Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

211 Notes to Chapter 4
6. Of the nine tattooist/interviewees who had received some form of
training, one had been involved in formal, remunerated training; five were
hired as apprentice-gofers and three learned by hanging out and observing
in tattoo studios.
7. Japanese tattooist/initiates typically practice on radishes (Richie and
Buruma, 1980: 97), hams or sausages (Fellman, 1986: 13).
8. When asked who was the recipient of their first tattoo, six respondents
(43 percent) said they had done their initial work on customers in
the shop where they were working or hanging out, two (14 percent) said
they had tattooed themselves first, and six (43 percent) said they had done
their first work as coverups or reworking of the crude work carried by
trusting or naive personal friends or acquaintances (cf. Schroder, 1973:
108–111).
9. Five of the fourteen interviewees were basically self-taught.
10. Interviewees estimated that between 40 and 80 percent of the customers
who come to them for a first tattoo eventually return for more
work.
11. Of the fourteen tattooist interviewees, six worked in shops owned by
another tattooist (two were apprentices), three were proprietors of shops
in which there were two or more artists, four were situated in shops in
which they were the sole tattooist, and one was a “bootlegger” tattooing
out of his apartment in a state in which tattooing was legally prohibited.
12. Of the fourteen tattooists interviewed, nine cited pleasurable interaction
with clients and customer satisfaction with the tattoo/service as
the primary reward of their occupation.
13. It is interesting to think of this issue of the tattoo “artist” covering
or reworking the product of another “artist” in light of Becker’s (1982:
217–225) discussion of the editing, destruction, and “death” of art products.
14. Eleven of fourteen interviewees cited the negative social status of
being a tattooist as a major occupational problem.
15. The legal problems encountered by the tattooist are an excellent
example of a specific instance in which the state attempts to structure an
art world and shape the artistic activity to its own liking. See Becker,
1982: 165–191 for a general discussion of this issue.
16. One tattooist prided himself on the quantity and diversity of the tattoo
designs he had on display. He estimated, however, that of the some
2,000 tattoos he offered he only applied 100 with any regularity.
Chapter 4
1. Given the male dominance within tattooing, I was surprised at the
relative infrequency with which overtly sexual talk and sexual come-ons
occurred in the studios. Male tattooists consistently maintained that they
were not sexually excited by the exposure of or contact with intimate parts