Tattoo Machines and the Pioneering Women who got Inked

Tattoo Machines and the Pioneering Women who got Inked

Whether you're struggling to summon up the courage to get your first tattoo or you're already inked and are used to comments or criticism from people that know no better, spare a thought for those pioneering ladies of yore the heavily tattooed women of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

Risking ridicule and being cast out from a prim society, many of these women chose to brave the tattoo machine as a way of earning a living in the circus or in a travelling side show.

Whilst some women stated, as we would today, that they were tattooed for their own pleasure, some, in order to titillate their audiences, claimed they had been held captive and forcibly tattooed. One such performer was La Belle Irene, who made her stage debut in London in 1890, and said that she had been tattooed as protection against the savages of Texas'! Whether Irene felt such a step was really necessary whilst visiting the Lone Star State is something we'll probably never know. Her tale may well have been inspired by one of history's most famous tattooed women Nora Hildebrant who claimed that Chief Sitting Bull himself had captured her and her tattoo artist father Martin, and forced Papa to ink his daughter to the tune of 365 tattoos.

Many women of this period became tattooed as a result of a father and daughter relationship or a husband and wife one. The notorious Betty Broadbent was a 14 year old nanny in Atlantic City who spent her spare time hanging around the boardwalk when she met Jack Redcloud, an artist, and was rapidly transformed into the proud owner of 350 tattoos. She spent the next 40 years traveling the world, became an artist in her own right and ended up being honoured as the first inductee into the Tattoo Hall of Fame.

And to close these tales of truly inspiring women who were most certainly not afraid to stand out in a crowd, at a time when they were supposed to be dainty and demure, comes a tale of starcrossed lovers, tattoosand facial hair. The aptly named Jean Furella was a genuine bearded lady (many were fakes) who fell madly in love with a John Carson, who in turned loved her back but couldn't bring himself to kiss her for 15 years due to her unfeminine appearance.

Now, not many people would accuse John of being shallow Jean's thick, luxurious beard was indeed a hindrance to true romance...until the intervention of a mutual friend, a sword swallower named Alec Linton (who wouldn't love to have a sword-swallowing friend?!), who suggested that Jean shave her beard but in order to keep working, replace her crowd-pleasing hairiness with tattoos.

She took Alec's advice, lost the beard, her and John promptly sealed their love with a kiss and became man and facially hair-free, yet heavily inked, wife.

Maybe these stories have inspired you to get a tattoo or to invest in a new tattoo machine, if so, the web is a goldmine of information, designs and new equipment, so get Googling as you never know what fascinating facts and tempting new studio supplies you might find!

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