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uv tattoos ( UV Tatts)
What Is It?
A Tattoo Ink that would become luminous when exposed to Ultra-Violet light, but would remain unseen in normal lighting conditions.
Why would it sell?
Amongst nightclub-goers it has been popular for some years now to take advantage of the UV lights that help illuminate most nightclub dance floors. This has been in the form of wearing UV-sensitive clothing, e.g. making a point of wearing white to a nightclub. Also, both jewellery in more traditional areas and body jewellery is easily available in UV-sensitive forms. Also, UV pens have been known to be used for face-painting and drawing on club-goers. This idea of a UV-sensitive tattoo ink simply brings all this to a further level, allowing the punter to have whatever designs they wish placed in their skin. A large bonus of this is that anyone who gets a UV tattoo can go about their day job, showing no hint of whatever crazy or modest tattoos may have been etched into their skin.
Though tattoos made using UV-TATTS ink don’t necessarily have to made up of totally UV-sensitive ink. As tattoos have been increasingly more common in recent years, many people are currently quite happy to have tattoos done. Therefore, combinations of conventional inks and UV-TATTS ink could be done for a more decorative effect, possibly to liven up already-done tattoos.
How could you make/distribute it?
The product needn’t have to be manufactured by the same company that designs the compound which would make up the dye. Once a dye is made, work could be contracted out to chemical manufacturers for batches as and when they are needed. Much is already known about UV-sensitive inks and dyes, but the crucial part is designing a product that is non-toxic. Another important part to note is that a tattooist who is using the ink must be able to see what they are drawing. Thus it is likely that the product would have to be implemented in the presence of a UV light. This could lead to health and safety risks, since UV light is thought to cause skin cancer if one is exposed to it for too long. Therefore, the tattooist would need protective equipment to stop them being over-exposed to the potentially harmful UV radiation. Also the client being tattooed would need some sort of protection, since more intricate and/or large tattoos can take hours to complete.
However, these health and safety matters could become part of the same package, since the company could become a supplier of these products as well as the main UV-sensitive ink, under the same brand name. A network of tattoo parlours with UV-TATTS approved equipment would have the edge over parlours boasting only conventional dyes. Initially, it might be wisest to set up either a single, or a few specialist UV-TATTS parlour(s), from which the idea could be sold to already established parlours.
How could UV-TATTS be marketed?
Due to the nature of the product, once the R&D has been done into what the dye would be made up from chemically, and any specialist equipment has been designed or modified from existing equipment, stalls in the summer music festivals in the UK or abroad (e.g. Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds Carling festival, European festivals) could be used to show the product to the general public. From the stall, the product could be exposed to the public using free UV-sensitive items such as key rings with the web/mailing address on it, or an actual tattoo parlour could be set up in these stalls, several at each festival site if needs be. From there a cult following could arise, and interest in the brand/product could expand quickly depending on the success and feedback of these stalls. Due to the nature of festivals, word of mouth amongst both the general public and the music/entertainment industry could travel fast, if the product/brand is a success at this level.
Has it been done before?
A United States Patent for a ‘Photochromatic Tattoo’ can be seen at http://www.mindcontrolforums.com/p/usp6,470,891.htm
It is unclear as to whether a similar dye/ink has been patented in the UK or in Europe.
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