Sunday, June 6, 2010

Art Without Age

In the town of Egg Harbor City lies a little tattoo parlor with a big heart. Owners Barb and Doug are married and have found a shared passion. This passion ignited ambition and love to open a tattoo shop, but this is no ordinary parlor that is just found in the yellow pages.


Barb is an older woman and got her first tattoo at the age of 48. She fell in love with ink and was determined to share this with many people. With full support from her friends and family, she opened B & D Tattoos. While she has only been tattooing for 9 years, Barb has the mentality of tattooing her whole life. Her inspiration comes from Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and others, which has led to her falling in love with doing realistic tattoos. There are countless books of flowers, oriental symbols, etc. to be found on the shelves of this shop.


"I like my customers to choose something they would really love, not just something off of the wall. I like to talk to them and pick their brain to understand them and the art they will want on their body," Barb comments.




When asked what her favorite part of the job is, she replies, “I love seeing the customer happy. I will bend over backwards and spit nickels to make sure that they are content with the art on their body. Sometimes people joke with me after I have finished with their tattoo. They say that it’s just too good for a hand shake, and that makes me happy."


Barb loves the freedom of putting whatever art someone chooses to put on their body, but there is some work she just will not do. This includes gang signs, racist symbols or phrases, and things of that nature, as she prefers to just steer away from hate. She also mentions that she will not perform facial or genital tattoos.


This artist tattoos for the love, not the money. This is a woman who puts not just her heart into body art, but her energy and mind power. If anyone is looking to get a tattoo from someone who is friendly and who wants to hear the story behind the work, B & D Tattooing is the place to go to.


Article & Photo: Sam Thacker

samantathacker@ymail.com

1 comment:

  1. I'm going to check this place out now. Sounds interesting. I definately want more tattoos ! Good job on the article Sam... its very good !




    Rachel

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