Tattoo enthusiasts may refer to tattoos as "ink", "pieces", "skin art",
"tattoo art", "tats", or "work"; to the creators as "tattoo artists",
"tattooers", or "tattooists"; and to places where they work as "tattoo
shops", "tattoo studios", or "tattoo parlors".
Usage of
the terms "skin art", "tattoo art", "pieces", and work" is gaining
greater support,[citation needed] with mainstream art galleries holding
exhibitions of both conventional and custom tattoo designs. Beyond Skin,
at the Museum of Croydon, is an example of this as it challenges the
stereotypical view of tattoos and who has them. Copyrighted tattoo
designs that are mass-produced and sent to tattoo artists are known as
"flash", a notable instance of industrial design. Flash sheets are
prominently displayed in many tattoo parlors for the purpose of
providing both inspiration and ready-made tattoo images to customers.
The Japanese word irezumi means "insertion of ink" and can mean tattoos
using tebori, the traditional Japanese hand method, a Western-style
machine, or for that matter, any method of tattooing using insertion of
ink. The most common word used for traditional Japanese tattoo designs
is Horimono. Japanese may use the word "tattoo" to mean non-Japanese
styles of tattooing