BME: Body Modification Ezine

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Celebrating body modification culture since 1994.

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  • Tattoos of Love

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    I wanted to share with you some of the nicer heart-and-love-themed tattoos I’ve gotten recently. For a lot of people tattoos are a way of wearing their heart on their sleeve quite literally, a way of externalizing and sharing the way they feel with the world. Some people write poetry, some people get tattooed, and I suppose in a lot of ways many people’s tattoos are poetry.

    Let me start with Selena‘s wonderful little “two sparrows pinning a patchwork heart”. It’s not quite finished yet, but what you see so far is by Joey Wallace at Karmic Tattoo in McDonough, GA.

    I get a lot of anatomical heart diagrams indicating where various emotions and other concepts lie. This one for example is on Jen by Anji at HPP Ink in Eugene, Oregon. I assume those are transdermals by the way (but someone correct me if I’m wrong and it’s a surface bar):

    Here’s another one by Rod Graybill at Dexterity Tattoo in Lancaster, PA on IAM:she rarely flies. The heart tattoo gallery I mentioned earlier contains quite a few other variations if I recall correctly.

    This next one is on IAM:girl-23 who lives in Canada but is doing the long distance relationship thing with her boyfriend in Florida… That’s never easy, and she got this postcard tattoo done by Scooter at Atomic Tattoos in Lakeland, FL while visiting him this past December.

    I’ve seen Link and Zelda couples (and siblings) tattoos before, and they’re always so sweet and nerdy. This pair was done by Billy at Temptation Tattoo in Denver, CO.

    Finally, a heart that’s maybe not doing quite so well. IAM:LustKill had this tortured heart done by Dan Craft at Jersey Devil in Blackwood, NJ.

    As always, please don’t copy any of these designs, and I hope you’ll take the time to email me your tattoo (high res pictures please) for BME at [email protected] — don’t forget to be sure to tell me the artist credit and anything else I need to know.

  • Must not get sad tattoo!

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    Ok, so I do have a STAY CALM tattooed across the inside of my fingers, but that’s for a different reason. As you may or may not know, I’m moving on Friday so while I’ll do my best to keep ModBlog updated, there will almost certainly be a couple of blackouts — but rest assured that they are only temporary.

  • HARDCORE!

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    Yeah, we’re back! I’ll bet you were starting to wonder if we were ever going to post here again, and I’m happy to say that the deep stupor of the holiday drug binge is wearing off and I’m no longer terrified that the keys on my laptop are sending me secret messages from the abyss by their bizarre qwertiesque arrangement. Read on below for the first posts of the New Year. Many more will follow!

  • A few more geeky tattoos

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    Following up on BME’s extensive coverage of geek tattoos, here’s a little geek loving for you by Aric at Viva Tattoo in Rochester:

    “Bite me” tattoos aren’t that uncommon, but maybe this is the first “byte me” one I’ve seen… Hello? This is 1983 calling — I want my computer club t-shirt back! Thanks to Tim for sending this tattoo by Glenn Scott in Dayton, Ohio.

    Or how about a computeriffic sacred heart?

    This tattoo below (done at Last Rites) is on a whole group of people — the 1337 KR3W I suppose? I’m not sure if it’s tongue in cheek right now because part of me thinks that if you claim to be elite, you’re probably not. That said, I’m a dude with a ’74 Corvette with a license plate that reads L33T so don’t think I’m not in a glass house!

    I like this haxor tattoo the best though because it doesn’t take itself too seriously:

    That was done by Universoul Mutations in Cadillac, MI.

  • I’m gonna make you famous…

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    Tattoo by Bones at Slingin’ Ink in Scranton, PA. Is someone looking to star in KILL GIRL KILL 4 maybe? (Err, if that reference is too obscure for your prudish nature, click here).

  • Medical Tattoos

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    On the left is a medic alert tattoo on a diabetic (tattoo by Stacy Shappa at Electric Graffitti Tattoo in Muscatine, Iowa). On the right is a tattoo that signifies a more heavy duty body modification — an implanted defibrillator tattooed by DJ Rose at Halo Tattoos in Syracuse, NY.

  • WHAM BAM!

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    I am a big fan of IAM:Superdirk‘s new knuckle tattoos, done by Forrest at Dragon FX Kingsway in Edmonton. Thanks to Lexci for sending in the photos.

  • Will Work For Burritos

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    Yeah, me to, but swap “burritos” for “sweet mary jane and blowjobs”. This was photographed by Big Rick at the Del Mar (CA) Tattoo Expo in November 2005.

  • And I do appreciate you being round.

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    They say that sometimes tattoos are a cry for help…

  • Hey Chris Otepka: “entire” is not a verb!

    Written by

    Shannon Larratt

    IAM:youwithoutme is a big fan of Troubled Hubble (great band name), so she got some lyrics tattoed on her — “What inspires you should entire you. Live how you wannabe loved.” Tattoo applied by Josh B at Sacred Skin in Clive, Iowa… I like what the tattoo is saying even with the odd grammar, but if it was me I’m sure the typo (“wannabe” instead of “want to be”) would drive me bonkers!

    Damn, I feel so guilty when I point these things out, but at the same time I hope it illustrates what care you need to take when getting a tattoo with lettering… Even when you know the subject well it’s so easy to make mistakes like this.

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