Sailor tattoos are traditions of tattooing among sailors, including images with symbolic meanings. These practices date back to at least the 16th century among European sailors, and since colonial times among American sailors. People participating in these traditions have included military service members in national navies, seafarers in whaling and fishing fleets, and civilian mariners on merchant ships and research vessels. Sailor tattoos have served as protective talismans in sailors' superstitions, records of important experiences, markers of identity, and means of self-expression.
For centuries, tattooing among sailors mostly happened during downtime at sea, applied by hand with needles and tattoo ink made with simple pigments such as soot and gunpowder. These tattoo artists informally developed a graphical vocabulary including nautical images such as mermaids and ships. Starting in the 1870s, a few former sailors began opening professional tattoo parlors in port cities in the United States and England. This trend increased after the development of the electric tattoo machine in the 1890s.
On USS Ronald Reagan, 2016
In the United States, these sailors turned tattooists trained a generation of professional tattoo artists, who went on to develop the American traditional ("old school") tattoo style by combining sailor traditions with styles and techniques learned from Japanese tattoo artists. "Sailor tattoos" can refer to this style of tattoo, which was popularized for a broader audience starting in the 1950s.
There are records of significant numbers of tattoos on US Navy sailors in the American Revolution, Civil War, and World War II. Many sea service members continue to participate in the tradition.
Sailortattoos are traditions of tattooing among sailors, including images with symbolic meanings. These practices date back to at least the 16th century...
traditional methods and modern tattoo machines; cosmetic tattoos, also known as "permanent makeup"; and medical tattoos. A traumatic tattoo occurs when a substance...
1973), known popularly as Sailor Jerry, was a prominent American tattoo artist in Hawaii who was well known for his sailortattoos. Norman Keith Collins was...
traditional: 18 is a tattoo style featuring bold black outlines and a limited color palette, with common motifs influenced by sailortattoos. The style is sometimes...
lenient in its policies on tattoos, allowing neck tattoos as long as one inch. Sailors are also allowed to have as many tattoos of any size on the arms and...
Quaresma has never explained his teardrop tattoos. Criminal tattoo Prison rape Prison tattooing "15 prison tattoos and their meanings: Corrections One". Macdonald...
tattoos to indicate members' criminal career and ranking. Specifically among those imprisoned under the Gulag system of the Soviet era, the tattoos served...
2022-06-01. "Sailors' Tattoos: A Basic Primer". Naval History and Heritage Command. March 29, 2019. Retrieved 2022-05-24. "Every tattoo makes a statement...
A tattoo artist (also tattooer or tattooist) is an individual who applies permanent decorative tattoos, often in an established business called a "tattoo...
designs for tattoos, which are also often the same designs used in other art forms and decorations such as pottery and weaving. Tattoos range from being...
their traditions of tattooing, though few Ainu people and people of Ainu descent have these tattoos in the modern day. These tattoos were frequently used...
Researchers examined skin samples from several of Ötzi's tattoos and determined that his tattoos were created using carbon-based pigments derived from soot...
"Saskatchewan bans eyeball tattoos". Regina Leader-Post. Retrieved 6 January 2023. "Indiana lawmakers move to ban eyeball tattoos after Ottawa woman's mishap"...
degrees, to open tattoo parlors, although it is not illegal to have a tattoo. Only the army prohibits tattoos. People can have tattoos after serving in...
perspective on tattooing, with a tradition of protective tattoos in Southeast Asia incorporating Buddhist symbols, but the display of tattoos not adhering...
tattoo, as sometimes believed, but remains an unpopular form of tattoo—alongside hand tattoos in general—due to the difficulty of hiding it in situations...
tattoos, 2015 AETN UK U.S. patent 196,747 Courtney Linder: Getting Ink: The Entire History of Tattooing popularmechanics.com 7. February 2021. Tattoo...
women with the tattoos for various purposes. Men could also receive tattoos but these were often much less extensive than the tattoos a woman would receive...
Cancer Walk. Vinnie Myers of Little Vinnie's Tattoos in Finksburg, Maryland, has performed nipple tattoos on over 5,000 women who have undergone surgery...
Tattooed ladies were working class women who acquired tattoos and performed in circuses, sideshows, and dime show museums as means for earning a substantial...
used during meditation. Tattoos of yantra designs were believed to hold magic power, and were used much like the kolam tattoos of India. For these people...
Corneal tattooing (or keratopigmentation) is the practice of tattooing the cornea of the human eye. Reasons for this practice include improvement of cosmetic...
a method of covering up unwanted tattoos. Modern blackout tattoos are influenced by traditional Polynesian tattoos and graphic art. Their designs also...
dermis, accounting for the degraded detail of old tattoos. Some tribal cultures traditionally created tattoos by cutting designs into the skin and rubbing...
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