Traditional designs from Greenland

Here we see designs, that are in use for centuries among the people of Greenland and other arctic first nations. The bearer is of partly greenlandic blood, we used a reconstructed needle from the region and the spirits of the ancestors were invited before we started inking.

100% handmade dotwork

Here you see this extraordinary piece still in progress, it is 100 handmade, no machine was used.

Bronze age sun symbols

Four tools

From top to bottom:

The first one is an antique from Burma (today Myanmar) called Khem Sak.

It was used by monks to do the Sak Yant sacred tattooing.

It was given to Kunsten på Kroppen by Travelinmick, who brought it from one of his journeys.

The second one is a tool from
Sua Sulu ape Paulo II

who was a samoan traditional master tattoo artist.

Coming from an old tattooist family he carried the mythology and craft of tattooing.

He personally handed the tool over to Kunsten på Kroppen.

The third one is an Inuit tool reconstruction, as described by Lars Krutak in his book

 "Tattoo traditions of native North America"

Below the page from the book with the reconstructions put on it.

Instead of copper I used an iron needle and i prefer my needles a bit shorter.

I used these Aivilingmiut tools for many years on the viking markeds and produced hundreds of them.

(Ingalik awl carved by David Schütze)

The fourth one was used in 2003 by Erik Reime for an experiment about tattooing in the stone age.

Read more:http://www.tattoo.dk/old-website/eriks/handtattoo/flintesten_e.html

Thai staff

Kopenhagen as an old, old sailortown and central merchant spot for centuries has amazing things in it s antiqueshops and markeds.

This one is from Thailand, age unknown, made from tusk. With slight adjustments so I can change the tip it is also an amazing tool, regular in use.

Tattoo tools from the viking age?

Objects like this have been interpreted as staffs used by viking age sorceresses...

Found in Gävle, Sweden

Property of the British museum, found in Norway, 9th century

Object was bend when put in the grave to make it unusable, we find habits like that still in Tuva, f.ex., where the shaman s drum gets destroyed when he or she dies.

Found in Öland, Sweden

(reconstruction)

In Kunsten på Kroppen we always research, to built up background in order to serve our clients and the art of tattooing optimal.

So I came across these staffs, that are mainly found in rich women graves, along with weird things like a nose ring, white face paint, henbane, hemp seeds, crossdressed corpses, brutally slaughtered horses and so on.

Some of the wand carriers were tied on their chairs in the grave.

The wands are made of wood, others from metal.

A couple of them are tapered.

 To me as a tattoo artist i couldn´t resist thinking about Yantra tattoo tools like they´re used in South East Asia still today.

In one of the sagas a Volva gets hit with her own staff, which leaves a gashing wound, so that thing was sharp!

In Siberian iron age cultures special women were responsible for tattooing.

So I got my friend David to make me one of them.

David is one of the last german traditionally educated blacksmiths with great experience and knowledge.

His smithy lies in the entrance of a man made cave, that was once built for the very first rocket engine experiments.

He choose three materials:

The hub of a 16th century windmill wheel,

A piece of a meteor, that crashed in Siberia,

A slice of an old german tank barrel.

He hand forged all that to a perfect, very strong tool and I really enjoy working with it.

See Davids other exceptional works here:

www.wollschmiede.de

I´m not saying, that our viking ancestors made tattoos with these staffs, I just say it works ;)

Here you see me working with the staff, surrounded by brothers from Germany, Ukraine and Borneo.

Thank you guys :)

A thin line...

                                                         http://body-art-photography.de/

There is a point in a man s life when it s time to live dreams....

Bone needle tattooing

tool close- up

close- up of the fresh tattoo

the altar...

Here we reconstruct tattoos from the stone age. Marks like this can be found on little figurines, among the earliest pieces of art of mankind, dating all the way back to 35000 BC.

The tool itself is basically a miniature axe, a common tool of the time.

The needles are tiny combs made from ivory, fixed with sinews.

The ink is made from sooth.

Thank you for taking the pictures, E. :)

The tools of the craft

Two tools in regular use in our studio.

On top you see my favourite, the bamboo stick with the Varja on top.

Of course the whole front part with the bamboo and the needlehead is disposable single use only.

The skull- staff is Patricias Irezumi tool, also with disposable tip single use only.

The tools were built by Erik Raudhi https://www.facebook.com/rockngold and I helped a little bit...;)

Handmade Urnes-style arm

Jjomsborg Vineta 2014 Kai Kwe Faust by Wyrwanazramistnienia

The staff- You see me working here with a staff, wich is inspired by the "magic wands" we find in graves like Oseberg. They are made of wood with decorations and had "ritualistic purpose"
Some of them are made of metal and were classified as grill sticks for a long time.
As you can see, I have a different opinion about the usage of these staffs :)

Historical Viking Tattoo

Full on- handmade tattoo, based on one of the amazing necklace pendants from Hiddensee (Germany)

The Hiddensee treasure is one of the finest from the viking age, to pay respect to the ancient goldsmiths, I took a picture from the original (shown above) and traced the lines, so it is safe to say, the tattoo has genuine Viking proportions, although it still is my interpretation :)

Magick...

Usually magic is hard to catch on photos, but sometimes...

What we´re tapping here is a Wicca-initiation symbol, the crescend moon on the forehead and what you can´t see or hear is the people chanting and drumming while we do it.

Nice moment it was :)

If you want your tattoo done in a ceremonial or ritualistic frame, just tell us, with enough time in advance it is even possible to do it according to astrological perfect moments, etc...:)

Tablet weaving pattern tattoo

This tattoo is based on tablet weaing patterns. The tablet weaving bands were very popular in the old days and used as decoration for clothes, belts, horse harness straps etc.

Early pieces date as far back as the bronze age.

Below some replicated examples from the authors personal collection.

Pazyryc Iron age Tattoo

A very traditional tattoo. The design was made with the ancient techniques while reciting and singing passages from iron age texts.Here it became very clear again, that it is not just about having the tattoo, but much more about getting it, receiving it as a rite of passage, where the tribe and friends are involved, where bonding and the connection to something older and bigger than the individual plays an important role.

Eolh secg / Algiz / Algir / Man Tattoo

This Rune has many names throughout different periods and regions, my favourite is the Anglo- Saxon description:

Eolh secg eard haefth oftust on fenne
Wexedh on wature, wundath grimme
Blode brenedh beorna gehwylcne
Dhe him aenigne onfeng gedeth

Eolh-sedge is often found in the marsh
It grows in water and tears burning wounds
It covers with blood each opponent, that touches it
(own interpretation)

Long stick tattooing

Here you see me performing an ancient type of tattoing wich is nowadays mostly known from the monks in Thailand, Cambodija etc.

Unlike the traditional  metal sticks, mine here is made of wood with a disposable tip.

Welcome to the 21st century :)

Uffington white horse tattoo

 The Uffington horse (UK), a geoglyph probabaly dating back to the late bronze age.
The original horse has a length of 110 m and is made from white gravel, best visible from the air, as you can see below.

source: Wikipedia

Scythian

Here you see a reconstruction of a scythian horse tattoo, hand tapped and off course redesigned :)