Today when a person becomes 18 years old, they are free to be marked.
The art of tattooing was first started thousands of years ago and is thought to have originated in tribes as a way to distinguish one tribe from the other, and to separate the officials from the working men. According to “Tattootime: Art from the Heart” by Don Hardy, tattoos were also a sign of social maturity.
Looking back on history, there have been some changes when it comes to technique and also reasons for why people get the tattoos that they choose.
Among young people, body art is a way of expressing yourself and in some cases, telling a story of what has made you who you are today.
The process that is taken to get the idea, the pain during it, and the final product make tattooing such a popular form of expression.
At Skyline, a number of reasons exist for why people want to endure the pain that is inflicted in the process of getting a tattoo.
Harmony Ausiello, 19, first- year college student, has a total of seven tattoos. Two of her tattoos are in her own handwriting, one saying “I wish for the real one,” which is located on the inside of her arm and the other one says “Its alright,” (sic) on the inside of her wrist.
“I like to be able to look at my wrist and get some reassurance on a bad day,” Ausiello said.
She is a very huge and devoted fan of the rock group The Deftones, so some of her tattoos are representative of that. The one on her inner arm, which says, “I wish for the real one,” is a lyric from a Deftones song. She has another around her ankle that says, “It feels good to know you’re all mine.” Ausiello’s favorite spot for tattoos is the back because “it’s a big blank canvas.”
Joel Hamilton, 22, also a student at Skyline, was 18 when he got his first tattoo. Since then he has gotten at least one or two each year. The designs that he chose, although geographically unplanned, are such that the right side of his body is devoted to Asian art and his left side is dedicated to his Irish heritage. Hamilton has just completed his eighth tattoo, which is an Asian piece on the side of his calf.
When tattoos were first performed on the body, the artist would puncture the skin and then rub a pigment or ink into the wound.
These days most, if not all, are done by a tattoo gun, which is made up of a metal or stainless steel instrument attached to a power unit.
“It’s not really painful, I mean there is a certain degree of pain but it’s the tolerable kind,” Hamilton said.
A small rod with a cluster of needles is then attached to the unit. The clusters come either in a circular configuration called a “round” or lined up, which is called a “magnum.” There is also a flat and an oval needle design.
The number of needles attached can start at one and go up to as many as forty in one grouping.
The needle is then inserted into the unit and it vibrates very quickly, penetrating the first layer of skin and depositing the ink, creating the design that will stay forever.
Nick Bergin, 23, a Skyline student, has been an apprentice since June at Godspeed Tattoos in San Mateo. Bergin is in the process of getting a full back piece. His decision to go with a wilderness scene and a Buddha in the middle was made because he wanted to have “something positive” getting his back.
Bergin has not yet started leaving his mark on the people that come through the shop, but his boss Kevin Marr, who has been tattooing for five years, is teaching him everything he knows. Bergin hopes that by next summer he will be putting all he has learned in ink.
J’s Fine Line tattoo and piercing shop in Pacifica is the workplace of a former Skyline student who has a love for the art of tattooing.
Mason Hogue got into tattooing because he wanted to give back to the people who had worked on him, as a way of showing his appreciation. “There is nothing cooler than being able to draw on people for a living,” Hogue said.
His favorite piece on his body is located on the top of his left arm.
“It’s my most sentimental piece because it’s my last farewell to my grandfather,” Hoguesaid.
Not everyone has stories behind the pieces that they get. Most tattoo shops carry designs called FLASH. Artists buys these designs so that if you don’t come in knowing exactly what you want, there are hundreds of examples to look at and either alter into exactly what you want or leave as is. Most tattoo artists can draw and if you go in with an idea, you will come out of the shop energized and satisfied with your new artwork.
“There is such a freedom in being an artist,” Bergin said. “There is a lot of places tattooing can take you.”