Ancientskin

Ancientskin Nordic Tattoo Sweden and Germany | Traditional Tattooing Handpoke or Machine | 🇸🇪 VÄSTRA GÖTALAND | 🇩🇪 73102 BIRENBACH

WE MOVED TO SWEDEN 🇸🇪 We are incredibly happy to finally announce that the new home base of .tattoo and .by.ankamiau is ...
02/06/2026

WE MOVED TO SWEDEN 🇸🇪 We are incredibly happy to finally announce that the new home base of .tattoo and .by.ankamiau is now in Sweden.

Our main studio is located in Svenljunga, Västra Götaland, approximately 50 minutes from Göteborg Landvetter Airport.
miau is now producing all items from Sweden. For our customers, the only change will be that all orders will now be shipped from Sweden. Anka is already working on new products and projects, which will be released once everything is fully settled.

This is a huge and exciting step for us, and we couldn’t be happier. We hope to welcome as many of you in Sweden as we did in Germany.

The German studio will remain open and continue to operate as a regular guest spot location, so appointments in Germany will still be possible. However as Sweden is now the new home of Ancientskin and Helga, there will be significantly more opportunities to book appointments here.

Thank you all for your continued support. We can’t wait to start this new chapter with you. 🇸🇪♥️

Thanks to for the amazing pictures.

This is Leccinum versipelle, a mushroom that is also known as Boletus testaceoscaber, dark-stalked bolete, or orange bir...
01/06/2026

This is Leccinum versipelle, a mushroom that is also known as Boletus testaceoscaber, dark-stalked bolete, or orange birch bolete, is a common species of mushroom that may be edible when given the right preparation. It is found below birches from July through to November, and turns black when cooked.

This tattoo was inspired by the Ringerike Style wind velvet in gold-plated bronze you see on the last slide. This find f...
29/05/2026

This tattoo was inspired by the Ringerike Style wind velvet in gold-plated bronze you see on the last slide. This find from the Viking Age 750 - 1100 AD is exhibited in Stockholm.

The Söderala vane (Swedish: Söderalaflöjeln) is a weather vane dating from the Viking Age, richly ornamented and made of gilt bronze. It derives its name from Söderala Church in Söderala, Sweden, where it was used as a weather vane during the 18th century. It was most probably originally used as a vane on a Viking ship, and shows signs of wear. On stylistic grounds, it has been dated to c. 1050. It is today part of the collections of the Swedish History Museum. A copy of the vane is in Söderala.

The Söderala vane consists of a triangular plate, made of gilt bronze and reinforced by smaller bronze plates and rivets in some places. A small sculpture of an animal, kept separately from the vane when it was bought by the museum, was originally attached to the top end of the bronze plate. The curved edge of the plate is pierced by several small holes, in which some kind of loosely hanging decorations may once have been attached. The plate itself is decorated with depictions of three beasts, interlaced with each other and with other purely decorative elements such as spirals, in a style closely related to that of Swedish burial monuments from the middle of the 11th century. The main decorative element is a depiction of a Norse dragon with wings, its forelegs and neck stretched somewhat like a horse about to rise. Its back is comparatively small. The dragon is very similar to a dragon depicted on a tombstone from the mid-11th century from Sundby Church in Södermanland, Sweden. Another creature lies coiled around the forelegs of the dragon, while the third, legless, is wrapped around the body of the dragon.

Foto: Ola Myrin, SHM CC By 4.0

13/05/2026

The next chapter begins here.

Created by Ancientskin

A work in progress tattoo: Yggdrasil backpiece inspired by the famous Mammen Axe you find on the last slide. The Mammen ...
13/05/2026

A work in progress tattoo: Yggdrasil backpiece inspired by the famous Mammen Axe you find on the last slide. The Mammen style grew out of the Jellinge style, and it can sometimes be difficult to tell them apart. The name comes from a decorated axe-head you see at the beginning of this video from a grave in Mammen, Denmark. This backpiece is inspired by this axe-head. Recent dating has suggested a date of c. 970 for the grave.

The Axe is inlaid with silver wires: on one side is a foliate pattern. On the other side is a bird. The body of the bird is thicker than the ribbon-like bodies of the Jellinge style animals: it is decorated with dots, and there is a large spiral hip. The wings and tail are drawn into long, curving tendrils. At the top of the axe is a human face mask with round eyes, a large nose and a spiral beard. Perhaps its the rooster Gullinkambi (Old Norse “golden comb”) or the Phoenix. According to Norse mythology Gullinkambi sits on top of the tree Yggdrasil. Here it wakes the Viking warriors every morning and it will crow at the beginning of Ragnarok (the end of the world). The Phoenix is a Christian mythological animal and a symbol of re-birth.

On the oher side (you see here on the last slide) a tree motif can be seen. It may symbolise Tree of Life or Yggdrasil.

Ancientskin - I do Nordic tattoos in Sweden and Germany. Specialized in Handpoke tattoos but I do also machine tattoos. Based in Västra Götaland, Sweden.

The Thor figurine on his upper arm is made by

dotworktattoo

A handpoked sleeve (work in progress) inspired by the heraldry of Denmark. The idea is to put all three lions and the he...
28/04/2026

A handpoked sleeve (work in progress) inspired by the heraldry of Denmark. The idea is to put all three lions and the hearts into the sleeve. On the top there is a spirit animal, the bear (also a link to the heraldry, where Greenland is represented with the polar-bear). And again: This is not a political statement, this is something for the soul! 🙏🏻

The state coat of arms of Denmark (rigsvåben) consists of three pale blue lions passant wearing crowns, accompanied by nine red lilypads (normally represented as heraldic hearts), all in a golden shield with the royal crown on top.

The national coat of arms of Denmark (nationalvåben — also called lille våben) is similar to the state coat of arms, but without the royal crown above the shield.

All Handpoked over several sessions in Germany and Sweden. There is still some work that needs to be done. Looking forward to the next time. Nordic Tattoo in Västra Götaland, Sweden.

This tattoo symbolizes a bended or „killed“ sword. It bends and moves with the arm. The bended swords were found in anci...
25/04/2026

This tattoo symbolizes a bended or „killed“ sword. It bends and moves with the arm. The bended swords were found in ancient graves, particularly from the Iron Age and Viking period, were deliberately damaged to accompany the deceased, likely symbolizing the „death“ of the weapon, preventing grave robbery, or acting as a ritual sacrifice to the afterlife. These, such as the 10th-century Viking sword from Vol, Hedmark, or a sword from Backa, Sweden, were rendered useless by bending or heating.

For example, the last slide is „The Broken Sword“ (Det bøyde sverde), a 10th c. viking sword from Vold, Hedmark, Norway, deliberately bent and destroyed before buried as a grave gift. Photo taken at the VÍKINGR – Viking Age exhibition, an exhibition in the Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo in Oslo, Norway, showing some of the most exquisite objects the museum has from the Norwegian Viking Age. Picture: Wolfmann (CC BY-SA 4.0)

First of all, I think we should stop talking about how long a tattoo takes in the first place. Tattoos were never meant ...
16/04/2026

First of all, I think we should stop talking about how long a tattoo takes in the first place. Tattoos were never meant to be scheduled according to a modern timetable. I fully support the idea of working as efficiently and quickly as possible, but only as slowly as necessary. A tattoo should never be rushed. At the same time, because we are working on a living body, it is essential to be mindful of time, because there is only a certain window before exhaustion, pain, and the physical condition of the skin begin to set the limits.

As a tattoo artist I will take responsibility for understanding what is possible for the skin and the body, and that varies completely from person to person and even from day to day. There is no fixed rule, and it is never really possible to say that a larger project will take a certain number of hours or days, because too many factors come into play. It depends on the design, the style, the way it is executed, whether it is done by machine or handpoke, the condition of the skin, and the energy everyone brings to that particular day. None of that should ever be pushed to its absolute limit. Some sessions may naturally run longer, but every tattoo is individual, and every situation is unique. Don’t choose the fastest tattoo artist choose what speaks to you.

Committing to a larger tattoo means dedication, financially yes, but also the willingness to respect the boundaries of your own body and patience to also split it into several sessions and maybe journeys if you come from afar. Tattooing is above all, an experience and it should remain something personal. The first question should always be „What do I want“ and not „What can I get in a certain amount of time“. And also Time is not money. That is an illusion. We may assign value to the hours something takes and from that a price emerges but the true cost of a tattoo is about far more than that.

But to be sure, this doesn’t mean you can ask for an estimation of the tattoo, this is something I can say from experience and is also good to know for you as a person who plans to get something done.

Ancientskin - Nordic Tattoo Sweden - Handpoke & Machine in Västra Götaland

Adress

Västra Götaland
Svenljunga
51250

Öppettider

Måndag 11:00 - 18:00
Tisdag 11:00 - 18:00
Onsdag 11:00 - 18:00
Torsdag 11:00 - 18:00
Fredag 11:00 - 18:00
Lördag 12:00 - 17:00

Telefon

+4915127974829

Webbplats

Aviseringar

Var den första att veta och låt oss skicka ett mail när Ancientskin postar nyheter och kampanjer. Din e-postadress kommer inte att användas för något annat ändamål, och du kan när som helst avbryta prenumerationen.

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