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Tattoos aren't just for drunken sailors these days
Date published: 3/25/2007
BY CATHY JETT
Sean Kelly never knows who'll pop into Spark Plug Tattoo & Body Piercing. One day it might be a youth minister who wants to get praying hands tattooed on his arm; the next, a 62-year-old woman who wants a butterfly on her hand. "I've had judges, lawyers, nurses, doctors. You'd be surprised," said Kelly, who works in the small George Street shop in downtown Fredericksburg. Tattoos, those graphic adornments inked into the skin, are becoming more mainstream thanks, in part, to athletes and celebrities as well as the TV shows "Miami Ink" and "Inked." Wesley Moore is so convinced that college students, tourists and area residents will want them that he recently opened Sorry Mom Tattoos in the heart of downtown Fredericksburg's shopping district. "Miami Ink has had a big impact on tattooing," said Moore, whose shop is in the former Redfern & Sons at 808 Caroline St. "That gives it a positive name. People see who is getting them and why, and it's getting socially accepted." Most people getting tattoos today aren't sailors on a bender who wake up the next morning with a battleship emblazoned on their chest, Fredericksburg-area tattoo artists say. Instead, customers typically come in wanting to mark a significant moment in their lives or memorialize a loved one. Several people recently went to Spark Plug to get the same fallen-soldier tattoo after a relative was killed in Iraq, for example. And a woman went in to get a portrait of her late father tattooed on her chest. "It was really rough because she looked in the mirror afterward and started crying," said tattoo artist Jeremiah Hirsch. "She said: 'He was always in my heart. Now he's where I can see him.'" 16 percent have tattoosAccording to a 2003 Harris Poll, the most recent source available, 16 percent of all adults in the United States have at least one tattoo. Americans ages 25 to 29 made up 36 percent of the total, and those ages 30 to 39 accounted for 28 percent. Those statistics are borne out by Fredericksburg-area tattoo artists, who say the majority of their customers are in their 20s or younger. However, koi fish, which are a Japanese symbol for good luck, and other images are catching on with people in their 30s and 40s.
Date published: 3/25/2007
It's about time for the 'Burg to catch up.
I think I'll visit next trip home.
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