Week 14 - Mini-Research

           Since I was a child I have always drawn on my skin.  Stars, hearts, clovers, and sometimes even indiscriminate shapes have made it onto my ever aging canvas. God knows how many times I was disciplined for coming home with markers and ink stains scattered all along my legs and arms - I must’ve been a handful for my parents.   I had always had an interest in adorning my body with colors, even long before I knew about tattoos.  There was just always something very intriguing about having a permanent picture ingrained into my flesh, even though I didn’t understand it until I was older.

           Once I matured and realized just what it meant to actually get a tattoo, I couldn’t come to terms with actually getting one.  How could I decide what I would want on my body for the rest of my life?  It was perplexing to me.  Throughout middle and high school, I always maintained that I would be covered in tattoos one day but when 18 came, I had no idea what I wanted.  I searched and contemplated just what would be the most suitable artwork for my body but considering that it would be there for life, it was nearly impossible for me to commit to one single idea.  What did it mean to get tattooed?  What did it take?  How did it feel deep down?

           Most people believe that a tattoo is just some trivial idea or choice, ill contrived and sometimes poorly considered.  Regardless, there is a lot to think about before you just simply go and get a tattoo; a lot of things I didn’t know.  For instance, I found on BMEzine.com that in the United States, tattoo inks are classified as a cosmetic or color additive, and is thus NOT subject to regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Some tattoo parlors have incorrectly claimed that their inks have such an approval.  Although the pigments are not regulated, the FDA and medical practitioners have noted that many ink pigments used in tattoos are “industrial strength colors suitable for printers’ ink or automobile paint.”

How about the fact that in California, Proposition 65 requires that Californians be warned before exposure to certain harmful chemicals; tattoo parlors in California must warn their patrons that tattoo inks contain heavy metals known to cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm.

There are a lot of things to consider before one just goes out and does something on a whim, and tattoos are certainly no different.  What about the colors they use?  What do they do to my body? Well, apparently they can do a lot of things - Manufacturers are not required to reveal their ingredients or conduct trials, and recipes may be proprietary. While there are several vegan and all-natural inks, some other professional inks may be made from iron oxides (rust), metal salts, plastics. Homemade or traditional tattoo inks may be made from pen ink, soot, dirt, blood, or other ingredients.

Heavy metals used in these other inks for colors include mercury (red); lead (yellow, green, white); cadmium (red, orange, yellow); nickel (black); zinc (yellow, white); chromium (green); cobalt (blue); aluminum (green, violet); titanium (white); copper (blue, green); iron (brown, red, black); and barium (white). Metal oxides used include Ferro cyanide and Ferric yanide (yellow, red, green, blue). Organic chemicals used include azo-chemicals (orange, brown, yellow, green, violet) and naphtha-derived chemicals (red). Carbon (soot or ash) is also used for black. Other compounds used as pigments include antimony, arsenic, beryllium, calcium, lithium, selenium, and sulfur.  Tattoo ink manufacturers typically blend the heavy metal pigments and/or use lightening agents (such as lead or titanium) to reduce production costs.  Basically, it’s not just getting something for fun - a lot of damage can be done in one instance of juvenile antics.

One thing I have noticed since my first tattoo is the variance in feeling regarding the size and quantity of the needles being used in the gun.  Actually, one of my artists has explained to me that it’s not a tattoo gun, it’s a tattoo machine because, “guns are used to kill people, and tattoo machines are used to maim people;” pardon my ignorance.  However, one thing I do know is that needles are a bitch all around.  Some are more irritating than others though and I especially dislike liners (which are the ones used to do the outlining and some other things).  As the name suggests, Liner means a tattoo needle that will be used to outline the shape of the tattoo.  I read on tattooequipmentonline.com that the liner tattoo needles are round in shape and that professional tattoo artists prefer to have at least three needles with sharp ends fixed on one bar. It is the bare minimum number of needles used for general outlining and if the person getting a tattoo wants a thicker outline of the tattoo then the artists use up to nine needles simultaneously. All the liner tattoo needles used by artists are rounded and these drive the ink into the skin. The other type of tattoo needle is used for shading. 

The shading needles on the other hand are not nearly as annoying as the liners.  Despite that shading needles are sometimes referred to as “magnum needles” due to their size; “The shading tattoo needles do not have a restriction of nine needles as generally tattoo artists have been seen using more than nine shading needles at a time. The shading tattoo needles are flat in shape and several shading needles are stacked up in two rows. The artists use it very effectively to blend different colors to impart realistic touch to the tattoo designs.” Again, this was something I didn’t know until I actually sought out the information.  I was always aware of the fact that one was not as painful as the other, but I had no idea as to why that was.

Pain was always an influential factor involved in the decision of getting a tattoo.  It took me until 13 years old to get my ears pierced for the same reason.  What would the pain be involved?  Even though I walked into it blindly the first time, I still wanted to know what caused that much pain.  Although it wasn’t unbearable, it was still remotely painful enough to make me wonder just what needle was causing the most pain: “Both the needles, liner tattoo needles and shading tattoo needles, are very important as the design cannot be completed without one or the other. The only difference between their uses is that the liner tattoo needle has to be used continuously without stopping so that the outlining is done perfectly and precisely. Because of this the pain involved is much greater in comparison to a shading needle. While a shading tattoo needle is used in breaks by the tattoo artist as they pause to wipe excess ink and blood from the area being tattooed.”

Outside of all the risks and pain involved, I still went forward without knowing very much about the actual problems that could arise.  What I did know was that it would be something I would get only at a licensed shop, that it would be somewhat painful, and that it would be there for life.  Upon further research, it’s obvious that there are many things that should’ve also been considered first but what can I do about it now?  Not much.  Might as well smoke another cigarette and hope for the best.