History of Tattoos
There are few art forms that have been around for as long as Tattoos – in fact, some anthropologists claim that the history of tattoos may date back as long as 15,000 years! Certainly, we know that many of the ancient civilizations, including the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, used tattooing techniques. There are mentions of tattooing in the Bible, indicating that it was practiced among the ancient peoples of the Middle East as well. However, the remarkable thing about the history of tattoos is not just the length of time that humans have practiced it; looking at the history of body tattooing, we cannot help but be struck by how widespread this tradition was. Apparently, decorating the body in this permanent way is an almost universal impulse spread over a lot of different cultures.

Tribal Tattoos


A Maori tribal Tattoo
When relating the long history of tattooing, it’s hard to know where to start. Around 2000 BCE tattooing had a cultural significance in places as diverse as China, Crete and Arabia. Among tribeswomen in Borneo, a tattoo on the forearm indicated that woman’s special skills. Among the Maori of New Zealand, intricate tribal tattoo designs had a sacred significance. The Greeks and Romans used tattoos for a different purpose – to show criminal or slave status! This is a concept that we could call the ‘dark side’ of tattoo history – the fact that body tattooing has been used, in certain times in history, to indicate an inferior status. This is relatively unusual and in most cultures, tattoo art is a symbol of status or accomplishment.



The people of the Americas also practiced tattooing – the Maya and Inca people were adept in tattooing techniques, as were the Inuit of Alaska! And, while we may not be accustomed to thinking of Europeans in terms of ‘tribes’, it was not too long ago when the people of Europe were just that – think of the Britons, the Normans, the Goths – and yes, most of these people practiced tattooing as well! However, following the Dark Ages in Europe, the people organized themselves into nations and tattooing became an all-but-forgotten art, only to be rediscovered during the course of eighteenth-century exploration.



The 'New' Tattoo Art
In the early 1700s, the history of tattoos took a new twise. Captain Cook visited the South Pacific Islands and brought back with him an intricately tattooed young girl named Onai. Instantly, tattoo designs became a hit, and many members of the nobility obtained discreet, private tattoo art. For a brief time, tattooing – then a costly, lengthy procedure – became a status symbol. This all changed with the introduction of the first electric tattoo needle in 1891. Suddenly, everyone who wanted a tattoo could have one, and the result was that it came to be considered vulgar. This is, after all, a fairly typical human reaction – when something is hard to get, we tend to want it more!





A woman is having her social security number tattooed
After that, tattoo art went underground, so to speak. A facility in New York’s Chatham Square brought the practice to the modern American public, but tattooing was considered somewhat disreputable until it made a dramatic comeback a few decades ago. As tattoo designs and safety techniques improved, and several prominant celebrities began to sport tattoos, they became desirable once again.




Towards the end of the 1800s criminals in America and even normal citizens were tattooed with a code for identification purposes.



Tattoos Today
Today, we have entered a new phase in the history of tattoos. We could say that the time-honored practice of tattooing has gone mainstream. Today, the procedure is very safe and relatively painless, and there are literally thousands of tattoo designs to choose from. In fact, even a quick internet search for “free tattoo designs” reveals a wealth of cross-cultural designs. In a sense, the whole long history of tattoos is played out in the designs of today, because of the vast number of designs available.

Chopper Tattoo is the largest tattoo gallery on the internet boasting thousands of award-winning tattoo designs that you are unlikely to find anywhere else on the internet.

To gain immediate access to these award-winning designs you do need to pay a small one-off membership fee, but once you do so you get complete unrestricted access to their entire database of tattoo designs (which is currently over 3800 and growing every day).

You can then browse any of the categories to find your perfect tattoo design or you can search by keyword which is often a quicker and more convenient way of finding the tattoo you're looking for. Then once you've found a tattoo design you like, you can then print it out and take it along to your local tattoo artist, and the great thing about Chopper Tattoo is that you can print out as many different designs as you like.

What sets the tattoo designs found in the Chopper Tattoo gallery apart from the rest is the quality and creativeness of their designs. Because they actively invite and reward tattoo artists for submitting their tattoo designs to them they are able to display thousands of unique top quality designs that you are unlikely to find in the brochure at your local tattoo artist, for example. Furthermore the database is constantly growing so by purchasing a lifetime membership you will have access to a growing list of new tattoo designs in a variety of different categories.

So how much does a membership to Chopper Tattoo cost?

Well you can choose a membership level that suits you. The most popular choice is obviously the lifetime membership which costs $34.44, but if you prefer you can choose a 30 or 60 day membership which costs $19.95 and $24.95 respectively.

Whichever option you choose I think you will be delighted with your purchase. With thousands of award-winning tattoo designs for your use, you should have no problems finding your unique dream tattoo design.

Chopper Tattoo

How would you like to wake up next to this tattoo!

Ouch, delicate work

Tattoo Aftercare
Remove bandage after 2 hours (do not rebandage)

Wash tattoo with your hand (make sure hand is clean) using warm, soapy water. Rinse with cold water. Don't over soak your tattoo. Keep out of the direct spray of the shower. Pat dry, DO NOT rub with towel.

For 3 to 5 days or until tattoo is healed, apply Vitamin A&D Ointment or Bacitracin or Zinc Oxide Ointment 3 to 4 times daily after washing tattoo. Keep tattoo moist. If allergic to these ointments, use a water based lotion such as Curel.

Tattoo will flake. DO NOT pick at the flakes or you may pull the color out. Try not to let clothing rub on your tattoo while it is healing.

NO swimming or suntanning until healed. Apply a high SPF sunblock to tattoo after healed to prevent fading.

Tattoo designs that kick ass

Work Of Art

How painfull!!!!!!!!!!!!!!