Tattoo Tribe Tattoo Tribe Newsletter
Editor's note

version 1.3

Greetings Tribe Members,

Welcome to the third edition of the Tattoo Tribe Newsletter! This issue is dedicated to the amazing discovery of an early Haida "Tattooing Kit" at Smithsonian Institution and to Haida tattooing practices from the late 1800's.  We have a guest contributor and discoverer of the kit this issue... Vanishing Tattoo's Technical Advisor from the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution -- Lars Krutak

The Vanishing Tattoo series is moving ahead nicely and we hope to begin filming next month. Look for contests, tattoo trivia, polls, reader feedback and contributions plus lots more in the coming issues.

We've had a great response to the World of Tattoo CD contest so far. The first winners will be getting their prizes shortly (They were mailed out yesterday). The second set of winners will be getting notified in the next day or two, so watch that inbox! The contest will be running for while so if you haven't entered yet you still have a chance to win. If you entered already and did not win, you are already entered for this months draw and need not enter again. Good Luck!

Your editor,
Doug Cook


Thomas Lockhart
Thomas LockhartHaida Tattooing Instruments

When first seeing photos of the Haida tattooing instruments, (collected by ethnologist James G. Swan in 1883) I was struck by the similarity to Japanese tattooing tools, in particular, the paint brushes. The Japanese used a stick at least a foot long with needles poking straight out, firmly attached to the end with thread. The stick would be grasped at the other end with the right hand, laid across the web of the thumb, and then using this as a fulcrum, jabbed into the skin. The paint brush would be held under the middle joint of the left hand, bristles hovering over the tattoo and offering a fresh supply of pigment for the tattooist to work from.

The sticks the North Coast Indians used appear much shorter though, perhaps half the length and the needles were in a looser grouping, not flattened out. I surmise the Haida would have held them in their right hand, much as we would hold a spoon, and simply pricked the skin repeatedly using wrist action. I have seen this method used in markets in the South Seas and Asia. The loose grouping of the needles would explain the extremely thick lines evident in the Swan photographs from the 1870’s.

I had assumed at first glance they would have used the paint brushes in the same manner as the Japanese but I remember reading passages in Swan’s writings where the pigment would be drawn on the skin and pricked in after, followed by more pigment rubbed in. This is where the brushes would most likely have been used. Now at first this may not sound feasible, but it certainly would work. If, for instance I tattooed a small yellow sun on the skin and then tried to tattoo in some blue background between the rays, simply smearing that blue as I wiped the tattoo would force enough pigment into the fresh wound to give the yellow a greenish hue. The particle size of black tends to be relatively smaller, particularly if it is carbon based, (contemporary blacks are in the one to three micron range), and would be even easier to force under the epidermis.

Thomas Lockhart
Vancouver, February 2002

 
Lars Krutak of the National Museum of the American Indian
Lars Krutak Seems to represent last authentic Haida tattoo kit remaining...

Haida tattooing seemed to be quite rare by 1885. Traditionally, it was performed in conjunction with the potlatch commemorating the completion of a cedar-plank dwelling and its frontal pole. Potlatches entailed the distribution of personal property by the host (house chief) to those who had performed important functions in the actual construction of the house. Each gift elevated the status of the house chief and his family and especially benefited the house owner’s children. After the lengthy exchange of goods, each child of the house chief received a new potlatch name and costly tattoo that accorded them high-ranking status. Tattoos depicted the crests of the family and included, for example: land animals (Bear, Wolf, Beaver), sea animals (Killer Whale, Halibut, Shark), birds (Eagle, Hawk, Thunderbird, Owl) as well as geographical features (Mountain, Iceberg), celestial bodies (Sun, Stars, Moon) and natural materials (Copper, Clay, Yellow Cedar).

The possession of crests by a family, clan, or house derived from events that the Haida recount in their oral traditions, events that account for their unique identity as a group. Crests explain Haida existence in this world: linking them to creatures or objects in the natural environment and to other clans. Crests also chronicle the origin of supernatural and significant events in the history of the clan. They serve as title to the object on which they are placed and to the site and geographical region where these events occurred. Crests symbolize these special relationships and embody the spirit and being of and in themselves. Thus, the crest, and the right to use it in stories or in tattoo ritual, set the particular group and/or individual apart from other Haida groups while defining their position with respect to each. Therefore, the right to a crest, the right to use the emblem, was more valuable than any object, or human body, that represented it.

Traditional Haida tattoos covered the arms, chests, thighs, upper arms, feet, and sometimes an individual’s back. A typical kit consisted of a stone dish to mix magnetite (black) and hematite (red) pigments, cedar brushes with crests carved into each handle, and 4 or 5 cedar batons with various configurations of needles depending on the desired effect: shading, outlining, fill, etc. Thomas Lockhart of The Vanishing Tattoo and West Coast Tattoo in Vancouver recently demonstrated that the Haida kit closely resembles that of the Japanese hand-poker.

Our knowledge of Haida tattooing kits has been extremely limited until recently. As part of my many conversations with Vince Hemingson of The Vanishing Tattoo, I decided to investigate the possibility that a tattoo kit existed in a museum collection somewhere: dusty, unused, and lost to time. Luckily, with some persistence and investigative research, I uncovered at the Smithsonian what truly seems to represent the last authentic Haida tattoo kit remaining in the world. It was collected by ethnologist James G. Swan at Masset, Queen Charlotte Islands, July 1883. Swan authored several Haida tattoo articles for the U.S. National Museum in the late 19th century, including the illustrated “Tattoo Marks of the Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C., and the Prince of Wales Archipelago, Alaska,” among others.

Although Haida tattooing practices are all but dead, the recent resurgence in traditional Haida arts may well foster and provide new life for the ancient custom. With the assistance of renowned Haida carver Robert Davidson and Vince Hemingson of The Vanishing Tattoo, it is our hope to complete the formal arrangements for a temporary loan of the kit from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to the Haida people themselves. Duplicates could be made and later utilized by interested artists. This effort would offer a permanent and lasting solution to the common legacy and historical roots of Haida communities separated by decades of artificial isolation from their indelible past. 

Lars Krutak
The Vanishing Tattoo
February, 2002


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Win The World of Tattoo CD!
We have 10 copies of The World of Tattoo to be won this month. This CD-Rom features the work of such tattoo greats as Hanky Panky, Horiyoshi III, Kazuo Oguri, Pat Fish, Patricia Steur,  Tattoo Peter, Mitsuaki Owada, and many more!

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Tribal Trivia

The Meaning of Ta Moko
Maori Tattooing

Ta Moko was like a history of a person’s achievements and represented their status in their tribe. It was like a resume. It also served as a reminder to people about their responsibility in life. It was a huge honour for people to have Ta Moko.

Ta Moko was worn by both men and women. It was applied to the face and buttocks of men, and to the chin, lips and shoulders of women. Depending on their ranking, they may also have Ta Moko on their face. Occasionally women would put small markings over their faces or shoulders as a sign that someone close to them had died.

There were no set patterns to the Ta Moko and the meaning of the Ta Moko was dependent on its placement on the face. The left side of the face related to the father’s history and the right side to the mother’s history.

Originally, Ta Moko was chiselled into the skin using an albatross bone. The pigmentations used were Carui gum and dye from other vegetation that was rendered to a soot and then mixed with oil. Each tribal area used different pigments.

Huhana Rare 

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© 2002 Vanishing Tattoo Inc.