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Many people are surprised to learn that the original tattoo machine was actually patented in 1891, and there is evidence of models of the machine being used by various artists much earlier than that. Tattoo machines, which are machines that puncture the skin and then drive ink into the skin, thereby creating a permanent tattoo design, have undergone some major changes throughout the years, and have been influenced by some surprising historical figures.

Of course, the earliest tattoo machines were literally pieces of bamboo that were used to slice open the skin so that ashes or other pigments could be rubbed into the skin. Then, Inuit tribes began sewing their tattoos into place, using pieces of inked string or sinew that could be pulled through the upper layers of skin using a needle, leaving a trail of ink under the skin behind them. These could technically be considered the first tattoo machines, but they in no way resemble today's machines, which look kind of like small and perforate the skin while forcing ink into the tiny perforations to create a tattoo design. The birth of the modern tattoo machine actually occurred earlier than many people imagine, and it was directly influenced by Thomas Alva Edison, who is better known for his inventions like the light bulb than his influence on body art.

The tattoo machine was patented by Samuel O'Reilly's in 1891. O'Reilly used the electric battery, recently created by the Italian inventor Volta, and the principals of electromagnetism, recently discovered by the Danish inventor Oersted, to power his electric tattoo machine, which actually looked fairly similar in nature to the handheld sewing machines of today. O'Reilly modeled his machine after Thomas Edison's embroidery machine, which used needles to transfer powdered dyes onto a piece of fabric. O'Reilly's machine simply transferred ink to skin instead of dye to fabric.

In 1904, the next era of the tattoo machine began. A man named Charlie Wagner patented a new machine that had an ink chamber, which enabled artists to become much more precise and made the tattoo machine slightly less bulky. Wagner also added an on/off switch that prevented artists from having to unplug the apparatus in order to take a break, and a needle bar that enabled artists to make clearer lines and cover more ground more effectively.

In 1929, the tattoo machine finally became an instrument of capitalism as well as taking on the form of today's tattoo machines. Percy Waters patented the tattoo machines, which had a set of coils, a needle bar and a foot pedal. Waters also created the first tattoo accessories, including plastic stencils to guide tattoo design, foot pedals, on/off switches, spark shields, and many other helpful items. Interestingly, Waters is the first inventor involved in the evolution of the tattoo machines who appears to have ever made a profit or even tried to turn a few bucks with his invention. He helped spread the use of the tattoo machines by selling his new model and his accessories very aggressively throughout the United States.

Today, tattoo machines continue to evolve. While they are usually purchased from a manufacturer, most tattoo artists have at least a limited familiarity with tattoo machiness and tattoo machines mechanics due to their years as tattoo artist apprentices, when they may have had to clean, mend, solder and repair shop tattoo machiness. Many artists tailor their tattoo machiness to fit their own personal preferences and needs, and as a result the tattoo machines today is still changing. When an artist hits upon an improvement that can make a major impact on the beauty and ease of getting a tattoo design inked, they often publicize it and promote it at trade shows. An example of this is the pneumatic tattoo machines, which runs on the power of air and is extremely lightweight, making it attractive for a variety of reasons since many tattoo artists get wrist and shoulder tendonitis as a result of repetitive fatigue.

A tattoo stencil is a tattoo design template. Tattoo stencils can be transferred from either transparency paper or transfer paper to your skin, then a tattoo artist can use the stencil to help guide their artwork. Originally, tattoo stencils were usually used only as guidelines for the artist who created the original drawing, and if another tattoo artist wanted a stencil of a tattoo design, they had to replicate the design as closely as possible in their own hand before they could turn it into a stencil. However, with the help of the internet and a variety of other digital technology, you and your personal tattoo artist can now take advantage of original stencils of tattoo designs straight from the hand of the artist who created the tattoo design in the first place. This is very exciting for many people who want to be sure that they will be able to get their tattoo artist to replicate nearly exactly a tattoo design that has been dear to their heart for a long period of time.

There are several reasons that people decide to use tattoo stencils. First of all (and this is likely the best and most popular reason), tattoo stencils provide a solid guide for the tattoo that both the tattoo artist and the person getting the tattoo can look at together and agree on. What a stencil provides that other test tattoos do not is a solid guide for the artist as well. A tattoo design stencil enables any tattoo artist to replicate in detail the design of your dreams. Certainly there will be tiny touches that you and the tattoo artist work on together that will make that tattoo your own. However, a tattoo stencil provides the guide, the style and the creative backbone that you and your artist can work with to make your tattoo just exactly what you have been dreaming of.

Tattoo stencils are also extremely popular for another reason that probably will not surprise you. Legitimate tattoo stencils come with color guides also designed by the original artist. This means that nothing is left to chance. While some energetic tattoo collectors enjoy getting tattoo surprises that leave the color (and sometimes the style and image) selection entirely up to the tattoo artist, most tattoo collectors and tattoo artists prefer to have some type of guide for your color desires when it comes to your tattoo. After all, a surprise is not always good, and if you do not like your tattoo surprise then that is unfortunate because you will be stuck with it forever. Tattoo stencils and the accompanying color guides can help tattoo artists create a tattoo design that looks just like the tattoo that you admired when you were picking out your tattoo design. Particularly when it comes to especially elaborate or realistic art, having a color guide can  be the difference between having a very confusing and somewhat ambiguous tattoo design and having a beautiful and intricate tattoo design.

Finally, tattoo stencils give you something that nearly everyone wants when it comes to their permanent body art: predictability. If you and your tattoo artist are working with a stencil and a color guide, then both of you are on the same page about what type of tattoo design you want and what type of tattoo design you will end up with. An artist can evaluate the tattoo stencil and the color and guide and let you know if the work is something that they can do and are interested in doing, and you can also evaluate your potential tattoo based on a clear knowledge of what it will look like when it is completed. A tattoo stencil lets you rest secure in the knowledge that the tattoo that you have commissioned and the tattoo that you will get are one and the same.

When you are looking for tattoo stencils, always get the stencil from the original artist. Some artists do not provide tattoo stencils and color guides personally, but allow other tattoo studios or online tattoo services to provide these stencils to potential tattoo customers. Whether you get the tattoo stencil directly from the hand of the artist or you obtain a stencil that has been endorsed and approved by the original artist, by going straight to the source you will insure that you tattoo is as beautiful, elaborate and detailed in just exactly the right way as you could possibly wish.

Deciding where to get a tattoo is just as important as deciding what tattoo design to get. After all, a tattoo is a beautiful, permanent artistic statement on your body, and where you get it says as much about the tattoo as the tattoo design and the tattoo symbolism itself. After all, your tattoo placement determines who will see your tattoo, when it is visible and the atmosphere when your tattoo is on view. Tattoo placement is, in many cases, as symbolic as the tattoo design, so you definitely need to think hard about where you get your tattoo and what the effects of your tattoo placement will be.

Traditionally, there are several spots on the body that indicate certain sentiments about a tattoo. Tattoos on the breast are often romantic, while tattoos on the inner thigh and other intimate areas tend to be more erotic and sexy since they are seldom on view and generally are displayed only during intimate circumstances. On the other hand, a shoulder, back or calf tattoo will be fairly visible, and these areas of the body are also more convenient canvases if you want to get a large or detailed tattoo. These areas are popular for major artistic endeavors and memorial tattoos, which are often intended as much for public appreciation as for the individual tattoo owner. The back of the neck, the ankle and the lower back are common areas of the body for first tattoos since they are easily visible, but also easily hidden if the tattoo owner is not always comfortable with their art being on display.

However, when you are considering where to place your new tattoo, the only issue is not potential for display or concealment. You also need to think about what you hope to accomplish with your tattoo, and whether this intimate and very personal form of art is mainly for your enjoyment or whether you hope to also display it to others and what other types of benefits “mental or physical” that you hope to derive from your tattoo design.

Fashion plays a major role in tattoo design and tattoo placement, despite the fact that tattoos are permanent while fashion is extremely dynamic and the rules of fashion are constantly changing. However, since fashion does dictate a great deal about tattoo design and tattoo placement, from the location to the artistic subject area, you may wish to factor the current trends in tattoo fashion into your tattoo placement decision. In many ways, popular fashion is more accepting of tattoo art now than ever before, with many extremely popular, expensive and designer brands utilizing tattoo style art and design to make the brands unique and beautiful. As a result, more and more people are enjoying traditional forms of tattoo flash and tattoo artistic design than ever before, which may impact your tattoo placement decision and cause you to get a more visible tattoo, such as one on your forearm, hip or upper shoulder or back area. Particularly if you are a woman, such tattoos can be extremely sexy and complement any outfit including formal attire as long as your tattoo artist works with you and your body to make the tattoo flow with the shape and lines of your body rather than working against your natural contours.

Tattoo placement can also make a huge statement, which is one reason that gang tattoos are so often so highly visible. However, most people with visible tattoos are not in gangs, but they still use tattoos to make statements about their feelings, views or their inner emotions. For example, personal tattoos and beliefs about inner strength might lead a person to place a phoenix tattoo on their inner forearm where they can see it when they need strength in a tough situation. People who want to place their tattoos in unconventional places like the neck, the back of the hands or the face in order to make sure that everyone who sees them knows that they are not afraid of their individuality. Membership tattoos are also often placed in visible areas, such as fireman tattoos or biker tattoos to let other people who share interests with the person who has the tattoo know that they have found a kindred spirit.

Finally, some people actually use tattoos for physical health reasons. These tattoos are largely related to holistic healing, and the beliefs behind them go all the way back to prehistoric tattoo patterns such as those found on Otzi, the iceman. Otzi's tattoos were elongated and followed the lines of his body, leading researchers to believe that the tattoos were intended to somehow strengthen his health. Similarly, many acupuncture aficionados get tattoos at major points in acupuncture either to guide needle placement or to derive health benefits from the tattooing needle itself.

The process of tattooing is fairly simple: a needle or set of needles is used to force ink under the skin when the needles puncture the skin. The ink that remains under the skin after the perforations heal creates the tattoo design, which is now a permanent part of your body. Sound painful? For some people it is. For most, though, the tattooing process is mildly irritating once they become accustomed, kind of like someone rubbing or pinching your skin hard, but not really causing major pain. However, the fact that getting a tattoo is not usually an incredibly painful experience should not cause you to forget that tattooing is an invasive procedure. When all sterilization rules and sanitary practices are followed, then that procedure is just as safe “possibly safer” than if you had it done in an operating room in a hospital. On the other hand, if you neglect to tattoo safely “for example, sharing needles, using unapproved tattoo inks or tattooing at home” where you cannot possibly hope to maintain the level of sterilization necessary to keep yourself free from infection and blood-borne contaminants and illnesses, then you open yourself up to a vast array of potential health complications with ramifications as serious as death in some cases.

It is important to understand that if you get tattooed in a tattoo studio that observes all health regulations, then your odds of getting an infection of any type are virtually non-existent. It is perilous, irresponsible practices like home tattooing and sharing tattoo needles that have not been properly sterilized that puts you at risk. Here are a few of the potential problems you can encounter as a result of “cross-contamination” when your blood and someone else's mix together in your body:

Hepatitis: This disease attacks your liver. There are many forms of the illness, some of which can be controlled by medicine so you can continue to live a relatively normal life, and others which are so virulent that you must live in near- or total isolation. Hepatitis ultimately will kill you by destroying your liver if it is allowed to progress unchecked. Not all types can be cured.

HIV/AIDS: This disease is probably most commonly known as a sexually transmitted disease (STD), but you can also get it whenever a person infected with the HIV/AIDS virus somehow allows their blood, semen or other bodily fluids to co-mingle with yours. If you share a tattoo needle with someone who has HIV/AIDS or even use tattoo ink after them, then you run a serious risk of being infected with this currently incurable and ultimately fatal disease that disables the immune system.

Tetanus: Tetanus, also called lock-jaw, is usually caused by wounds that have been inflicted by rusty objects. It can be passed during an unsafe tattooing process if the needles or the tattoo tubes have not been properly disinfected. You can be immunized for this, and you can get treated for tetanus once you develop symptoms, but the spasms and muscular damage can be severe if it is not treated immediately, and it can take over a week to incubate.

Syphilis: Generally, syphilis is passed through sexual fluids, but on rare occasions it can be transmitted through blood cross-contamination. It can be treated with penicillin, but can do serious damage to the heart, brain, eyes and bones.

All of these diseases sound frightening, and you should be concerned by the potential infection that irresponsible tattooing can lead to. However, it is important to remember that you only run the risk of contracting these types of infections if you tattoo irresponsibly, for example by sharing needles, using homemade tattoo guns, sharing ink, tattooing with inappropriate objects such as ballpoint pens or sewing needles, or letting anyone tattoo you with any tattoo equipment “professional or otherwise” that has not been fully sterilized in a regulation autoclave.

Tattoo studios rely on their reputations and their sterilization techniques to keep them in business, so getting your tattoo at a professional studio where all sterilization and sanitation standards are followed is the best way to keep yourself healthy and enjoy your tattoo without any worries.