It is difficult to identify a more personalized statement or method of collaborative endorsement than utilizing our bodies as canvases, permanently marking one’s skin. Tattooists might constitute some of the most prolific producers of artwork. Their client’s tattooed compositions are more broadly and readily visible than works done perhaps in nearly any other medium. Yet within the tattooing field sufficiently detailed or serious analysis of activity as well as associated technological and socioeconomic impacts are rarely accorded.We turn briefly to an article from New Zealand. As is most common with online tattoo-related writings, content often primarily serves as an advertisement vehicle for images hyping inking as a practice and is then peppered by quotations from a handful of easily contactable [often just mainstream] artists. Implications of copyrighting tattoo designs and associated body art forms, particularly completed tattoo works, are however worth exploring in greater detail:”Tattoo artists calling for right to have copyright on their work | There’s an unwritten rule in New Zealand – decent tattoo artists don’t copy designs. Right now the Copyright Act 1994 is under review, and artists behind the ink say stricter legislation could protect original tattoo designs. House of Natives founder Gordon Toi would champion tattoo protection. “I would like to see some kind of governance over Maori tattooing and Polynesian tattooing… there’s so much exploitation.” Original designs were often replicated, often overseas without even talking to the New Zealand artist, he said.”Skin is probably the hardest thing to copyright, because everyone is copying it.” Pacific Tattoo owner Tim Hunt wanted artists to respect the meaning of Maori and Pacific cultural patterns and symbols. “Any artist could say, I can do you a design that has korus and looks Maori”, Hunt said.”But if you want something authentic, you will have to go somewhere else.” Overseas, tattoo artists are suing when their designs appear on in the media, like television. In 2011, the artist of Mike Tyson’s Maori-inspired facial tattoo sued Warner Bros over a depiction of similar facial art on a character in The Hangover: Part II. If copyright law protected cultural images, Hunt would respect the change. “I want more tattoo artists to stand up and say: ‘I don’t know enough about it, I don’t know the history behind it, and I don’t know the context behind it’.” Overseas, tattoo artists replicate images without a second thought.New Zealand was different, he said. “It’s kind of an unspoken code in New Zealand that you just don’t do that.” Hunt believed the customer owned the tattoo, not the artist. Union Tattoo owner Craigy Lee agreed there was an unwritten code of conduct to not copy a custom tattoo. Decent artists would not dare to make money from someone else’s design, he said. University of Auckland associate professor Alex Sims said technically what is currently occurring in New Zealand is probably copyright infringement – under the banner of artwork. However Sims cautioned against strict enforcement of copyright laws on tattoos, which could include removal of tattoos, preventing the tattoos appearance in films and advertisements, or requiring the removal of tattoos from social media.”It would give the copyright owner the power to control images of a person, which would be extremely concerning and just wrong.”Tattoo vs artFor use in the tattooing world, a distinction between copyrighting designed or applied tattoo artwork must be made. We address professional practitioners tattooing as their sustainable, primary means of income.Tattooists may have multiple images and other as yet non-applied media content such as designs, compositions, sketches or custom artworks. Like representations of various traditional art forms, these are relatively easy to recorded as well as upload allowing clear digital ascription of copyright ownership.Separately, as worn by clients, tattooists typically have portfolios of tattooed pieces. Using a three-dimensional canvas introduces complexities to automated digital identification. In numerous image copyright tracking software, positioning alone can entirely throw off investigation techniques. While Instagram and alternate photo uploading databases offer some form of time-stamped verification but, due to comparatively openly editable structures subsequent source and ownership attribution can become diluted. Whether tattooist’s produced artwork is documented on skin or another type of canvas is the first practical distinction.Artist vs technicianIn order for copyrighting considerations to be adequately reviewed, grouping serves as a tattoo industry specific starting categorizations. On one side of the tattooing art form creative spectrum there are those tattoo artists only implementing their style and techniques.Forgoing reflections on how tattoo artist’s styles and aesthetics may have been derived or inspired, the tattoo artist’s works are independently recognizable as “being theirs”. In a senses, the tattoo artist has a stylistic monopoly.Proportionately with other creative mediums, the tattoo artist has a particular vision, knowledge and or expertise that may not be readily substituted for or by anyone else. The tattoo artist can therefore be classified as practicing the tattooing craft so as to convey a unique style and or furthering the continuation of a single aesthetic or technique.Tattoo technicians may have distinct portfolios of completed, tattooed, works. While the tattoos in such portfolios cannot be exactly replicated, such unique quality attributes are due primarily to placement on a bespoke canvas, i.e. on one entirely individual person. The cohesive result is bespoke rather than the isolation of a composition. Likewise such tattooed work is formed within specific, often non-reproducible proportions. The resulting tattoo may indeed be faithfully replicated by any number of other tattoo technicians, albeit on a different exclusive canvas.And as proportionate to qualified technicians in any field, a tattoo technician may be substituted with no inherent loss or degradation to results. A technician is the tattooist physically and technically capable of applying categories of tattoos yet may do so indiscriminately in regards to a single style, size, technique, aesthetic and or design. Capacity rather than artistic temperament or vision here is the limiting factor.Tradition vs techniqueTattoo artists may be thought of [as just two examples from millions] Ondrash conveying a unique aesthetic to Horioshi III in Japan continuing the culturally rich art of tebori. Both being solely in the tattoo artist’s jurisdiction, delimitation of copyrighting unique compositions as opposed to reproductions of traditional iconography forms another noteworthy separation.Like any configuration in the more classically mainstream mediums such as painting, such a dichotomy is not to state that tattoo art itself necessarily neither neatly falls onto one side. As with all artistic pursuits, sources of inspiration as well as subjectively justifiable conclusions that the same compositions labelled as ‘homage’ by some or ‘theft’ to others remains to be objectively qualified in any manner whatsoever. As often said, good artists copy – great artists steal. In practical terms though the tattoo artist producing traditionally inspired works may automatically and logically be precluded from copyrighting registration of tattooed art off of the human canvas.Copyrights vs claimsThere may be a twofold purpose of copyright registration. Firstly this functions as externally verified recognition, by a third party, of bespoke or attributed authorship. Such adds credibility, weight and or authority to content. Not least of which often lending substance to sales pricing.Secondly the purpose of holding a copyright ownership registration could be preparation for cataloguing proceedings when initiating formalized legal protections. These proceedings nonetheless require the violator(s) be identified, engaged with, refuse to honor the registration and then successfully convicted in a manner constrained by their geographically applicable court(s) of law. Quantification of receivable remuneration depends on violator’s accurate identification, owned content’s documented use, set culpability through response and achievable legal ramifications as determined in part by physical location. All form notable, complicating factors.Recognition vs protectionIt has been found as commonplace for a tattooist to use the designs or even completed tattooed portfolio pieces of another. While a large portion of accredited tattoo artwork is searchable online, sheer volumes accessible via disparate sources fractures attempts for single point [i.e. one tattooist’s] crediting. The illicit or unauthorized use of tattooed works conceivably only being in printed or offline portfolios, as with those shown to studio clientele. Tattoos often serve as an individually enacted and privately held art form.Online display and thereby essentially public ‘registration’ of tattooed works may therefore purposefully not exist. Its wearer could have requested this.These factors translate into an ability for tattoo technicians, dealing directly with individual clients, to potentially be quite liberal in statements of completed works as well as, by extension, claimed tattooing experience or expertise.In a practical manner, the motivations or impetus for copyright ownership registration of tattoo works apply more broadly to the tattoo artist and perhaps only as form of registration of completed portfolios to the technician. While achievable remuneration or punitive actions against copyright ownership violators is far from universally predictable, a focus on digitally time-stamping both tattoo artwork and portfolios through say blockchain verification is the first step towards assurances of authenticity. However used the creator now has immutable, single-source substantiation of ownership.As with the technology’s decentralized capacity, ability of trust reallocation onto individual sources as opposed to ‘hubs’ equates to potentially ushering in a new standard of work verification. This is hugely significant for the client in the process selection. For tattoo artists the effects and benefits of copyright ownership through blockchain are also significant.Aforementioned Article: May 28th 2018, Amber-Leigh Wolf on Stuff

So, you need to know about tattoo after care because you are ready to get a new tattoo!It may be your first time, or it may be your tenth time, but in every case, you should review your tattoo after care instructions prior to getting your new tattoo. You might wonder about the logic about looking at the instructions before getting your new tattoo, but it is like baking a cake, you just don’t want to make any mistakes with these instructions because new tattoos are open wounds and susceptible to infection.You must be attentive to your new tattoo, and keep it as clean as possible to ensure that it heals as cleanly as possible so you prevent infection and end up with the nicest looking tattoo possible.While the healing stages of a tattoo will be as unique to each individual as there are people in this world, the tattoo healing process does follow a general pattern. The specifics of each tattoo’s healing process will depend on the different skin type of the individual, the location of the tattoo on the body, an the techniques of the tattoo artist. These factors can all cause a variance in the healing process from individual to individual.You will be given aftercare instructions by your tattoo artist. These aftercare instructions differ from artist to artist. My recommendation to you is if in doubt about anything, always go back to your tattoo artist before seeking the help of a doctor. Your tattoo artist can take a look at your tattoo and tell what to do if their is a problem to correct any healing problems.If your tattoo artist cannot help, they should send you for medical attention from a doctor. If they do not, then of course, you must go yourself to make certain that your health is not at risk. This is your responsibility.Many times doctors don’t know much about tattoos and will prescribe unnecessary medications that may harm your tattoo’s healing process. Some doctors may even be biased against tattoos. That is why I suggest that you go to the tattoo artist first if you suspect their is a healing problem with your new tattoo. The artist works with tattoos day in and day out and is familiar with the best way to heal their work.When you leave the tattoo studio, you will have a bandage on your new tattoo to protect it from outside contact. This bandage should be removed 2- 3 hours after getting your tattoo. Your tattoo may bleed a little for the first 24 hours, remember, your new tattoo is akin to an open wound.Before you remove your bandage, make sure to wash your hands with soap and warm water, in between the fingers, and under the fingernails. Then dry your hands with a clean paper towel. Do not use any old towel that is laying there, or even a clean towel as lint may be transferred to your hands.Make sure you have not let a large amount of blood dry on your bandage so that it sticks. Be very, very gentle as you remove your bandage so as not to start the tattoo bleeding again. If you just rip off your bandage, you can mess up the appearance of your new tattoo, and you don’t want to do that, now do you?Wash your tattoo gently, very gently with anti-bacterial soap and water to clean it. Do not scrub your tattoo, do not use a washcloth, or anything else other than your fingers or hand to clean the tattoo. Do not rub, but “pat” the tattoo as you wash it. Then, when you are finished, pat the tattoo dry with a clean dry paper towel. Or, use clean toilet paper even, if you don’t have any paper towels on hand.Let your tattoo air dry for 15 minutes or so. This will promote healing.After your tattoo has dried, apply a few drops of Emu Oil to your tattoo. The presence of essential fatty acids along with the hyper-oxygenation of Emu Oil naturally increases the circulation to the applied area which is why Emu Oil works so well and so quickly to heal.Even though it is an oil, it has been proved that Emu Oil does not clog pores (unlike most commercially made tattoo aftercare products that are petroleum based), therefore allowing the skin to breathe during the healing process. Emu Oil penetrates through all seven layers of the skin and is rich in nutrients (essential fatty acids) that feed the skin to aid in new cell development that can hasten the healing process. Emu Oil is also a natural emollient keeping the skin moist and pliable.The application of the Emu Oil immediately after the tattoo has been cleaned will also relieve the discomfort and reduce the inflammation and redness of the new tattoo. Emu Oil will help set the new colors due to its deep penetrating properties and will help reduce plasma oozing.Using Emu Oil 2-3 times a day after repeating the cleaning process while the tattoo heals will keep the area moist reducing or eliminating the flaking or scabbing that often occurs as new tattoos heal. Emu Oil can prevent the need for touch ups which saves the artist time and money, and makes for a happy tattoo customer.New tattoos will look red and swollen immediately following the tattoo procedure. The tattoo will continue to appear this way for a few days throughout the tattoo healing process. Within a week to ten days the skin surrounding the tattoo should be more back to normal – most tattoos are completely healed in three weeks time.While it is healing it is important not to do the following things or you may damage your tattoo:- Do Not scratch your new tattoo- Do Not pick at your new tattoo- Do Not expose your tattoo to sunlight or tanning beds under any circumstances- No swimming, hot tubs or baths the first two weeks after getting your new tattoo- Do Not shave the tattooed area for at least 30 days following the tattoo procedure- Only touch your tattoo with clean hands, do not let others touch your tattooNot only is Emu Oil good for healing new tattoos, it is good for restoring older, aged, sun damaged tattoos as well. This is due to the natural hyper-oxygenation of Emu Oil which brings blood and oxygen to the surface of the skin. This, coupled with Emu Oil’s ability to moisturize through all seven layers of the skin, allows users to see quick results when the oil is applied to older tattoos.With the proper care of your tattoo from the start, there is no reason why you shouldn’t enjoy the beauty of your tattoo for a lifetime.