Quirky Work: Tattoo artists leave their mark on clients

/Home/Tattoo Artists

Quirky Work: Tattoo artists leave their mark on clients
January 17, 2011
By Kathryn Lynch-Morin
mlive.com

Without a body, a tattoo is just a painting.

The transformation of a blank human canvas can be a long and painful process and cannot, without further pain, be undone. Most paintings, no matter how priceless, can be discarded.

Tattoo artists know this. They take special care in every piece because each piece — whether it tells the story of a time in a life, a teenager’s whim, fighting a war or the birth of a child — carries their signature and their livelihood.

Not so much a man’s world
Trying to break into the tattoo industry wasn’t easy for Niki Heinke, 31.

She remembers hearing, “We don’t need any chick tattoo artists,” when she went from shop to shop trying to land her first apprenticeship.

Finally, about seven years ago, she got her first break.

“I did things a little different than most artists,” said Heinkel, the lone artist at State of the Art Tattoo, 3085 Bay in Saginaw Township, which is soon to be renamed Dynamic Ink & Steel. “This industry is hard to get into anyway, especially when you’re a woman and the majority of tattoers are men.”

But she did, and now she’s busy doing tattoos six days a week.

“Everybody’s got a niche,” Heinkel said as she etched an intricate and colorful tree root system of her own design onto the lower back of Randi Lawrence of Spaulding Township.

When the piece — requiring two to three four-hour sittings — is done, it will cover the entirety of Lawrence’s back.

Lawrence, 24, is what Heinkel calls a serious collector, someone who gets tattoos the way other people buy paintings to hang on their walls.

“I’m not about making a cheap dollar,” Heinkel said. “I’m about the art, and I love the creativity people give me when they ask me to design something for them.”

Two decades of ink

It’s 10 a.m., and Old Town Tattoo isn’t even open yet as artist Jason Clayton, or Goose as he’s known around town, swivels a rolling chair next to his client, Katie Williamson, 21, of Saginaw Township. The years have left the black floor beneath him scuffed and scratched.

A single point holding dozens of tinier needles pulses 90 times per second into the skin of Williamson’s left shoulder.

“My name is going to be assigned to this tattoo from now on,” Goose said as black ink, controlled by his hand and a motorized tattoo machine, formed the outline of a delicate-looking flower.

The lilies on Williamson’s shoulder were drawn by another tattoo artist, but the outlines were fading, and the petals lacked color. She wanted it fixed, and she wanted Goose to do it.
QW+tattoo+artist110.JPGCassi Alexandra | The Saginaw NewsKatie Williamson, 21, of Saginaw Township takes a look at her tattoo in progress at Old Town Tattoo, 203 N. Hamilton in Old Saginaw City after owner Jason "Goose" Clayton wipes it down to start on the next flower.

With more than 20 years and 10,000 tattoos under his belt, Goose, 40, has fixed his share of regrets and not-so-greats. He’s also inked thousands of beautiful, strong and strange pieces of his own design and creation. His own tattoos, done by artists from all over the world, come in a range of forms including koi fish and a hot rod logo featuring a woodpecker smoking a cigar.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m having a good day or a bad day, I make sure everyone walks out with the best I can do,” he said.

Perhaps the strangest mark Goose said he’s left on a client was in the form of a little man pushing a lawnmower — on the side of a man’s head.

Jan. 15 marked the 20th anniversary of the shop at 203 N. Hamilton in Old Saginaw City, the same shop were Goose did his apprenticeship under his cousin, Connie Cunningham and her husband Dan Cunningham. Now, the shop employs three other artists and a body piercer.

“It doesn’t feel like a job,” Goose said as he sat in his station, decorated with a Chinese cat figurine, several hot rod paintings, and dozens of other trinkets, stickers and badges. “Tattooing is my one, true passion, and loving it sets us (tattoo artists) apart.”