Double egded sword.

Long time, no see! I haven't been able to write anything because no one has sent anything in! But finally, I had two submissions and there are several tattoos waiting to be talked about, so be prepared!
For those who like Kat Von D, has anyone read her new book? I just purchased it and I haven't really read much of it. I haven't even read the first one. What do you guys think?
What are some of your favorite tattoo artists by the way? If you could get tattooed by anyone, who would it be and what would it be? Anyone get tattooed by their dream tattoo artist?
Anyway, doubleedgedsword from livejournal has sent in some of her tattoos! Here we go:

Lulu is twenty for and lives in Dublin, Ireland. She is a full time tattoo apprentice( go femme tattoo artist!!!) Lulu is a big fan of the band My Ruin and showed her dedication to the band by getting a tattoo of their band logo, a sacred heart, on her back. The tattoo was done at Zulu Tattoo by Gav in Dublin, Ireland.
Lulu was lucky enough to meet the lead singer of My Ruin, Tairrie B, and when Lulu showed her the tattoo, Tairrie B fell in love, grabbed the nearest sharpie and wrote "Miss B Loves Me" above the existing tattoo. The next day, she went to Wild Cat Tattoo in Dublin City and made the script permanent.
"Getting to meet such an inspirational woman who kicks ass, takes names and doesn't compromise what's important to her deserved commemoration, so the tattoo was ideal" Says Lulu.

The Buddha tattoo is a current work in progress. The tattoo is done by Marcus at Red Dragon Tattoo, Clondalkin, Dublin. Red Dragon tattoo is also where Miss Lulu is doing her apprenticeship. " The tattoo will be a story of my conversion to Buddhism, and how much peace it has brought to my life. There is lots more to add to it, including some Tibetan script - "Om mani padme hum" which means "Hail to the jewel in the lotus" - some mendhi designs and lots of flowers." Lulu writes.

I have met plenty of people who have converted to Buddhism and seeing Buddhist tattoos always brings some sort of warmth to my heart. Lulu's Buddhist tattoo is beautiful, and holds such a deep meaning, that most people wouldn't think too much about it. The Buddhist way of life takes a lot of dedication, it's a commitment. Just like Lulu's tattoo, it shows her love for the Buddha.

Lulu also has a tattoo on her leg of the Legendary David Bowie. A fan since childhood, and an idol to her now, she shows her dedication by having this portrait done by Marcus at the Red Dragon Tattoo.
In January 2010, Lulu started her apprenticeship. Marcus, her boss and teacher, has told her that "apprenticeship never ends, you're always learning and no artists knows everything". But in the New Year, Lulu will be ready to tattoo customers.

Lulu tells us, "I like lots of different types of art. I love bold and colourful comic books, the striking black and white of Japanese manga, the romanticism of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and anything from the Renaissance. Comic books and their bright colours have influenced my own drawing style more than anything else."

Lulu has tattooed her sister, her boyfriend, and her best friend so far, and she won't stop there. She tries to get as much practice as she can. "I think it's every artist's dream to plan, design, draw and tattoo a full bodysuit. Bodysuits started out in Japan, and they take such a long time to do, but by the end there is one complete and breathtaking piece that the customer will take with them forever, and even without clothing they will still look as though they are wearing something. That would be amazing, especially if I got to work with the customer and design something completely custom. "


The first tattoo she has done was on her boyfriend, a tribal design. She recently retouched it and she says it's nerve racking because she says that she "notices every mistake and every line" But in the end, she still stands by it.

There is one thing that Lulu has said that she would not tattoo, and that is the names of significant others on people. She says this because she sees far too many clients coming, looking for cover ups because they had gotten the names of their lovers tattooed. And she believes that if she were to do names, it would be the names of children and parents.

Right now, Lulu doesn't feel comfortable doing portraits. She feels this way because she says, "You only get one shot at a portrait, and if you make a mess of it there's no real way of fixing it".

"Every tattoo I do, whether it's on pigskin as practice (I get it from the local butcher's) or on friends and family, gives me more and more confidence. I'm far from thinking I'm Alex de Pase or Hannah Aitchison, but I learn something new every day and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to do this. People would die to do what I do now, so I count my blessings every day because this is the best job in the world. "

Lulu has a dream and she pursues it, and I think that these are great words to live by, for anyone who has a dream.

These are the tattoos that Lulu has done so far.

It's been awhile since I posted
But I need people to send me in photos and stories!
Send it to experimentvictims at gmail dot com
tell you friends, you mothers, your sisters, your daughters!

<3

Long time no see! flora pieces part one

Kristin is 25 and currently living in Norway. She has a masters degree in Literature and Education and dreams of being a college professor and a loving mother. She currently has 8 tattoos and counting and says "think that all women are beautiful, tattooed or not!"

She has sent in two of her tattoos:

This is her floral backpiece. Each flower represents places that she has lived in, fell and love with, and calls home.

The middle piece is the flower of Washington,where she has lived in for a decade, the Blue Rhododendron. The small purple flowers on the bottom are the state flowers of Illinois. She was born and raised in Illinois. The large yellow flowers are the Nebraska state flowers, the Goldenrods, where her family has deep roots. The Pink Cornflowers are the flowers of Germany, where her family originates from and where she also where she went for her college studies. The Pink Heather flowers are the flowers of Norway. She's married to a Norwegian man and Norway is now her current home.

As you can see, she has Papa Lyle on her right side, a homage to her Grandfather. She says: "The idea of this tattoo was to keep the background open and free, like a bouquet on my skin, to take home with me wherever I am...also, this way I can add new homes in the future too!"

Flowers are extremely common tattoos, mostly because they flow and are extremely color. Flowers hold a lot meaning, either spiritual, represents a homeland, or a birth flower. Flowers also represents ourselves. I myself have the Hellebore flowers on my side.(I haven't posted them in the post because they are not finished) The artist originally didn't like them because they were dark and harsh looking but after talking to him and he spent more time thinking about the flower he realized, "they aren't ugly, they are resilient. They're not delicate like most flowers." And that is how perceived me, resilient. The Hellebore flower is one of the four classic poisons, Night Shade, Hemlock, Aconite.

A popular flower that people get tattooed is the Cherry Blossom. Cherry Blossoms bloom in Spring are normally associated with Asian style tattoos. Spring, as most of you represents renewal. I have known many people who gotten Cherry Blossom tattoos after something very memorable happens in their life. After they loose a loved one, when they fall in love, when they have a near death experience.. Many people get these flowers for different reasons. In China, the Cherry Blossoms represent power, feminine beauty, and love. In Japan, the Cherry Blossoms, represents the transience of life. The flowers tie in with the Buddhists fundamental teachings, stating all life suffers and transits through life.

Flowers are powerful and a great feminine tattoo. And Kristin's flowers are powerful. They are maps of places that she calls home.

I am sorry for the delay, and I am sorry for the lack of photos in this one.
If you want to send in a photo of your tattoo and your story, please email me at experimentvictims@gmail.com
Please comment and I hope you enjoyed what you have read so far!

C. Baudelaire

"Women's liberation! One hundred percent women's liberation! That put tattooing back on the map. With women getting a new found freedom, they could get tattooed if they so desired. It increased and opened the market by 50% of the population - hell of the human race! For three years, I tattooed almost nothing but women. Most women got tattooed for the entertainment value ... circus side show attractions and so forth. Self-made freaks, that sort of stuff. The women made tattooing a softer and kinder art form."

-Lyle Tuttle what made tattooing gain in popularity during his early career

Thank you Karla for sending this in!

text tattoos part 1

Pictures can be worth a thousand words but some people want a more straightforward approach when it comes to expressing how they feel. The simplicity of a sentence could just be perfect for someone to get tattooed.

One of the many people who had submitted me tattoos is Allison, from a literary tattoo community from livejournal.com. This particular tattoo piece is from the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, a fantasy novel about two children who travel through different universes. The movie, The Golden Compass, was based off the trilogy.
This quote comes from the final novel, The Amber Spyglass
In her own words, Allison says:
"Tell them stories. They need the truth. You must tell them true stories, and everything will be well. Just tell them stories. ...
All that was left was the sweetness of that feeling, and the injunction to tell them stories.
The feathers represent the harpies guarding the underworld and whose task it is to guide the ghosts back out into the world. It's a reminder to myself to live life so that when I die, I have stories to tell."

Emily, a full time art student sent me her tattoo, a quote from the book, Into the Wild, a nonfiction book about a man's two year journey in Alaska, after he gave up all his possessions and donated all of his money to charities.

In her own words :"As for the tattoo on my leg, it's a quote from the book Into the Wild, taken from a letter that Chris McCandless wrote. I chose this, because I think of him as a very influential young man, who did what made him happy, without fear. He wanted to see the country, and he did so. I also chose it because I absolutely adored the book, as well as the movie, and I appreciated the fact that the quote can go for any new experience, or any new adventure, which is what was going on in my life when I got this tattoo. (I had started going to college in a new state, after never being away from home for very long.)"

Betty, from Dayton Ohio, is currently in Business school in NYC. She currently has 7 tattoos, and has no plans for more.


The Ellipisis, the three dots on her left wrist. The tattoo was done by Xing Haisong at John Long Tattoo in Shanghai. In her own words: "I got the tattoo on a whim; my friends and I were joking about our favorite punctuation marks and I said I would get an ellipsis tattoo. Being in Shanghai was my first time abroad by myself, and on an impulse, I decided to really get the tattoo as a mark of freedom. Even though it was a spur of the moment decision, I don't regret it at all. A lot of people think the dots stand for past, present, and future, and I don't bother correcting them; that's another way I see the tattoo."

On her right forearm, it says "What touches you (keep what you kill) is what you touch"
In her own words: "This tattoo and all of my following tattoos were done by Eddie Carerro at Inkstop in NYC. The lines without the parentheses is from one of my favorite poems, Margaret Atwood's "Nothing." The middle line is from The Chronicles of Riddick movie and is the last line Vin Diesel says in the movie. I mashed together the two quotes because I think they really work well together. To me, it means responsibility. "What touches you is what you touch" reminds me of all the people in my life that I've met and how important they are to me, and how they've changed my life and how I've changed theirs. "Keep what you kill" reminds me to always take responsibility for my own actions."

The third tattoo, she got was an quote from the Italian movie ,Life is Beautiful.The movie is about an Italian Jewish man who must use his imagination to keep his family together while they are in a Nazi concentration camp. La vita e bella is the Italian translation and is on her left forearm, curving down. The tattoo itself is self explanatory and is a current reminder of how lucky she is.

The quote reads: "something in me aches to be delicate, it weeps while the rest of me cackles."
This tattoo was done for a tattoo project.(http://aemrrcollaborations.blogspot.com/)
In her own words: "This quote perfectly sums up who I am as a person. I'm jaded, yet sometimes I wish I weren't. There is no judgment behind this quote, I don't wish to change, this is simply who I am. "





Words can mean the world to someone, whether it was read, heard, or our own. When you really read something, when you read between the lines, take in the context, and look at the emotions that were felt when it was created, you cannot describe how powerful a few simple words can be. So powerful that it could gives us hope, guide us through dark times, and inspire ourselves as well as others.


I would like to thank those who have left comments and who are following this blog! Please tell me what you think or tell me what you would like to see. :D

Karla was the first femme to agree to my project so I am happy to make my first official post about her beautiful tattoos!
Karla is 46 and from Albuquerque, NM and she works as a massage therapist. She has four tattoo so far.

The first one she sent me was one her left arm of an Angel. She got this done by Richie Castillo of Time Bomb Tattoo in San Antonio, Texas

The tattoo symbolizes protection, an Angel on her shoulder always looking after her. The Angel is surrounded by a stone window , a take on Angel in the Architecture, which is a line from a Paul Simon song. In her own words "to me it means the sacred that is in the everyday - the mystic that is in the material..."The rainbow wings represent several things, an energetic and sacred meaning as well as Gay Pride.

Angels have half always been great representations of protection and has been seen in religions other than Christianity. All together, it is a very powerful tattoo with several meanings, one that you can look at and just be in total awe because there is just so much symbolism.

This next one is on Karla's right arm. The theme is totems and magic symbols including, two different styled dragonflies, a lotus blossom, a third eye symbol, and a henna hand. This tattoo was also done by Richie Castillo and was done all freehand except for one of the tribal dragonfly.

in the process and this next one is the 6th session of the tattoo

This next one is one that she has on her left forearm. It is of the Hamsa hand, a symbol of protection against evil and the sixth senses. The hand is the hand of Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muhammad. It is mostly seen as jewelery or wall hangings at home, as defense against the evil eye.This hand is found in many cultures, in Israeli, Arabic, and in the Bible.



Spiritual tattoos are not uncommon, many people get them. I have seen people get spiritual ink to pay homage to someone they loved that had spiritual beliefs and so, one doesn't have to be spiritual themselves to appreciate such tattoos or symbolism. Whether it be a symbol of your faith, homages to loved ones, or an Angel of protection, they are all powerful and beautiful tattoos.

Tattoos have been around for centuries. As a tribal mark, a mark of fertility, and identification.
Tattoos, for a long time were seen as a sign of rebellion. It wasn't proper for a woman to get a tattoo.

But now, many women have tattoos. Whether it's to represent something dear to them, portraits of their loved ones, memorial tattoos, or simply for the sake of art. But while a lot of women have tattoos, it is still frowned upon.

This is blog about women with tattoos, a blog to show that women are still beautiful and so are their tattoos. I have talked with several women, asking for their permission to post their tattoos and stories for everyone to read.