When Ötzi 'The Iceman' was discovered in the Tyrolean Alps in 1991, one of the most remarkable things about him was the 61 inkings on his body. Thought to have been done with a single-point puncture tool tipped with carbon pigment, the find shows that tattooing was as popular with our ancestors 5,000 years ago as it is today.
But while permanent body art is nothing new, Cork tattoo artists say people are increasingly opting for the more unusual — and even the downright bizarre.
For their more "daring" customers, the Black Poppy Tattoo Parlour on Winthrop Street in Cork City is offering a 'lucky dip'. They have installed an American-style gumball machine where, in return for a fee, clients are given a quarter to activate the device and receive a preview of a random design they have never seen before.
Of course, clients have the option of backing out should they experience cold feet. Nonetheless, co-owner of the Black Poppy Tattoo parlour, Jake Stahlecker, who originally hails from Arizona, says they are yet to come across a customer with a change of heart.
“It’s slightly cheaper than our shop minimum and they are set and ready. You take a bit of a risk I guess. Its very much a gamble. People just tend to get what they get and away they go. For many people, a tattoo is a story but not everyone has that.
"To say 'I walked into a tattoo shop and put a quarter into a machine to get this design' is as good a story as any other. It’s just really different.”
Jake, who co-owns the business with his wife Gin, admits however that even tattoo artists have their limits.
“Two people came to us to get tattoos on a first date. They decided they were in love and wanted to get each other’s names tattooed. Of course, we said no. Even if a couple has been together for a long time we still try to talk them out of it or at least get them to agree that it’s a really bad idea.
I’m not sure if the couple who came to us during their first date were after a few, but I would hope so considering that this was such a crazy idea.
Then there was the customer who visited the shop for her first tattoo at the age of 93 - only to return for another three months later.
“We had a bench outside where people could sit when they were tired. One day a 93-year-old sat down there. We thought she just wanted a glass of water as we often offer people that. She was sitting there for about five minutes before saying that she wanted to talk about the tattoo she was getting.”
He said the team was touched when they heard what was motivating her.
“A close friend of hers had died. That same friend’s daughter was coming with her so they could both get memorial tattoos together. It was quite emotional and there were a few tears at the end. This was her first tattoo at 93 years old. If you saw this woman walking down the street you would never guess she had a tattoo like that.
"Three months later she came back to us and got her second tattoo.
Things are different to how they were 50 years ago when you only saw tattoos on bikers or sailors. We can’t judge. People from all walks of life are getting tattoos now.
Another touching request was the man who got his son to draw the design.
“We had a man with a son of about four or five come into us. He asked for a piece of paper and a pencil. The boy drew up a picture of the family and his dad had it tattooed onto his own body there and then. It had all the same dimensions that the kid had drawn and turned out really nice.”
Andy May was being tattooed with a barn owl at the back of his head during his exchange with the Irish Examiner. He told of his reasons for selecting the design.
“It takes three years for my hair to grow out properly,” he explained. “Every few years I have it shaved for a good cause. It all depends on which charity catches my eye but I like to support as many of them as I can.
"I was thinking it would be quite cool and quirky for the tattoo to finally be revealed again in three years after my head gets shaved. Also, we often have barn owls passing the house which is why I decided on this particular design.”
Trisha O’Callaghan from Lose this Skin on MacCurtain Street also offers a specialist tattoo service. One of her most special inking sessions to date happened to be a tribute to her favourite tattoo artist whose daughter popped in for a memorial tattoo.
“Basically, you can have some of the ashes mixed in with the ink and tattooed,” Trisha explained. “There’s not really anything that special about it, except for the sentiment to the person, obviously.
"The person who died had been a famous tattoo artist who I looked up to very much. It was because of him that I got my obsession with tattooing. His work was amazing.”
Trisha said the tattoo industry has come a long way since she started in the business 30 years ago.
“In those days you had the choice of a butterfly, dolphin or a little rose that looked like a cabbage, but that was it. There weren’t many female tattooists back then. I’d say I was probably the first in Cork.
"You couldn’t really get an apprenticeship back then if you were female. People just laughed at you because it was so unheard of. Now, the ratio is probably more women to men if not 50/50.”
Over the last three decades, she says one of the strangest tattoos she has done was a bee made to look like it had landed on a person’s nose.
"Some people just like to get silly tattoos after a while and I have a lot of fun with those. At the moment I’m working on a bunch of drunken animals including cats and dogs and all sorts of creatures. You never know what you're going to be doing next.”
Read More
Tattoo taboo: Do the Gardaí need to cop on?
