Tattoos with drawings created by large blue-black ink dots, with some familiar tattoo themes and layouts such as eagles, dragons, tigers, girl’s faces, landscapes… these are the characteristics The symbol of hand tattoos was very popular in the dark world in Vietnam in the 90s. There are many interesting anecdotes told around this somewhat wild form of tattoo. Luckily, we had the opportunity to have a living witness, a tattoo artist who has gone through different stages of tattooing, and many other interesting things discovered unplanned during the meeting. Remove this…
Hi Mr Hoc, when did you start tattooing?
I started tattooing in 1995, after having the opportunity to come into contact with it before.
So it’s been nearly 30 years, a long gap between the two periods, I’ve heard many anecdotes, but as part of those anecdotes, I can describe in detail how people tattooed back then. Are not?
It is a form of finger tattooing, where tattooists will wrap many loops of thread around the head of an acupuncture needle, or sewing needle. The main effect is so that the tattoo ink can be retained on the tip of the needle and is also a way for the tattoo artist to control the depth when plucking.
Tattoo ink is created by burning soot from rubber sandals mixed with a little toothpaste, creating a slightly thick liquid mixture. The tattoo will be done by plucking each ink. After tattooing, I applied golden star oil to prevent infection, but it still got infected all the time. The tattoos of this time were simple but very time consuming, for example, making an eagle tattoo covering the chest that was very popular at that time sometimes took a whole year with many tattoo sessions to complete.
There was a time when golden star extract was used as a solution for many different health problems, right? Then why did people get tattoos?
Tattoos at that time were only popular in underground society, most tattoos were done in prison as a way to pass the boring time.
I’ve heard many anecdotes about a rule for determining status through tattoos in this period, is that true?
That’s not clear, tattoo people can tattoo whatever they want! Basically, at that time, tattoo ideas were not very rich. The tattoos only revolve around a few familiar themed images. There are also real stories about people with “cheeky luck” choosing images such as eagles, dragons, and tigers to tattoo on their bodies, with the three copies of the stories being told creating anecdotes. There.
How do you feel as you have gone through different stages of your career?
Very positive and lucky, from the time of tattooing there was a shyness of eyes and there was no such thing as a tattoo profession. Nowadays, tattoos are no longer prejudiced and tattoo artists are also recognized and respected.
Being confirmed as something about an old-fashioned form of tattooing is not the whole reason we came here, the rest is because we are really fascinated by some tattoo works of famous Vietnamese generals. Your male is recent. What inspired you to make those works?
I loves to learn about the history and famous generals of Vietnam. Always feel proud of Vietnamese culture. While doing tattoo work, there are many customers who want to tattoo famous Chinese generals. I suddenly thought why that wasn’t it famous Vietnamese generals and from then on he began trying to advise and persuade those customers to tattoo famous generals of his nation.
Why do they want to tattoo famous Chinese generals on their bodies?
Famous Chinese generals are already very famous and have become iconic through movies.
When customers want or feel connected to a certain strength, talent, quality… of a certain title, they will tattoo that character on their body.
How did you convince them to tattoo famous Vietnamese generals?
Vietnam also has a thousand-year history and culture with many famous generals. It’s just that it hasn’t been approached in the right way to become familiar with it. He convinced them with his historical knowledge by telling historical stories about famous generals, which inspired customers. He also relies on the qualities that customers want to be associated with, which can be qualities, intelligence or talent… Even the specific contact of full name is very convincing to customers. For example, if a customer has the last name Nguyen, he advises famous generals with the last name Nguyen…
What are the difficulties when you create a design about a famous Vietnamese general for a client?
I finds it more difficult to accurately document elements such as costumes. Because if not based on correct documents, the image of famous generals will become misleading, humorous and confusing. You must research and collect documents that are trustworthy enough to be the basis for designing images for customers. In addition, we must also carefully study the stories to understand the context and the characters’ personalities to be able to appropriately express elements such as the character’s charisma and the space of the work.
Yes, this is truly something admirable and inspiring. A person has gone through a long period with many changes in the profession, and right now chooses a more difficult path than usual when always trying to create opportunities to express love and pride. Vietnamese culture into each work.
Vietnamese. INK wishes you always full of energy in your work and increasingly satisfy yourself with many works about famous Vietnamese generals.
HOC VE TATTOO STUDIO
Address: No. 9, Lane 1, Ngo Gia Tu – Long Bien – Hanoi
Phone: 0934688035-0916296989
