Select And Print From Thousands of Tattoo Designs

Tattoos have been around for thosuands of years so tattoos are nothing new. They may have become quite fashionable in recent years but our generation is definitely not the first to have tattoos to display. Mummified bodies that date back to around 3000 B.C. have been found with marks on their bones that indicate that they may well have had tattoos.

The origins of the word tattoo are thought to have arrived from sailors who had been to Tahiti where a similar word is used to mean a mark. The european sailors discovered that Polynesians and native American Indians were frequently covered in tattoos whereas in Europe the art had almost died out.

Everybody who gets a tattoo has their own reasons for doing so but these days it is mostly for decoration. The Roman Empire used tattoos to designate status for cerain groups of society. Criminals and slaves had tattoos which showed their status to warn others not to treat them with the respect a freeman would be entitled to.

The methods of tattooing have changed little over the centuries though modern equipment is much better at doing the job. The original method was by pricking the skin with a pointed object and then rubbing in the ink and later it was found that scratches could be used to add morre color to the designs. Modern tattoo equipment injects the pigment with a needle.

The tattooist was always an artist but he could only give you designs that he had experience of doing in the past or had thought of himself. With the development of the internet this has changed and you can now download thousands of printable tattoo designs to choose the one you like best. Once you have made your choice you can print it out on any printer and take it along to your local tattoo artist who can copy it onto whichever part of your body you choose.