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The letters "F.T.W." are an abbreviation for "fuck the world," an oft-used acronym and motto among bikers that has appeared regularly in their tattoos since the 1960s, as well as on people from all walks of life today. But a deeper interpretation sees the motto as a symbol of dissatisfaction with "the world" or with mainstream culture something that the bikers of the sixties utterly rejected in favor of making their own rules and transforming their time on MOTORCYCLES into a life on the road.

Fairies in tattoo art are sometimes akin to the pinup girl, but more often they appear as the mystical and ephemeral winged creatures of the magical world that they symbolize. In some sense, all these types of fantastical and mythical creatures represent our power as thinking beings to imagine, create, or embellish for a myriad of purposes.

Swallows, one of blue and one of red, one with a halo and one with horns, have been a time-honored and popular motif in tattoo art, often accompanied by words such as "love and "hate," 'faith" and lust," or "bitter" and "sweet." Usually appearing as two separate tattoos, these BIRD images are obviously meant to be interpreted as one, even when the two swallows appear on separate arms or legs. When choosing this type of tattoo, people are hearkening back to an earlier era of tattooing and also touching upon the union of opposites that acknowledges that all of life is composed of two sides, no matter the particulars of the subject.

The falcon, a predatory BIRD, has been noted in many cultures for its strength and swiftness, but also for its beauty. The Peruvian Inca used the shape of a falcon as a solar emblem, where it corresponded to the male,brightness, and ascension. The Egyptians in particular were impressed with the identifying mark under its eye, an eye of acute vision, and created an entire story of symbolism based on the EYE OF HORUS symbol.

The folding fan, reportedly invented by the Japanese in the seventh century, was carried by both men and women in Far Eastern society. A multitude of different categories of fans existed, each with its appropriate use or user such as those carried by SAMURAI or those used on the stage during performance. Owners could express their individual tastes through the decoration of the fan (CHERRY BLOSSOMS in this example) and a great deal of attention and effort was expended in their embellishment. Occasionally the Japanese may have also used them as screens against evil, but they are perhaps better known today as the accoutrement of a flirtatious GEISHA.

Long bearded, robed, and carrying a scythe, Father Time is ushered out with the end of every new year and replaced by a baby. Most likely, he is a symbolic descendant of the god SATURN. whom the Greeks called Chronos, meaning "time." He carried the scythe or SICKLE not as the GRIM REAPER might, to harvest human souls, but rather in honor of farmers, for he was also the god of agriculture. Today, Father Time personifies the knowledge that all of us are subject to the same in escapable laws of nature.