caloi’s blog

Not Pins & Needles, It's Bamboo!

In Thailand, nearly all Buddhist men become monks at some point in their lives to better understand their complex religion. During this time they are tattooed with religious texts to show the strength of their faith. Despite these deeply religious origins, tattoos are not currently mainstream in Thailand and largely seen, as historically in western culture, to be popular amongst criminals. This has only recently begun to change but nevertheless the art of bamboo tattooing is dying out with prevalence of learning to tattoo with a machine as it is easier to learn.

Monk Using Bamboo For Tattooing

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact origins of Bamboo Tattoo Art as the practice is so old the history is almost lost, being tied up with myth and legend. Many countries in South East Asia lay claim to be the birthplace of this ancient art form. However, it is generally believed to have originated in the Khmer period around 3000 years ago. There have been mummies found in the Philippines with bamboo tattoos still visible, block bands around the calf with tribal hierarchy significance

Yes. A tattooing procedure using bamboo. I came across a website from Thailand that offers  unique ink jobs done not with tattoo machines but with bamboo sticks. Here's the gist..  

Bamboo Stick for Tattooing

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Polynesia is a general term which meant many islands with its present day geographical territory at the triangular corners of Hawaii, New Zealand and the Eastern Island. It has a clear division among itself and comprises of east and west Polynesia with Cook Island and the Tahiti being the primary ones. The cultural aspect which dominated the Polynesian people was body art or decoration.

This practice of body art among the Polynesian people slowly spread among the European sailors before creating a major impact on the western society in the form of tattoo. Tattoo is a permanent ink marking into the skin layers which changes the pigmentation and it’s done mostly for decorative reasons. Although tattooing has faced much taboo but it still continues to be a globally acclaimed popular art.

Tattoos have served several purposes like status symbol or rank of an individual, symbols of spiritual and religious devotion, talismans or as a mark of an outcast, slaves or convicts. Nowadays tattoos are mostly used for cosmetic reasons or for showing some kind of emotional or remembrance gesture. The dyes and pigments used for tattooing are materials like titanium dioxide and iron oxide or for that matter even carbon black, azo dyes, acridine or even quinoline.

Tattoos are often grouped by the theme, the most prevalent among them being alien, ambigram, anchor, extreme, Maori, tribal or flash tattoos. However there are others like Aztec, kanji, eye and gargoyle. Using a paper or cardboard for imprinting or drawing a design is the sole theme of tattoo flash and it may be regarded as a species of industrial design. Tattoo parlours often sport them on the walls or on the entrance gateway giving the prospective customers a vivid idea of the tattoos. Mostly found on an 11*14 inch print, it may or may not come with an outline. Some common flash symbols are anchor, Bettie page which is a symbol of beauty, barbed wire, heart, dragon or the carp fish which appears in traditional Chinese or Japanese legends and stories. Maoris are the original inhabitants of New Zealand and with them comes the word Maori tattoo which has withstood not only time but also colonization by the Europeans. These Maori tattoos or tatuaggi maori were a symbol of genealogy, tribal history and often marks of beauty or ferocity.

 Sometimes called Ta Moko it was mostly a facial form of tattoo though the global surge in the tattoo industry and the urge to be fashionable has made people wear them on all parts of the body. It wasn’t merely worn by the person in the ink form but predominantly the skin was chiseled for this purpose. Old tribes like the Celtic, Haida and the tribe of Borneo practiced this form of tribal tattoo or tatuaggi tribali. New tribalism is the remnants of the glorious past which has been traced back to the Bronze Age. They mainly demonstrate pieces of art form from native and indigenous tribe with an inclination towards personal or religious convictions. For its unique look tribal tattoo has become one of the most popular designs with celebrities like Mike Tyson, Sandra Bullock and Dwayne Johnson donning them.

This once dying art of the Polynesians have now become a fashion statement and many style icons are hugely acknowledged due to the bold and beautiful tattoo they wear on them differentiating them from the rest.

...Thanks to shanti3k01