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Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

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Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

#91

Post by aristus »

ChristianBundy wrote: post #47
aristus wrote: post #37

Long long ago I was a tattoo artist. With very careful needle adjustments, color choices, and a steady hand, this is already possible with conventional inks. Simple example: white ink is titanium oxide, basically sunscreen, and breaks down rapidly with exposure to UV. But you are still gonna have scarring and roughening. If you're gonna get ink, be prepared to have it for life. Also, testing on pigs? Like, live pigs?…

> Also, testing on pigs? Like, live pigs? I'd pay money to see that. :) Disgusting and shameful behavior, I can't believe that attitudes like this still exist.

I meant more in the sense of watching someone try to tattoo a 100kg hog, and how hard they'd get bit. But you are right, it's probably more like little adorable Wilbur pigs. :(

Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

#92

Post by bluerobotcat »

bluerobotcat wrote: post #38
aristus wrote: post #37

Long long ago I was a tattoo artist. With very careful needle adjustments, color choices, and a steady hand, this is already possible with conventional inks. Simple example: white ink is titanium oxide, basically sunscreen, and breaks down rapidly with exposure to UV. But you are still gonna have scarring and roughening. If you're gonna get ink, be prepared to have it for life. Also, testing on pigs? Like, live pigs?…

A Belgian artist did this too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUcX0owdIhY

I just realized the video doesn't say. The artist is Wim Delvoye (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Delvoye).

Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

#93

Post by fsociety »

solipsism wrote: post #25

Oh good, even more barbed wire biceps, carp sleeves, black fore-arm stars, "tribal" patterns on white dudes, spiderwebs, hummingbirds, infinity symbols, and other ways for people to show how eager they are to express their "individuality"! Edit: Down-vote me if I offend your tattooed rebellious self-image, it's fine, but there's a real point to be made. This technology will lead to a lot more tattoos, and a lot more…

It's funny. The last reason I received my tattoo was for any sense of individuality or to define my identity. People get tattoos for all sorts of reasons.

Sitting down with a good tattoo artist can mean many things. For some people it is getting a tattoo in the spur of the moment and making sure it is what they want. For others it is building a complex relationship and speaking your design through the artist. Other artists rather just do their own thing and have people lend their bodies. Cheap technology will never replace a good artist, and good artists won't be threatened by it.

I'd argue your salty response to tribal tattoos as proof that they are an effective form of art. Not exactly my taste, but still legitimate art. What else offends you?

Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

#94

Post by wpietri »

solipsism wrote: post #82
wpietri wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no tattoos, and doubt I will, so this isn't about my self image. I downvoted you for being a dick. And also for not really thinking this through. When a medium doesn't allow for iteration, people tend to a) make obvious choices, b) make conservative choices, and c) end up with regrets. As our ability to iterate in software has improved, we've ended up with more interesting work. My bet is that we will see more…

You didn't like my ideas. You downvoted because you disagreed. I don't play like that, but that's how it works around here, fine. But the fact that you feel welcome to call a stranger you've never met a dick, and then attempt to engage in civil discourse with him, says more about you than it does about me. Pick one or the other next time. When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names Most pe…

No, that's not calling you names. (That would be "You are a dick.") It's describing your behavior. "Being a dick" is a term of art.

For many years, Wikipedia had a useful page called "Don't be a dick":

https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Don%27t_be_a_je...

They've more recently renamed it "don't be a jerk", so if your delicate sensibilities can't handle my original comment, feel free to read it as "jerk".

In particular, you took something that a lot of people like and were shitty about it. You set yourself up as lord-high judge of them and their self expression. The people you were being condescending toward surely include people here.

Then, rather than just accepting the downvotes, you accused downvoters of working from offense to their "tattooed rebellious self-image", assuming bad faith and again acting superior.

I'm happy to call that being a dick.

As long as you're being a stickler for following the guidelines, perhaps read on down to "Please resist commenting about being downvoted. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."

Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

#95

Post by vacri »

pyre wrote: post #88
PeCaN wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect your parent's point was that saying putting tattoos on pigs is "disgusting and shameful" is a little odd, given that animals eat each other all the time (which is presumably not disgusting nor shameful).

The logic doesn't work because the two acts are not necessarily equal. Let's take another example: Would you equate the following items? - Torturing an animal to death for fun. - Killing an animal quickly and eating it. They both end up with the animal being dead. Does that mean that they are equal and that you can't find one "disgusting and shameful" but not the other?

I wouldn't equate those two, no. But it's also worth mentioning that it's common in the natural world for prey to spend hours dying (and more rarely, days or even weeks). The idea that a 'natural predator' death means a quick death is a myth. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.

Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

#96

Post by biot »

gjolund wrote: post #53
CitizenKane wrote: post #4

I'm torn. On one hand, this invention will keep a lot of people from making the very common mistake of getting ink they don't like and can't remove. On the other hand, a beautiful part of this art form is that it is basically permanent. To my mind, a tattoo loses a lot of its value of it's only temporary.

I agree, all of my tattoo's were carefully planned, expensive, and constant reminders of some very good memories. If it is temporary how is it any different than a hair cut?

A temporary tattoo is like dating somebody. A permanent tattoo is like marrying somebody. To me it's completely logical that you might want to try a tattoo on for a while and, if you like it enough, you can commit for life and make it permanent. Otherwise, if you jump straight into tattoo marriage and you don't like it, you're looking at a laser divorce.

Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

#97

Post by vacri »

niccaluim wrote: post #31
CitizenKane wrote: post #4

I'm torn. On one hand, this invention will keep a lot of people from making the very common mistake of getting ink they don't like and can't remove. On the other hand, a beautiful part of this art form is that it is basically permanent. To my mind, a tattoo loses a lot of its value of it's only temporary.

Yeah, I had the same reaction. I've got quite a bit of ink and the permanence is a huge part of what makes it meaningful to me. They aren't just pretty pictures; they tell a story.

It's just another option for people. I like permanent tattoos as well, and I love checking out a person's tattoo's (though I'm not fond of 'full sleeves' and similar, where it's hard to pick out the individual tatts).

The 'story' point reminded me of my response to people who say "Yeah, but what will your tatts look like when you're 80? They'll look terrible": "What, you mean at the end of my time, after I've enjoyed them all my life?"

Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

#98

Post by thaumasiotes »

Swizec wrote: post #43
mbrameld wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're confusing the way things are now with the way things must be, for some reason. Just because things are one way right now doesn't mean they won't be another way in the future. Especially if new technology comes along that disrupts the field.

This is true, I was responding to the parent post in particular. Right now , you can't be certain and that's part of the allure. Many (most?) people, for instance, get tattoos to commemorate important events or people. The entire point of a tattoo in those cases is that it's permanent.

The more fundamental point of a tattoo is that it's decorative. There is an entire genre of tattoo ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower-back_tattoo ) which is definitely not supposed to commemorate anything other than the sentiment "hey, look at me!"

Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

#99

Post by burfog »

danieltillett wrote: post #79
rfrey wrote: post #65

If this really works, getting a tattoo will be no more edgy than getting your hair dyed. Tattoos will rapidly fall out of fashion.

Tattoos will fall out of fashion no matter what happens.

They are gross. OTOH, I kind of like how they warn me about people who make rash decisions. I'd love to see a proper study of how well tattoos correlate with drug use, STDs, assault, debt, obesity, single parenting, failure to use a seatbelt, tooth decay, low-pay college degree choices, and other indicators of short-term thinking.

Re: Ephemeral is developing tattoo ink designed to disappear after a year

#100

Post by hoodoof »

aristus wrote: post #37

Long long ago I was a tattoo artist. With very careful needle adjustments, color choices, and a steady hand, this is already possible with conventional inks. Simple example: white ink is titanium oxide, basically sunscreen, and breaks down rapidly with exposure to UV. But you are still gonna have scarring and roughening. If you're gonna get ink, be prepared to have it for life. Also, testing on pigs? Like, live pigs?…

Do the pigs have beards and skinny jeans on?

Perhaps ear piercings with giant holes?

Hipster hogs.

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