Trans-cutaneous body adornment?

I'd be quicker to say, "Tats are cool!" but reporter G.M. Corrigan
apparently likes a bit more literary flourish and offers, "The
centuries-old appeal of trans-cutaneous body adornment is many-sided -
and perhaps that's one reason Ms. Dearstine's venture is doing so
well."

Mrs. Dearstine is Bobbi Dearstine, owner of the Skin Deep In Ink body
art studio in Frederick, Maryland. The studio is located at 99 S.
McCain Drive, just off U.S. 40's Golden Mile. Dearstine is a former art
teacher and a 10-year resident of Frederick. Full story:

Designing women: Tattoo entrepreneur sketches new image for ancient
artistry
Published on August 26, 2006

By G.M. Corrigan
Special to The News-Post
For the uninitiated - which, according to a 2003 Harris poll, comprises
84 percent of the adult American population - the question that likely
goes unasked among associates with tattoos, especially "wallpaper"
kinds across great swaths of flesh, is: Why on earth would anybody take
a perfectly good stretch of skin and cover it with a dragon, or a
battleship or a Maori tribal symbol?

"Because this is something nobody will be able to take from me, man,"
flared a truculent youth to a passing busybody in a San Diego tattoo
parlor back in 1979. The haunting answer stuck like a loved one's
rebuke, and resurfaced - as the predicate question - 27 years later at
the woman-owned, all-women-staffed, 4-year-old Skin Deep In Ink body
art studio at 99 S. McCain Drive, just off U.S. 40's Golden Mile.

The studio's owner, Bobbi Dearstine, a jovial "forty-something" and
10-year resident of Frederick, is chatting easily with grimacing,
repeat customer Patty Collins while inking something onto Ms. Collins'
lower back amidst a setting that looks and feels more like a small
manicurist's salon than a traditional tattoo/piercing parlor.

Ms. Collins' son, Justin, 17 - in an adjacent, temporarily
unpartitioned area - is also getting tattooed, adding several ankle
stars to his collection of 12 other designs; while Ms. Collins' younger
son, Adam (Ms. Dearstine won't tattoo anybody under 16), and Justin's
girlfriend watch with mixed emotions from the wings. Everybody is
gabbing easily, and a television is on.

"I just like the art," Justin responds to the dredged up question, but
admits there is also a bit of macho exhibitionism, as well, to a
tattoo's appeal.

"For me, it's about sex appeal," clarifies Ms. Collins candidly, who,
it is learned, is having the "tribal" insignia on her back gilded with
a floral design to make it look more feminine, sexier.

The mother-son answers make intuitive sense and even seem complementary
in that each represents a distinct side of the sex-as-power theory of
male-female relations. But, as it turns out, the centuries-old appeal
of trans-cutaneous body adornment is many-sided - and perhaps that's
one reason Ms. Dearstine's venture is doing so well.

The "dye" is cast

"I intended to offer this service to young ladies, especially, who are
uncomfortable going into tattoo shops where there are all males," Ms.
Dearstine says of her business plan. "And I always said that if I ever
opened one, I really wanted the female client to be very comfortable
coming in."

And open one she did - on an initial investment of $1,500 and the
unqualified support of her husband - first on East Patrick Street and
then three years ago in this improbable, seemingly residential complex
with the bright yellow "Skin Deep In Ink" vehicle out front. Nary a
biker nor a sailor on liberty can be seen anywhere afoot in the hushed
and verdant vicinity.

"I've been in some parlors where it's all open - completely open," the
bubbly body artist goes on, intermittently enhancing the four-inch
design on Ms. Collins' back with her silent, state-of-the-art
Revolution II tattoo machine before wiping it with a surgical soap
solution. "There's no privacy whatever and a lot of these young girls
who want to get tattooed, don't want to be tattooed where everybody in
the universe can see them."

Relevant to this (and to an incident where a male tattooist once
"complimented" her on her bra during a tattooing session), this
formerly traditional artist and art teacher, who also is a manicurist,
decided on a niche market and a niche "look" to her venture when a
chance, personal tattooing experience got her interested in the
business.

It was 1995 when the Maine native, then living in Mount Airy and
exercising guardianship over a niece-in-law whose mother had died, was
asked by the niece for permission to get a tattoo. It was to be of an
angel on her shoulder lighting a candle for the departed mother - and
the niece wanted Ms. Dearstine to join her in the experience.

"So I thought about it," the affable artisan explains, "although I
really hadn't thought about getting one up to that point. And we went
up to the tattoo place and I picked out a small bird, and went ahead
and got the tattoo with her. I did that for her."

To take her mind off the procedure's discomfort (described familiarly
as similar to the burning sensation of a cat scratch), Ms. Dearstine -
who now has nine tattoos - talked art shop-talk with the tattooist; got
interested in the craft; and eventually took a job with the Frederick
tattooist as a piercer, where she did her tattooing apprenticeship.

And the rest, as they say, is "herstory."

Inking out a living

"It all happened kind of quickly," the businesswoman-artist says. "But
I love it. It's lot of fun. (And financially) I think we're doing
pretty good, imparting that she now employs two other women - Sarah
Rice and Sheila Floyd. "Last year we had double what we did the year
before. And this year looks pretty darn good too. There seems to be
enough business to go around."

Prices vary, depending on the size and intricacy of the request, but,
generally, Skin Deep In Ink tattoo work runs about $80-$100 per hour,
Ms. Dearstine says. Piercings, however, are strictly on a piece-work
basis, with belly button work (with jewelry) costing $56.49 and ear
piercings at $10 for both ears.

"And even the guys are comfortable here," she adds. "They say there's
not a lot of screaming-loud, hard-core music - which is a good thing."

And, apparently, the new endeavor is as artistically satisfying as was
her earlier, traditional art work.

"Oh, very much so," she confirms. "Because (before) I was really heavy
into painting and ceramics and wood work, anything that had to do with
art or some form of art. So now that I'm doing this, I can draw on a
day-to-day basis and color and design. I'm actually tired when I go
home and I don't want to draw anymore, when I get home. But I'm ready
to go the next day."

Aside from the strict tattoo-age restriction that she observes, Ms.
Dearstine also says she will not ink any "hate" slogans or racial
epithets on anybody or do face work. As for the probationary 16- to
18-year-old group, which requires birth certificate and an attending
parent, she will not tattoo areas on them that cannot be covered up
with clothing.

"We try to help customers make the decision on where and what to add,"
she adds, explaining that tattoo artists have a professional obligation
to maturely and creatively guide their customers' decisions. "We try
not to just throw them into the flash ("off-the-rack" tattoo designs),
and say, 'Pick something. We'll do whatever you pick.'"

And as to the enduring question - tattooing's historical appeal - the
artist defers comment to her live model-masterpieces.

"It's an expression," says Ms. Collins, who works in the nursing field
and has 14 tattoos and several piercings in undisclosable locations.
"They give you a freedom of mind. If you put something on your body,
you never forget that moment of your life. Some people do it out of
pain. Some people do it for happiness. I've done it for both reasons.

"Like if I were going through something bad in my life and I got a
tattoo," she adds, "it would signify that (passage) - or if there was
something I didn't want to forget. But now the tattoo I'm getting on my
back is to make it sexier at the bottom of my back."

Justin agrees with his mother: "I get them for different reasons," he
says. "One of my brothers is in the army, and we got one together. ...
Another is for a female friend, who passed away."

Asked if there is an addictive aspect to tattoo-collecting, Justin nods
affirmatively and his mother chimes in, "Absolutely." Ms. Rice,
Justin's tattooist and a German ŽmigrŽ, adds that most tattoo
recipients fall into either of two categories: those who get only one
tattoo and those who get many.

No one seems to think that such a dependency - should there be one - is
very remarkable.

Framing the picture

"It's not a new thing," Mary Skiver, owner of Personal Arts Studio in
Cumberland, said in a telephone interview. A woman-owner of a
tattoo/piercing studio for 26 years, Ms. Skiver, who also is a past
board member of the Maitland, Florida-based tattoo
business-representing Alliance of Professional Tattooists, seems
concerned that a woman-owned tattoo business could be the object of
news interest. "It's so old news," she insists.

There seems to be no time to get into the deliberately atypical cast of
the Dearstine decor and operation before Ms. Skiver informs that there
has been an international convention of women-in-tattooing for 12 years
now.

As for the alliance, Ms. Skiver asserts that it is the up-and-coming
professional association for tattooists (there are 52 organizations,
schools and museums devoted to tattooing and piercing on the Internet -
www.tattoodirectory.com - including a tattoo museum in Baltimore), and
that one of the member-services provided is yearly-required training in
the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration's "bloodborne
pathogen standard." Pegged by Ms. Skiver at six hours of instruction,
this curriculum must cover 13 elements of bloodborne disease
transmission prevention, according to an OSHA official.

Another service the alliance provides, Ms. Skiver says, is a
subscription to an informative newsletter, called "SkinScribe." Tattoo
artist craft training, however, is almost exclusively a
master-apprentice arrangement, the veteran practitioner notes, adding
that she is not aware of any formal school or certifying organization
in the field.

Ms. Skiver also states that health department regulations in the matter
are normally jurisdiction-specific, and that alliance members are
counseled to investigate and comply with their local health
requirements. Tattoo removal, she adds, should always be done by a
health care professional.

According to a Maryland OSHA official, the cited OSHA standard and
another requiring employer-paid availability to hepatitis B vaccination
for employees - both of which are followed in Maryland along with
certain county health department regulations - are the only federal
tattoo industry-specific regulations in effect.

This training and vaccination requirement, however, is self-certified,
with employers only being required to maintain records of the events'
accomplishment. In the case of an employee declining the vaccination
offering, this, too, must be documented and filed.

Local health regulations for the industry, says Paul Offutt, program
manager for the Frederick County Health Department Office of Community
Services, comes under "infection control" and cover a number of
precautions, including "single-use needle" procedures, sterilizing
equipment and practices, skin-cleaning processes, waste disposal, and
available materials and tools.

Tattoo/piercing studio inspections, adds Mr. Offutt - who offers that
there are very few complaints about or infractions by local tattoo
parlors - are only required during pre-opening occasions or when there
is a complaint.

Though the nagging, if perhaps naive, question about body art's
longstanding appeal continues - like a regretted tattoo - to loom
large, it is not posed to the forceful Ms. Skiver. It is, however,
served up to Abraham Street, manager of the more conventional-looking,
open-bay Time Bomb Tattoing and Body Modification studio at 342 N.
Market St., where piercing and "branding" also are done.

A proponent of gentrifying tattooing's historically unsavory image
beyond the biker, gang member and service person stereotype, Mr. Street
agrees that he has a "moral and ethical obligation to talk to people
about the effects of the (desired) tattoo on their life," and quickly
ticks off a list of reasons people get tattoos.

He notes that in many cases - as in one where a recovered rape victim
requested a genital tattoo - the tattoo represents emotional or
spiritual healing. Such "tattoos of intention," he says, are his
favorites, but Mr. Street admits the enduring appeal of "in memory of"
tattoos, and those commemorating military units, religious affiliation,
milestones and gang membership.

"Sometimes you're just committed to an idea," he explains, "and you
want to manifest that idea on your body." Mr. Street, who also will not
do "hate" tattoos and deplores any sexual harassment in the industry,
says the "old school" designs from the "Sailor Jerry" flash collection,
however, are still in demand, but that people are becoming more
individual in their tastes.

Back to the future

Estimates vary, but most recent surveys indicate that one in eight - or
between 30 and 40 million - Americans have one or more tattoos, and
that, according to U.S. News and World Report, tattooing is in the top
10 fastest growing retail ventures in the United States. One new
parlor, the magazine reported in 1996, is being added to the 15,000
already in America each day, according to www.vanishingtattoo.com. The
site also reports that the American Society of Dermatological Surgery
says that about 50 percent of those who get tattoos eventually want
them removed.

And, according to the above-cited Harris poll, the highest incidence of
tattooing is found among the gay, lesbian and bisexual population (31
percent) and among Americans, 25-29 years of age (36 percent). And
while Democrats are more likely (18 percent) than Republicans (14
percent) to sport body ink, of all Americans with tattoos, 34 percent
said having one made them feel "sexier."

Traced to the Tahitian word tatu, which means "to strike," the practice
of inserting pigment into the skin goes back many millennia.

Mummies bearing tattoos and dating from the end of the second
millennium B.C. have been discovered in Xinjiang, West China, according
to the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. Historically, the reference site
states, tattoos have served as "rites of passage, marks of status and
rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for
bravery, sexual lures, marks of fertility, pledges of love, punishment,
amulets and talismans, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves
and convicts."

In recent times, Wikipedia maintains, "people choose to be tattooed for
cosmetic, religious and magical reasons, and as a symbol of belonging
to or identification with particular groups," but unfortunate allusions
remain - the most notorious possibly being the Nazi katzetnik
identification system of Jews in concentration camps and the practice
of some sailors to have the crucifixion of Christ tattooed on their
backs to deter flogging.

Though discouraged as a "pagan" practice in Christian tradition (as
well as in Judaism and Islam), tattooing is experiencing a resurgence
in the West, owing in part to its popularization by certain sports
figures, pop musicians and movie stars, such as Angelina Jolie.

And local tattoo studios, such as Ms. Dearstine's and Time Bomb, are
reaping the benefit.

"We do a lot of cover-ups," Ms. Dearstine, who has tattooed herself on
occasion, says of her business. "We see a lot of bad tattoos that we
cover up for people. ... And we do a lot of butterflies. And we do a
lot more tattoos than piercing," she adds. "Although summertime we do
get a run on them, I've noticed that piercing has really slowed down a
lot in the past five or six years. ... Here, however, (parents) don't
have to worry about some guy wanting to check out their daughter -
making them very uncomfortable."

"That's why I got pierced here," pipes in Ms. Collins. "Because Bobbi's
a female, and I didn't feel comfortable with a man piercing me."

Likely a whole other dynamic than that behind mere tattooing, the
psychology of piercing is not explored. Progress has been made
understanding the skin ink mentality - to mark milestones,
"intentions," healings, affiliations, sexuality, or memorialize loved
ones, ways, it seems, to "stamp" time with meaning or perhaps slow it
down a bit - so why push it?

"We want customers to come back," she says, "not only because we've got
a good price, but we're good at what we do - and we spend time with our
clients." From:
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sec...?storyid=51740
aka http://tinyurl.com/jjhyj

-=end article=-

Related or mentioned in the article:

Alliance of Professional Tattooists: http://www.safe-tattoos.com/
Baltimore Tattoo Museum: http://www.baltotat.com/
Abraham Street: http://tantricshamanism.com/abraham

--
Curt
http://curtjames.com/