Page 19 - Trending Magazine 2017 Winter

Artistry_Tattoos_Layout 1 17-12-06 5:26 PM Page 2

Story by Erin DeBooy
Photos by Tim Smith

H positions and presses a piece of transfer paper onto her skin.
is nose inches away from his client’s rib cage, Eric Gammack delicately

He peels it away and takes a step back, cocking his head to the side as a beam
of sunlight shines through the window of Adam’s Body Art and illuminates the
soon-to-be tattoo outline on Kristen Shaw’s torso.
“Hmm, nope,” Gammack said, abruptly wiping it off with an alcohol-soaked
paper towel.
Shaw laughs.
Where a first-time tattoo recipient may be inclined to get nervous, she takes
it with an all-familiar stride.
“I’d rather him make sure it’s perfect,” Shaw said.
This isn’t Shaw’s first tattoo rodeo. At 26 years old, she’s been getting inked
for almost 10 years now, and has plans for many, many more.
“As soon as I got my first (tattoo), I booked my second one,” Shaw said laughing.
“I have a running list and it depends on how much money I have at the time …
I have a whole back piece planned, both my arms are going to be fully sleeved,
my other rib is definitely going to be done, and the outsides of both my legs —
then we’ll stop and take stock.”
Today Shaw is getting a watercolour style bird of paradise with script, based
on the poem Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda — a tribute to her boyfriend of five
years and Neruda, who Shaw states adamently is the best poet of the 20th
century.
“It has to do with loving someone in a way that isn’t for the whole world to see
... the whole poem for me has been about what love actually is,” Shaw said. “It’s
beautfully written.”
Tattoos are a different way people can express themselves and tell a story,
Shaw said. She likes the idea of having a snapshot of her life on her body, even
if it stings a bit.
“It’s a cat scratch on a sunburn,” Shaw said. “It hurts, but when it’s a pain that
you’re expecting and once it starts happening … eventually your body just
starts to suck it up.”
“Women always take tattoos better than men,” Gammack adds, setting up a
row of bright ink colours on a side table.
The stencil of Shaw’s soon-to-be tattoo has now been perfectly placed, and
Gammack asks if she’s ready as the buzz of the tattoo machine reverberates
off the walls and fills the room.
“It’s surprisingly not that bad,” Shaw said as the first line is drawn on her ribs,
arguably one of the most painful places to get tattooed.
Gammack said he always knew he wanted to do something creative, and
tattooing was at the top of his list.
But the transition from paper to skin wasn’t an easy one, he said.