Imagine what it would be like to be the one and only tattoo artist in your entire country. Pretty cool, right? Well, in 1925 Scottish tattoo artist Prince Vallar could lay claim to that title. ScotlandsPeople, a genealogy website run by Scotland's government, has named Vallar the ...read more
8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-Healed! Get tattooed at 10 different shops and you are bound to get at least five different sets of instructions on how to care for your new ink. And out of those five, we’re pretty sure all of them each have some merit. So that being said we took the advice of ...read more
While the practice of tattooing may date back centuries, most shops have only been open for the last several decades. This is largely due to the laws and regulations that have affected tattooing throughout the years—causing most of the earliest shops to shut their doors. However, ...read more
Approximately four years ago, a mummified torso with a substantial amount of tattoos was discovered at the Luxor tomb. Today, Egyptian officials believe that the body belonged to a female religious figure who lived between the years 1300 and 1070 BCE—dying around the ages of 25 ...read more
Soviet-Russia era criminal gambling inside prison were high stakes. While "tea or cigarettes might be wagered,” fingers, ears, eyes, and even the “lives of other inmates” were also played for. The tattoo culture inside of the gambling ring is fascinatingly knit. Damon Murray, ...read more
Whether you love them or hate them, chest tattoos are a huge part of the industry and collector world. If you're looking to go big or go home, a chest piece is your best bet for covering major tattoo territory. However, let it be known that getting your torso blasted is no easy ...read more
These are cringe worthy! We would like to think that tattoo artists adore their profession and relish each tattoo they do as meaningful and piece of art. Unfortunately, the general public can be very taxing, and that is a kind way of saying that, “the general public can be very ...read more
A Man Taking it to the Extreme! Adam Curlykale, 32 year-old man from Kaliningrad, Russia who got started in his obsession with getting tattooed after being diagnosed with cancer now has entire body inked black. Well, if you want to be exact it’s more like 90% coverage. However, ...read more
Before, during and after the birth! We would like you to me a beautiful model we only know as @lady_tattoo_cat. She is a self-proclaimed ink model, stripper, mistress and mother of three beautiful kidz. Her face has adorned everything from ad campaigns to the paint jobs on race ...read more
Help is on the way! The second most common “complaint” after “It hurts!”, is “Damn. This is itchy!” Well, there are countless theories on why your tattoo itches, however there are some concrete reasons and we will discuss them here. Before we even get started, although a tattoo ...read more
A Slurpee and a “MOM” tattoo please! These days convenience stores have become a throw-back to the pioneer days of the general store and the mining depot. You can get everything from medicine to soothe your aching stomach to condoms to baby food and everything in between. Thanks ...read more
One Day at a Time. Beating an addiction is something to be proud of. Very proud of! A person fighting their way out of an addiction deserves the utmost respect and support. So, it only seems fitting that many people get "sobriety" tattoos as a badge of honor, a war medal, a ...read more
Inked is lucky to present the latest project from the modern day Renaissance man Evan Seinfeld, Badass TV. Whether he is rocking faces off in one of the many bands he has been in, like Attika 7, or playing a imprisoned biker on OZ you know that Seinfeld is going to bring it. And ...read more
40 Million Players Around the World! Look anybody that has banged on this story probably knows all there is to know about FORTNITE! But just in case you don’t, in a nut shell it’s a game that was launched in July of 2017 to moderate success. The designers realized that it had the ...read more
You Can’t Hide on Social Media! It’s hard enough trying to have a personal life when you’re a celebrity. It’s even harder when you’re a “beautiful person” and social media is an important part of your private and professional life. We have to admit that Inked is as guilty as the ...read more
Does size matter? Where Soundcloud rappers have taken to covering their face with ink – for the most part, not very good ink, and tattoo models upping the ante by going for full body coverage and the body mod crews tattooing their eyeballs we have one group of tattoo collectors ...read more
Dressed to impress! In February Kat Von D married Prayers vocalist Leafar Seyer therefore breaking a lot of guy’s hearts. In May, Kat Von D announced that she was pregnant and the tattoo world went a-buzz! Then in June, Kat tied the knot again (with Leafer) with a gothic wedding ...read more
How much did that hurt? Did that hurt? Anyone who has tattoos has been posed this question countless times. And ninety-nine times out of a hundred if the person is honest will answer something like, “Hell yeah!” And even though it is pretty much unanimous that every tattoo ...read more
They belonged to an Old Sailor! The six sheets were found in the bottom of a trunk in an attic owned by an 84-year old career Marine Corps man. The trunk had been in storage for over forty years and held other collections including a 1584 hand-colored map engraving of Tuscany, ...read more
Yes or No? When a woman is pregnant people automatically feel obliged to give advice. It’s just a natural inclination, especially from women who have already gone through the beauty and pain of giving birth. Everyone wants the mother and child to be healthy and everyone has their ...read more
The most famous wedding in the Tattoo world! When it comes to a celebrity in the tattoo culture there is no one bigger than Kat Von D, so when she announced she was getting married the tat community was a buzz! And in true Kat fashion she did not disappoint. The event was star ...read more
The cutest of crustaceans! Ahhhh, summer is here, and the smell of the sea and sun block fill the air. Sights of waves crashing on the beach and girls in bikini’s and tatted up dudes braving the surf are just two types of nature’s beauty that tantalize your sense of sight. What ...read more
Quienes es Mas macho…tattoo? Okay, let’s get something straight from the get-go. We’re not saying chicks can’t get these tattoos! We’re not even suggesting that these next 75 pieces would look awesome of a girl’s body. However, what we are insinuating here is that these badass ...read more
Just Can’t Get Enough! With the popularity of the facial tattoo, does it only seem natural that butt hole tattoos would become the next rage? No! But apparently, we were wrong. Granted it is not as prevalent as face ink, but hey, if Soundcloud rappers decide that buttholes are ...read more
Does Religion Hate Tattoos? Although there are many Eastern and Subtropical religions that embrace and include tattooing as an integral and highly spiritual aspect of their worship, most Western religions and tattoos have been at odds for centuries. The Jewish religion ...read more
She is Tattoo Royalty! Whether you're covered from head to toe in ink or just know someone who has a tattoo, odds are you have heard of the undeniable Queen of Ink, Kat Von D. Although a great deal of Kat's life has been documented via her wildly successful reality show LA Ink, ...read more
“The only breaks are for puking and crying.” It’s a given that pain is part of the tattoo experience. In fact, most of us embrace some of that discomfort. It is an essential element that one must endure to be granted access into the world of a tattoo collector. In addition, we ...read more
Mind Blown! One of the most popular tattoo styles is realism and hyper-realism. When that style is combined with the eye bending effects of 3-D the results are amazing. Granted, you just can’t stroll into any old tattoo shop and expect an artist to bang one of these out for you. ...read more
The Power of a Tattoo! Medically themed tattoos have been around for years and while most have been to make a statement about a certain disease they have battled (cancer) or a condition they deal with on a day-to-day basis (type 1 Diabetes) recently an uptick of “DNR’ (Do Not ...read more
God is in the Details! The dot work of French tattoo artist Gael Ricci is known internationally. Ricci is based in Sainte-Maxime and for years has been the go-to artist for Europeans looking for poetic designs and delicate creations utilizing dot work, fine lines and gradients. ...read more
Scarred for Life! Henna is the temporary body art of decoratively staining someone’s skin with a dye made from the Lawsonia Inermis plant (Henna tree). The keyword here being “temporary”. Henna dye has been used since antiquity to dye skin, hair and fingernails, as well as ...read more
The Ancient art of Batok Meet Whang-od Oggay who just turned 100 in February (2017). Many believe she is the last mambabatok (traditional Kalinga tattooist) from the Butbut people in Buscalan Kalinga and the oldest tattoo artist in the Philippines. When Whang-od first started ...read more
Life Changing Tattoos! Most people who don ink will admit to having a tat or two that they may regret to some level. It may be the name of an ex-girlfriend, an ex-wife or a badly executed tattoo received from a less then reputable shop they stumbled into drunk one night. However, ...read more
The True Spiritual Side of Tattooing. The tattoo world — like any other sub-culture — is full of unique people. A wonderful collective of colorful personalities, drenched with talent and passion. Peppered with people draped beneath intriguing idiosyncrasies and a philosophy of ...read more
It Actually Isn’t as Creepy as It Sounds Although views on tattoos were at their most putrid levels in the early 1990s, plenty of people were still basking in ink. With the popular misconception that the art of tattoo was reserved for the lowest of lowest in society – like ...read more
19th Century Ink When one thinks of people from the Victorian era, thoughts of well-to-do individuals with forbidding expressions on their faces come to mind. These folks would never think of marking their bodies with tattoos. Well, it seems like we may have been wrong with that ...read more
Your grandpa probably had some secret ink It's incredibly commonplace to cover almost your entire body in tattoos these days, though you may get a few weird stares if you dare to get them on your face. Tattoos aren't the extreme body modification that they used to be in America, ...read more
The U.S. Military is opening its mind to your ink! Finally, some good news! For all you ink lovers who've thought about joining the Air Force but were deterred by their strict policies about body art, it seems that the times are finally changing. The U.S. Air Force just announced ...read more
Maybe something on the list will inspire your next piece! Although tattoo art can be very personal, there are traditions when it comes to what we put on our bodies. You can never be sure what someone's ink means to them unless you ask, but it is helpful to know that there are ...read more
Getting A Tattoo Doesn't Need to Suck It's very important to do your research before going under the needle, especially if it's your first time. We here at Inked believe that the more you know about the process, the more enjoyable your experience will be and the happier you will ...read more
Get to Know The Living Legend Christy Mack is one of the most empowering (and gorgeous) models we've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Behind her badass look, she exudes the most genuine kindness and compassion I've ever seen. The adult star-turned-entrepreneur has had her fair ...read more
We went. We inked. We conquered. If you haven't heard by now, Inked is breaking world records these days. With the assistance of tattoo artists, Erick Alayon and Matt Deleo, this past Saturday (Feb. 11), Inked set out on a mission to top the previous record of 884 tattoos done ...read more
Lee Roller—the Founder and CEO of Custom Tattoo Design, an online retailer dedicated to providing premium, custom tattoo designs worldwide—has graciously penned this post exclusively for Inked. Let me open this topic by saying this; the tattoo industry is broken and frankly is ...read more
If you are the type of person that is constantly looking at technology and fearing that it will become self aware (like Skynet!) and lead to the eventual destruction of the human race we suggest that you stop reading right now. But if the idea of a tattooing robot seems pretty ...read more
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Every time a tattoo artist fires up their machine and goes to work they are continuing a tradition of body modification that started thousands of years ago. And while it is easy to imagine people being tattooed thousands of years ago it is much more difficult to picture how ...read more
Who doesn't love a good regional rivalry? Part of the reason that sports are so popular is that it gives us definitive evidence to fuel our fights over how City A is far superior to City B. As tattoo aficionados we were trying to find a way to do this that pertained to our ...read more
At 97-years-old, Apo Whang-Od (pronounced Fang-Od) is the oldest Kalinga mambabatok (traditional tattoo artist) in the Philippines—but is she the last? The tradition honored by Butbut Kalinga people states mambabatok's can only pass their tattooing trade down to a family heir, ...read more
Jeremy James is a buttoned-up, hard working restaurant owner and entrepreneur. When dressed in his regular business clothes, he appears to be just like every other normal, white-collar worker. Little do most of his colleagues and fellow PTA parents know, he’s almost completely ...read more
Don't miss 10 of the most terrifying shark tattoos on the internet! The jaws in photo #7 will keep you out of the ocean for weeks. Yallzee rounded up some killer shark tattoos and paired them with fun facts about the ancient creature. So now, while this list will give you great ...read more
