Tag: tattooed women

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Tattoos & Yoga: Emma Vasquez

24-year-old Emma Vasquez , is a yoga teacher from Carlisle. We chatted to Emma to find out more about her daily practice, her tattoos and living a vegan lifestyle…

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How old were you when you got your first tattoo and what was it? I was 18, it’s an owl on my thigh it’s about A4 size.

What drew you to the world of tattoos? Full bodysuits of tattoos. I just loved seeing so many tattoos together on one person, the colours and work just blew me away. I remember seeing a bodysuit on a lady in the swimming pools when I was about 10 or 11 and I was in awe of how awesome she looked.

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What influenced your decision to get tattooed? I just liked how it looked, getting tattooed didn’t feel like a huge deal for me really, I don’t really have any that are meaningful or tell a story. It was more just get a tattoo done and that’s it. Go to a good tattooist and just enjoy the whole experience.

Can you tell us a little about your tattoos? I have both arms done, traditional and lots of colours and flowers. A nautical style piece on my back, an om on my chest, Ganesha on my stomach. I have both thighs tattooed, back of thighs, knees, shins, calves. All ten toes, insides of my feet and tops of my feet.  They’re all traditional and I’ve been tattooed by many great tattooists, most were done by Megan Fell and her dad Colin Fell. Both solid tattooers.

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How did your yoga journey begin? About five years, I had started meditating and wanted to see if yoga would complement that. I took my first class at the same studio I now work for, I totally fell in love with yoga from the start.

Have you been treated differently as a heavily tattooed woman in the yoga industry? I have had students tell me they were worried about coming to my classes because my tattoos make me look scary or “hard” even though I always have a huge smile on my face! People have outright told me they think my tattoos look awful and they don’t like them. But that’s their opinion and that’s fine. Sometimes I’ve had students giggle or point at my tattoos to their friends but never at the yoga studio in Carlisle where I work now, this was from other places I taught yoga. So I suppose people have said things or giggled and pointed at me to their friends because of my tattoos. I just let it be, I think the more tattoos you get the more you just don’t care about what anyone else thinks. I like them that’s all that matters.

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Has your lifestyle changed since you started teaching? Not really, when I started yoga that’s when my lifestyle changed. I became vegan and made a lot of different life choices but since I started teaching it’s all just been so natural and fluid. No forcing anything, everything just flows really. It’s a great way to live, very relaxed.

Do your tattoos coincide with your yoga practice? I think as I am a strict ashtanga practitioner they do, ashtanga is a very yang style of yoga and if I go to other studios to do an ashtanga class I guarantee a few ashtangis will have tattoos! I suppose I also feel covered up with my tattoos when I practice, I feel hidden and in my own little world. I do get a lot of compliments about them though, in the studio and even people stopping me in the street.

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Have they helped you to connect to yourself or the world in a different way? Actually getting tattooed made me realise we can step away from emotions and feelings, we don’t have to hold on to them or identify with them. If you’re in pain getting tattooed just accept it as your present moment experience and know that it’ll pass.

Have yoga and tattoos helped you to view your body differently, has yoga? Definitely, yoga made me completely fall in love with my body, to heal and nurture it and to be proud of it. And getting tattooed has also made me feel much more confident in my own skin.

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Where do you teach and how can people get involved? 
I teach at the Yoga Studio Carlisle in Cumbria, it’s the most beautiful tranquil space. You get involved by coming along to classes! I run the ashtanga yoga programme here as well and that’s a real rarity for Cumbria! It’s fantastic to be teaching at the same studio I started my yoga journey in.

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Careers: Tattooed Make-Up Artist

We chat to 26-year-old Charlotte Amy Tompkins, Make-Up Artist at Urban Decay based in Chester, about her incredible tattoo collection and personal style…

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I was 17 when I got my first tattoo, a small red bow on the bottom of my back in Blackpool. God knows how I even managed go get it! I look so young now, think what I looked like at 17? Thankfully it’s since been covered by my on-going back piece – which I need to get finished! At the minute I’m filling my gaps pretty slowly, but I want to get started on a stomach piece soon too.

I’ve always loved tattoos, I never used to like colour tattoos for some reason, but now look at me! Having my tattoos is such a boost, I love having them on me as they are a part of me and will be forever. My tattoos are mainly of animals and roses – you can’t beat a good rose! I absolutely love animals and roses are my favourite flower.

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Tattoo by @gibb0o

I get a lot of mixed reactions from people when they see my tattoos, they either go one or two ways. I get stared at rudely, some people shake their head in disgust too. I was once on the bus back from work and behind me were two elderly ladies talking about how have I even got a job and I should be ashamed being a lady covered in tack!

But when I’m at work I get amazing compliments and most are from women aged 50 or over, who are so interested and just wowed by my look, which is amazing. Kids love them too, they’re attracted to the colours, I had a little girl who was shopping with her mum recently, who got her mum to tell me that she thought I was beautiful with my tattoos and hair. It’s the little things that make me smile, but some people really hate tattoos for no reason really. But I love my skin thanks to all the amazing tattooists out there!

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Chest and neck tattoos by Paula Castle, Ash Boss and Jody Dawber.

I landed my current position at Urban Decay out of pure tenacity, I just kept going back after handing in my CV and eventually I got through three stages of interviews. I worked in a coffee shop before, I enjoyed it but it wasn’t what I wanted to do career wise.

I’m really lucky that as a make-up artist and working for Urban Decay my job let’s me be myself. I would have gotten my more visible tattoos done eventually regardless, as they are a part of me now, but my job does help. I love how they look and how pretty they are. For those wanting to get more visible tattoos I would think really hard about what you want in the long run and think about how it will effect work first. As I said I’m lucky!

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I’m vegan, and I love that I work for a brand that is cruelty free, I love what they stand for. My typical day depends on my customers, I always sit them down to get to know them and find out what it is they want. At Urban Decay we love showing the off products and having a play, we want everyone to feel good about themselves and raring to come back and try more!

Urban Decay love people being themselves so hell yeah I dress how I want. My style is definitely different, a little quirky maybe a bit weird. I love black but I also liked having coloured hair, big earrings and platform shoes. Of course my tattoos are usually on show as they’re hard to hide!

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The Tiger Style: Tiggen

We chat to Tiggen, 19-year-old retail assistant manager and blogger, from London about her blog, fashion style and collection of blackwork tattoos…

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When did you start blogging, how did you get into it? I first started blogging last March, however I’d been building up the confidence to start for about a year by that point. After following and admiring many other bloggers online, I wanted to try it out for myself. It was something I’d always thought about pursuing but initially I had to push myself into writing my first post.

What kind of things do you blog about? Typically, I enjoy blogging about personal style, as it’s something that is unique to everyone and so closely linked to self image. I find issues around body image, and how we view ourselves and others, to be very interesting and I plan on writing more about that in the future. Other topics I blog about are lifestyle, beauty and London.

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How would you describe your style? My style is very minimalist. I only wear black and white, with one exception of a brown jacket. As my colour plate is so simplistic I tend to focus on the quality of the material over anything else. I would say I dress quite casually on a day to day basis, I’m nearly always wearing my leather jacket.

What inspires you? I take inspiration from people watching, seeing the variation of street style and how people present themselves. London is such a diverse city and full of so many interesting people that I can’t help but feel inspired.

Do you have a favourite, artist, designer or musician, or someone else that you admire? I wouldn’t say there was just one person in particular that I admire, there are so many people that I look up to. Social media plays a part as it allows you to glimpse into people’s lives, to respect what they’re feeling and going through. To name a couple that I follow on Instagram:  @jayrosetattoo @acornandauger

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When did you get your first tattoo? Do you still love it? I got my first tattoo the day after I turned 18, it was only small but I was extremely happy to finally have one. Sometimes I forget it’s even there now that I have many more, but I still like it.

Tell us about your tattoos? Do they help you to see you body differently, do they inspire confidence? Each time I get a tattoo it instills more confidence in me and makes me feel at home in my own skin. They don’t feel like an addition, more as though they were there all along just under the surface and now they’re revealed. To me getting a new one is not only a physical change but a mental one, they help me to see my body differently and to boost my self image. I find them empowering. Much like my personal style I only have blackwork pieces, they range from illustrative style to more mehndi buddhist pieces.

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Do you have any future tattoo plans? I have a habit of planning very far ahead in regard to tattoos. I’ve carefully thought about what I’m going to get and where, most of my body is already planned out. Next on my list is to get my other hand done.

Do you consider yourself a tattoo collector? Without a doubt. I enjoy collecting tattoos and meeting new tattoo artists. I’m hoping to travel to get a lot of them done, it’s all part of the experience. The beautiful thing about collecting tattoos is having artwork on your own skin that you can admire everyday and carry with you.

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What kinds of reactions do your tattoos get? Luckily most of the reactions I receive are positive, whether from friends and family or strangers. However, there are occasions when people  make derogatory remarks or invade my personal space to try and touch my tattoos. In the end though they’re on my body, so the only thing that truly matters is how they make me feel.

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Beautiful old photographs of Tattooed Ladies

Here at Things & Ink we are constantly being inspired by photographs of beautifully tattooed women throughout history. These women, who were perhaps some of the first to be heavily tattooed, have paved the way for all of us tattooed women…

‘Nora Hildebrandt—Tattooed Woman’ by Charles Eisenmann, Ronald G. Becker Collection of Charles Eisenmann Photographs, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries.

‘Unidentified Tattooed Woman’ by Charles Eisenmann, Ronald G. Becker Collection of Charles Eisenmann Photographs, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries.

Unidentified Tattooed Woman’ by Charles Eisenmann via Syracuse Special Collections Research Library.

‘Unidentified Tattooed Woman’ by Charles Eisenmann, Ronald G. Becker Collection of Charles Eisenmann Photographs, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries.