rememberaskingmymotherwhatatattoowasasachild
andsheresponded“Don’tevergetoneofthose,you’ll
getbloodpoisoning!”Well,I’vegottenwaymorethan
one of “those” and still don’t have blood poisoning!
Fortunately thehealth aspects oftattooing havemuch
improvedthroughthepassage oftime,andthose risks
arewaylessthantheywereindaysgoneby.Nowmost
health departments require that tattoo artists get
blood-bornepathogentraining,alongwithhavingstrict
guidelines aboutsterilization and sanitationthat every
tattoo shop has to follow.
Tattooing has evolved a great deal since I’ve been
involvedwithit.Therearesomanystylesandtrendsthat
havecomeandgone,andsomeofthebetteroneshave
stayed. The language of tattoo design has expanded
tremendously, which is one of many reasons why
tattooinghasbecomesopopular.Inthegoodolddaysof
tattooing,theimagerywasverylimited.Alotofthose
standarddesigns,andthestyletheyweretattooedin,is
nowreferredto asAmericanTraditional.EvenwhenI
first began tattooing in 1979, eagles, skulls, anchors,
cartooncharacters,weren’tpartofaspecificgenre.They
were just tattoos. Now there is American Traditional,
Tribal,Blackand Gray,Celtic,NewSchool, Realistic,
Biomechanical, Japanese, and who knows what else.