Machine Gun Tattoo Magazine Issue 5.pdf

Machinegun is the only tattoo magazine completely dedicated to the

mechanical aspects of tattooing. The first issue of Machinegun was

published by Eikon Device in June of 2001, and was distributed

free of charge to Eikon customers. The little magazines objectives

were clearly stated in the editorial of the premier issue.

Machinegun was going to be a magazine about tattooing and the

process of tattooing, not a magazine about tattoos.

The do-it-yourself look of Machinegun has remained consistent

since the first issue; zine format, comic-sized and always forty-

eight black and white pages inside with an inexpensive color

cover.

Amongst some tattoo artists, the name of the magazine was

controversial. There had always been a very real divide in

tattooing between professional artists who called the instrument

we use to tattoo with a machine, and the uninitiated who almost

invariably referred to it as a gun. Somehow connecting the two

terms seemed to threaten that the two factions in the trade could

be connected.

Most young tattooers didnt really seem to care what the machine

was called, or for that matter, what any of the parts on a machine

were called. One of the primary goals of Machinegun was to

establish a glossary of machine parts names that most could agree

upon.

Terms like air gap, machine speed and duty cycle are accepted as

part of tattooing today, but a decade ago they were unknown. Those

terms and many others all stemmed directly from research that was

being done at Eikon. Machinegun magazine has helped to bring that

information and terminology to everyone in tattooing.