I N K E D

A day in the life of the local tattoo artist KAT VON D:MY TATTOO HISTORY

tattoo trends go full circle

Issue 1- £3.00

mtv’s ASH STYMEST

THE LOCAL TATTOO ARTIST Interview with Steve from Paulys Tat-too

How did you get into tattooing?I was about 15 when I got my first tat-too. I left school at lunchtime with my mate and went and found the near-est tattoo parlour and got a tattoo. As soon as I got my first one I caught the bug, I loved the way it felt and I liked the enviroment of just being in a tattoo parlour. I wasn’t into school or anything like that, so when i finished school I just asked around everywhere I could, seeing if I could get an ap-prenticeship with them, or just shadow them while they were doing there work.

So how long were you an apprentice for?About a year and a half, which i think is quite long to apprentice for, but im happy with the time i spent learning up. Then i worked in that shop for about a year and then I moved about a bit, just getting a feel for different places..

Is there any tattoo artists in particular that have inspired you.I know this will sound fucking lame now, but Ed Hardy was an amazing tattooist. His use of colour and his line work is so amazingly slick and clean. It’s a shame all this media shit has ruined him a bit really, you see a chav walking down the street with an ed hardy t-shirt on and it’s a real shame because its overshadowed his

great work. Paul Naylor is also another great tattoist.

Do you think tattoo’s have the stereo-type of being associated with rebel-lious, big burly men?I think it used to be, like when you saw a film set in a prison or something all the prisoners would have the stereotypical tattoo’s and bikers and gangs were associated with having tattoo’s. I think theres that ste-reotype because when tattoo’s came around it was a very mas-culine thing, but now especially since the year 2000 onwards it has become more and more ac-quainted to females. There are so many beautiful tattoos for women that just look brilliant.

Is there any times when you don’t like your job?

it does get hard when some-one comes in with an ada-mant idea. They no exactly what they want and your just thinking to yourself this is really shit. It’s gonna be really hard to make this look good. One time a got a guy come in telling me how he wanted me to tattoo on his back a bas-set hound holding a snooker queue.

What do you really like about your job.Im just lucky to get up in the morning and go off to my job that I actually enjoy. I think im luckier than half the peo-ple in england. I couldnt im-agine having a 9-5 office job. The best thing about working here is the amount of differ-ent people you meet and they

THE LOCAL TATTOO ARTIST all have a different story. I love having a good chat with the clients and finding out why this tattoo? you know, why do you want this on your body. And some of the stories i’ve heard of the years, you wouldnt im-agine. You get people coming in here crying from nerves and then they leave an hour later happier than ever. Its great to see.

What did your family and friends think about you getting into the tattoo business? My mum obviously wasn’t too happy about it. It’s not the most respectable of jobs, tat-toing people up, but im doing well and i love my job and they can see that so its all good.