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Siberia. Later, a tribe of Britons would be nicknamed “Picti” by the Romans, which means “painted people.” Long before the invention of the tattoo machine (see box), tattoos were created using all kinds of sharp implements— needles, picks, chisels, and even rakes. In Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand, tattoos have been made with sharpened bamboo for thousands of years, and bamboo tattooing remains popular there. Some indigenous groups create tattoos by means of a needle and thread; the thread is coated with soot and then pulled through the skin, leaving the pigment behind. The tattoo machine was invented in 1891 by Samuel O’Reilly. O’Reilly was inspired by an invention of Thomas Edison called the Electric Pen. Edison’s pen used a motor to drive a needle, but for the purpose of copying documents more quickly, not for inscribing words and images onto human skin. O’Reilly reformulated Edison’s basic idea, making it workable for tattoos. Although the tattoo machine has been improved over time—most notably by the inventor and tattoo artist Percy Waters in the 1920s—the basic concept of mechanized tattooing remains the same today as it was in the late 19th century.

Teen Guides to Health & Wellness: Tattoos, Piercings, and Body Modifications

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