Tattoos

Tribal tattoos have been practiced for thousands of years. Modern people still get them done for many reasons such as to belong to a modern 'tribe' even if they do it on a subconcious level.

Getting tattooed was also seen as a rite of passage into adulthood. A belief goes that if a girl can't take the pain of tattooing, she is un-marriageable, because she will never be able to deal with the pain of child birth. If a boy can't deal with the pain he is considered to be a bad risk as a warrior, and could become isolated from the tribe.

Some primitive tribes use tattooing as a rite of social status. The Maori, of New Zealand use tattooing primarily for this purpose. To the Maori, a person's Moko designs enhanced their prestige and show transition from one social status to another. At its highest level, Moko designs proclaimed the sacredness of chieftainship.

In the 1970's, American tattooing discovered primitive, tribal tattoos. People wanted simple designs with meaning and they began copying designs, primarily from the islands of the South Pacific. In the past few decades, people of European stock began looking for tribal tattoos of their own origins and created a new form of tattoo commonly known as neo tribal tattoos.

Body piercing has seen a resurgence of interest in the last ten to twenty years and are becoming more and more a part of the mainstream Western culture. Take a look at any fashion or entertainment magazine and you’ll see plenty of well-known celebrities with body piercing like navel rings or a labret. You might be surprised to find out that piercing is actually an ancient form of expression that most cultures have practiced at some time or other for thousands of years.

Egyptian body piercing reflected status and love of beauty

The earliest known mummified remains of a human that was pierced is over 5,000 years old. This worthy gentleman had his ears pierced with larger-gauge plugs in his ears, so plugs may be one of the oldest forms of body modification there is! We also know that the Egyptians loved to adorn themselves elaborately, and even restricted certain types of body piercing to the royal family. In fact, only pharaoh himself could have his navel pierced. Any one else who tried to get a belly button ring could be executed. (Tell that to Britney Spears!) Almost every well-to-do Egyptian wore earrings, though, to display their wealth and accent their beauty. Elaborate enameled and gold earrings frequently portrayed items in nature such as lotus blossoms.

We often get asked by people "Why would I want to get a custom tattoo design online instead of at my local tattoo parlor". Many people feel more comfortable at their local parlor and are worried about getting custom tattoo design online. People for a variety of reasons are still worried about purchasing things online. We fully understand the reasoning behind this thinking. However getting a custom tattoo design done online has many benefits over getting one done at your local tattoo shop.

Most local tattoo shops have two or three tattoo artists at the most. So when you go to your local shop and ask them to design a custom tattoo for you often are limited to only the two artists or so that work at that parlor. Sure this is okay but if you think about it only two artists is pretty limiting. Each tattoo artist has their own unique style it is after all. So you are limited to getting the look and feel of the tattoos artists that work in the shop.

However when you post a job for a custom tattoo design online you will frequently have 5 or more artists all bidding to do the work for you. Having more artists means you are more likely to find a tattoo artists that better fits with the style of tattoo design that you are looking for. Further more as we all know when people compete for your business you get better quality at a lower price. Furthermore online tattoo artists often earn a great deal of their income from custom online tattoo design work and therefore they are eager to make sure you are happy. They also have a great deal of experience in the custom tattoo deign area where at your local tattoo parlor they might not. After getting a custom tattoo design done you can often leave feedback about the work and the artist. You can choose to leave either positive or negative feedback and this ensures that the online tattoo artists will work hard to get the perfect design for you and make sure that you are happy with the product so that you will eave them positive feedback on the site.

Whereas with your local tattoo parlor the artist doesn't have to compete for your business with other artists and often will not work as hard to please you with the design.

All of these factors help in getting the perfect custom tattoo design of your dreams.