken to prevent the spread of blood-borne diseases than was the case a decade or so ago. Local officials are also preparing a law to address health concerns unique to tattoo shops.
San Bernardino County environmental health officials are preparing an ordinance tailored to the tattoo industry, county spokesman David Wert said. County officials plan to adopt their own standards since they have decided to stop waiting for state government to pass down a list of regulations to local government.
Health inspectors currently check out the county's 86 permitted tattoo parlors to make sure business practices are in line with basic public health standards, Wert said.
A set of industry specific rules may be necessary. One time, Funk said, a health inspector asked if it is safe for tattooers to recycle leftover ink. It's not.
Tattoo Revolution's artists never re-use needles and uses an autoclave to sterilize the tattoo tubes, Funk said, advising anyone considering a tattoo to check out their chosen parlor's sterilization room.
"If a shop holds out on you in any way, or if any of that is a concern, run," Funk said.
The increased popularity and social acceptance of tattoos is no secret to anyone who watches sports or has spent time on a college campus within the past few years.
There is even at least one survey that quantifies the trend.
The Pew Research Center reported in 2007 that 36 percent of respondents aged 18 to 25 - those whom Pew researchers called "Generation Next" - had a tattoo. Forty percent of so-called Gen Xers, the 26 to 40 group, had tattoos.
"A lot of people, even 10 years ago, thought that tattoos were for convicts, bikers," Tattoo Revolution artist Eric Olguin said.
A tattoo artist's clientele can now include lawyers, teachers and those bearing tattoo "sleeves covered up under $6,000 suits," Olguin added.
Funk said he has encountered many customers in their 40s and 50s seeking their first tattoos, but the Pew Research Center's survey reported a stark generation gap when it comes to body art. The report showed that a mere 10 percent of respondents aged 41 to 64 had gotten inked.
But despite the numbers and visual evidence, it's hard to pinpoint exactly when body art entered the mainstream.
"I don't know if there was an actual moment," said Neil Wilson an artist at Upland tattoo parlor Six Feet Under. "I think sports had a lot to do with it. I think band people had a lot to do with it."
And then there are television programs like "Miami Ink" and "L.A. Ink" that gave the artists behind the tattoos national exposure. Six Feet Under got a a piece of the publicity when "L.A. Ink" camera crews taped footage of the shop in 2009.
However tattooing achieved popularity, the state of the industry is such that a microbiology student and a school teacher spent Friday afternoon at Six Feet Under.
The student was Hector Carmona, 26, of Los Angeles. Carmona's right shoulder boasts an image of an armored knight riding a motorcycle away from malevolent demons, and the ink came from Wilson's needle.
"It signifies me running away from all my demons," said Carmona, who aspires to become a dentist.
The teacher was Brandi Harrison, 32, of Chino. Six Feet Under artist Larry Garcia's needle zip-zip-zipped in a sewing machine-like rhythm as he inked bubbles on Harrison's upper back.
The artwork is an addition to an existing tattoo of anchor along with the words, "His hope we have." The tattoo is a reference to Hebrews 6:19, a verse that Harrison said carries special meaning to herself and her husband.
As tattooing becomes more prevalent, the common motive for those seeking body art remains a desire to be unique, said Myrna Armstrong, a non-tattooed Texas Tech University professor who said she has studied body art trends since 1990.
The trend is bolstered, she said, by the likelihood that younger people who choose not to become tattooed will support friends who want to decorate their skin.
"Tattooing is here to stay," Armstrong said.
The drive for individuality is also freeing artists from the stock art or old stand-bys like tribal bands, said tattooer Glenn Valencia at Cool Cat Tattoo in San Bernardino.
"People are more open to custom tattoos," he said.
Nevertheless, the burgeoning ranks of those who get tattooed, there are also those who later change their minds.
People who decide to get tattoos removed often include those who want on ex-lover's name removed or need to remove visible body art in order to join the military, said Nora Lyne, a nurse at Allure Image Enhancement in Upland.
If getting a tattoo is a major decision, so is getting one removed.
The laser-removal process can feel like getting cigarette burns or having hot oil splashed on one's skin, Lyne said. Erasing a tattoo generally requires six treatments and the process is spread out over 36 weeks because it is so intense.
"Most people say it's worse than having the tattoo put on," Lyne said.
ping to da list........
I can hang the coolest Dali on my wall and love it. But eventually, I’ll want to change it. Never had ink, don’t think I ever will.
Cool....... :)
And fat chicks.
You guys see alot of old obese people naked?
And you call people with tats sick......LOL!
...”And fat chicks.”
....and older folks when they lose their muscle tone and their skin sags....yesterday’s tatoo becomes today’s blob of blue ink.
Yeah, lost muscle tone and sagging skin are so much more attractive without a tattoo. Cracks in the plaster are best covered up with a Rembrandt.
ping
I love how guys try to demonstrate how classy and gentlemanly they are while they refer to various women as “fat chicks”..... ;-)
Never said I saw them naked. But, I am seen them on the beach in swimsuits. And, I have viewed them in summer in shorts and t shirts. Unfortunately, I see too many things I do not desire viewing.
So you got a good long look, did you? Bet you can describe most of those tats you saw to the nth detail.
I’m telling you, nothing exposes hypocrisy better than a discussion about tattoos.
Loved your application to date my daughter.....I just copied it and sent it to family...hope you don’t mind......its PRICELESS!
pass it around, i stole it too. :)
my first father in law gave that to me years ago, then proceded to sit down and clean his s&w 629 waiting for me to fill it out.
I work in an ER, I have seen some UGLY old ink in my day.
F-— Me Hard, tattooed across the lower back of a rather rough looking lady.
Numerous tats with surgical scars through them.
Tats so smeared, who knows what they were.
Personally, I don’t like looking at graffiti, but when you own the building, you are free to paint whatever you want on it.
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