Brittany's Story

I cannot believe how long I have been away from here. Things have just become so crazy hectic off at school, but at least the semester is almost over. It’s unbelievable, though!

Anyway, enough about me. You all came here for a story behind a tattoo, and I have been brainstorming what I would write about this tattoo for a while now. Consider yourselves “warned”: this simple tattoo holds some great deep truths and implications, and I am so excited to delve into it with you all!

It has been amazing for me to feel God’s guidance in my life, bringing class lectures, chapel messages, personal reflections on tough situations and this tattoo of a friend all into my life to grow me as a person. Though I love tattoos, I love people a ton more, so if God could use what I write to encourage someone or change someone for the better, I would be overjoyed.

So, this tattoo belongs to my friend Brittany. I met her just a few months ago when school started because we have a class together. We clicked early in the semester because she and I are very similar in that we both have strong desires to be stay-at-home moms and we both are captivated by tattoos!

 

A little background on her: She grew up in a pretty conservative household where tattoos were often associated with “bad people,” with the exception of her uncle who had some. But as she grew up and started interacting with Christian peers at school who wanted tattoos as well as listening to some pastors who had them, she said she realized tattoos could be a positive thing. So senior year of high school, she and some of her guy friends decided that they would all get tattoos after they graduated. Brittany said the guys all chickened out, but she didn’t; she got a tattoo that she had been thinking and praying about for a while, one she knew would be “timeless” in its relevance and truth.

Her tattoo is the transliteration of the Hebrew word for “jealous,” which is “qanna” (spelled “קַנָּא” in Hebrew and pronounced “kan-naw”). In Exodus 34:14 this word is used as a name for God in a commandment to the Israelites (and it stands true for believers today), reading, “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

For those reading this verse apart from the context of the entire Bible, it may be awkward or confusing. For those who read the Bible—Old and New Testaments—in context of the whole, they can see that the Bible is a redemptive love story. It begins with man (and woman) in a beautiful fellowship with God (Genesis 1-2) before Adam and Eve act out of selfish ambition and disobey God (Genesis 3); but even amid this bad decision, which led to a break in man’s relationship with God, God made a promise of restoration (Genesis 3:15), and the rest of Scripture follows that path toward God bringing humanity back to Himself, chronicling the failures of man in light of the great love, grace and mercy of God. Therefore, for Brittany, I and (hopefully) all other Christ-followers the declaration that God is a jealous God—an infinite, relational being who, in His love, is jealous of us giving more love and honor to anyone but Him—is awe-inspiring.

If you are still struggling to see how jealousy could be a positive thing, I totally understand it’s a concept that is not seen much in society. But think about it: emotions, in themselves, are neither good nor bad; rather, emotions carry the potential for either a good or a bad response. But it is our choice how we respond. For an example, something could make me extremely happy, but is that always a good thing? Couldn’t I do something selfish, harmful and/or inconsiderate due to my happiness?

(Are you still following me?...just checking! I know I’m getting deep here, but I believe this concept is so important to consider, because it could impact all our relationships with all the people we care about.)

So—with all that said—though jealousy often precedes horribly selfish acts in human society, the jealousy that God exhibits is not like that at all. His jealousy is a perfect, righteous jealousy that leads Him to selfless, sacrificial responses. This truth is seen all throughout Scripture, and one of my favorite representations of it is in the book of Hosea.

Basically, in that book of the Bible, God calls one of his prophets, Hosea, to establish a marriage that would mimic God’s marriage-like commitment to and love for His “bride,” the people of Israel. Though Hosea’s wife is unfaithful (just as the Israelites had been to God at that time, worshipping other gods), God tells Hosea to pursue his wife and legitimately buy her back out of the prostitution she had sold herself into. Hosea did all this, not out of his own desire, but out of God working in a mysterious way to show His love for His people. God lays out His own plan to bring His people (referred to as “her” and “you” in the passage) back to Himself in the second half of Chapter 2, saying:

“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. … In that day…you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’… I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. … I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” (Hosea 2:14, 16, 19-20, 23)

So God, who created each and every one of us, is jealous for us; and, with that, He is pursuing us constantly. I love how Brittany summarized what having the word “qanna” on her wrist means to her. She said:

“For me, it’s a personal reminder that I’m always loved and I’m always being pursued because He is jealous of me. God is not just flippant like, ‘oh, yeah, I kind of like you, so I’m going to save you;’ no, it’s like ‘if you give anyone else more attention than you give me, then I’m coming after you,’ not in a wrathful way, but in an ‘I love you,’ ‘I’m not letting you get off this easy’ type of thing.”

I know that none of us will be able to love others perfectly as God loves people, but what an ideal to strive for! Wouldn’t society be so different if people weren’t so prone to giving up on each other, if people would sacrifice to love others, if people would look more seriously into God’s Word in order to try to emulate His perfectly expressed emotions. Anyway, even though there is more I would love to say, I’ll leave you with that.

I hope you have a blessed week. Please let me know what you think in the comments below. And if what I have said has struck you and you would like to learn more about God’s love and His plan of restoring a personal relationship with you, please visit the link below to read directly from God's Word (made available in several languages):
http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/

Jane's Story
Finally, I am back on here. I cannot even begin to describe how crazy this week has been with schoolwork, assignments for my internship and outside distractions that have left me speechless and really considering what is important in life. And all through this past week, I have thought about the two tattoos that I am going to tell you about, because they are inspirational, impacting the way I look at life in this world.

First off, let me reintroduce you to my friend, Jane, who was the second person that I ever posted about on this blog. She is now up to 14 tattoos (I believe), and I just can’t get over the beauty and the importance that each tattoo holds.

But her two latest tattoos are probably some of my favorite, the one because it is inspiring with its boldness (in look and in message) and the other because of the humility it represents.

One of the tattoos Jane added is a branch of steel magnolias, which stands out with crazy detail (including some hints of white ink). Then to accompany the flowers, Jane added the text “Live boldly and bloom.” She said that, at first, when she was conceptualizing her tattoo, she was hesitant to add text because she already has a lot of script (so some people were joking that she could become a walking quote). But Jane loves texts (as do I), so she finally decided on “Live boldly and bloom,” which she sees as embodying who she is.

She said this aspect of the tattoo representing who she is as a whole sets her new tattoo apart from others, which have been inspired by other people or particular points in Jane’s life. However, the idea for having steel magnolias be a part of the tattoo came about from Jane reading the book “Girls Gone Wise in a World Gone Wild” by Mary Kassian. While reading through this book with our friend, Amy, Jane was struck by a quote about steel magnolias. Kassian wrote: “The steel magnolia melds beauty with perseverance, softness with backbone, delicacy with durability, sweetness with stamina.” What a great representation of the women God calls His “daughters” to be!

The other tattoo, that so perfectly represents appropriate meekness, is a “greater than” symbol on Jane’s wrist, with the open end by her palm. Underneath the symbol are the Bible references for John 3:30 and Philippians 2:3. To paraphrase, these verses say “Christ must increase and I must decrease” and “consider others greater than yourself,” respectively.

Jane said that these passages are such great reminders in her life because she is studying to go into social work. With that, she will help many people that are considered to be in low places in general society’s eyes. Nonetheless, Jane knows that as a believer in the redemptive work of Christ her Lord and Savior, she is to consider those people better than herself and show them the love of Christ, if not explicitly then implicitly in her love for them. And with that, in order to have the sensitivity and wisdom to love people appropriately, Jesus Christ and all the qualities He embodies must grow in Jane’s life and any selfish desires or misconceptions of people must fade away.

Now for the story behind her tattoo experience itself:

Over the summer, before coming back to school, Jane made an appointment to get these two tattoos. She went to a shop she had not been to before, one that was recommended to her when she commented on the tattoo of someone she ran into at her workplace (and she said that it is rare for her to comment on someone else’s tattoo!...I bet she’s glad she did on this occasion, though). When she initially called the shop, she learned that the tattoo artist she had been referred to was booked up for the month; but this artist had an apprentice who was available. What struck Jane (and me…and others, I’m sure): this apprentice is a girl!

Jane said that she went in and looked at numerous portfolios of the apprentice, Laci, and decided to go ahead with it. This experience was different because with Laci being an apprentice, Jane had to sign off on paperwork, saying that she was aware Laci was an apprentice, which Jane said was kind of nerve-wrecking.

Jane said that Laci did really well, but she took a little longer than a more experienced tattoo artist. However, Jane said that in comparison with other tattoo artists she has had, Laci had a more gentle touch. (And at the bottom of the post I put a link to an article I found about female tattoo artists and how their typically gentle touch could be an advantage to them in the field!) Also, Jane said how she appreciated how talkative Laci was. Along with having a female artist for the first time, Jane experienced another first: getting color (white). Lastly, Jane said that pricewise this tattoo experience was “phenomenal,” because tattoo apprentices cannot charge full price for tattoos. There are some things to consider if you ever plan on getting a tattoo!

I hope you all appreciated these tattoos and stories as much as I did, and let me know what you think about Jane’s tattoos or female tattoo artists. If things don’t get too crazy around here, I hope to be back blogging next week. Thank you all for reading. Have a great week!

[Here is the link to the article I mentioned: http://columbianewsservice.com/2010/04/as-tattoo-artists-do-women-have-the-upper-hand/ ]

Stephanie's Story


I am so excited to share this story behind the ink with you, because it revolves around two of the people I am closest to — my sister, Stephanie, and her daughter, Addison.

As I’ve shared before, my sister, two of our friends and I all grew up drawing temporary tattoos on each other, and that time in our life must have been influential because now we all have tattoos.

Stephanie (or Steph, as a lot of people call her) was the last in this group to get a tattoo; she got hers this past weekend for her birthday, and I was happy to be home on Labor Day break so I could share the experience with her.

She says that she first knew she wanted to get a tattoo when she was 13, but it was only about a year and a half ago that she started laying the framework for what she really wanted; she knew she wanted it to pertain to love, because, at that time, she was expecting my beautiful niece Addison (or Addi).

What Steph finally decided on getting was an infinity symbol with the word “love” written in the bottom right quadrant of it, which I think has a pretty self-explanatory meaning. Then she personalized the tattoo by adding Addison’s name and birthday above the left side of the symbol.

Because the story of Steph’s tattoo basically tells itself, I would like to tell you all about her tattoo experience (which I got to experience right beside her).

The one thing that stood out about Steph’s experience in both of our minds was the fact that she had a female tattoo artist. Steph’s tattoo artist pointed out that though the industry has been notoriously dominated by men, girls today may have more opportunities than she initially did because women have earned their ranks in the business. This is seen in one of the most famous female tattoo artists (in America, anyway), Kat Von D, being seen on the reality television shows Miami Ink and, more recently, LA Ink. (If you are interested in checking out her highly acclaimed work, here is the link to her site: http://www.katvond.net/ …and I would definitely recommend reading her bio; it’s super interesting!)

A picture of Steph's tattoo artist hard at work.

Aside from being able to relate with her tattoo artist on the level of being a woman as well as a mom, Steph had an overall good experience. She says the first prick of the needle was less painful than she had expected, but as the needle moved more toward her stomach (and other little spots that are more sensitive) it got pretty painful, but she handled it like a champ. In fact, it oddly enough made me think back to her 34-hour long labor that she handled with grace just a little over a year ago.

And with that in mind, Steph says that her favorite part of her tattoo experience was being able to show the tattoo to the little expressive, loving bundle of joy it is for — Addi. Addi is such a smart baby that I don’t think it will take her long to learn that the tattoo is going to be there forever.

Side note: little kids blow my mind with the things they can pick up on both cognitively and socially. I know that may sound really random to some of you, but for those of you who don’t know me personally you have to understand that I absolutely love children, and I have especially loved watching how both of my nieces and my nephew have interacted with my tattoos...that and I'm taking a course in Child and Adolescent Development right now and we talked about the incredible capabilities of newborns in class today. It all just makes me so excited for the day when I will have kids of my own to get inked for!

Anyway, I hope you all have enjoyed this story behind the ink and will join me next week as I talk about my friend, Jane, who recently added to her impressive “resume” of tattoos, with what I believe are her 13th and 14th tattoos. Thanks for reading; I’d love to know what you think, so feel free to leave a comment below!

Heather's Story
A couple weeks ago I blogged about Lisa, the mother of three who now has three tattoos. And after I got her story up, her daughters especially were interested in telling me the stories behind their ink. So now things have finally settled down with heading back to college and stuff that I get to tell you all Heather's tattoo stories.

Heather says that when she was younger she was not a huge fan of tattoos. But after seeing her friends and both siblings get them, she decided it was her turn.

The first tattoo she got was an Italian flag on her foot, because she is half Italian (on her dad's side). And when her maternal grandmother saw this tattoo she insisted Heather get something for the other side of her family, so she added the shamrock for her Irish roots. Not only is Heather's love for her biological family represented in her ink, but also her love for and acceptance of members of her distant family. She added the Slovakian flag into her foot tattoo for her mom's boyfriend's roots, because he has been a significant figure in her life for years. And after that, she added the Puerto Rican flag for her cousin's wife who is not accepted by some members of Heather's extended family.

 

After she finished her foot tattoo she got the Scripture reference for Isaiah 40:31 because she says she has been through a lot. This verse talks about how when believers in God are burdened they can go to the Lord, and He will renew their strength, so they may "run and not grow weary...walk and not faint" (in especially the spiritual sense). Heather says that this verse is so relevant to her life because she is very involved in sports, so she can definitely relate with  feeling worn down. So with that feeling in mind, she (and many others) find great encouragement in the analogy the author of the Scripture passage puts forth when he says that with our Lord we can carry on, even when this world's "logic" says we should be defeated; we can believe in something greater than ourselves, something more! (And is there any better expression of belief in that hope than getting it put in permanent ink on your body?!)

I hope you all have enjoyed hearing those stories behind the ink, and maybe this blog has worked to even challenge or encourage some of you out there. I would love to hear from you in the comments below! Thanks for reading. I'll be back here next week with some more edifying tattoos that have really impacted my way of looking at life. Have a great week, everyone!

Sara's Story
Sara, her sister Lindsey, my sister Stephanie, and I all grew up loving tattoos—and that is obvious with Sara having four, Lindsey (featured in my post on March 11) and I each having two, and Stephanie planning to get her first in a few months. So since I have already shared my and Lindsey’s stories, I figured it is now time to tell you Sara’s!

Though the four of us girls started drawing temporary tattoos on one another from an early age, Sara really knew she wanted a tattoo when she was in high school. She says a lot of this decision came from her exposure to tattoos with her brother and guys in the fire department she served in. But she knew she had to wait until she was out of the house and able to pay for her tattoos on her own.

So, while down in Pensacola, Florida, for training, she got her first tattoo, an extensive piece on her side with flowers representing each one of her family members. The first sitting for the tattoo took two and a half hours, then she went back the next day for color and shading which took another two and a half hours—hardcore for a first tattoo! She says that this tattoo means everything to her because it represents her family, so it is her favorite by far.

Her next tattoo was also related to her family, in that she got it with Lindsey when Lindsey visited Sara in Japan. The tattoo is of a cherry blossom, an 18 (because they are 18 months apart in age), and the Japanese symbols for “older sister” (whereas Lindsey’s says “younger sister”) on her hip.

Sara's hip tattoo...



...Lindsey's hip tattoo!

Likewise, her third tattoo is for another family member that had a significant influence on her—her grandmother. Sara’s grandmother gave her a cross necklace when she was younger. And after breaking the chain six or seven times, Sara decided to put the pendant on her dog tags. Then about a year ago, she put the replica of that cross in permanent ink! Along with the tattoo being special, Sara says that she also really enjoyed the experience of getting this tattoo; first, it was in her/our hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, and, second, because the artist she went to had also served in the U.S. Navy in Japan, so they had lots to talk about.

Lastly, her fourth tattoo is also for someone—her fiancé, James. They decided that though they wanted tattoos together, they wanted to get something silly, not so serious yet. So, because they were stationed in Japan together at the time, they got Digimon characters, with Sara’s character being the mate of the one James has on his arm.

Along with the four she already has, Sara says she does have at least two tattoos in the works! One tattoo she is thinking of is a scorpion with swirled lines in the background, because James’ sign is Scorpio and Sara’s is Aquarius. Secondly, she is hoping to get her rate in the Navy—a pair of wings with a parachute coming up from it. As of now, all her tattoos have come from different tattoo shops, and she is thinking about continuing that trend because she says it is pretty cool.

I hope you all enjoyed those stories behind the ink. I would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

Lisa's Story
I have been going to church with Lisa for about ten years, and she is one of the coolest adults I know — she is down-to-earth, stylish and fun; and most interesting to me, she has tattoos!

Just a few years ago, Lisa was completely against tattoos, but her mind changed when one of her kids got a tattoo and she went along. They went to the same place where I (and many other Erie natives I have talked to) went to get mine—Buddha’s Body Art & Exotic Piercing. When Lisa saw how clean the shop was and how friendly and talented the artists were she decided to get a tattoo. She says that after she got her first tattoo she was hooked, and now she has three.

Lisa has two tattoos on her left arm. Her first was of the Hebrew word for Jesus along with an outline of a cross and a shamrock. She got it in the middle of her forearm because she heard that was a crucial area of the arm when it comes to blood flow, and because Jesus is her “lifeline,” it just seemed appropriate that the tattoo would go there. Then she added in the shamrock to further symbolize who she is because she is half Irish.

The other tattoo on her arm is her latest one — a staff of music with “make a joyful noise” written underneath along with the Scripture reference of Psalm 98:4. Lisa says she got this tattoo because she has always had music in her life, and it reminds her that music is a connection she has with God.

And her other tattoo is of two hearts, one filled in with the look of an American flag and the other resembling the Puerto Rican flag. Lisa says she got this tattoo to show her solidarity to her nephew’s wife who is from Puerto Rico. She says that even though some of her family has ostracized her because of her support of the couple, she still stands beside them because her nephew’s wife and her family are wonderful, loving people.

Lisa also told me that she plans to get another tattoo. Though she is not completely set on a design, she knows that it will stand for her reliance on God, especially as He has grown her and brought her through some tough long-term circumstances.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get a story up here, but I hope Lisa’s stories behind the ink were worth it; I know I enjoyed learning about her tattoos. I’ll try to be back here next week. As always, thanks for checking out my blog, and if you have any tattoo stories for me to write about, feel free to comment below or e-mail me at

kimberlygarlick@cedarville.edu.

Joel and Tracy's Story
I was introduced to Joel and Tracy back in May while I was at college for summer session. What stood out first to me was their passion to serve God. This passion led them to recently move into the southwest quadrant of Springfield, Ohio, an area with a marred past but a hopeful future.

And Joel and Tracy as well as ministries, churches and organizations in the area are the ones bringing such hope to the community. Joel and Tracy’s focus in their outreach is influencing young people for the Lord. To do this, they plan to start a ministry of their own to encourage and enable youth in the area to express themselves in art of all kinds. Joel says this type of outreach is important because when the economy is tough in areas, one of the first things to be pulled from schools is art. He also said this is tragic because for many talented youth, art is their way out of such hopeless circumstances.

With trying to reach out to teens in tough situations, Joel and Tracy know it is important to be relevant. Joel especially can connect with youth because of life experiences he has had as well as his talents in hip hop, painting and drawing. Another thing that makes them relevant to the area they are in is their tattoos.

When Joel met Tracy, he had one tattoo. Though Tracy wasn’t a huge fan of tattoos, she says she didn’t mind the one. The tattoo was of the words “agape love” (which is a biblical concept of God’s unconditional love for mankind) and a dove. Joel says he got this tattoo because before he became a follower of Christ he treated people poorly, so he wanted a reminder of how he should treat people, to contrast how he used to be.

Then when Tracy started warming up to tattoos, Joel says he took advantage of the opportunity by getting a few more, including one he actually got with Tracy. So now Joel has six tattoos and Tracy has one. The tattoo they got together was the monogram of two superimposed Greek letters, chi and rho, because these are the first two letters for the Greek word for Christ. Joel and Tracy say this symbol is important to them because it was a mark used by early Christians persecuted in ancient Rome as a sign of brotherhood/sisterhood in their devotion to Christ.

Joel's other tattoos (all of which he designed) are as follows:

He has a cross with "YHWH," the Hebrew name for God of the Bible. Joel says he got this because he is a fan of the Bible and theology (which is appropriate considering he is in seminary).

He also has the Bible reference of Song of Songs 2:2 on his forearm for Tracy. The verse reads, "Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens." He says he chose this because he wanted something different than her name on his body and because it serves as a conversation piece with other guys, in that he is able to explain how women should be treated in relationships--with love, respect and honor.

Next, Joel got the words "Jehovah-jireh," which is the anglicized way of expressing "YHWH will provide." Along with the name is the Bible reference of Genesis 22:14 where God provided for the Jewish forefather Abraham. Joel says he got this tattoo after a time in his life where he had to "swallow his pride" and just trust God's ways of providing for him.

Lastly, Joel has the Latin phrase "Sola Scriptura" on the inside of his left bicep. This phrase was the rallying cry against the Catholic Church during the Revolution, in that the Protestant reformers held to the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness. Just like with Joel's YHWH tattoo, his love for Scripture influenced him to get this tattoo.

Joel says that if it were up to him, he would be covered in tattoos from his waist up to his neck, down to his fingertips. But since he has a wife, her family and others to consider, he is going to get one more, oddly enough at his mother-in-law's insistence; she thinks seven tattoos is better than six because seven is the number of completion. He is still trying to figure out what to get, but he thinks it will probably relate to the ministry he and his wife are going to start.

I hope you all enjoyed those stories behind the ink of a sincerely godly couple. Next week's post is even a surprise to me at this point, but I will try to get something up. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you back here!

 

Paul's Story
Paul and I grew up in church together, but it has been years since we last saw each other or talked. Still, when we caught up a week or so ago, we found we had something to talk about—tattoos!

Paul says he always wanted a tattoo growing up, especially after seeing a Christian fish tattoo on a mentor of his, Mal Beall. But even somewhat to Paul’s surprise, he now has four, and he had major input on the designs of his first three.

He got his first tattoo about a year and a half ago after he completed boot camp. It is a Celtic cross with four words around it: “God” in Russian, “corps” in English, “family” in Gaelic and “friends” in German. He says these words symbolize what is important to him as well as his heritage.

The next tattoo Paul got is a soldier’s grave with the words “never forgotten,” which Paul says represents his respect for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in serving the United States.

Then about a year ago he got his third tattoo—a wolf on his arm. Paul says his uncle really loved wolves, and he rubbed off on Paul.

Most recently, Paul got a tattoo of his family crest on his side, which he is still waiting to finish. And he says that once that tattoo is colored and shaded that it will be his favorite, though at this point his favorite is the Celtic cross.

Besides having his family crest finished, Paul is not sure if he will get any more tattoos, though he says he may get one for his kids someday or something.
Sorry this story behind the ink was kind of short, but I am glad to be back into telling the stories behind tattoos themselves. I'll be back next week with another story, and I hope you all will join me!

Tattoo Industry and Culture (part 3)
[The last installment of my article focuses on what one tattoo artist, Brian Brenner of the Dayton area, does to thrive in this growing industry. I hope to be back next week with a story behind someone's ink--what I love most about tattoos!]


With tattoos being such a growing business, Brenner has focused on setting his tattoo shop apart. He has turned to marketing online and in prominent tattoo magazines to get the name of Truth & Triumph out there.

“When we were talking about doing the logo, I said, ‘I want it as memorable as the Nike swoosh’,” Brenner said.

Brenner showing me the different ways he has marketed his tattoo shop online, both on the shop website and the shop's Facebook page.

“I like everybody knowing what we’re doing,” he said. “I like being on TV; I like being in tattoo magazines; I like all the glitter, you know what I mean?”
He said not only does he like people knowing Truth & Triumph, but he also likes being able to supply people with jobs because of the prestige of the shop. In addition to the tattoo artists working for him, Brenner also has people for marketing, including a guy who takes care of all the promotional events and Facebook page.

All this marketing is especially important to Brenner because he foresees the tattoo industry becoming like any other job fairly soon. He used the example of how many people can list off some prominent tattoo artists now because of the popular television shows. He said that if you would have asked someone five years ago to name one tattoo artist, the average person couldn’t do it. But he sees all that changing.

He said: “In five more years I’m going say, ‘how many tattooers to you know?’ and you’re going to be like ‘dude, f---, I know like twenty-five,’ you know what I’m saying? And then five years from then, when you go ‘how many tattooers do you know?’ and it’s going to be like barbers. … It will be like everything else. That’s one thing that I see changing.”

He naturally sees this shift to be both positive and negative.

“It’s good for the tattoo industry because more money is going to flow through the hands of tattooers,” Brenner said, “but at the same time it’s going to suck for people that are already in it and have been on ‘easy street’ for so long, because the competition is going to get tough.”

And Brenner said that it is not just marketing that sets his shop apart in the industry, but that it is also the caliber of his artists. He said that though he used to apprentice all the guys that came to work for him, over time, experienced artists were coming from other shops to work at Truth & Triumph. Brenner said that the creative environment at his shop is what those artists find attractive. Most of his artists are young and come from heavy art backgrounds, and many of them are involved in music as well. He also said that when it comes to the art, especially, he wants Truth & Triumph to have a certain “echelon” and really set the standard for what people should be doing in the tattoo business.

Tattoo Industry and Culture (part 2)
[In this second part of my article on the tattoo industry and culture I wrote mainly about how the industry has grown with the general perception of tattoos being more positive than before.]

No matter the reason for getting a tattoo, it is hard to go anywhere nowadays and not see a person with a tattoo.

A study done this year by Harris Poll found that 21% of American adults have at least one tattoo. This is up from 14% in 2003 and 16% in 2008. This study, which was conducted by surveying 2,016 American adults online, found that the age group with the highest percentage of tattooed people was that of 30-39 (38%). And for the first time since the organization first asked the question, more women responded to having a tattoo than men (23% compared to 19%).

Altogether, Americans spend an estimated $1.65 billion on tattoos each year.

Brian Brenner (tattoo artist in Dayton) said that tattoos have become more popular because of television shows and avant-garde people of the 1990s.

“It’s very desired to be tattooed now,” he said, “because people have tattoos and tattoo shops in their living rooms with shows like Miami Ink and LA Ink and all that.”

Another area in which tattoos have gained popularity in the limelight of the media is in professional sports, particularly basketball. There is a Tumblr account, nbatattoos, on which the owner gives percentages of NBA players with tattoos, and through this individual’s observations of pictures and video 55% (235 of 431) of the current NBA players have tattoos.

On top of having athletes and celebrities drawing attention with their tattoos, Brenner also said that a few years before tattoos really became popular, there were some ordinary people who got tattoos, which turned into conversation-starters with their friends. When people started finding friends and acquaintances with tattoos, body art just seemed to catch on, so much so that in 1997, the U.S. News and World Report listed tattooing as the sixth fastest growing retail business.

Though tattoos have become more prevalent as of late, many people still have negative feelings toward tattoos. The Harris Poll from this year that pertained to tattoos also took in some figures of how people without tattoos view permanent body art. The report said that at least two in five people without tattoos find people with tattoos to be less attractive (45%) or sexy (39%). Also of those surveyed, roughly a quarter said that people with tattoos are less intelligent (27%), healthy (25%) or spiritual (25%). And half of those without a tattoo say that people with tattoos are more rebellious.

These sorts of perceptions have been present throughout most of the roughly 5,000-year history of tattoos. In ancient times, getting tattooed was a religious ritual. Some of the most intricate and skillful tattoos of those times were those of the Polynesians who saw tattoos as being a display of their spiritual power or life force. Eventually, from prominent ancient civilizations such as those in Egypt, tattooing spread all over the world.

The old, negative perception of tattoos that many think of today is that tattoos were a thing of sailors, criminals and circus sideshows, with that of criminals being possibly the most unsettling. Criminals were known for their tattoos, both professionally done and homemade. For them, tattoos were a display of autonomy and identity. Then for those belonging to gangs tattoos became significant because it showed commitment to the gang as well as some information about the individual, such as beliefs, time in jail or people killed.

The prevalence of tattoos and tattoo parlors in middle-class areas show the tattoo business has legitimately come a long way since the notorious connection with criminality.

Tattoo Industry and Culture (part 1)
[As promised, here is the first section of the final article I wrote for my feature-writing class last semester on the tattoo industry and culture. It is just a little intro, highlighting the beginnings of one tattoo artist I have talked about a few times on this blog already, Brian Brenner of Truth & Triumph Tattoo. I hope you all enjoy it and come back for the other posts of the series.]


Brian Brenner grew up in the 1970s and 1980s listening to rock ‘n’ roll and old-school punk rock and hanging out with the “misfits” of his day. He said mainstream culture saw him and his friends as a “different breed of scumbag,” viewing them in only a slightly better light than bikers and criminals. And at the time, bikers and criminals were notorious for their tattoos. So it was not long before Brenner decided that getting tattooed fit who he was, given how society viewed him.

He got his first tattoo when he was 19, a tribal design on his right leg. Brenner has had a love for art all his life, but he did not immediately think of getting into the tattoo business until the owner of the shop he went to suggested the idea.

“I knew I didn't want to work a factory job or a grunt labor job for the rest of my life, and I loved art,” Brenner said. “I just never imagined doing it on people's skin until I'd received my second tattoo, and it was then I knew it was for me.”

Brenner began tattooing as a side job with a kit he had ordered from an old tattoo magazine when he was 21 or 22. He started doing tattoos at his kitchen table, with his first being a little rose on an ex-girlfriend. Eventually, Brenner was not satisfied with the money he was making airbrushing T-shirts in Myrtle Beach, S.C., so he decided to make tattooing his career and joined the crew New Breed Tattoo. But in the past two decades, Brenner has established himself as one of the top tattoo artists in the Dayton area with his own shop, Truth & Triumph Tattoo.

“I always remained loyal and worked at the shop that brought me into the business until I had a different vision for opening my own studio four or five years into tattooing,” he said. “That is what you know as Truth & Triumph today.”

Truth & Triumph Tattoo at 3250 Kettering Blvd. in Dayton, Ohio, where Brian Brenner and John Lloyd tattoo clients.

Since opening the shop, he has traveled the globe, showcasing his skills at conventions and having his work featured in prominent tattoo magazines. Brenner said that though in high school his peers saw him as the “class clown” and “least likely to succeed,” he now has exceeded everyone’s expectations by owning three successful tattoo shops.

In these three locations, he and his staff have done thousands of tattoos, some representing only a desire to check one item off a bucket list and others holding truly significant meanings to the wearers.

Amber's Story
Amber grew up in a fairly conservative home where her cousin was the only one in her family with a tattoo, and Amber says “it was not looked favorably upon.” But Amber says that even at a young age there was a “rebellious” part of her that thought it might be fun to have a tattoo someday. She took that step and got a tattoo a year ago, after thinking about the design for a year.

Amber chose to get the Greek word for “grace” (“charis”) on the inside of her right ankle. She says she chose this because the concept of grace was something that was heavy on her mind after a previous rough relationship.

“I kept getting hit with the concept of grace and just the amount of grace that God has shown me,” she says. “And, given that, how could I ever hold any hurt that someone’s ever done against me against them, because God’s forgiven infinitely more of me.”

Initially, when she thought of getting her tattoo, Amber says she wanted “grace” in Hebrew. But after word studies, reading commentaries and talking with Bible majors here at Cedarville University, she decided the Greek word — defined as being “unmerited favor” — better described what she had in mind concerning grace.

Once she had her ideas set, she went to Truth & Triumph Tattoo in Dayton, where her tattoo artist drew up the design. Amber says that the design is not exactly true to the original Greek, which can have a harsh look to it, but that the tattoo is like an artistic representation of the Greek, being more “scripty” and “flowy.”

Amber says she thinks this will be her only tattoo, though she has always said that if her mom, dad, brother or sister died suddenly then she would get a memorial tattoo on the inside of her wrist. Other than that, she says that it would have to be something else really big in her life to call for getting inked again.

I hope you enjoyed Amber’s story behind her ink. I also hope that you all will meet me back here next week (or maybe even later this week) because my next few posts will be unique in that I will be posting an article on the tattoo industry that I wrote for a class last semester. For those of you who care, it is sort of a focus piece, beginning with the story of how Brian Brenner (the owner of Truth & Triumph) got into the industry and how his shop and the entire tattoo industry have grown. I really enjoyed writing it, so I hope you all will enjoy checking it out over the next few posts (I am breaking it up into a series because the piece as a whole is 2,000 words…not super conducive with a blog!) Until then, I hope you all have a blessed week!

My (Second) Story
So, this past Saturday I turned 20, and one of the few things I wanted was another tattoo. I had been thinking about this design for around 7 or 8 months, and with going home for my birthday I decided to go get the tattoo at the shop where I got my first tattoo. Coincidentally with being a walk-in client, I even got the same artist that did my first (which made me happy because he is awesome)! My experience as a whole was interesting and unique, but first I will talk about the design of my fresh ink.

My tattoo reads, “Be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove.” This is a concept found in the Bible (Matt. 10:16b) when Jesus is sending out His original 12 disciples to go out to spread Jesus' teaching. But while going through Media Ethics this past fall semester, the principle was something that I could see myself applying not only to my desired profession (a journalist, specifically a sports writer) but also in every area of my life.

So, this tattoo holds great significance to me, and to emphasize my commitment to living this way I wanted the tattoo to be in my own handwriting. It may sound odd, but it was almost my way of making a covenant with God in permanent ink that I will seek to live this way for the rest of my life.

Now for my overall experience at Buddha’s Body Art this second time around: As I said before, I got the same artist I had last time, Rob. Since we did not talk much last time, I asked him when he started tattooing, and he said he was around 9 when he first picked up a tattoo gun. He has had over 35 years of experience, and he has only ever tattooed for Buddha’s because his parents opened the shop in the early 1960s. The shop has been kept in the family, with Rob’s mom still coming in to tattoo and Rob’s kids and nieces/nephews working in different capacities at the shop or aspiring to someday.

We also got to talking about some other things that Rob does, and he mentioned three accomplishments: being a deacon at this church, going through nursing classes (though I’m not exactly sure what sort of certification he has) and currently working through piloting school.

All in all, I had a really great time, and I have already gotten compliments about my tattoo, which I wore uncovered for the first time today! I hope you all enjoyed that story, too. I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to comment below. Also, if you have any tattoos you would like to showcase on my blog, let me know. I would be excited to hear from you! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you back here next week.

(Another great thing about this time at Buddha's was Rob let my dad [whom I share a birthday with!] come back and take pictures):

The original outline of that design.

Getting bandaged up!

Jeff's Story
Jeff is an associate professor of urban ministry at Cedarville University, but there is something that sets him apart from many professors, especially here at Cedarville—his connection to tattoos.

Jeff says there is a drive within him that pushes him to do things that seem to be beyond his capacity.

“When I was in the Army, I didn’t want to just be a soldier; I wanted to be a paratrooper. So when I got into education, I didn’t want to just go to college; I wanted a doctorate. At middle age I started running, but I didn’t just want to run; I wanted to do a marathon.”

And Jeff found something new to strive for by accident when he injured his hip while running. He says that while he was cross-training on bikes to rehab his hip, he thought to himself that if he just added swimming he could do triathlons. And when he got into triathlons, that same innate drive compelled him to work toward doing an Ironman triathlon, which involves swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and running 26.2 miles.
 

Like many people who have finished an Ironman, Jeff decided to get a tattoo to mark his achievement.

“It’s just a way to kind of identify as part of an elite group. In the same way, if tattoos would have been more popular I would have probably gotten Jump Wings when I was in the Army as a paratrooper.”

But Jeff’s ink is not his only connection with tattoos. He also has a connection in that his son, Josh, is a tattoo artist for a well-known shop in the Dayton area, Truth & Triumph Tattoo. Josh specializes in script tattoos, and I have put a link to his portfolio below. I hope you will check it out because it is impressive!
http://www.tattooedtv.com/joshcook.html

Josh did his dad’s Ironman tattoo, but even Jeff admits that his tattoo pales in comparison to the tattoos Josh does on a regular basis.

“It’s like somebody who writes novels, and he wrote a sentence for me,” Jeff says.

I hope you enjoyed that story behind the ink. I had such a great time learning about it myself. I hope you all will meet me back here next week for more. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Bekah's Story
Sorry I was not able to post anything this past week. It was quite possibly the busiest week I have had since I have been off at school. But I am back now, and I am so excited to share Bekah’s story with you.

Bekah and I went to school together up through middle school (and if you remember Leah from my last post, this is her sister!) And though she grew up seeing her dad’s tattoos (then her brothers’ as she got a little bit older), she had a fear of needles that partially kept her from getting inked. But this past year and a half or so Bekah wanted a tattoo; particularly, one of a passage that has gotten her through these past couple of years that have grown her significantly.

She says this growing time in her life really started in July of 2010 when she went to the International House of Prayer for an internship. It’s there that she says she surrendered her life to Jesus Christ, seeing that to do so requires a believer to give his or her ALL to the Lord. One passage that especially spoke to her in this area was Psalm 62. This psalm relates God to an unshakable rock or fortress who offers rest and hope to believers through the salvation He alone provides.

And Bekah says verse 8 really stands out to her as it reads, “Trust in [God] at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” She sees three things in this verse that believers should do as a testament to Jesus Christ being the Lord and Savior of their lives; these things are: 1) trust God, 2) pour their hearts out to Him and 3) see Him as their refuge. These keys are what she has tried to apply to her life these past couple years as she has waited on God to reveal what His purpose is for her life.

As of just this past Sunday, Bekah is in South Carolina, helping her brother with a ministry he is a part of. There she is teaching guitar lessons among other things and just enjoying this time in her life.

Plans for future tattoos for Bekah also revolve around concepts in Scripture. She is considering getting text that reads, “I have given you a new name” (in reference to how God makes us new creations at salvation) or “my beloved one” (to remind her of God’s love for her) or something of the like. I just hope that whatever she gets that she will let me do a post about it!

I hope you all enjoyed that story and maybe were challenged by it. Shoot me a comment to let me know what you think! I hope to see you all back here next week for a different kind of story behind the ink. [SPOILER: it involves a professor here at Cedarville who has a tattoo; he’s super cool, so you won’t want to miss that one!]