Arts & Entertainment Facts and Tips

For thousands of years people of different cultures have enjouyed and made use of tattoos. Mummified bodies in from ancient Egypt have marks which suggest they had tattoos and these days it is considered quite normal for both young men and women and even older men and woment to have tattoos.

The origins of the word tattoo are thought to have arrived from sailors who had been to Tahiti where a similar word is used to mean a mark. The european sailors discovered that Polynesians and native American Indians were frequently covered in tattoos whereas in Europe the art had almost died out.

Modern tattooing is usually carried out simply for decorative purposes and mosy people choose designs that they feel show off their character or independance. This was not always the case and the Romans used to tattoo slaves and criminals so that everybody could see that they were of low status.

The reasons people have had tattoos has changed throughout the ages and so have the methods of being tattooed. Pricking was one of the first methods used and later on the process was modified with the use of scratches to add color. Today tattoos are created by puncturing the skin and injecting pigment with a needle. This has always been the method of tattooing used by the Europeans.

In the past you had to accept a tattoo design with which the tattoo artist was familiar. You depended on his knowledge of designs. Now we have the internet and this has revolutionized the choice of designs available to you. You can simply go online and select from thousands of printable tattoo designs to find the one you like best. Once selected you print it out and take it to your local tattooist who can copy it onto your skin.