Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

67 The Tattooist
selves and friends with ballpoint pens. and doing homemade tattoos
with india ink and sewing needles stuck in pencil erasers. As
they grew older and had contact with commercial tattooing. fascination
with the atmosphere of the shop and the social world revolVing
around tattooing acted as an additional motivation.
I was sixteen years old and gently ran away from home by
joining the Navy. As all young Navy men do, I ran out on my
first leave and got a tattoo. Mine was a traditional Navy tattoo
put on by a fellow in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. I walked into
that other world-a dingy old shop. very exotic, erotic, very
mystifying. I became consumed with it. I couldn't stay out of
the shop. I spent every day there. He began to teach me how
to tattoo.
The "street" tattooists were typically drawn to tattooing by the income
potential and occupational independence.
I had a teaching degree and there weren't any jobs for art
teachers. I was working in a factory and at that time I heard
that there was a tattoo shop open in Connecticut. So I went
down to see it. It looked like a fairly good business and I didn't
think that the people running it had any more talent than I
did. So I decided to try it.
"Fine art" tattooists. in contrast. commonly were drawn by their
desire to pursue an art form that offered a creative outlet.
The first female I ever saw with a tattoo was a friend of mine. I
had no idea that she had a tattoo. At the time I was into
natural health food and that whole hippie scene. Pure and
natural. And to me bleaching my hair or putting a mark on my
body was not OK. I was taken aback. I wasn't shocked or
revolted by it. I was amazed that it wasn't the image of a skull
with a dagger coming out of the eye. It was just flowers on her
shoulder and the colors were beautiful. They just popped right
out. The whole image of it looked like a piece of art work
instead of the idea we usually project onto a tattoo. It got me to
thinking. I was already involved in the arts and I thought I
could do tattooing (ef. Griff, 1970: 155-157).