Western traditional
Carrying on with styles, Western traditional, Western traditional is probably what we would call the European experience in tattooing. Or American and European experience and tattooing. A lot of people believe that America is like the home of that, it's not really true. Most early studios started in Europe and the Scandinavian countries, mainly in the U.K. The first exposition of tattooed people was done in the U.K. with bringing the Maori back. Obviously, when we go into ancient styles, tattooing is prevalent throughout the globe with a with ancient peoples Synthian mummies have been found that are two thousand four hundred years old, B.C. before Christ with tattoos, pictorial tattoos. When we talk about Western traditional, Western traditional really pertains to that Caucasian style of tattooing that is prevalent, across Europe and America, these are often based around the military or the merchant marines and stuff like that. You will see a lot of quite simplified dragons, which, obviously, from the merchant marines travelling around the oceans, going to the Far East. And then you see a lot of military style tattoos. The most famous is probably Sailor Jerry Collins, who worked in Hawaii, which was a staging point to the Pacific sector in the war. So lots and lots of servicemen were going through Hawaii and were getting tattooed. So you see a lot of military insignia, eagles, flags, and also a lot of pieces in dedication to family, like the roses with loved ones names and stuff like that. This is how it's put together often people look at Western traditional and they go all out piecemeal, little bit here, a little bit there. And yes, obviously, especially when you think of a merchant marine moving around. They weren't in port long enough to get like a really large tattoo. So what would they do? They'd get something small and then they'd go off to the next port and probably get something a memento from there. And it would be another small piece because they weren't there long enough to get a bigger piece and so on and so forth. Today, when we look at Western traditional, its placement is very important. Once again, it's like tribal. One piece's relation to another is very important. And how it is read together is also important. So think about that when you're getting Western traditional piece. How do the pieces sit against each other? How much space is there between each piece? What does that relationship look like from a distance? So these things, I believe, are very important also when it comes to Western traditional work.