Booby's Ink: Kogi's Traditional Borneo Tattoo

Kogi had been wanting to get a tattoo for ages but the thought of the pain terrified her so much that she kept putting it off.

When we took her to Ernesto's shop, she initially wanted to get a rose tattoo but could not find a design she liked.

She basically wanted something as simple as possible so that it would be over quickly :p

However after Ernesto told her that getting a tattoo done traditionally is a lot less painful compared with the machine, she immediately elected to do that.

And since Ernesto is quite particular that if you get a tattoo done traditionally it must be a Borneo design, she let him design one for her

Applying the stencil

Below are the instruments used in traditional tattoos. There are two sticks - one which 'holds' the needle and the other which acts as a hammer

The tools

Stick with the needle. Just like the machine, it is frequently dipped into the ink

One stick is held onto the skin with the needle or sharp stick going into the skin and the other is used as a type of hammer, tapping ink into the skin. The thickness, durability and type of stick are varied to which the tattooist prefers.*

Ernesto (artist) on the right and The Nurse on the left

A traditional tattoo typically involves 2 people : the tattoo artist and the person who stretches the skin, nicknamed "The Nurse" :p

Stretching of the skin is very important to the process. Like with the sticks each artist has their own preferred way of having the skin stretched.

Stretching is different on each part of the body and the correct stretching reduces the time taken to do that tattoo, considerably.*

The Nurse also continuously applies some sort of salve (as seen in pix above on his left hand) onto the area to be tattooed..i think to keep it moist so that the ink will be absorbed better.