Blog posts of '2015' 'February'

Medical staff tattoos represent the power of healing and the knowledge behind the medical profession. The Staff of Asclepius has long been a popular tattoo design within dividuals who work in the medical professions, especially with those who provide Emergency Medical Services, such as Paramedics and Emergency Room personnel.

The Medical Staff is an ancient Greek symbol associated with astrology, and with healing the sick through medicine. It consists of a serpententwined around a staff. Asclepius, the son of Apollo, was a practitioner of medicine in ancient Greek mythology. The rod of Asclepius symbolizes the healing arts by combining the serpent, which in shedding its skin is a symbol of rebirth and fertility, with the staff, a symbol of authority befitting the god of Medicine. The snake wrapped around the staff is widely claimed to be a species of rat snake also known as the Aesculapian or Asclepian snake. It is native to southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, and some central European spa regions, apparently brought there by Romans for their healing properties.

According to Greek mythology, Asclepius was said to have learned the art of healing from Chiron. He is customarily represented as a surgeon on the ship Argo. Asclepius was so skilled in the medical arts that he was reputed to have brought patients back from the dead. For this, he was punished and placed in the heavens as the constellation Ophiuchus (meaning "serpent-bearer"). This constellation lies between Sagittarius and Libra. In early Christianity, the constellation Ophiuchus was associated with Saint Paul holding the Maltese Viper. According to some, Asclepius fought alongside the Achaeans in the Trojan War, and cured Philoctetes of his famous snakebite.

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In the end, the place where you get your tattoo will have as big of an impact on your life as the tattoo itself. If getting the tattoo is a positive experience, then you will always equate that tattoo with positive feelings and enjoy reliving the experience. If, on the other hand, you feel uncomfortable during your tattooing session, you may look back on the tattoo (even if the design is perfect) with a lingering distaste that can mar your enjoyment of your tattoo permanently. Of course, there are also a variety of health considerations that you need to factor in when you are getting tattooed, and it is vital that you select a tattoo studio that is clean and follows all sterilization guidelines and requirements when it comes to their artists tools and their general maintenance. Picking the right tattoo studio for you is fairly straightforward, but you do have to keep a clear head and make sure that you are not overwhelmed by your eagerness to get the ink on your skin and allow yourself to select a tattoo studio that is not a good fit. 

Here are three steps to picking the right tattoo studio for you:

1.    Factor in safety first.

Above all, a tattoo studio needs to be safe for you to get tattooed in. This does not mean you need to love the lighting or adore the decor. It means that the studio needs an autoclave for cleaning tattoo equipment, clean chairs, lounges and facilities for clients, and enough light for the artist to see what they are doing and for you to see the floor. While there are a lot of popular perceptions about tattoo studios in movies that portray them as glamorous, dark and potentially dangerous and mysterious arenas, in real life, this type of tattoo studio is not a good place to get a tattoo. Most tattoo studios are well-lit, highly sterile environments, and while the waiting area may cater to a variety of preconceived notions about tattoo parlors, the actual tattooing arena will always be meticulously clean. All tattoo studios should sterilize equipment using an autoclave, never save ink and be willing to open disposable equipment in front of you to reassure you that it has not previously been exposed to handling or airborne contamination. 

2.    Find an artist you really like and trust. 

Once you have found a tattoo studio that you are comfortable with, it is important to also get comfortable with the tattoo artist who will be doing your tattoo. Of course, if you decide to go get tattooed in a famous shop such as the one on Miami Ink, then you may not really have the option of getting to know your artist personally very far in advance of your tattooing session. In this type of scenario, in which case a specific artist is in very high demand, you will have to rely on their reputation and check in ahead of time to make sure that they are comfortable with your tattoo design and with using a stencil to make sure that your tattoo comes out just as you hope. In general, however, you will be able to spend a little time getting to  know the artist and vice versa and the two of you will likely be able to determine in fairly short order whether or not your styles and your ideas for your tattoo design will work together in a pleasing manner for everyone. 

3.    Make sure that the studio can meet your physical needs. 

Some tattoo studios are extremely posh and boast body-contoured chairs, a variety of chaises and lounges to help you recline comfortably regardless of where you are getting your tattoo, and a high degree of privacy, including privately walled off rooms for individual artists and their canvases.If you are shy or do not possess much stamina when it comes to remaining still, then this type of studio will be the best for you. On the other hand, many other tattoo studios are much more bare bones. You may be required to lean over the back of a chair in order to get a lower back tattoo, or sprawl in a lounge in the middle of the room while your artist works and other people enter and exit on a variety of errands and getting their own tattoos. Before you start your tattoo, make sure that you will be able to fulfill your end of the bargain by holding still and not making things more difficult or take longer than they should be in the available tattooing environment.

After the tragedy on September 11, 2001 that left thousands of Americans dead and the entire country in mourning, there was an incredible influx of support for members of the military, the police departments and the fire departments throughout the country, focusing in particular on the divisions in New York City. As people looked for a way to deal with their grief and commemorate the people who died in the plane crashes, in the Pentagon and as a result of the collapse of the Twin Towers, they sought a method of memorial that would be public and permanent. For many, including those whose professions or personal tastes had never previously run toward body art, the memorial tattooor the 9/11 tattoo was the perfect and highly appropriate solution. 

As a result of 9/11, people went into mourning not only for the lives lost and the families disrupted and destroyed, but also for what is now viewed as a simpler time in a American history when the general public did not view the global community as a potential threat. As a result of this lost innocence, many 9/11 tattoos depict the Twin Towers as whole again, or show the planes flying into the buildings themselves. Twin Tower tattoos, FDNY tattoos and NYPD tattoos became very popular, even when the wearer was not actually a member of the Fire Department of New York or the New York Police Department. These tattoos were a way to show appreciation and admiration for the bravery of the rescue teams who entered the falling and fallen buildings and gratitude for the sacrifices that were made. 

9/11 tattoos are uniquely personal -- possibly even more so than a traditional tattoo, which is by nature about as personal as you can get -- because they are such a public expression of a person's inner mourning, patriotism or even anger. 9/11 tattoos are easily recognized, and can bring extremely disparate individuals together in camaraderie because of the shared national loss. Weeping eagle tattoos, angry eagle tattoos and fireman tattoos are popular 9/11 tattoo motifs, with the fireman often wearing angel wings or the eagle protectively encircling an image of the World Trade Center towers with American flag-striped wings. 

Other 9/11 tattoos are recognizable by the phrasing or the dates that they include, but are far more personal to the wearer. For example, many who escaped the buildingtattooed their floor level on the inside of their wrists to commemorate co-workers who did not make it out alive. Others have portrait tattoos of lost loved ones inked on their skin, accompanied by birth and death dates and the words "Never Forget." Another popular 9/11 tattoo design method is to incorporate vintage military images like bluebird tattoos, bulldog tattoos, swallow tattoos or even the Lady Luck tattoo or Men's Ruin tattoo into a personal expression of commemoration. For example, a bluebird tattoosurrounded by artistic flames with the words "Never Forget" on a scroll beneath it is an attractive way to make your feelings public while keeping your tattoo a bit more personal and decorative than some of the larger 9/11 tattoos like the Twin Tower mural tattoos and the angry eagle tattoos. 

Some 9/11 tattoos are even more highly personalized, and may represent a person's personal statement to the perpetrators of the tragedy. Popular but also humorous or at least lighter images include a tattoo of an eagle filing its talons, and quotes from the Toby Keith song The Angry American, which lead to a rash of boot tattoos referencing the lyrics "We'll put a boot in your a**, It's the American Way," which were directed toward terrorists throughout the world. 

Another interesting aspect of 9/11 tattoos is their high visibility. Regardless of the bearer's professional status or career goals, these tattoos are often worn on the inside of the wrist, where they would be visible even when wearing a man's dress shirt, or on areas of the body that are commonly visible, such as the shoulders, calves or back and nape of the neck. It appears that part of getting a 9/11 tattoo for many people involves making an important public statement about the importance of the event and the vitality of our nation's ability to remember and repay. If you are considering getting a 9/11 tattoo, be certain that you factor in your own emotional response to it. These tattoos have brought an incredible number of Americans together in unique and positive ways, but they do also serve as a constant reminder of one of the greatest tragedies in American history. As with any tattoo, be prepared to explain it and tell the story so that your statement can live on and develop a life of its own.

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The rose is the single most popular tattoo design among men and women alike. This flower, which is classically used to symbolize romantic love, has become an integral part of tattoo culture and tattoo design. However, there is actually a great deal more to the rose tattoo than you might first expect. While of course rose tattoos nearly always indicate a level of affection and deep emotion, the various types of emotion and the various indications of the level of affection and the type of affinity one feels can be discerned in great detail by examining the rose tattoo design itself. If you are considering getting a rose tattoo design of your own, make that beautiful rose tattoo design highly indicative of exactly how and what you feel by factoring in the many layers of meaning that a rose tattoo design can hold. 

In real life, some roses have thorns and some are bred without them. Of course, as the famous rock song, Every Rose Has Its Thorns can attest, just because the thorns are not visible does not mean they are not there. However, when you get a rose tattoo design, the decision to include thorns will say a lot about why you got the tattoo and the emotions that are behind your rose tattoo design. A rose tattoo that includes a rose with thorns indicates that beauty requires sacrifice, and love requires caution. Just as a beautiful rose can draw blood if it is not handled carefully, a beautiful love can break a heart or wound the one who loves if they do not handle their emotions and the relationship carefully. Even if you do love judiciously (which is hard to do anyway), you still can end up suffering when you ultimately lose the one you love at least temporarily to death or physical separation. Rose tattoos that have thorns symbolize love, but they also serve as a warning that love is not all beauty and happiness, but also comes with pain. 

Rose tattoos without thorns tend to be more focused on idealized, romantic love. When you get a rose without thorns, you are asserting your belief that love is pure and that in the end, love conquers all and is worth everything. Some people even get rose tattoos without thorns to indicate that their love or their relationship is literally perfect and that they believe that the beauty of their love will not bring them or their beloved pain. Thornless rose tattoos also are used to indicate love at first sight, and generally focus on the romantic side of love that is rosy, pink and happy. They also can be used to indicate pure love, such as love for ones first sweetheart or even ones children. Either type of rose, thorny or thornless, can be an individual tattoo design or can be used as decoration for a larger tattoo, such as a memorial tattoo or a picture tattoo of someone that you love.

The colors of rose tattoos also play an important part in the symbolism of the tattoo. Traditionally, a red rose means love, end of story. However, that is really just the beginning. While red roses are probably the most common colored rose tattoo, there are many other colors of rose tattoo design just as there are many other colors of roses. Red roses indicate romantic love and can also be used to indicate lustful feelings or physical affection for someone.

Yellow roses are often used to symbolize joy, and are often used to accent images related to one's children, particularly babies, or accomplishments. Yellow roses are also sometimes used to indicate religious joy, although this is more unusual since white roses are generally symbolic of pure love, platonic love and spiritual love and devotion.

White roses also are used to indicate virginity, and often adorn tattoo images of the Virgin Mary and other female saint tattoos. Accents of red or pink on a white rose tattoo can indicate the blossoming of a different kind of love out of a friendship, and, more practically, create greater depth in the rose tattoo.

Black rose tattoos are also extremely popular. These mildly macabre rose tattoos are popular with people who enjoy goth tattoos and also with people who have been burned by love or who have given up on love. Even if they have not given up on all love, a black rose tattoo can symbolize the death of a relationship or an unwillingness to pursue a romantic goal any farther.

Although not entirely identical to a black rose tattoo, grayscale rose tattoos are extremely popular. However, in this instance, the color is slightly less symbolic since many people just really like grayscale tattoos and prefer them to colored ones. Grayscale roses are also popular in memorial tattoos, and many people feel that they are more realistic looking than color rose tattoos.

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