Here's a chance to ogle the women who paved the way, tattooing themselves and baring their chests when the "good girls" were wearing poodle skirts and heading off to sock hops. Imagine your grandma like this! These women lived counter-culture lives. This book exposes a culture that, even in 1982 when it was first released, was totally shocking. Now it returns as a tribute to the pioneers, the visionaries who saw their bodies as works of art, and were brave enough to share them with the rest of us.

One of the biggest challenges currently facing tattoo artists is to effectively tattoo dark skin. This book introduces tattoo artists to a different approach to tattoo art. Over the course of tattooing thousands of people of color, the author developed techniques and discovered tattoo patterns that best reflect his clients' cultures and communities, many of which are displayed here. Using 380 striking color photos of his work and a recounting of amazing experiences that led an artist involved in tattooing since the 1960s to discover techniques and applications that produce effective, clear tattoos on dark skin. This book is a grand introduction to tattooing dark skin and a fascinating resource.

Enjoy two thrilling tattoo-flash books! These two tomes rank among the best and most extravagant flashbooks that have ever been published. Edition Reuss, well-known and renowned for its collectors items, once again comes up with astounding heavy coffee-table books that set standards. "Tattoo Masters Flash Collection: Part 2" starts with an interview with tattooist and exceptional artist Filip Leu. The whole of the "Leu family clan" has contributed fantastic flash artwork. Another exciting interview with Piotr Wojciechowski, director of the "Polish Tattoo Museum", offers an interesting insight into the world of tattooing in eastern Europe. As a special highlight for the book he provided impressive historical flash-sheets from the pioneer days of tattooing! Names like "Sailor" Jerry Collins, Ray Emms, Milton Zeis, Ted Hamilton and Leonard St. Clair sound like music to the ears of tattoo aficionados music of days gone by. The extensive collection of flash that follows is unique! The illustrations and drawings have been made exclusively for this collection, and have been produced by contemporary tattoo artists who rank among the best in the world. Every artist presents his work in his own style. This explosion of fanciful crossover flash styles will make the any tattooist's heart beat faster. "Tattoo Masters Flash Collection: Part 2" includes works by Mouse Lopez, Espi, Leo Zulueta, Luke Atkinson, Dan Sinnes, Trojan, Felix Leu, Colin Dale, Filip Leu, Chee, Indio Reyes, Jess Yen, Tommy Cyklone Garcia, Naoki, Goethe Silva, Lucio Ramirez, Rick Clark, Krazy K, Olivier Julliand, Kurt Wiscombe, Bale Sineros, Ade Itameda, Chris Ayala, Andy Shou, Jean-Luc Navette, Brent McCown, Horitaka, Diego Garcia, Dimitri Hk, Paulo Manabe, Pepe Nueva York, Taku Oshima, Marcos Adame and many others.

This groundbreaking new book covers the basic techniques of electric tattooing in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step way. This is the perfect book to accompany the hands-on training the apprentice tattooer receives, and will be a welcomed reference in every tattoer's library. It covers sanitation concerns, preparation of the site, outlining, shading, and coloration. Bandaging and aftercare is also discussed. Each step is illustrated with a color photograph and a concise explanation.

Micro Tattoos are a popular trend and have made the art of tattooing more accessible for many people. This book takes a closer look at them and shows the most beautiful small fineline tattoos from the best tattoo artists worldwide. It offers a handy alphabetical overview of the artists, a number of interviews with the most important practitioners, and personal recollections that tell the backstory of specific tattoos.

A classic reborn, here is a book that opened new territory in 1979, revealing the bodies of those who patronized underground artists. The bodies of these tattooed men and women stand in testament to an ancient art, long forbidden in the West. This is a celebration of tattoo art, the artists, and the bold canvases who dance across these pages with unabashed joy in their beautifully adorned flesh. It is the story of the fight to legalize and legitimize an art undeniably beautiful in design, bold in color, and stamped indelibly upon God's own earthly temple.

Japanese men have been marked by tattoo artists for the past 300 years. Todays urbane Japanese youth continue the tradition, proudly creating and wearing this ever changing art form. Over 530 breathtaking color photos display a vast range of Japanese tattoos, from traditional full-body forms repleat with classical images steeped in symbolism, including Horimono, to modern One-Point style, heavily influenced by the cultures of the West.\nThe fascinating text provides a glimpse of Japans youth culture and recounts, through personal interviews, stories of Japanese masters of the tattoo art, including Senseis Horihide, Horiyoshi III, Horitoshi I, Horiyasu, and Horikoi. Readers will see some of the most intricate tattoo art in the world, while traveling through time from the 19th century Edo Floating World to the busy streets of modern Tokyo.

This book focuses on the traditional (old school) style of tattooing and its ongoing impact on today's tattoo art. More than 300 stunning color photos are combined with tattoo artists' personal explanations of why they love to work in the traditional style, and the artistic challenges that it poses today. For the fifteen tattoo artists in this book, the essence of real and true tattooing is the traditional one: bold lines, simple motifs, black and red colors-tattoos built to last on the skin. From the early beginnings in the late 19th century among sailors, traditional tattoos have been developed further by today's tattoo artists. Neo-traditional, Americana, new school, old school-the names are many, but all have that single common heritage: they are based on the simple lines created on the sailors' skins many years ago.

Enjoy this dynamic collection of tattoo imagery. Over 500 vintage photographs display hundreds of people decorated with thousands of tattoos. This historic tattoo art dates from the 1800s through the 1980s and includes images of love, military, religious, exotic, parlor, and tribal markings. Sailor boys, circus performers, and lovely daring women are among those who celebrate tattoo art by showing off their collections.

A witty yet informative text, with lots of travel tips and pictures, focuses on the art of the tattoo that the authors found in this Pacific Island paradise.Join the adventure as these two take to the road at the very birthplace of Polynesian tattooing, beautiful Samoa. Armed with laptop and camera, Baxter and Clark documented their two-week odyssey from Apia to Saleapaga, and from thatched-roofed huts to the legendary mansion of Robert Louis Stevenson. The book displays this unspoiled home of turquoise reefs, volcanic beaches, misty green waterfalls, and vermilion sunsets, where hand-tapped tribal tattoos are still a normal form of body art and ritual.You will learn the local customs, meet legendary artists, and visit secluded beaches, including the secret coronation ceremony at Faleasela. White-knuckle surprises await you as Baxter and Clark take the back roads, eat fruit right off the tree, slog through rain forests, wade into coral-strewn tide pools, and suck up gallons of beer because it's not a good idea to drink the water. You will even learn to tie a lavalava so it won't fall off in the crosswalk!This entertaining trip to a jewel of the Pacific will confirm the belief that Polynesian life has it right, right down to the tattoos!

For both the experienced and aspiring tattoo artist, as well as creative tattoo customers, this book of inspirational examples of script and banner lettering in a wide range of styles is the ideal cheat sheet. Beginning with traditional handwriting, the book moves into more complex script styles. Discover a range of banners for application on the chest or back, in styles that look elegant and ornate, yet are designed to be natural and easy for artists to draw and apply. Tattoo collectors can choose from the many script samples to write a loved one's name and bring this book to the shop, where artists can make a tattoo that appears custom made. An assortment of classic, well-preserved matchboxes with decorative labels provides special, eclectic lettering ideas. Professionals as well as beginners working from the drawing board are guaranteed to take inspiration from this portable, convenient collection.

This big collection of 500 original patterns depicts all of today's most popular tattoo subjects. From best selling artist, author and designer Lora Irish comes the Great Book of Tattoo Designs, Revised Edition, an appealing and high quality collection of over 500 original tattoo patterns. Featuring an extensive variety of popular subjects including floral, fantasy, Celtic, pagan, gothic, sacred, oriental and mythical, this book provides any artist or individual searching for the right tattoo with an unlimited resource of designs. Each pattern can be used individually, in combination with others in the book, or as inspiration for creating new original art. This new edition of a classic resource provides limitless inspiration for personal expression. From dancing dragons and Aztec Indians to fairies and flowers, it makes the perfect companion for anyone with an interest in tattoos.

Meet twenty-six leading contemporary tattoo artists. Interviews and over 425 exciting color photos of their artwork, from tattoos to paintings, make this an invaluable tattoo resource. This is a viable contribution to tattoo history worldwide, containing insightful interviews with living legends like Don Ed Hardy, Doc Forest, Horiyoshi III, Paul Jeffries, Bo + Roberts, and Mike Malone. These tattoo pioneers shed light on the tattoo's evolution from a sub-cultural phenomenon to a mainstream trend, and explore tattooing as a "finer" art form. Their artwork runs the gamut, from full Japanese body suits to traditional Americana hearts and roses. Some of the best, established contemporary tattoo artists like Freddy Corbin, Theo Jak, Grime, Scott Sylvia, Chris Garver, and Horitomo are included, in addition to up-and-coming tattooers Jill Bonny, Scott Bryant, George Campise, Chris Conn, Paco Excel, Robert Hernandez, Eiland Hogan, Klem, Chad Koeplinger, Jason Kundell, Jason McAfee, Brent Patten, Juan Puente, and Jesse Tuesday. This single volume by tattoo artist Horitaka is compiled from over three years of writing for Tattoo Life magazine, and is a necessary reference for anyone interested in tattoo culture.

Picking up where Bushido: Legacies of the Japanese Tattoo left off, join Horiyuki as she studies the art of Japanese tattooing with Master Horiyoshi III. Jill "Horiyuki" Mandelbaum takes you on a very candid firsthand account of her exploratiion. Follow her through text and over 270 color photographs into the studios and home of Horiyoshi as well as the shrines and temples of Japan. Offering a bold, new, and very Western perspective to studying the Japanese tattoo, this book is a must have for anyone interested in tattoo arts and cross-cultural study. With a foreword by Takahiro "Horitaka" Kitamura, this book also features never before published photos of tattoos by Horiyoshi III.

Innovative artist Spider Webb has brought the traditional art of tattooing into the modern age, elevating the primitive or folk art iconography into modern art with startling interpretations. 400 color and black and white tattoo flash, in two volumes, feature dragons and other mythological beasts, skulls, eagles, beautiful women, hearts, daggers, serpents, and tigers of the natural and supernatural worlds. Many tattoos may be seen as social and political commentary as well. Here is an opportunity to review a prolific artist's work that people from around the globe have been happy to bear as permanent expressions of their inner lives. This book will be treasured by all who enjoy tattoo art.

Trace the evolution of the Brooklyn tattooing scene's iconographic status with this rare look into the borough's gritty history. Long before hipsters called Brooklyn home, tattoo legends like Tony Polito, Mikey Perfetto, Marcus Pacheco, and Ronnie Dell Aquila set long-lasting trends from the '50s on, and gave young artists hope in this often unforgiving town. Peter Caruso visits over a dozen owners, artists, and customers, relating Brooklyn's 20th-century tattoo history through biographies of gritty, no-nonsense tattoo artists. Here, they get the attention they deserve as they focus on events that shaped their craft and style and what inspired them, as teenagers, to follow the path of this often thankless profession in New York's toughest borough. "Back in the day," artists didn't apprentice, but, like the men in this book, learned the ropes in basements and worked out of kitchens, sometimes experimenting with Asian and tribal styles, but always returning to the colorful, traditional, American tattooing Brooklyn is known for."

The intimate relationship of Japanese tattooing with the dark world of the yakuza has helped cover this form of artistic expression with an aura of mystery. But the culture of irezumi is deep and rich in meanings, shapes and motifs that have gone from color woodblock prints to being applied to the skin to beautify and protect their bearers. This book reveals the meaning and the secrets behind the most significant motifs from traditional Japanese tattooing-such as mythological and supernatural creatures, animals, Buddhist deities, flowers and historical characters-and turns this art form into a path toward personal knowledge and individual expression. Readers will discover the origin and meaning of each visual representation of the most frequent themes in this art form. Irezumi itai begins with a brief review of the history of Japanese tattoo art and then examines each subject (water, mythological animals, real animals, mythological characters, historical characters, flowers, shunga and yokai) through images and descriptive texts; it also includes a gallery of original designs by the author and a glossary.

A small dolphin on the ankle, a black line on the lower back, a flower on the hip, or a child's name on the shoulder blade-among the women who make up the twenty percent of all adults in the USA who have tattoos, these are by far the most popular choices. Tattoos like these are cute, small, and can be easily hidden, and they fit right in with society's preconceived notions about what is 'gender appropriate' for women. But what about women who are heavily tattooed? Or women who visibly wear imagery, like skulls, that can be perceived as masculine or ugly when inked on their skin? Drawing on autoethnography, and extensive interviews with heavily tattooed women, Covered in Ink provides insight into the increasingly visible subculture of women with tattoos. Author Beverly Thompson visits tattoos parlors, talking to female tattoo artists and the women they ink, and she attends tattoo conventions and Miss Tattoo pageants where heavily tattooed women congregate to share their mutual love for the art form. Along the way, she brings to life women's love of ink, their very personal choices of tattoo art, and the meaning tattooing has come to carry in their lives, as well as their struggles with gender norms, employment discrimination, and family rejection. Thompson finds that, despite the stigma and social opposition heavily tattooed women face, many feel empowered by their tattoos and strongly believe they are creating a space for self-expression that also presents a positive body image. A riveting and unique study, Covered in Ink provides important insight into the often unseen world of women and tattooing.

Tattoos are a highly visible social and cultural sight, from TV series that represent the lives of tattoo artists and their interactions with clients, to world-class sports stars and the social actors we meet on a daily basis who display visible tattoo designs. Whereas in the not-to-distant past tattoos were commonly culturally perceived to represent an outward sign of social non-conformity or even deviance, tattoos now increasingly transcend class, gender, and age boundaries and arguably are now more culturally acceptable than they have ever been. But why is this the case, and why do so many social actors elect to wear tattoos? Tattoo Culture explores these questions from historical, cultural and media perspectives, but also from the heart of the culture itself, from the dynamics of the tattoo studio, the work of the artist and the world of the tattoo convention, to the perspective of the social actors who bear designs to investigate the meanings which lie being the images. It critically examines the ways in which tattoos alter social actors' sense of being and their relationship with time in the semiotic ways with which they communicate, to themselves or to the wider world, key elements of their bodily and personal identity and sense of being.

Occasionally a book is published that reveals a subculture you never dreamt existed. More rarely, that book goes on to become a phenomenon of its own. The 2004 publication of the "Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia" was such a phenomenon, spawning two further volumes and alerting a fascinated readership worldwide to the extraordinary and hermetic world of Russian criminal tattoos (David Cronenberg, for example, made regular use of the "Encyclopaedia" during the making of his 2007 movie "Eastern Promises"). Now, Fuel has reprinted volume one of this bestselling series, whose first edition already fetches considerable sums online. The photographs, drawings and texts published in this book are part of a collection of more than 3,000 tattoos accumulated over a lifetime by a prison attendant named Danzig Baldaev. Tattoos were his gateway into a secret world in which he acted as ethnographer, recording the rituals of a closed society. The icons and tribal languages he documented are artful, distasteful, sexually explicit and sometimes just strange, reflecting as they do the lives and traditions of Russian convicts. Skulls, swastikas, harems of naked women, a smiling Al Capone, medieval knights in armor, daggers sheathed in blood, benign images of Christ, sweet-faced mothers and their babies, armies of tanks and a horned Lenin: these are the signs by which the people of this hidden world mark and identify themselves. With a foreword by Danzig Baldaev, and an introduction by Alexei Plutser-Sarno, exploring the symbolism of the Russian criminal tattoo.

Record your tarot reading interpretations and connect with your spiritual side using this journal featuring artwork from the bestselling Tattoo Tarot deck. How do you relate to the fool? Who is the star in your life? What is your yearly spread looking like? Tattoo Tarot Journal includes illustrations and meanings for all the tarot cards for reference use, plus space to record three, five and ten-card spreads as well as to meditate on deeper questions. A must-have for fans of the best-selling Tattoo Tarot: Ink and Intuition and for all budding tarot readers.