ChuckJ

I always loved this piece by Jeff Gogue.

I always loved this piece by Jeff Gogue.

I always loved this piece by Jeff Gogue.

I always loved this piece by Jeff Gogue.

I always loved this piece by Jeff Gogue.

I always loved this piece by Jeff Gogue.

I would actually consider a venture for something like this, especially for some of my pieces - but I'm pretty sure that neither of my girls would be themselves interested in "hanging flesh" up in their homes. I, on the other hand, wouldn't mind that aspect of it at all . . .

I'd like my skin to be used to bind a photo album for my family. That'd be cool. Especially if I get more Lovecraft-inspired tattoos.

@daveborjes,
I can totally appreciate that question! I have a sleeve, and a second one half finished. I also have tattoos on my leg that I let an apprentice do along with 4 tattoos I did I my thigh my self when I was an apprentice. As for the association NAPSA, it is a prerequisite to have tattoos. We are all tattooed and we are doing our best as tattoo artists and tattoo enthusiasts to stay true to the industry. If you check out the site savemyink.com you will see that our artist profiles all need to be verified before we even let them go up. We check for scratchers, art thieves, and apprentices before we will allow anything to show up on our site. Also we have over 80,000 images of tattoos on our site and they are all of quality. Along with all of this, all of our images and artist profiles have links that goes back to the original artists social media/website etc. so they are getting the proper credit they deserve. We also have built in personalized watermarks that can be applied to photos in the artist section so people can't easily steal your work. All of this is in the community section of the website.
I think by what I have written above you can agree that we put a lot of thought into this subject and since we are all tattooers and enthusiasts we are doing our best to make a site that is a true tattoo industry site that can help protect the trade while still supporting it.
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@pidjones, To each his own! haha Have you seen the finished product? The beauty of it is we spent the last two years developing a process where it is the real thing but it comes out looking like a piece of art. Not much different from art on canvas! We are here to preserve the art and that was the main cause. Of course we didn't want it looking like a hunk of skin in formeldahide. The end product has no morbidity to it at all.
Cheers!
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Thank you for the welcome @Graeme!
I assure you that every one of them is 100% real with no printing or recoloring. We spent 2 long years developing a process specifically designed to preserve tattoos while taking in mind to preserve the art and have it look the least morbid as possible. I believe we accomplished that by your skepticism in it. Tattooing truly is an art form and we want people to recognize and save it as art. We truly believe people can have their stories and legacies passed on for generations to come while also allowing their tattooists art to live on. If you have any further questions please feel free to ask. Cheers!

@bongsau,
we are backed by an insurance company but I prefer the term "tattoo art preservation". haha Cheers!
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@bongsau,
thanks for sharing that! I like to hear all these stories about what people think! I agree totally with the living end of the tattoos. The reason I'm involved with this company is because I hate to see them go. I think your ideas with the stencils, photos, and stories etc. is great. I'm planning something similar but it will include my actual tattoo.
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@pidjones
Of course the popularity isn't completely a bad thing because it keeps food on all of us tattoo artists plates. I can't argue with you over what you're saying because I'm part of the industry. I hate commercial ventures coming in and making money off us when we sat here drawing for hours and apprenticing. I know you are focused on the preservation. You wouldn't take a picture of the Mona Lisa and say it's preserved. You have the real thing.
On the other hand, we are much more than just a tattoo preservation company. We are a non profit organization that wants to provide our members benefits including lobbying for tattoo artists rights. We had just launched so we need the membership power to be able to do that. Also, like I've said on here before. The community section of the site (savemyink.com) is full of useful tools for tattoo artists to utilize. Portfolios, profiles, pics, worldwide conventions, forums, and recent news. There currently isn't a site truer or better for the tattoo community in my opinion. I'll leave that up to you though. Thanks again for your thoughts!

Welcome and thank you @ChuckJ , interesting.
Yknow I've thought about preserving my skin in the future, but didn't know there were new ventures that actually did this.
I'm not sure how I feel though about having my tattoos on a wall and framed. Tattoos cease to become 3D living art when you take them off the body in my opinion. And I guess that's what I like about tattoos, they move, they are alive, they are part of you. "Lived In" art.
Maybe one day I'll be able to compile all the stencils, photos, stories and anecdotes about my tattoos in a book for the purpose of passing on to my future generations. I'm still planning on living to 101 years old, so I have lots of time to figure it out.

Seems a little creepy to me. I think I'd rather have an artist's rendition of the tattoos as opposed to the actual skin.

I'm taking mine with me :D

interesting, but bizarre discussion.
sounds a bit like signing up for life insurance...

@daveborjes,
I can totally appreciate that question! I have a sleeve, and a second one half finished. I also have tattoos on my leg that I let an apprentice do along with 4 tattoos I did I my thigh my self when I was an apprentice. As for the association NAPSA, it is a prerequisite to have tattoos. We are all tattooed and we are doing our best as tattoo artists and tattoo enthusiasts to stay true to the industry. If you check out the site savemyink.com you will see that our artist profiles all need to be verified before we even let them go up. We check for scratchers, art thieves, and apprentices before we will allow anything to show up on our site. Also we have over 80,000 images of tattoos on our site and they are all of quality. Along with all of this, all of our images and artist profiles have links that goes back to the original artists social media/website etc. so they are getting the proper credit they deserve. We also have built in personalized watermarks that can be applied to photos in the artist section so people can't easily steal your work. All of this is in the community section of the website.
I think by what I have written above you can agree that we put a lot of thought into this subject and since we are all tattooers and enthusiasts we are doing our best to make a site that is a true tattoo industry site that can help protect the trade while still supporting it.
- - - Updated - - -
@pidjones, To each his own! haha Have you seen the finished product? The beauty of it is we spent the last two years developing a process where it is the real thing but it comes out looking like a piece of art. Not much different from art on canvas! We are here to preserve the art and that was the main cause. Of course we didn't want it looking like a hunk of skin in formeldahide. The end product has no morbidity to it at all.
Cheers!
- - - Updated - - -
Thank you for the welcome @Graeme!
I assure you that every one of them is 100% real with no printing or recoloring. We spent 2 long years developing a process specifically designed to preserve tattoos while taking in mind to preserve the art and have it look the least morbid as possible. I believe we accomplished that by your skepticism in it. Tattooing truly is an art form and we want people to recognize and save it as art. We truly believe people can have their stories and legacies passed on for generations to come while also allowing their tattooists art to live on. If you have any further questions please feel free to ask. Cheers!

@Graeme,
I can certainly understand your opinion. This is definitely a controversial subject. I agree with a lot of what you said. To clarify further on "the least morbid approach" I am focusing on tattooing as more of an art form than ever. I believe its changing so drastically and people are doing such amazing things with it. Things that we thought were impossible in the 90's even. Therefore when I say least morbid I want people to focus on their tattoos as art and I believe if we just had that piece of "wet skin look" people would tend to forget about the art and focus on the skin. When they are on you while living people look at the art not the skin. I want to keep it the same way. People focusing on the art and the meaning etc. Cheers and thanks for the great conversation!

Very interesting concept. Part of me loves the idea, while the other part of me rejects the notion based on the fact that tattoos are the only possession that you can litterally take with you to the grave. Silly thought perhaps.
Still, an amazing concept as I could see an entire museum filled with tattoos from deceased collectors. Morbid, I guess, but still pretty cool concept. Nice work!