Professor Snyder
Informative Speech “Tattoos”
Did you guys know that approximately 45 million Americans have tattoos? Hello everyone, today I will be telling you a bit about tattoos. Tattooing is a very popular art form and it has only become more popular and acceptable over the years. Over the next few minutes, I am going to inform you on the origins, various styles and the different techniques of tattooing.
Tattooing dates back over thousands of years in history. The first recorded tattoos are believed to be found on a man that was hiking in the mountains aro6und Italy. He froze to death while making his way across the mountains and ended up being incased in ice. Using the elaborate technology of today, with carbon dating they were able to find out that he died there around 3300 B.C.. His tattoos were simple but, never the less they were tattoos. He had two short parallel vertical lines on each side of his spine as well as a cruciform mark behind his right knee. Tattooing was popular amongst Egyptians as well. Though, most of the tattoos were on people of power such as pharaohs and kings. Around 500 B.C., tattooing was very big in the Japanese culture. Ideas for their tattoos derived from cosmetic, decorative and religious reasons.
Tattooing is popular in many cultures but, some forbid it and think of it as being evil. The Bible includes a verse that states “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you.” So, in Christianity it is not accepted, however, many Christians do not follow this rule and still get tattoos. The same verse is included in the Jewish bible. And in Judaism they do take this rule a lot more seriously. Buddhism on the other hand does not forbid tattoos. Many monks of all ranks get tattoos that serve as amulets. They believe that tattoos can give them strength in time of need. Tattoos aren’t just relevant in religions though, they have served many purposes over the years. Identifying tribes or families, marking criminals or spies, warding off illness or injuries and showing status are some of the many uses.
Now that you know a bit about the history of tattooing, let’s talk about the different techniques of tattooing. Obviously, tattooing started out very primitively. Carving and sharpening of needles made from tortoise shells or animal bones was the first step. Then they would attach the needles to a stick, it would resemble almost a very sharp looking hair comb. After the needles were dipped in ink, it was then pressed up against the flesh and using a mallet like object, the needles were tapped into the skin, marking it permanently. This technique was quite painful and often took quite a long time to complete. Another simple way of tattooing was making cuts in flesh and then rubbing soot like material into the cuts, a common material that was used was coal.
Eventually, they started using tattoo guns as technology advanced. The earliest one was patented around 1891, its predecessor was an electric pen that was intended to be a duplicating device. Modern tattoo guns use electromagnetic coils to move an armature bar up and down; connected to the armature bar is a barred needle grouping that pushes ink into the skin. Even though just about every tattoo parlor tattoo uses the tattoo gun, some cultures still use the more primitive ways to preserve their heritage.
Ink for tattoos has been made from a number of things over the years. They