ModBlog News of the Week: December 17th, 2010

Welcome to the almost last newsfeed post of 2010.  After last week’s scarcity of stories, we’re back on track with stories ranging from identifying the body of a French king, to an attack on a mall body piercer by some angry parents.  So let’s get started.

Last week researchers announced that the mummified head that was discovered a few months back was indeed the head of France’s Henri IV, who was assassinated back in 1610.  One of the main contributing factors to the skull being identified as Henri IV, was that he had a pierced ear.

Months of tests have led to the conclusion that the body part belonged to Henri IV, who was stabbed to death in 1610.  Giveaway signs were a cut near the nose, a pierced ear and a healed facial wound from an earlier murder attempt.  The head was chopped off and stolen in 1793 when revolutionaries raided the grave of Henri. Private collectors then bought and sold the body part over hundreds of years.

We’ve got lots more news ahead just behind the clickthrough.

While we’re on the subject of ear piercings, a woman was brutally attacked due to a dispute over a child’s ear piercing.

Alana Denhard said customers were always stressed at this time of year, but she had never experienced anything like Tuesday’s incident. The Rainbow Bay resident was helping customers in Kaos Hair Salon who were not happy with their six-month-old daughter’s ear piercing on Monday.  “The ear was bleeding so I took the earring out, cleaned the ear and apologised,” Miss Denhard, 23, said.  “I did everything I could, but they kept coming back and yelling at me.”

The parents returned the following day with more family members, Miss Denhard said.  The customers followed Miss Denhard to the food court where security tried to calm the woman down.  “The mother was mouthing off and she broke away from the security guard. I was walking away and she came running at me and just bashed me onto the tiles.”  Witnesses told Miss Denhard the woman punched into her until security was able to pull her off.

Now I can understand being mad at someone for piercing the child’s ear with what I’m assuming was a gun, but to come back the next day to give her a beat down just seems a bit excessive.  Even with holiday shopping in full swing, that kind of behaviour is reserved for line-ups in Walmart for the newest “tickle-me” doll.

So while it may be the season for people to lose their minds over material possessions, some people are able to maintain some degree of sanity and are able to think of others.  Take Dynasty Tattoo and Body Piercing from NJ.  The shop is sponsoring a family in need this holiday season, and are asking people to come in and donate clothing, toys and cash.  Any donation over $20 will get you a gift certificate worth $25-$300 at the shop.

Then there is Barbie, a tattoo artist who attempted to break the world record for most tattoos done in a 24 hour time period.

Barbie is confident that she will set a new record, hoping to surpass 850, possibly closing in on the 1000 mark.  Barbie planned to tattoo an outlined 3” by 3” cancer ribbon, with shading in a choice of colours to reflect the cancer being recognized.  With each tattoo, a $20 donation was required with all money raised going to support the Canadian Cancer Society.

While she didn’t achieve her goal of 1000 tattoos, and suffered from some severe hand cramps, she was able to raise $6000 for the cancer society.

The holidays are also a time to celebrate family, both those with you, and ones that are no longer there.  Earlier in the year I posted a story about a women who got a tattoo using the ashes of her deceased son.  Now a Tasmanian artist is offering the same type of thing to any of his customers.

Shane Dyson believes he is the only tattooist in the state who offers memorial tattoos created using cremation ashes.  Since opening his business, Angelic Ink, a year ago in Wynyard in the state’s North-West, Mr Dyson has used his skills to help five grieving families.  ”I love all my tattooing work but the memorial tattoos are particularly special because it really does help people to be able to have a piece of their loved one with them at all times,” he said.

“The most beautiful occasion was when an entire family came in to get memorial tattoos for their lost daughter and sister,” he said.  ”I closed the studio for them for a day and the lady’s mother, father, brother and sister all came in to get tattoos of her name.  ”At the beginning it was really sad and everyone was crying but as the day went on they put on special music and were singing away.  ”There was a real sense of celebration and it is a pleasure to be part of such a personal experience.”

Now while some people wish to have their family members tattooed into their skin, others get tattoos for things that are significant to them.  Music tattoos are often seen on individuals, and can range from lyrics to a song, to a band’s logo.  California band Strung Out knows just how popular a band tattoo can be, and are asking their fans to send them photos of their art for an upcoming greatest hits album.

Strung Out are beginning to assemble a retrospective album and need some help from their loyally inked fans. The music portion of the album is already in the works, and will include a number of surprises, both new and old. But in order to create a truly unique collection, the band is asking that all fans with Strung Out tattoos send the band high-quality photos of their tattoos along with their full name, city, state, and country of residence, to be included in a massive gallery in the album’s packaging. Please e-mail all submissions to [email protected] The deadline is January 31, 2011.

It’s not just bands who are looking to obtain photos of tattoos.  Boston restaurant Tremont 647 is undergoing a remodel and is asking people to send in photographs of their food related tattoos.

Now in other tattoo related news, you may have heard of the murder trial going on in Florida where the state has been paying a make-up artist daily to cover up an accused murderer’s tattoos so that he can get a fair trial.  Earlier this week he was found guilty, and the sentencing was scheduled for today.  When he arrived to find out if he would be getting the death penalty or not, he chose not to have the make-up applied.

Neo-Nazi John Ditullio walked into court Thursday with his tattoos in plain sight: the large swastika and the words “f— you” on his neck, the barbed wire running down the side of his face.  Ditullio, 24, was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. In early 2006, he was living with a group of American Nazis near Hudson who hated Patricia Wells, their next-door neighbor, for having an African-American friend and a gay son.  One night, authorities said, Ditullio put on a gas mask and broke into Wells’ house, attacking her with a knife. She escaped with injuries to her face and hands, but her son’s friend, 17-year-old Kristofer King, died from stab wounds to his skull.

Over on the other side of the planet, The Fatwa Centre in Abu Dhabi states that tattoos are haraam.

However, in a report carried by Al Khaleej, the fatwa clarifies that only permanent tattoos are haram, but those using gold or paint to create a superficial drawing on the skin are allowed.    The fatwa issued by the centre, which is affiliated to the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and Endowments, states: “We should differentiate between two things, tattoos and graphic drawing on body. Tattooing means to prick the skin with a needle and inject kohl or some other substance to change the skin color to blue or green. This is haram according to the consensus of scholars.”

Keep in mind that strict adherents to both Christianity and Judaism forbid tattoos as well, so it’s interesting to see that this is only being brought up now.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a story warning vegans that some tattoo inks are still not vegan friendly.  This week ThisDishIsVegetarian.com has an in-depth interview with James Spooner, a vegan tattoo artist.

I use inks made with vegetable glycerine as opposed to the animal based variety. Most of the popular brands use veggie stuff so there isn’t a lot of compromise in quality there. The main thing with ink is blacks. A lot of companies use Shellac in there ink, which is some kind of bug excrement. I’m not sure which orifice it comes out of, but either way I cool without it. Some crazy companies still use bone char in their black so that is also something to look out for.

The other things to think about are all the ointments, soaps, and aftercare used. I’ve read that the industry standard green soap uses an animal based glycerine. I use Dr. Bronners, which is making waves in the industry, I hear they are even showing up to tattoo conventions now. I also am phasing out all petroleum products, which contain all kinds of lanolin and junk like that. I’m currently trying a few different products to see which I like best, but I’ve got a couple of options I am digging right now. There is also stuff like the gelatin strip on the razor or the stencil paper. When you’re trying to make it vegan you might as well think of everything right?

Just a couple more stories before we head into the celebrity round-up.

Professional wrestler “The Perfect Creation” has been keeping a photo collection of what people are calling “The Ultimate Gaming Tattoo”.  I was going to include a couple of photos to give you the general idea, but it’s probably better you just go to the page.  He’s managed to squeeze in games from every platform, genre, and era into both of his arms.  I have serious geek envy after looking through the pictures.

Wired.co.uk recently did some number crunching to determine that water is wet.  Wait, wrong article.  They crunched numbers to determine if people will do something just because it is free.  To gather their data, they went to a nightclub that was offering free tattoos to anyone who wanted them.

A large room in an industrial building housed three picnic tables, lined end to end, in the centre. The tattoo station comprised a portable table with two folding chairs and a cheap floor lamp. Our assistant, with her clipboard, was by far the cleanest and most official-looking person around. And when she offered to help the tattooist by taking names, he was delighted. In the five hours she was there (from 9pm to 2am), a total of 76 people signed up for the free tattoos.

As the assistant was collecting the data, another tattoo artist stopped by to give us her opinion. This petite brunette, with a medallion tattoo on her sternum, felt that she had to tell us about all the unhygienic and potentially health-hazardous practices she had witnessed that night. Apparently, a contaminated paper towel had been passed around and an obvious necessity missing from the set-up was disinfectant. She said these practices could cause people to contract a blood disease, such as hepatitis or HIV. So perhaps the real cost of tattoos are not their price, but the odds of infections and even long-term illness.

Who needs proper hygiene when it’s free right?

Advice columnists for the most part are always clueless when it comes to tattoos.  So imagine my shock when I read this exchange.

Dear Christy,

My boyfriend just got a freaking horse tattoo on his back. It is so stupid and cheesy. He’s obsessed with Charlie from that stupid “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” show, and that’s why he got it.  What do I do?

–Hates Charlie

Jerk:  

Lovely “Charlie”… The boyfriend. Not you. “Jerk” is your worthy moniker… It is imperative that you dump this broad.

Now.

She’s an insult to your brilliance.  

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” is a top gem on the tube.

If you desire my genius guidance, retract your statement immediately. Speak up. I have seven pounds of hair encasing each ear.  

The tattoo is funny. Sure, I wouldn’t do it, but I would totally date your boyfriend — and be better at it than you — because of the horse.

Looks like princess is embarrassed.

The only solution is to grasp those preying talons on a tranquilizer gun, gather a couple thousand bucks and drag him to a laser-removal joint.

Note: You’ll probably break a nail during the escapade. Abort mission. Plus, “Gossip Girl” is almost on.

Just embrace his ink. He embraces those damn Uggs.

I’ll give you a moment to finish your golf clap before we move on to the celebrities.

Finished?  Great.  So here were are with another collection of the rich and famous and all their crazy antics.

Take Ke$ha (Seriously?  That’s her name?), for kicks she likes to tattoo her friends with a safety pin.

“She told Radio 1: “It’s not bad. I’ll practise on my bandmates . I’ve given tattoos with a safety pin and an ink pen.”

I really shouldn’t be shocked by anything like this anymore.

Hillary Duff was stalked on the way to the gym by papprazzi, who couldn’t find anyone actually famous to stalk that day.  On the plus side they took pictures of her tattooed feet to sell to fetish websites.

Of course the week wouldn’t be complete without checking in with one of everyone’s favorite orange colored “reality” TV “stars”.

Well that’s it for the week.  Remember to send in any news stories you stumble across just by clicking this link.

Oh, and because it’s been sent to me a few times over the past few weeks, here’s a little video someone came up with.  You’ll have to watch it to the end for the full effect.  When you’re done, remember to go and hug your tattoo artist, as they have to deal with this all the time.