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Tom Powers
Footprint Paper
ENVL 4300

Tattoo Ink

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Table of Contents

- Abstract: Page 3
- Brief history and uses for tattoos: Page 3
- Overview of tattoo pigments: Page 4
- Brief description of Moms ink: Page 5
- How tattoos work: Page 5-6
- Description of a carrier and possible health risks: Page 6
- Description of the pigments I chose: Page 7-8
- Disposal method: Page 8-9
- Work Cited: Page 10

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In this paper I discussed tattoo ink and pigments. I also went over the history of
tattooing, he different reasoning for them and how they were used and applied, safety
hazards of some pigments and proper dispel methods, and finally even the oldest
tattoos known to us. The company I chose to work on was Millennium Colors Inc and
there brand of Moms ink. I included common materials used in the process of creating
the different pigment colors and where you can find them and how some of them are
made.
Since ancient times people of many different cultures have been using tattoos for
a variety of reasons and been applying them in a variety of ways. Whether it be on a
person or and item for art, in the past and even in present day, tattoos to name a few
have been used for medicinal purpose, cosmetics, religion, and defining social class,
signs of love, and forms of punishment. Tattoos were even used by tribe warriors who
would carve their tattoos into items such as a war club to leave by the bodies of their
fallen foes as a way to taunt their enemies. It was believed that the first known tattoos
on a body were from Egyptian mummies that dated back to around 2000 B.C. It wasn't
until 1991 when the mummy found by the Italian and Austrian boarder was discovered.
This mummy was said to be about 5,200 years old and the tattoos dated back to around
4000 B.C. The mummy was named Oetzi and in total has 61 skin markings. It is
believed that Oetzi had terrible arthritis and these tattoos were used as markings for
acupuncture since they were lined up with acupuncture points.
In present modern day society tattoos have strayed away from the more
traditional and ceremonial reasons and more for enjoyment and a way of life. Tattoos
have become a large industry in our world today. Many conventions are held for artists

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and fans to show off the work they have done or the work done to them. To many
people, tattoos are so much more then just same fancy design or a picture that you may
regret one day. Its a way to express yourself. If well thought out they represent who you
are and are a unique piece of art thats is yours and yours alone. Each is unique. It is
truly an amazing and expressive art form.
Now what is the most important part of a tattoo? Of course an artist that knows
what they are doing but before that you need one item. The ink. Tattoo ink like other inks
come in many colors and each color having a different way of being made. The main
tattoo colors include black, brown, red, orange, various skin tones, yellow, green, blue,
violet, and white. Most of these colors also have different shades to go along with them.
There are even inks that glow in the dark or light up under backlights. Again each of
these colors have different ways of being prepared. Most tattoo inks technically aren't
inks. They are composed of pigments that are suspended in a carrier solution. Contrary
to popular belief, pigments usually are not vegetable dyes. Today's pigments primarily
are metal salts. (Helmenstine) Professional inks also are normally made up of iron
oxides which is rust and plastics. Homemade or traditional tattoo inks may be made
from pen ink, soot, dirt, blood, or other ingredients (Wikipedia) The methods used to
craft tattoo pigments were once primitive. People crushed flowers, muddled dirt and
water, and compounded a variety of other natural substances that were then injected
into their bodies with no regard to things like cleanliness and health risks.
As the art form of tattooing has become progressively more mainstream in the
past three decades, the tattoo ink creation process has been fine-tuned. Modern tattoo
ink designers are concerned with making products that are socially acceptable inks that

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are organic, vegan friendly, and non-toxic and that minimize health risks by being
sterilized and tested for a broad spectrum of bacteria before being released. (Laura)
Trying to figure out what components are used in the making of these dyes can
be difficult being that ink and pigment manufacturers are not required to show the
ingredients used. When narrowing down what brand to use I came across Moms Ink
which is created by Millennium Colors Inc. The line of Moms ink started back in the
early 90s with only a handful of colors. Todays it has over 60 shades including the
safest blacklight ink available. Moms has become one of the leading ink brands on the
market today. Part of the reason could be that this brand uses only the finest materials
available when creating their inks. These inks are pre-dispersed tattoo ink made from
pure, uncut, homogenized pigments. (Laura) Moms ink is also manufactured in the
U.S.A. With it being produced here it cuts the cost of travel and shipping expenses. Int
urn that cuts down on the pollution from trucks, planes, and boats that would be needed
to move the product.
So how does tattooing work exactly? Its much more then just grabbing a tattoo
gun or a needle. Artists create tattoos by injecting ink into a person's skin. To do this,
they use an electrically powered tattoo machine that resembles (and sounds like) a
dental drill. The machine moves a solid needle up and down to puncture the skin
between 50 and 3,000 times per minute. The needle penetrates the skin by about a
millimeter and deposits a drop of insoluble ink into the skin with each puncture. When
you look at a person's tattoo, you're seeing the ink through the epidermis, or the outer
layer of skin. The ink is actually in the dermis, which is the second layer of the skin. The
cells of the dermis are far more stable than the cells of the epidermis, so the tattoo's ink

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will stay in place, with minor fading and dispersion, for a person's entire life. (Wilson)
You cant just mix together all the materials and start. There has to be what members of
the tattoo industry call a carrier. Tattoo ink consists of pigment and a carrier. The carrier
may be a single substance or a mixture. The purpose of the carrier is to keep the
pigment evenly distributed in a fluid matrix, to inhibit the growth of pathogens, to prevent
clumping of pigment, and to aid in application to the skin. Among the safest and most
common ingredients used to make the liquid are ethyl alcohol (ethanol), purified water,
witch hazel, listerine, propylene glycol, and glycerine (glycerol) (Helmenstine) This is
mainly for the tattoo artists that mix and create their own inks. It is always safer to buy
the pre mixed inks but as I mentioned above the companies are not required to label
what was used in the making of the ink. The person who is mixing everything must
understand the right sterilization methods so the inks are safe to use. If something is
done wrong it could change the make up of the material possibly turning it into
something toxic.
While searching the components of Moms ink like most of the others inks on the
market you cant find what goes into the making of it. On there bottles they include the
carriers used. Which are alcohol, glycerine, and distilled water. There are at least fifty
different kinds of pigments used in tattoos. Many pigments contain a great deal of
copper, lead and lithium, all of which is toxic in high dosages. (Asaff) When getting a
tattoo it is wise to figure out what type of materials certain inks contain. If you are
allergic to the materials one color may have it would be advised you stay away from
getting that color. I recently started doing small tattoos on myself and being that there
are many different types of pigments and inks to discuss I will focus on certain ones

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since I happen to have a few bottles varying in color. The colors that I have are a shade
of blue and black.
First lets start with shades of blue. Blue pigments from minerals include copper
(II) carbonate (azurite), sodium aluminum silicate (lapis lazuli), calcium copper silicate
(Egyptian Blue), other cobalt aluminum oxides and chromium oxides. The safest blues
and greens are copper salts, such as copper pthalocyanine. Copper pthalocyanine
pigments have FDA approval for use in infant furniture and toys and contact lenses. The
copper-based pigments are considerably safer or more stable than cobalt or ultramarine
pigments. (Helmenstine) Blue pigments that are considered to be nontoxic include
sodium, aluminum, and copper. Copper (II) carbonate (Azurite) is a secondary of
copper. When copper oxidizes, it forms the carbonate mineral azurite. It is formed
because the area is affected by either wind, water, pressure, and or air. These cause a
chemical effect in the minerals and can alter their makeup to secondary minerals.
Sodium aluminum silicate (Lapis Lazuli) is a material that is obtained by mining. Today
mines in northeast Afghanistan and Pakistan are still the major source of lapis lazuli.
Important amounts are also produced from mines west of Lake Baikal in Russia, and in
the Andes mountains in Chile. Smaller quantities are mined in Italy, Mongolia, the
United States and Canada. (Wikipedia) Calcium copper silicate (Egyptian Blue) is one
of the first artificial pigments known to have been used by man. Its characteristic blue
colour, resulting from one of its main components copper ranges from a light to a
dark hue, depending on differential processing and composition. If the pigment is
ground coarsely, it produces a rich, dark blue, while very finely-ground pigment
produces a pale, ethereal blue. It is made by heating a mixture of a calcium compound

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(typically calcium carbonate), a copper-containing compound (metal filings or
malachite), silica sand and soda or potash as a flux, to around 850-950 C. (Ancient
Origins)
Black pigment consists of Iron Oxide, Carbon, and Logwood (which is an exact
from heartwood which can be found around Central America and the West Indies.)
Natural black pigment is made from magnetite crystals, powdered jet, wustite, bone
black, and amorphous carbon from combustion (soot). (Helmenstine) Blacks also also
tend to commonly be turned into India ink which is normally used for writing, typing, or
drawing. The two most popular tattoo inks, white and black pigments, can be used on
their own, especially in tribal tattoos and for shading of colored tattoos. They have long
been some of the most toxic ink colors. Black ink has traditionally been made of iron.
Nontoxic versions include carbon and logwood. (Churchwell) Iron is an element that is
mined. The Earths crust make up about 5 percent of iron and can be found in most
parts of the world. China having one of the largest operations. When mined it is in an
ore form and must be smelted down to create iron. Carbon can take varying forms from
graphite to diamonds. There are around 10 million carbon compounds known. Carbon is
a naturally occurring element and is the is considered the one of the most abundant
elements in the universe. Carbon forms in stars when they explode and are exposed to
a a very high amount of heat. Lastly, logwood is a species of tree that is native to the
southern parts of Mexico and northern Central America
When everything is said and done, the costumer is has left with their new tattoo,
it is time to dispose of the materials used. Tattoo supplies are in the same category as
medical supplies. Between the needles for the tattoo guns, cotton swabs, gloves, and

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the left over ink. Anything that comes in contact with the bodily fluids (in this case blood)
that cant be sterilized must be disposed of through certain procedures. Of the ink used
you must dispose of the left over into a medical waste bin. This is done because then it
could harm someone it comes in contact with at the waste processing facility, or end up
in the water supply or on a beach somewhere. Medical waste must be discarded in a
separate bag or canister marked clearly as a bio-hazard. (Rentex)

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Work Cited
Asaff, B. (n.d.). Tattoo Dyes and Pigments. Retrieved March 10, 2016, from http://
tattoos.lovetoknow.com/Dyes_and_Pigments
Churchwell, M. (2014, January 22). Nontoxic Tattoo Ink Ingredients. Retrieved March
12, 2016, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/180816-non-toxic-tattoo-ink-ingredients/
Helmenstine, A. M. (2014, November 27). Tattoo Ink Carrier Chemistry. Retrieved March
12, 2016, from http://chemistry.about.com/od/medicalhealth/a/tattoocarrier.htm
Helmenstine, A. M. (2015, November 8). What Are the Ingredients in Tattoo Ink?
Retrieved March 9, 2016, from http://chemistry.about.com/od/colorchemistry/fl/TattooInk-Chemistry.htm
Libassi, M. (2013, April 29). The Origin of Ink: Tattoos Through Time. Retrieved March
10, 2016, from http://magazine.foxnews.com/style-beauty/origin-ink-tattoos-through-time
Lineberry, C. (2007, January 1). Tattoos: The Ancient and Mysterious History. Retrieved
March 10, 2016, from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/tattoos-144038580/?noist
Wlson, T. V. (2000). How Tattoos Work. Retrieved March 12, 2016, from http://
health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/beauty/skin-and-lifestyle/tattoo2.htm
L. (14, April 10). Help center. Retrieved March 9, 2016, from http://
info.painfulpleasures.com/help-center/tattoo-information/top-brands-golden-age-tattooinks#Mom's Millennium Tattoo Inks
Egyptian Blue The Oldest Known Artificial Pigment. (2014, June 12). Retrieved March
12, 2016, from http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-technology/egyptian-blue-oldestartificial-pigment-ever-produced-001745
Lapis lazuli. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Lapis_lazuli
Tattoo ink. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Tattoo_ink
Tattooist Waste Disposal Tattoo Artist Sharps Bin Services. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12,
2016, from http://www.rentexhygiene.co.uk/tattooist-waste-disposal-services/