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tattoo taboo? not anymore Is there one withyour name on it?

March 25, 2007 12:35 am

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.'"

According 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.

Occasionally, they'll even get someone old enough to be their grandparent. One of the oldest to request a tattoo at Spark Plug was a 72-year-old former Navy man who wanted an anchor in memory of his military days. His wife had never wanted him to get one, so he waited until after she died, Hirsch said.

These days women are as likely as men to get tattoos, but they differ in what they want and where they want them, area tattoo artists say. While a man might go for a big, bold design on his arms, legs or upper back, a woman is more likely to get dainty butterflies, fairies or flowers tattooed at the base of her spine, on her foot or next to a hip bone.

"It's just something that, when they want to show it, they can, like when they wear a bikini," Moore said.

Tattooing is one of the most ancient art forms. Some of the earliest mummies found in Asia and Europe have them, and they can be found in almost every culture.

Body art didn't catch on in the United States until the early 19th century, and evolved from a counterculture activity in the 1960s into a trendy fashion statement in the 1990s. Advances in inks and needles and new regulations for tattoo artists also helped the industry.

Gary Clark, who has been in the business for 17 years, remembers back in the 1980s when about the only people who had tattoos were bikers or older military men.

"The first time I saw one, I thought, 'Man, I'd never get one of those,'" he said. "Then I saw good tattoo, one that you could tell right away what it was."

Clark, who runs Honky Tonk Tattoo & Body Piercing at 2011 Princess Anne St., said people who are thinking of getting a tattoo should shop around, look at various tattoo artists' portfolios and check out their Web sites.

"They should be able to prove that the work is theirs and not a co-worker's," he said. "Then decide which one you like best."