Imerge Magazine - Oct2013 | Page 15

hind them are endless stories of battles against deadly diseases, tributes to family or friends, heritage, interests, medical alerts, love, heartbreak, or they may be just from the love of art itself in the form of a beautiful pinup girl or your favorite flower, but, you can be sure that each piece means something special to the person who chooses it. You can even have your make-up permanently tattooed on, what a time saver that would be. Most people who have tattoos trust their artist as they would their doctor, once you find the right one for you, you stay with them, and tattooist themselves have earned this respect from clients. When you walk into a tattoo studio today you do not find the dark dingy “parlor” from 50 years ago, instead you find a bright clean studio with stations that are very much like exam rooms in a doctor’s office. Everything is sterile and the tattooist themselves are constantly aware of your safety and well-being, they are practically obsessive about constantly changing gloves and keeping the skin clean during the entire process. The tattooist themselves are now amazing artists who draw incredible pieces of original artwork at your request, but still offer books with page after page of flash art to choose from as well. Of course with the good always comes the bad, and in the tattoo community the bad is the “Scratcher”, these are people who attempt to tattoo out of their homes, with no means of sterilization, or concern for the safety of the person they are tattooing. This is a serious issue since lack of sterile needles and equipment can result in