Author: Rosalie Hurr

I started out as the one and only Things&Ink intern, fast forward a fair few amazing years and I now run the blog and our social media accounts. You'll more than likely find me scrolling through Instagram (@cupofrosalie) looking for new tattoo artists to share, surrounded by my cats and a cinnamon bun or two.
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Tattooed on the Job – the Perks of being a Things&Ink Intern

Our intern Rosalie interviews tattoo artist Lucy O’Connell while getting her tattoo sleeve started… 

I took the train to visit Lucy O’Connell and Ruth Rollin, both from Red Tattoo and Piercing in Leeds who were doing a guest spot at Painted Lady Tattoo Parlour in Northfield, Birmingham.

The studio is absolutely beautiful, like no other I have ever been in. Forget sterile white and tiled floors Painted Lady is like stepping into your much loved eccentric Auntie’s house. Instead imagine ornate frames, muted green walls and bare wooden floor in what was once a living room. The collection of art and taxidermy is incredible and the homey feel is so relaxing, this is how I want my house to be like! There was so much to look at while Lucy tattooed my forearm for three hours with her practically silent tattoo machine.

Owner of the Painted Lady, Dawnii Fantana, one of Lucy’s inspirations, was so welcoming with cups of peach tea and cake! What more could you want? Other inspirations of Lucy’s include; Xam (who she’s planning to get tattooed by when he guests in Leeds), Emily Rose Murray, Valerie Vargas, Jason Minauro and Claudia de Sabe (who is tattooing Lucy’s hands very soon) – Lucky thing!

Lucy had drawn the Chinese lantern design with a cute bird a while ago and I had to snap it up for the start of my sleeve, I love everything she does! I’m a real Instagram stalker, even recognising the fruit fillers that Amy Savage had tattooed as belonging to Lucy. We chatted and laughed the whole way through the tattoo swapping stories about not crying at films, university courses, her love for Robert Downey Jr, (we were watching the new Sherlock Holmes) and other nonsensical things!

Lucy has been tattooing for only two years, yet her style is so distinctive; with women and flowers featuring heavily, as she could tattoo these all day. ‘I do try to turn everything into a woman! I try to get away with as much as I can!’ Fine by me, I especially love her flowers with women faces, perfect.

At first when she started out in the industry Lucy thought she’d specialise in realism but her imagination ran away with her, although ‘it is nice to be given some direction’, creating your own art is more enjoyable.

I can’t wait to get stuck into my sleeve, having already spied on Lucy’s Instagram a gorgeous Indian inspired lady face, which I hope she can recreate for my own collection. My arm will be filled with Indian goddesses, tigers and fans at The Femaletattoo Show, in Leamington Spa where Lucy is working at on 14th September.

Lucy also has numerous guest spots planned:
One Day Gallery, Manchester 28th-29th May
Loaded Forty Four, Manchester 10th-12th July
As well as exhibiting originals of her work at The Old Bones Emporium in Edinburgh 6th-12th  June

I also got my first ever hand-poked tattoo by Ruth Rollins. I picked a little wishbone from her sheet of cute small dot work flash, to bring me luck. I found being tattooed in this way so relaxing and part from a few points it was pretty painless. I could have lain on the table for hours… I asked Ruth which method of tattooing she preferred: ‘it’s too hard to say which I prefer, they are too different and you’re not comparing like for like’. While tattooing with a machine allows Ruth to create larger tattoos, she, like the person being tattooed, finds hand-poking therapeutic. Ruth is also working at the Femaletattoo Show in September and I’ll be popping down to have another little relaxing hand-poked piece of art!

Having these lovely northern lasses tattoo me yesterday was only made possible by Dawnii Fantana (have a look at her beautiful gypsies), Ruth explains that ‘as relative newbies to the tattooing industry it is brilliant having people like Dawnii who help and encourage you’, Hurrah! To Dawnii, her gorgeous shop and supportive nature! Definitely on my growing to-be-tattooed-by list! I hope I don’t run out of space first!

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Should your partner influence your decision to get tattooed?

Should your partner influence your decision to get tattooed? asks our intern Rosalie.

‘”I have numerous tattoos, all of these, bar one, are on my legs, and have been, for the winter, months hidden under leggings. I have been thinking about getting a small jewel tattooed under my boobs, and when my artist created a flash sheet of pretty jewellery inspired designs I became even more excited by the idea. The small ornate jewel would sit nicely under my boobs and look pretty and match my other jewelled pieces. The sternum placement has become increasingly popular, not only with celebrities and tattooed women, but with artists who are creating designs to enhance this area. I am not keen to jump on the bandwagon, as such, but there is something about this placement on women that I find beautiful.'”

Matching tattoos by Charlotte Timmons, Modern Body Art Birmingham

“My boyfriend of five years has not protested to any of my other tattoos, and although I rarely show him sketches of what I am getting, he is always happy with the design, and often chuckles at my subject choices. We met when neither of us had any tattoos and we got our first ones together in our home town, now we both have small collections and he is working on two sleeves. Tattoos for me are a way of capturing memories, showcasing my personality and more recently to simply make myself and others smile. My partner generally allows me complete freedom to permanently adorn my body how I please, and it was he who started my love affair with tattoos.”

“This was until I suggested the jewel under my bust, for reasons unknown to both of us he has been protesting. He has no problem with my other tattoos and says they are sexy, but I think it is the close proximity to my boobs and the design being on my torso that he is having difficulty with. In his mind I am still a bare skinned 17 year old, when, in fact, I am fast becoming a tattooed woman, and loving it!”

Avocado tattoo is by Hanan Qattan, Infinite Ink Coventry

“So should your partner have a say in your subject choices for tattoos and should they influence your decision on the body area which you choose to place the tattoo?”

“As the owner of my body I would say no, but with much internet searching I can sympathise with the partners who argue that it is partly their body, as well. They are the ones who will view your body especially as age affects your tattooed artwork, and they are the ones which we expect to love us as we grow old.”

Moth by Sophie Adamson, The Projects, Plymouth.

Have you denied yourself a tattoo because of the views of your partner? Or do you not consider them in the decision, as you are the owner of your body?

“As for me I am slowly bringing my boyfriend around to the idea, but he also knows that if it is something that I truly want I will go ahead and get it anyway!”