A Kin in the Skin, For the Win.
Hello friends. Welcome back. I'm very glad that I get to share this design project with you today. I worked on it last year but now I get to share the final results with you all. I was commissioned to design a tattoo for a client.
So, I wanted to talk briefly (or as briefly as I can) about a little of the history behind this ancient tradition. Here in North America, getting a tattoo is somewhat of a rite of passage for Americans. It's used to mark so many significant milestones within our lives. We get a tattoo when we: turn 18, when we go to our first big music concert, when we lose our virginity, when we fall in love, when someone close to us passes away, when we move to a new city, when we have a baby, when we get married, when we get divorced... the list goes on and on. Haven't you ever wondered where this time-honored tradition originated from? I certainly have, especially as I worked on this project. This is nothing new. I am a very curious individual. I wonder about things like this all the time.
So, how old is the tradition of tattooing, anyway? At the moment: the tradition of tattooing dates back to at least the Neolithic times. And to help you know how old that is, the Neolithic Period is the final division of The Stone Age (yeah, cavemen. lol) This period of time dates from 2300 BCE-1900 BCE. I say "at the moment" because archeologists have been expanding the timeline of the tradition of tattooing for decades, as evidenced by mummified preserved skin, ancient art, and the discovery of the tools that were used for tattooing.
Both ancient art and archaeological finds of possible tattoo tools suggest tattooing was practiced by the Upper Paleolithic period in Europe. However, direct evidence for tattooing on mummified human skin extends only to the 4th millennium BC. The oldest discovery of tattooed human skin to date is found on the body of Ötzi the Iceman, dating to between 3370 and 3100 BC. Ötzi had 61 tattoos, and they were found embedded in glacial ice in the Alps. Other tattooed mummies have been recovered from at least 49 archaeological sites, including locations in Greenland, Alaska, Siberia, Mongolia, western China, Egypt, Sudan, the Philippines, and the Andes. These include Amunet, Priestess of the Goddess Hathor from ancient Egypt (c. 2134–1991 BC), multiple mummies from Siberia including the Pazyryk culture of Russia, and from several cultures throughout Pre-Columbian South America.
Photo credit Wikipedia.org
To be honest, the history of this subject spans globally and is quite vast. I wanted to focus more on where the tradition derives here in North America. Indigenous peoples of North America have a long history of tattooing. Tattooing was not a simple marking on the skin: it was a process that highlighted cultural connections to Indigenous ways of knowing and viewing the world, as well as connections to family, society, and place.
There is no way to determine the actual origin of tattooing for Indigenous people of North America. The oldest known physical evidence of tattooing in North America was made through the discovery of a frozen, mummified, Inuit female on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska who had tattoos on her skin. Through radiocarbon dating of the tissue, scientists estimated that the female came from the 16th century.
A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia.
Painting by John White.
Early explorers to North America made many observations about the Indigenous people they met. Initially, they did not have a word for tattooing and instead described the skin modifications as "pounce, prick, list, mark, and raze" to "stamp, paint, burn, and embroider." The actual word "tattoo" did not appear until the 18th century. Tattoo, or tattow (in the 18th century), is a loanword from the Samoan word tatau, meaning "to strike."
An interesting fact that I learned recently is that tattooing was also used as a makeshift dental healing practice. Joseph François Lafitau, a Jesuit missionary, recorded how Indigenous people were applying tattoos to their skin and developed healing strategies in tattooing the jawline to treat toothaches. Indigenous people had determined that certain nerves that were along the jawline connected to certain teeth, thus by tattooing those nerves, it would stop them from firing signals that led to toothaches. Cool, huh?
The popularity of modern Western tattooing owes its origins in large part to Captain James Cook's voyages to the South Pacific in the 1770s, but since the 1950s a false belief has persisted that modern Western tattooing originated exclusively from these voyages. Tattooing has been consistently present in Western society from the modern period stretching back to Ancient Greece, though largely for different reasons. A long history of European tattoos predated these voyages, including among sailors and tradesmen, pilgrims visiting the Holy Land, and Europeans living among Native Americans. European sailors have practiced tattooing since at least the 16th century.
In the period shortly after the American Revolution, to avoid impressment by British Navy ships, sailors used government-issued protection papers to establish their American citizenship. However, many of the descriptions of the individual described in the seamen's protection certificates were so general, and it was so easy to abuse the system, that many impressment officers of the Royal Navy simply paid no attention to them. One way of making them more specific and more effective was to describe a tattoo, which is highly personal as to subject and location, and thus use that description to precisely identify the seaman. As a result, many of the official certificates also carried information about tattoos and scars, as well as any other specific identifying information. This also perhaps led to an increase and proliferation of tattoos among American seamen who wanted to avoid impressment. During this period, tattoos were not popular with the rest of the country. Rarely did members of the general public adorn themselves with tattoos.
that performed in the circus sideshows, 1907
Photo credit unknown.
The first documented professional tattooer in the United States was Martin Hildebrandt, who had enlisted in the United States Navy in the late 1840s where he learned to tattoo, served as a soldier in the American Civil War, and opened a shop in New York City in the early 1870s. The earliest appearance of tattoos on women during this period was in the circus in the late 19th century. These "Tattooed Ladies" were covered – with the exception of their faces, hands, necks, and other readily visible areas – with various images inked into their skin.
Tattooing has steadily increased in popularity since the invention of the electric tattoo machine. In 1936, 1 in 10 Americans had a tattoo of some form. In the late 1950s, Tattoos were greatly influenced by several artists in particular Lyle Tuttle, Cliff Raven, Don Nolan, Zeke Owens, Spider Webb, and Don Ed Hardy. The second generation of artists, trained by the first, continued these traditions into the 1970s and included artists such as Bob Roberts, Jamie Summers, and Jack Rudy.
Since the 1970s, tattoos have become a mainstream part of global and Western fashion, common among both sexes, to all economic classes, and to age groups from the later teen years to middle age. The decoration of blues singer Janis Joplin with a wristlet and a small heart on her left breast, by the San Francisco tattoo artist Lyle Tuttle, has been called a seminal moment in the popular acceptance of tattoos as art. Formal interest in the art of the tattoo became prominent in the 1970s through the beginning of the 21st century. For many young Americans, the tattoo has taken on a decidedly different meaning than for previous generations. The tattoo has undergone dramatic redefinition and has shifted from a form of deviance to an acceptable form of expression.
The history of the tattoo is a colorful one, pun intended and, while I have shared a considerable bit, this is really a drop in the ink pot of the history in it's entirety. I didn't even go into the history of the tools and techniques used or the diversity of artistry and design. There are literally all sorts of books written and published available with this fascinating information. So many it could fill entire libraries devoted to the tattoo... and that would be a cool library to visit and have a card for. But to keep us from getting too lost in this fascinating subject, I really want to share this design project I was involved with.
Last year I was commissioned to do a tattoo design for a client. They wanted something that represented the bond between them and their 3 grandchildren. They didn't exactly know how they wanted the bond represented. However, they did bring/show me examples of tattoos that they liked that was a similar theme. Originally they had asked me to design something in Chinese or Japanese language. I had asked them if they had an avid interest in Asian culture or any ancestry from Asia, and they had said no. So, I advised them not to use any language or cultural appropriation that was neither related to their family heritage nor attached to some personal interest, hobby, or affinity. So we ditched the Asian alphabet, Gaelic, Greek, and basically all other cultural appropriation.
Sometimes, I feel Americans gravitate to these aesthetics in tattoos because they are foreign or exotic to much of the mainstream American culture, and adopting something foreign would look cool or other-worldly. I blame Sci-Fi and Fantasy films for this lol.
I spoke more with my client, J, about their interests and discovered that they have an interest in Astrology. Of course, this made me very excited and we discussed Astrology together. I knew from this point that whatever I come up with would have its foundation based on Astrology. So, I was off to my favorite place, the digital library (otherwise known as the internet lol) to do more research for this project and really begin to figure out what I wanted to do for it and how I would connect Astrology to a visual aesthetic to successfully visually represent this familial bond between J and their grandchildren.
I really began to gravitate toward geometric design for this tattoo. Geometric tattoos date back to ancient times, as we have discussed, and would often carry symbolism and meaning from spiritual and religious practices. Today, these tattoo designs are more often about balance, symmetry, stability, intelligence, and mystery. I felt that this visual style of tattoo design would work perfectly for J. It would allow me to explore astrology and J's personal symbolism in an abstract and visually appealing way. I began to pull example images and make notes about all the various symbols and ideas I wanted to include in this design.
I asked J if they had any preference for the type of tattoo or its final location and J said that they were open to any ideas that I had. I decided to pitch the idea of a cuff or "armband" and see what they thought. J was open to this idea, so I ran with it. After about a week or so of thumbnailing different ideas, I came to the pitch of what was to become the final design for this tattoo. I'm going to break the design down into all its various parts in a similar fashion to the way that I pitched it to my client.
Let's begin with the triangular pendant.
The triangular pendant represents my client J mostly if J were made of symbols. lol. As I said previously, this tattoo design is based mostly on the astrology of the people it's meant to represent and connect. Now if we all remember our Dan Brown and DaVinci Code lessons on ancient symbols (or at least watched the movie lol), then we remember that the triangle is one of the oldest symbols used to define gender. If the Apex of the triangle is pointed upward (what many of us consider an upright triangle) this is one of the first symbols for males. It is called "the blade." A downward facing apex or "upside-down" triangle represents females. It is called "the chalice." J identifies as male so the triangular pendant is upright.
J's main 3 astrological birth chart placements are an Aquarius Sun, a Leo Moon, and Saggitarius Rising. Leo and Sagittarius are both fire signs and the triangle also can represent power and the element of fire.
A triangle with a line drawn through it near the top of a triangle is a visual symbol for the element of Air. You can see how the top segment of the arm cuff/band crosses into the design of the triangular badge. Jan is an Aquarius Sun. Aquarius is an Air sign. The wavy lines used to create the outer part of the triangular badge are created with the symbol for the Zodiac sign of Aquarius which is represented by 2 stacked wavy/zigzag lines.
A triangle can also just simply represent a trinity. In this case a trinity of grandchildren and a trinity of astrological natal placements.
Inside the triangular border, we see a typographical design created from 4 letters (J,L,B & D.) As you will have already guessed, they are the first initials of J and his 3 grandchildren. I chose a font that had a primitive-looking aesthetic as I felt that it would both conceptually and aesthetically fit the design. when all the initials combine, they create an intriguing mirrored symmetry that fills the pendant.
There is another symbol at the apex of the pendant, but we will come back to that. Let's talk about the geometric bands that wrap around the triangular pendant.
First, making the tattoo a cuff or armband plays into the concept of visually connecting J to his grandchildren. Each band represents each one of his grandchildren and they are literally connected to each and to him visually tying everyone together. Each band is a separate geometric pattern that is created based on that particular grandchild's astrological Sun Sign. 2 of the bands are Pisces. 1 is Aquarius, like J.
The topmost band represents B. B is a Pisces Sun. The symbol for the zodiac sign of Pisces is two mirrored curved lines intersected by a single straight line through the center. It somewhat looks like the Capitalized Alphabetical Letter H. The design is made up of a traditional symbol of Pisces and then there is a group of triangles that create the "H" shape of Pisces in the Negative Space between them. When you repeat the 2 designs back to back, they create an abstract geometric pattern that somewhat resembles a linked chain.
The middle band represents D. D is an Aquarius Sun (Like J). As mentioned above, the symbol for the zodiac sign of Aquarius is two stacked zigzag/wavy lines. The band design is made up of these symbols repeated and linked to each other. I mirrored/reflected the line pattern below, creating a geometric diamond pattern that is emphasized/augmented with the repeating central diamonds and triangles.
Each of the zodiac-symbol patterns is mirrored at least once to represent that we each have a mirrored/other/shadow side to ourselves. We all strive for balance (not just the Libras in this crowd. lol) and sometimes visual reminders like this placed in art and design are how we remind ourselves as humans how multifaceted we all are. We are not just our Sun signs, we are also our Moons, Our Risings, and all other placements in our natal charts.
The bottom-most band represents L. L is also a Pisces Sun. The Symbol for Pisces is meant to visually represent a pair of fish in the most simple way. The pattern for this band is created by a large Triangle followed by a smaller triangle (another simple way to visually represent a fish.) There are actually 2 pairs of fish that run through this pattern. the first 3 fish are obvious. There is a fish swimming to the right stacked on top of a fish swimming to the left stacked on top of another fish swimming to the right. The 4th fish is less obvious. within the 3 bands of fish, a 4th fish (swimming left) is created within the negative space of the first 3 fish. 2 Pairs of fish are simply/geometrically represented in the last band.
Now let's return to that funny symbol resting at the apex of the triangular pendant. This symbol is a sigil. A sigil is a type of symbol used in magic. the term has usually referred to a type of pictorial signature of an angel or other entity. Quite simply, it is a "signature" that literally draws magic into existence. (Or so it is believed.) This is a sigil for "Luck Will Follow Me" or more simply put "Good Luck." Again, J is a Sagittarius Rising. The ruling planet or "timelord" for the sign of Sagittarius is the planet Jupiter. Jupiter is the planet of luck, abundance, hope, and faith. Just an added note: I did not create or design this sigil. I found it.
Now sometimes, when you design things, they work well "on paper" or "on screen." However, in the practice or execution of that plan (because the term "design" literally only means "to plan") you sometimes might have to change or rearrange things to make the final result work, or work out, or work better. The sigil was moved to the inner part of the arm cuff for practical reasons deemed by the tattoo artist that tattoed my design onto J. They advised that it would be too small where it was originally placed, and I have to say that I agree. I really like where they placed it and overall the amazing job they did on his tattoo. Shout out to Sebastian Echeverria at Symmetry Ink NYC. You do amazing and wonderful work. Click on his photo to see his Instagram. Seriously, AMAZING work!
Lastly, just hidden at the bottom of the sigil are my initials "LP" (as per the client's request they be added to the tattoo design. This was the most discrete way to do that without taking away from the rest of the design. Also, I'm pretty modest about my work)
This concludes our tour around J's arm and arm cuff tattoo. Please exit through the gift shop. lol. jk.
I hope you all enjoyed the journey and perhaps learned something new about the history of tattoos. If you have a favorite tattoo story please feel free to share it in the comments below. I'd love to hear your story. The rest of us will daydream about the next tattoo we will plan to get. :0) Enjoy your weekend everyone.
Until next time, friends...
Keep dreaming, keep sketching, keep thinking, keep laughing, and most important of all, keep making art.
***History of the tattoo sourced from Wikipedia.
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