Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
Needle art
Tattoos: pain vs pleasure
I WALK INTO the South African International Tattoo Convention. It’s buzzing with tattoo artists and enthusiasts; literally buzzing with countless tattoo needles at work. Everybody looks like a human book and I’m the only blank canvas.
It’s not that I am averse to tattoos. But the pain and the permanence of it tends to put me off. Not so, many others, whether motivated by reasons that are artistic, cultural, intensely personal or just plain decorative.
Tattoos are a form of expression, an act of rebellion, a creative way of documenting life events and stunning works of art. But there is so much more to the patterns, lines and drawings that strict parents hate, but footballers and rock stars love.
The word tattoo has Polynesian origins. It comes from the word “tatu” or “ta-tau” which means “to mark something”. It is claimed that tattooing has existed since 12 000 BC. The oldest discovery of tattooed human skin to date is the body of Otzi The Iceman, which dates back to between 3370 and 3100 BC. The Iceman’s mummified body was discovered in September 1991 in the mountains between Austria and Italy. Tattooing is not just a complex craft, but an old one too.
“Never trust a tattooer without tattoos,” are words Waldo Del Rocca lives by. Del Rocca is covered in tattoos – around 150, at last count. You could call
”Never trust a tattooer without tattoos.“– Waldo Del Rocca, left
him a kind of mobile billboard for his business, which is also his passion: the 32-year-old is the owner of Cape Electric Tattoo. Del Rocca put together the tattoo convention and it seemed the obvious thing to enlist his aid as our guide to the tech and techniques behind tattoos.
Although Del Rocca tattoos like he is performing surgery and he speaks about tattoos with much animation and passion, he deeply appreciates the history of tattooing and the equipment used to achieve the perfect tattoo. Tattoo machines and inks surround him at Cape Electric, an intimate tattoo parlour were he showed us the ins and outs of his craft. “Our tattoo machines are all handmade,” he says. “Most tattoo artists use two machines; one for lining and one for shading. The most common is the electromagnetic coil machine and the direct drive rotary.”
The coil machine is responsible for that famous whirring sound that we all associate with tattoos. When a direct current is applied to the two coils of the machine, they turn into an electromagnet, which turns the armature bar down, jabbing the needle repeatedly... right into the skin.
The direct drive rotary is a silent machine and is great for colour saturation. Del Rocca himself uses it for shading. It is driven by a DC motor whose rotation is converted into linear motion, which propels the needle.
A lining needle is used for tattoo drawing and outlines; a magnum needle is used like a paintbrush for shading. His preferred colours are reds, greens and blacks, but he also has a drawer full of blues and yellows. “In the past, iron oxide was used to make tattoo ink, but iron oxide is basically rust. Rust + skin = not a good thing.”
Del Rocca’s inks are made of an acrylic resin. The plastic colour base is mixed with a carrier such as glycerine or alcohol. “We use vegan-safe glycerine. Animal products are no longer used, so we can cater to the needs of all our clients.”
Del Rocca got into tattoos very young. “My grandfather was covered in tattoos. He had this pin-up on his forearm. But the outlines turned green with time because of the era when they were done.”
He got his first tattoo, a tribal dragon, at 15. “On my 18th birthday I got my second tattoo, a skull and crossbones.”
After he turned 18 he worked in a skateboard shop and as a result skateboarding subculture became a huge part of his life. That led to a greater interest in tattoos. “I wanted to become a professional skateboarder, but a knee injury dashed my hopes. I lived in the UK between 2004 and 2006 and got a weekend job at a tattoo shop for six months. When I moved back to South Africa, I started helping out at a tattoo parlour here and that is where I learnt to tattoo.”
Del Rocca opened Cape Electric in 2011. At the same time he established a tattoo equipment supply store called Lighthouse Supply. “We import needles, disposables and machines. The store is owned and run by tattoo artists, so we understand what we’re selling.”
Del Rocca travels every year to hone
”Unfortunately, as much as you get used to the pain, getting a tattoo will always hurt.“
his craft. He works in New York’s Fun City Tattoo twice a year, annually attends tattoo summer camp in Province Town, Massachusetts and also frequents parlours in Texas and LA. His favourite tattoo parlour is Idle Hand in San Francisco, where he got his biggest tattoo – an impressive piece on his back – created by Idle Hand owner, Holly Ellis.
“Tattooing is a highly disciplined craft. It is not just done by bikers and sailors any more. Neither is as glamorous as reality TV makes it look. You have to really know what you’re doing,” he says.
Most importantly, the artist needs to realise that drawing for tattoos is very different to drawing for other purposes. “You must be aware of factors such as ageing of the skin, longevity and how to accurately fill in gaps and understand the technology that you are working with.”
Once seen as a sign of a somewhat alternative outlook on life, tattooing has successfully migrated into mainstream culture. Its blend of history, art, technology and mystery have an undeniable appeal. Personally, though, I’m conflicted. As I said earlier, the pain and the permanence held me back. But seeing all of the work and artistry that goes into tattooing, I may yet change my mind.
WHY DO TATTOOS HURT SO MUCH?
Riyaad Daniels, 26, willingly put up his hand when Popular Mechanics was looking for a volunteer. Part of the attraction, no doubt, was that Del Rocca himself would be doing the work. But even though it was not Daniels’s first tattoo, he was definitely enduring discomfort, in spite of having the new tattoo done on a less sensitive area of the body.
Stick a needle into your skin and you will notice. But some areas on the skin and some areas of the body are more sensitive than others. Daniels had Del Rocca tattoo on his leg, a less sensitive area. Where the bones are closer to the surface of the skin (your foot, ankle, knee, ribs, whatever) is often more unpleasant than getting a tattoo in more meatier areas of the body.
The good news: “It only hurts during the tattooing. Afterwards, you feel nothing,” says Del Rocca. The bad news? “Unfortunately as much as you get used to the pain, getting a tattoo will always hurt.”
So what causes the pain? Well, for a tattoo to stand the test of time, the ink has to travel just underneath the outer layer of the skin. The skin has a natural shedding process so, to ensure that it doesn’t disappear over time, the dye has to trickle down deep enough to evade this shedding.
As the tattoo machine moves across our volunteer’s skin, his body is actually being pierced with a dye-filled needle at a frequency of 50 to 3 000 times per minute. The body’s macrophages – large white blood cells that locate foreign bodies and destroy them – race to the rescue in an attempt to clean up the inflammation caused by the needle, by “eating” up the dye. But the cells don’t consume all of the dye; the rest of it gets soaked into your skin cells. This is how the ink remains visible and your tattoo becomes a permanent part of you. Which is also why it is important to go to a highly skilled and experienced tattoo artist. PM