TattooArt

A tattoo machine is a hand-held device generally used to create a tattoo, a permanent marking of the skin with ink. Modern tattoo machines use alternating electromagnetic coils to move a needle bar up and down, driving pigment into the skin. Tattoo artists generally use the term "machine", or even "iron", to refer to their equipment.

The basic machine was invented by Thomas Edison and patented in the United States in 1876 ^{... Read more »}

Decorative and spiritual uses

Tattoos have served as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility, pledges of love, punishment, amulets and talismans, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts. The symbolism and impact of tattoos varies in different places and cultures. Tattoos may show how a person feels about a relative (commonly mother/father or daughter/son) or about an unrelated person.