A Tattoo Artist's View
We know... it took us a while to find a worthy candidate for our first tattoo view but finally we managed it. We have known Boo for a number of years now but she disappeared off our radar for a while after closing her cool shop on the high street. By chance we heard she was now an established tattoo artist and we managed to track her down.
Wow, finally we meet again and you have some new skin art, we will get some pics in a bit.
Firstly, we have some questions to start with...
RDC: Tell us where your from and where you live now please?
I live in the UK, Belper originally and now overlooking the countryside in Derby.
RDC: Where did your name Boo come from?
Friends called it me as a joke and it stuck. I don't really like nicknames but I use it as my tag.
RDC: Could you give us a run down on what media you have decided to settle on?
I got into skin art in school. I used to mash up grass and stuff and rub the juices onto my friend's skin, they used to go and fool the teachers by saying they had a bad bruise.
I was also into illustration big time but school put me off a bit because they said you always need a reason to draw and I didn't agree. I then did a 3D Foundation Course in Loughborough. Then I bought a kiln and made jewellery using that and recycled materials. After having a shop called 'Cherry Bomb' for a while I had to make a decision whether to carry on with the shop or pursue my love of tattooing and commit full time to my apprenticeship. I followed my heart and now I'm so glad I did!
I'm known as a tapper and do not use mechanical equipment, I normally use pre-sterilised surgical steel as Health and Safety requires me to do so but if the client requests I enjoy using natural thorns to produce tattoos like, hawthorn, blackthorn and rose thorns .
RDC: What words of wisdom have you got for a wannabe tatt artist?
"Don't do it". No seriously, if you are set in your head and want to be a tattoo artist then you are missing the point. People see it as a rock star life style, a way to gain street cred and acceptance, that's no reason to do anything.
If someone is chasing to be a tattoo artist I think they are doing it wrong. Everyone in our studio had no intentions of being tatt artists. We are artists in our own right, illustrators, costume designers, 3D artists, that's why it's so amazing, we all got on with our lives and gained experience then ended up here.
RDC: What certificates do you have to pass to become a tattoo artist?
It varies from studio to studio, Health and Saftey is the main thing, every city you go to requires that you have to be H and S certified. You also have to be linked with a studio, scratchers are people that do it at home and they are mostly non-certified!
I was lucky and got my Health and Safety cert within a year but again it depends on the studio. We like to think of tattooers as being in one big family, you can become an apprentice of an established artist and soon learn the basics of the trade.
I have a blessing on my finger which is a family tattoo it depicts Buddha and path to enlightenment. It was something me and two other apprentices did for ourselves as a bond. It is a symbol for the time we spent together and for me a symbol of remembrance. If we bump into someone with this tattoo it means one of the three of us did it and because we no longer work together so it's a way of spreading the love.
RDC: Fish and Chips or a Healthy Herb Salad?
Ha ha, you can't do that to me, I had Fish and Chips last night!
OK Fish and Chips with a side salad, healthy and non-healthy in equal portions.
RDC: Anything to add?
Yeh, don't get your tattoos in the summer if you can help it. They need time to heal and can fade dead fast without having a period to grow a layer of skin over the top.
RDC: Thanks so much for hookin up Boo, keep up the ace work and we will talk again soon.
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