Traditional Tattoo

At first it was a hobby of mine after a couple of friends persuade me to make them a tattoo because of my interest and skill in art. After a while it turn out serious because of the demand of cheap labor and skill that i can offer. I have been doing this for quite some time, sadly i had to stop doing this because of my studies. But occasionally i am still do it but during my free time only.





Traditional Borneo scorpion design

This is a borneo scorpion or "Kala" in iban language, it took me 8 hours or more in a couple of different session. He sad that its pain full so i had to continue in another day. By the way this guy is from New Jersey, but he love the traditional culture in Sarawak and its tattoo.





Home made tattoo machine

Yes, this is my home made tattoo machine. As u all can see its old but it does the job done. This machine had a lot of problem(home made machine usually does), if only i could afford one tattoo machine its sure cut the time in half or more, beside the quality is better. I do tried my hand on traditional tattooing, its harder than its looked. The traditional instrument uses tapping method.




Traditional Tapping method




All of the tattoo are done without any painkiller or sedative this is because we cant find one or the local pharmacy or clinic doesn't allowed any unnecessary injection(they don't sell sedative to any public especially at my age at that time). As you can see in the picture all of us are still young at that time, 17-20 years old. The only painkiller that we used are liquor(lots of liquor) and cigarettes. Usually we drank cheap liquor that cost around 4-5 Malaysian ringgit per bottle (less than 2 us dollar). Those liquor are 45%-60% alcohol.


Some of our favorite local brand


Below are some of my art work that i have done previous years, enjoy.....



My First tattoo
This is my first tattoo that my friend had made it for me, 9 hour straight of pain and pleasure.



The first tattoo i ever made
This is a different design for a Borneo scorpion, it is more larger than the pair of Borneo scorpion from the first picture and the pattern is not to complicated. 9hour of labor.




Tattoo in progress

This is me at work doing the large Borneo scorpion pattern above.

ME and my Dominic
The tattoo on his shoulder is called "bungai terung". The left side is finished mean while the right side is done another day. 8 hours of labor.



This is a mix of traditional and tribal pattern.
Nine hours just to finish this, i would say this is one of my best that i ever done. Sadly the phone camera isn't high resolution.



Traditional Hornbill pattern.
This is a very painful experience for him. 11 hours of labor, very beautiful design.


If i had the chance in the future i would like to continue my traditional tattooing people. Who knows i would become pro someday, but right now i have to finish my study first.

Borneo Traditional Tattoo: past and future

As u all know Borneo or Sarawak is situated to the east of Malaysia and famous for its iban headhunter in the early day and also for their tattoos. Tattoo is a traditional art of body modification that had been a heritage to my culture, but sadly it is slowly dying.

Today most of the people in Sarawak choose not to have any tattoo. This is very sad to me because tattoo and headhunter is what set us apart from others. In the old days people will recognize you by your tattoos, where do you live and where do you come are easily noticeable by the pattern of your tattoos besides women will not marry men with out tattoos. Today the situation is far different than those early days, its hard to find a heavily tattooed men with traditional tattoos, most youngster now prefer modern tattoos than the traditional tattoos. Its hard to imagine that my own people doesn't care about this any more, they prefer to be modernize and live in the cities instead of the longhouse.

Headhunter in the modern days

Right now i am trying to preserved whats left of my culture, the future is uncertain for the iban traditional tattoo, will it still exist or lost in time no one knows.... I hope my people will realized about this before its to late.

Iban traditional dance call the "ngajat"