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Mar 15, 2023

The evolution of tattoos, from traditional tatau to rotary machines, at the 2014 Portland Tattoo Expo

Like a hive of buzzing bees, tattoo guns hummed a uniform chorus that filled a

Like a hive of buzzing bees, tattoo guns hummed a uniform chorus that filled a hall of the Portland Expo Center on Friday. People everywhere reclined on their backs, sat upright against walls, lay flat on their stomachs and even stood up, keeping as still as possible as skilled artists injected ink into the layers of their skin.

Not a single tear was shed. There was hardly a wince to be seen.

That was the scene on the opening day of the sixth Portland Tattoo Expo, the city's premier event for tattoo artists from across the country, there to ink excited customers using everything from ancient Polynesian practices to the latest in tattoo machines.

Teresita Ingram, an organizer of the expo, said the event has grown leaps and bounds since its original inception in 2009 – started just after state legislators allowed out-of-state artists to tattoo in Oregon.

"We've kind of grown this to be a great show for out-of-state artists," Ingram said. "But the local ones come as well."

Tattoo machines hummed throughout the hall, but artists with A-Town Tattoo, from Garden Grove, Calif., stood out starkly with their silence.

Their method of tattooing is called tatau, an ancient Polynesian practice that taps designs into the skin using needles attached to a one-time-use wooden dowel – a modernized take on the ancient tradition that gave us the English word, "tattoo."

Seymour Kaniho, a Hawaiian-born artist with A-Town, said the process can be much more personal and raw without machines. His designs are typically free-hand, customized each time after an interview with the customer about who they are and what they want to express.

"The designs themselves have meaning, everything I do has meaning," Kaniho said. "This is where tattoos came from. I just like upholding the tradition."

The difference between tattooing with machines and doing it by tapping can vary greatly, he said. On one hand, it's simply a personal preference. He likes tatau because of how it feels – it's the kind of sentiment you might hear from a musician who plays an acoustic instrument over an electric one. Furthermore, traditional tattoos are sometimes faster and, in his opinion, less painful than ones done with machines.

If Kaniho and his tapping are on one end of tattoo evolution, the artists from Bend's own Upright Tattoo Supply are on the other.

Chris Callister casually tattooed his friend and business partner Derek Youngberg at the expo Friday as they chatted with customers about the latest in tattoo innovation. There were displays of beautifully crafted machines at their booth, alongside a rainbow of bottled ink.

"Advancements are happening more and more right now than ever before," Callister said. But unlike, say, the world of computer technology, where devices are constantly tweaked to allow greater use, advancements in tattoo technology move a bit slower, with sudden leaps into the future.

One of Upright's own inventions is the tattoo work tray, a stainless steel tray that clamps to a nearby desk and swivels around to the work area. It's not unlike what you might find at a doctor's office or the dentist, but it's actually pretty novel in the world of tattooing, Callister said.

"People are trying to form-fit their work place," he said with a grin. "It's called ergonomics."

Also on display at the Upright booth was a rotary tattooing machine, one of the more popular advancements in the industry. Unlike a traditional coil machine, the rotary uses a single electric motor to drive the needle.

Rotaries are gaining popularity among artists, and proponents boast that they're lighter than coil machines and press needles more smoothly into the skin. Most artists still use coil, but as top tattooists begin to make the switch, and suppliers like Upright offer both, there could soon be a sea change in the tattoo industry.

It's clear that the world of tattooing is ever evolving, but what matters most to the tattooers and the tattooed isn't necessarily the future or the past, it's the present.

Tattoos are all about living in the moment, feeling the needles press into your skin, gaining a personal piece of art on your body and making a one-of-a-kind connection with the artist beside you.

That's a sentiment that both A-Town and Upright – and probably tattoo artists across the Portland Expo Center hall – can agree on.

"Everything is done with good energy because we believe that we transfer our energy into our clients," Kaniho said, and at the end of the day that energy is preserved in the skin art, permanently etched into its living canvasses. The artists are only one part of the process, he explained: "The tattoo itself tells a story about you."

* * * PORTLAND TATTOO EXPO 2014

When: Oct. 10 to 12 Where: Portland Expo Center (map it) Admission: $20 single day pass, $40 for all three days

--Jamie Hale | [email protected] | @HaleJamesB

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