Celebrating body modification culture since 1994.
Written by
Here’s a pair of portraits by Victor Policheri that was sent in by Marteforsberg. Both tattoos are based on artwork by Lani Imre, and were done at separate tattoo conventions. The left one was done at the 2011 Oslo Tattoo Convention and the right at the Gothenburg Ink Festival 2012. Bonus points to Marteforsberg for getting a shirt that matches the colours perfectly.
Written by
I thought about saving this photo for a Halloween post, as it definitely would fit in with the colours and theme of the holiday. But then I realized it was just too awesome to wait to post, so here you go.
Even without the watermark, it’s pretty obvious this is one of Nail‘s tattoos. The orange line work is what gives it away as one of his, acting as a sort of signature.
Written by
After my success yesterday in digging up some old news clippings about The Great Omi, I thought I’d do some digging for Rasmus Nielsen, an amazing tattooed strongman that performed from the early 20th century until disappearing after his 1950 retirement. While tattooed strongmen were common, Rasmus was unique because of his stretched piercings through his nipples, nose, tongue, and collar (a “Madison” piercing that rightly should be known as a “Rasmus” piercing perhaps) from which he would lift anvils weighing as much as 250 pounds. Unfortunately the extent of what I could find was the June 16, 1938 edition of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, which I hope is of interest nonetheless. For more, see his entry on The Human Marvels and The BME Encyclopedia.
Written by
A sign language tattoo — damn my slow reflexes and inability to time travel! I should have used this in my earlier 1890 story about the deaf-mute woman who got the alphabet tattooed on her arm to communicate!!! This says “FAMILIE” by the way, and is the work of Lea at Howys Tattoo Shop (tattoo-howy.ch) in Sankt Gallen, Switzerland.
Written by
A friend runs a “heavy blackwork” group on FB where I was introduced to the work of German tattooist Gerhard Wiesbeck (facebook.com/gerhard.wiesbeck) of Time Traveling Tattoo (timetravellingtattoo.com). Much of his ultra-dense blackwork borrows on traditional South Pacific “tribal” motifs, and I encourage you to explore his galleries to enjoy that aspect of his work, but I’m particularly taken by his blackwork that draws its inspiration by modern geometry, math, and graphic design. Unlike much of the geometric tattooing out there which is intricate and detailed, Gerhard’s work is often ultra-bold and very, very heavy in nature, giving it a unique appearance. Here are three pieces that particularly struck me.
The first one is my favorite by the way — isn’t that amazing?
Finally, I want to show a piece of his that’s in a completely different genre from most of the rest of Gerhard Wiesbeck’s pieces, and is one of those “obvious” ideas that somehow I’ve never seen before. This tattoo of little hands superimposed on the wearer’s hands is quite brilliant!
