INKEDblog takes you beneath the skin of today's tattoo culture. Our mission is to celebrate tattooing as a modern art form which incorporates art, fashion, style, and pop culture. While paying homage and respect to the past, we look to present a contemporary take on the present and future of skin art. getinked@inkedblog.com

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Monday  Feb 27, 2006

Thai Temple Tattoos: Sak Yant

Thai Temple tattoos are an ancient tradition in Thai Buddhism. These beautiful tattoos are geometrical designs that are deemed to possess magic powers of protection. Given by Thai monks, the prayers inside the designs are written in Pali Sanskrit.

Though the main component is Indian or Rotring ink, the magic temple ink is said to contain an enormous array of other eclectic materials including battery acid, lizard skin, plant extracts, snake oil, corpse chin oil. This concoction appears to kill bacteria!

Monks use different tools to make the tattoos. Some of the monks use sharpened sticks of bamboo, others use thin weighted metal rods. Apparently, they used to use parts from a western umbrella, cut and modified though this is rarely seen now.

A note of caution: this tattooing process does not use the same methods of sterilization towards which most Western tattoo artists strive. Because of this, there is a greater risk involved with this type of tattooing than there would generally be in the States.

If you happen to be in Thailand and decide to get a Temple tattoo, go in the morning when the tools have been newly sterilized, they are not always sterilized between uses during the day.

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