BEHIND THE BODY ART
WELCOME TO THEIR TAT TALK
“ I got my first tattoo on my wrist right after I turned eighteen. Then I got a new one every three or four months until I had about eleven, and I remember feeling like,‘ Wow, I’ m heavily tattooed.’ But now that I have over eighty, I’ m like,‘ Oh.’ I’ ve stopped counting. Almost all of them are flash; I worked at Unicorn Ink for a while, and I have a lot of artists’ first tattoos. There was one convention where I got nine in one weekend— that was a lot for my body to handle. My favorite tattoo is always my most recent. I already have my next appointment scheduled.”
— MAKALA CHUBBUCK, MOBILE PET GROOMER AND HOST OF QUEERIOSITY TRIVIA, @ MM _ CHUBS / @ QUEERIOSITYPVD
Learn about the minds and drive behind The Inkaholics podcast.
Local tattoo collectors and creators, listen up. If this guide is only the tip of the iceberg for your obsession, then you’ re going to want to catch up on the The Inkaholics podcast on Spotify, YouTube or Apple Podcasts. Cohosts Fredd Chino and Michelle Carter— co-owners of 1001 Troubles Tattoo in Warren— chat candidly about everything from cost and etiquette to going behind the scenes at the annual Providence Tattoo Convention.“ It’ s very silly and irreverent, just like after-work shop talk,” Chino says. Take it from the tagline:“ The Inkaholics is a darkly comedic podcast about bravery in the face of getting up in the morning, taking your meds and scratching cartoons into the skin of well-paying customers.” Still, the two certainly know their stuff. Chino, an Indigenous member of the Acoma Pueblo tribe in New Mexico, and Carter, a Massachusetts transplant, initially met while studying illustration at UMass Dartmouth before apprenticing at the same tattoo shop and then eventually teaming up to run their own in 2014. Its name comes from the business’ original Island Park location in Portsmouth, which housed an amusement park before the Hurricane of 1938. The house of mirrors attraction was called 1001 Troubles and Chino liked the historical tie-in, and thought it worked as a fitting metaphor as well.“ People come into our shop and they have a change in mind and to see those changes, they look in the mirror. There’ s this idea that you’ re coming out of our shop different— there’ s a lot of self-reflection” he explains.“ And the idea that a tattoo is therapy in a way. It’ s medicine. People come in and they leave their troubles at the door. People from all walks of life come in for the same reasons, whether they’ re celebrating or they’ re mourning or just felt impulsive and it’ s all valid and it’ s helped them get through.” There will be an open house during the Warren Walkabout, happening this year Oct. 19.“ Anyone’ s welcome to come in, say hello, ask questions and hang out,” says Carter. 464 Main St., Warren, 289-0105, 1001troubles. com, @ 1001troubles
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