2. Interview:
You should document the process of getting your interview. You should produce a range of questions and also a list of
interviewees.
You should provide an unedited transcript of the interview as well as at least one draft of it.
Interviews can be written in whatever style you prefer.
3. Questions for friends and family.
So what made you decide you wanted a tattoo?
What was your first tattoo?
Which tattoo of yours means the most to you?
What is your favourite style of tattoo?
Given the opportunity, what would your next tattoo be?
Do you find a lot of people look down on you because of your tattoo?
Where is the strangest place you’ve been tattooed?
Colour or B&W?
Any tattoos that you regret?
Got any tips for people getting their first tattoo?
List of interviewees:
Karl Boyce.
Emma Garthwaite.
Richard Mellon.
4. Questions for JJ
So what made you decide you wanted to be a tattoo artist?
When did you start tattooing?
What was the first tattoo you did on someone?
Which tattoo of yours means the most to you?
What is your favourite style of tattoo?
How would you describe your style of tattooing?
Where is the strangest place you’ve done a tattoo?
Have you ever refused to tattoo someone? If so why?
Any tattoos that you regret?
Have you ever been judged for your career choice?
Do you find a lot of people look down on you because of your tattoos?
Got any tips for people getting their first tattoo?
List of interviewees:
Jordan Jackson JJ.
5. Copy:
All the other written elements of your fanzine are up to you but should be documented here. If you decide to write a
review, a polemic, an article or anything else, it needs to be documented here.
Drafts are good so it is worth writing a first draft then producing a second which not only checks for spelling and grammar
errors but also ensures that your work has a consistent style, quality and structure.
Recording your research, as and when it happens, is also a very strong idea. If you need to look up a fact or read an article,
record that.
6. With the population of tattoos in this day and age, we are seeing more and more people wearing artwork on their skin. Its
natural now to pop to the shops and be served by a cashier with a full sleeve piece. Tattoos used to be frowned upon by
everyone who didn’t have one, but that gradually changed over time. The tattooing machines that are used today have
remained pretty much unchanged over the years. The machines have stayed the same but it is the ink itself that has come
on leaps and bounds. The ink used to be created out of shoot and ash, tattoos in Ancient Rome were done by pricking a
needle into the skin until it bled then rubbing the ink in. Its surreal to think that ink used to be created from bronze and
iron and now we have ink that will glow in the dark and are injected via a machine, not rubbed in through an open
wound.
With the use of the new machines and ink the tattoo artists can push the human body to its limit and turn it into a canvas
and create pure pieces of artwork on the body that will stay for life.
Modern Tattooing Article
7. Japanese Tattooing. Tebori Style
The Japanese style of tattooing is one of my favorite styles of tattooing. It is a style typically done in Japan, done with a
wooden stick or bone with an array of needles on the end. The style catches my eye so much because it is all hand done,
and when you see the huge back pieces full of color and detail it just blows me away. I delved a little more into the Tebori
style of tattooing and found that the outline work is done with , and all the shading is done by hand. When I read some
interviews with tattoo artist I found that the color that you get from the Tebori style compares to none others, the ink
looks so vibrant and it holds so well. This is because the Tebori style is not as hard on the skin as a typical machine would
be which allows the tattoo to resist fading.
I discovered that the culture surrounding the Tebori style believes in leaving a tattoo incomplete until a major task is
complete in life, so for example the eye of a warrior will remained not filled in with color until a goal is accomplished, this
is done to give the person motivation to finish something in life and move on.
8. Papa New Guinea. Stick and Poke.
The stick and poke tattooing method is something that reflects the first ever method of tattooing, we have dated this
method back to 450 B.C. But this generation have catapulted the stick and poke method back into being relevant. The
come back of the stick and poke can be credited to students that don’t want to fork out for a serious tattoo, so the stick
and poke was done for relatively cheap and it gained a lot of attention around the world. Its not uncommon now to see
university students performing stick and poke tattoos from the inside of university accommodation, which is not a bad
thing at all but the ease of access to stick and poke brings shortcuts, and these shortcuts lead to infections or even tattoos
that wash out. Although this has been great for the publicity of stick and poke tattoos it has lead to the media covering
stick and poke and giving it a terrible coverage. But when done properly a stick and poke can be just as good as as a tattoo
done through a machine.
9. Thailand. Metal Tubing.
Metal tubing is a dying tradition in Thailand, a lot of tourists travel and receive a metal tubing tattoo. The real name of
metal tubing is called Sak Yant. It is a dying art sadly, many people visit and do not honor the tradition of Sak Yant, tattoo
parlors offer knock offs. For a Sak Yant to be true to the tradition a practicing monk must perform the tattoo and strangely
they will not accept any form of payment, only donations.
The metal tubing feeling is described as one that is unlike any other, the metal pipe is heated to sterilize the needles on the
end, so in turn you receive a sharp burning pain, worse than one of those from a modern day tattooing machine.
The final step is the monk chanting positive prayers and blowing into the tattoo, this is the final step that seals the magic
into the tattoo.
Metal Tubing in Thailand dates back two thousand years ago, the sacred art form stays alive to this day. Every year 10,000
people visit a temple 30 miles west of the capital of Thailand, all to pay tribute to the sacred tattoo tradition known as Sak
Yant. Those that make the trip to the temple hope to refill the magic energy that is held within their tattoo. Once people
have been tattooed and the crowed settles down the monks begin to chant prayers and incantation, slowly one by one
people become possessed by their tattoo and take on the energy that the tattoo represents. They each charge as a mob
towards the center of the temple to be blasted with holy water from a hose. The participants then leave confident their
tattoos have been charged full of energy which will last until next year when they return.
