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Call me crazy, but my favorite place in the world is where art comes to life on
your skin. This place is not for the weak at heart. If you were to go to
my favorite place you may very well have a few nightmares when you leave.
Skulls lining the walls, dragons in the rooms, the smell of antiseptic so
strong you want to gag and of course the sound of people crying out in pain are
just a few things you might find when you go to my favorite place in the world.
Where is this house of horrors? It’s Bodyworks Tattoo Studio. When I was 16
years old, I walked into this scary shop feeling intimidated. The artists were
rough looking guys, who scared me to the point of almost walking out and going
back home. However, this was just the first impression. Now that I’ve been
going to them for years, I see them very differently (almost friendly in fact).
I’ve gone to the shop numerous times since then and each time it has been an
excellent experience. It is a place where the sky is the limit and you can just
get away for a while. The only reason I was scared when I first walked in was
because everything about the place just
overpowers your senses. The sights, the smells (good and bad), and the
sounds are what caught me off guard my first time going into Bodyworks Tattoo
Studio.
As you pull up to the shop you are welcomed by a
colossal red barn with a gravel parking lot. Behind the barn you notice metal
dog kennels big enough to hold horses. They aren’t empty either. Inside are
brown and white American Bulldogs enormous enough to pull a truck, literally.
These immense dogs belong to the one artist who enters them into pulling
competitions. (Take the warning and don’t get close to them.) As you get out of
the car and walk up to the mahogany door you see the moss green carpet outside
to wipe your feet on. Upon opening the door you are hit with explosive colors
that seem to stretch as far as you can see. As far as wallpaper if there is any
you can’t see it. The walls are top to bottom sketches of ideas for you to
peruse and choose from. There are 3 doors along the right wall, but the only
way you can tell is if they are open and you see the space where no pictures
hang. As you go around the corner you will see many poster sleeves hanging on
the walls to your left. These are also full of many colorful tattoo ideas. A
mirror covered in stickers hangs on your left to check out your work in the
small space that isn’t covered. As you keep walking through this space the room
then opens and gets brighter thanks to the windows on the far wall. A few
chairs that have seen many people pass through them sit in front of a huge
desk. The workspace is encompassed in various art supplies and papers
containing eccentric drawings. In the dead center of this large room is a
weathered pool table. You notice an orange glow from behind the pool table.
It’s the fire burning in the wood stove that has caught your eye. One of the
artists asks you if you’re ready and leads you into his tattooing room. You
walk past the other artist’s rooms and notice they are all different and
reflect their own personalities. The room you enter has many interesting things
to look at. A metal sword hangs on the wall and the fluorescents gleams off the
blade. A yellow toolbox full of tubes of ink sits on the floor in the corner.
Looming in the middle of the room is the black and metal chair where you must
sit to get your tattoo done. Next to that chair is a stool with wheels where
the artist is sitting. You sit on the black metal chair
and the artist moves you to a semi-comfortable position since you’re going to
be sitting there for a while. You get a pretty good look at the man who will be
marking your skin in a few minutes. He is covered in tattoos from his neck to
his knees and he has multiple piercings in his face. Don’t let him frighten you
though he’s not as bad as he wants people to believe. You look past him to a
counter full of his various tools and tattoo paraphernalia. The metal tattoo
machine shines on a blue sanitary towel. Many jars of sanitary solutions line
the counter. Metal tools float inside them getting cleaned for your
appointment. Inside drawers you see packages that look like medical equipment
and you realize this won’t be so bad because everything is clean and sparkly.
The artist picks up the tattoo machine and tells you to relax while he gets
ready.
As you “relax” and wait to begin you take notice that from the time you walked
into the room you were hit with various smells. You almost gagged at the
strong, sour smell of the antiseptic and anti bacterial fumes. After the over
powering of the cleaning solutions fade you notice some other smells. The wood
burner sends a smoky smell to your nose from the room beside you. A faint sweet
smell of deodorant fills your senses and you notice the speed stick the artist
has uncapped. He uses it to put on your stencil. The spicy smell of pizza hits
you as a delivery man brings in the lunch for the boys. The bland smell of the
ink wafts up to you as the artist puts the different colors into tiny trays. It
may just be your imagination but you may begin to smell a metallic scent. You
know that this might be from your skin bleeding where the tattoo artist started tattooing you. Instead of
freaking out you start to zone out to the other aspects of the shop as a
distraction.
As you continue getting tattooed you hear many sounds that distract you from
the pain in your arm. You obviously can hear the humming of the tattoo gun as
it moves across your skin. TSTSTSTSTSTSTST. Rock blues or metal music is
playing in the background depending on which artist took control of the stereo
system. The bass is booming heavily from the speakers. Somewhere you can
hear someone gritting their teeth and saying owowowow as they continue to get
tattooed. Oh wait, that’s you. The artist will strike up some conversation
because he is not experiencing the discomfort that you are. You notice his
voice is very deep and it kind of soothes you into a relaxed state. The phone
begins to ring in the background and you hear another artist, who was munching
on lunch, answer it. The door opens as more customers come into the shop and
the whoosh of cars passing the highway out front drowns out everything else.
Finally, the door bangs shut and the room almost seems quiet. Then the dogs you
saw out back start barking as something or someone (stupid enough) got close to
them. Running footsteps are usually followed once the person realizes these
aren’t playful puppies. The customers that came in a bit ago are moving the
hanging poster sheaths and they clink as they hit each other. As the artist
finishes up the TSTSTSTST sound stops and you hear a ripping sound. You look
back and see he is making a patch out of paper towels and masking tape to
protect your new piece of art. You stand up getting ready to leave and the
chair creaks and squeaks as you move out of it. The whole experience was
something new and exciting but you’re just ready to get home and relax and let
your senses take a break with a nice nap.
This small tattoo shop is my favorite place on earth. Why? I honestly can’t say
because I don’t know. Something about the environment and the people there just
make it one place that sticks in my head. It’s possible all the things that
bombard my senses might have something to do with it. Also the thrill of
getting a new tattoo might be a reason it is my
favorite place in the world. I can close my eyes at any time and picture
everything inside the shop. I can hear the various sounds and see the pictures
on the walls. All of this thinking makes me want to go back and visit my
favorite place in the world.
Kelly S.
The original lava hair doo |
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