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Mar 06, 2023

Say it with ink

(Lucy Llewellyn Byard for the Record-Bee)Tattoo artist Joey Eagle at Prestige

(Lucy Llewellyn Byard for the Record-Bee)Tattoo artist Joey Eagle at Prestige Tattoo getting ready to give David Castellanos, 24, his first tattoo.

(Lucy Llewellyn Byard for the Record-Bee)Anthony Meranda, 36, owner of Konvikted Ink in Clearlake touches up his wife's, Viviana Villela tattoo

(Lucy Llewellyn Byard for the Record-Bee)Ash and carbon were used in the earliest tattoo inks. Today's professional inks may be made from iron oxides, metal salts or plastics. Colors are produced by heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, cobalt, nickel, to name a few. There are also some vegan-friendly inks that don't contain animal by-products.

Yvonne Cox, longtime homeless advocate, has been named director of the temporary warming center in Lakeport.(File photo-Lake County Publishing.)

(Lucy Llewellyn Byard for the Record-Bee)The walls of the very arty Living Canvas in Kelseyville are covered with framed graphic art of tattoos. Les Taylor, 52, of Living Canvas is himself a living canvas who says, "I will probably never stop getting tattoos."

LAKE COUNTY — Why do people get tattoos? Owners of tattoo parlors around the lake had different opinions to the millennia-old practice that ranged from a sense of personal freedom, to therapy to marking a special occasion or memory…literally.

When asked why people get tattoos, Jimmy Steward, owner and operator of Prestige Tattoo, located for 16 years in Lakeport said he's not in the business to ask why, instead he asks "Why not?" He does all styles of tattooing. "I had to learn to mimic every style here in Lake County." His favorite, he said is black and grey, leaning toward the dark side.

Steward responded to why he thought people don't get tattoos. "They don't think they can handle the pain is the big one, phobia of needles, they’re on blood thinners or have a medical condition, or they’re too concerned what other people think. Part of the stigma of it, the old-way-of-thinking stigma."

There's a line that Steward says he won't cross; he won't do gang tattoos, instead he’ll do gang cover-up for free. Steward also won't tattoo face or hands of youngsters. He tries to be the voice of reason with people asking for out-of-the-ordinary tattoos. Only for adults who are self-employed, or already have an established amount of tattoos, will he do what is known in the trade as "job stoppers"; tattoos on the face, hands and neck.

Yvonne Cox, owner of the soon-to-be-open Snake Lady Motorcycle Cafe and Gift in Lucerne, got her first tattoo in 1976, when it wasn't socially acceptable. Then her mother passed away in 1985 and she started getting tattooed every May 1, in memory of her mother. Now, 50 percent of her body is covered with ink. "Getting a tattoo is like therapy, and for many, each tattoo is a memory and a story."

Proving Cox's theory, David Castellanos, 24, was in Prestige Tattoo to get his first tattoo; a tiger with roses in black and gray. He told of his difficult childhood and how he is now going to college for his engineering degree and he wants the strength of the tiger to "remind me that I can make it happen, and the roses for healing."

Anthony Meranda, 36, owner of Konvikted Ink in Clearlake says he has police officers who get "the thin blue line tattoo, the American flag is pretty popular. Some people want to show their patriotism, a lot of people want to show their spirituality or their religious beliefs. Some people just like to collect tattoos of pop culture, portraits, TV show actors. There's so much art now it's crazy."

"People who come in here are just happy that there's a shop in Clearlake that can do quality tattooing," added Meranda.

Meranda like Steward, won't do gang tattoos – he removes racial and gang tattoos for free – or ’job stoppers’ unless their body is 50 percent tattooed or they have financial stability, or own their own business. "If an 18-year-old kid came in here and said ‘Put a tattoo on my face,’ he's going to get told no. Same with if a young girl, 18, 19, 20 years old looking to get their boyfriend's name on them. Same thing for young boys."

According to Discovery Magazine, The Daily Mail and Smithsonian Insider,the earliest tattoos on record were found on Ötzi the Iceman, the mummy found in the Alps, dating back to 5th-4th millennium BC. He had approximately 61 carbon tattoos on his body, in a line and dot style similar to acupuncture and in pressure points of his body, which suggested his tattoos were for healing purposes.

Tattooing spread throughout the world and was used as methods of healing, as methods of religious worship, as signs of bravery, also as a means of ownership or identification. The History of Tatoos website notes that tattoos went through cycles of being frowned upon by early Christians, and then regaled by English sailors who returned back home with tattoos from exotic places they had traveled. The king of England, Edward VII in 1862, sported several tattoos, which made their popularity rise.

According to Wikipedia, the evolution of tattoo machines began when Thomas Edison invented the electric pen in 1836. The first rotary tattoo machine was developed 15 years later by Samuel O’Reilly. After that, there was a progression of inventions from a tattoo machine that was so heavy that it had to be suspended from the ceiling to light hand-held machines that can control needle depth, speed and pressure, which has allowed tattooing to become a precise art form.

People have covered their entire bodies with tattoos. According to Historyoftattoos.net, a New Zealand-born street performer, Gregory Paul McLaren, born in 1971 holds the world record for the number of tattoos. His skin is 100 percent covered.

Each of the three tattoo parlors around the lake have different looks. Prestige Tattoo is small with bright yellow-walled cubicles and squares of black and white flooring. Konvikted Ink is spacious with soothing lavender and gray walls and plush high-back furniture chosen by Meranda's wife, Viviana Villela. The walls of the very arty Living Canvas in Kelseyville are covered with framed graphic art of tattoos.

Les Taylor, 52, of Living Canvas is himself a living canvas who says, "I will probably never stop getting tattoos." He laughs as he tells how his mother and grandmother wouldn't talk to him when he got his first tattoo in high school. Now, he says, most of his clientele are women. "Getting tattooed is personal freedom. It's not like breaking the law, but you’re kind of bending the rules a little bit, especially the rules of society. Being a little bit of an outcast. It's kind of fun."

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