The Ibans are one of the indigenous tribes of Borneo, one of
the Holy
Lands for Tribal
Tattoo devotees. If you are into Bor-
neo style tribal tattooing, I
can wholeheartedly recommend a
visit to those
shores: beautiful place, very nice people, and in
my experience nothing but
positive reactions towards heavily
tattooed persons.
Canjing's book has by many tattoo artists been labelled the
"Bible of Iban (Tattoo) Design".
Very likely that this is true:
the
subject is not widely written about in the first place.
"Basic Iban Design" does in its introduction recount the story
of how
tattooing first arrived on the island of Borneo, but
only a small part of the book is specifically on Iban tattoo de-
signs. Though
all
the
fabric, pottery, etc. patterns are defini-
tely more than just a little helpful
in learning to understand
Iban Tattoo design, and one can easily see
how they corre-
late to
traditional Borneo tattooing; and vice versa.
Without a doubt, "Basic Iban Design" is a must-have for all
of you
tribal
tattoo aficionados out there.
This is, btw, one of the exclusive tattoo books that I carry.
I have
so far not found "Basic Iban Design" anywhere but
in Borneo
(not even on Malaysian Mainland; where in many
parts
tattoos are usually frowned
upon anyways).
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