Page 11 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

Mean Ink Tattoo - it just might be for you

Welcome back to another Spot- Thursday, August 1st, to get a new We found something similar (not
light Series with Sarah! tattoo to write about for this series. an exact match) to what I wanted, so
Five months ago, I started this se- I only planned on getting a very he printed it out and got the stencil
ries to get to know the city more per- small wrist tattoo, so I had called ready. He made a light mark on my
sonally, while my readers can get to ahead to ask what the shop mini- back where I said I wanted the tattoo
know me better in the process. mum was. Since the minimum is to start and then carefully placed the
For my readers with tattoos, you $100, I decided I’d add a spine tattoo stencil on my skin to make sure it
know having a trusted tattoo artist is I’ve been wanting for a while too to was straight down my spine.
just as important (if not more) as get more bang for my buck. I asked him to take a photo of my
having a trusted barber or hair- Ireland was a fantastic artist that Irish Cass was the available artist back so I could get a better look at
dresser. Because a bad haircut can worked well with his clients and when I arrived. the stencil and confirm I was happy
grow back. But a bad tattoo? You’re made sure they got exactly what they He asked me what I wanted, with everything. While I was staring
stuck with it for life (unless you de- wanted. where I wanted it, and got creating at the photo, I realized I actually did
cide to get it covered up or removed, He worked with me to bring an the designs while I filled out the pa- not like the font we picked and the
of course). idea to life that I had been imagining perwork. Once I finished signing and tattoo was going to be a lot larger
When I first started getting tat- since high school. He also tattooed initialing everything, I walked over to than I had originally anticipated it
toos, I switched from artist to artist, one of my best friends, Emmah McK- Cass’ station to see what he had cre- would be.
until I found my trusted tattoo artist, ague, to commemorate her first born ated for me. Since we couldn’t find the exact
Jesse Ireland. child. I wanted a small Jesus fish for match to the font I wanted, I decided
Ireland did three tattoos for me My heart broke for his surviving my wrist and the phrase “clothed to just stick with the Jesus fish tat-
before he moved to Prestige Body Art family and friends, but my heart also with strength and dignity” (one of my too that day instead.
in Howell. broke for myself and I dreaded hav- favorite Bible verses from Proverbs) Cass was understanding and very
I had been planning to eventually ing to look for a new artist. in cursive writing down my spine. patient with me and removed the
make the drive to his new location Since I started this series, I’ve I didn’t love the font he had stencil from my back. He placed the
for some new ink (it’s been over two tried to find places to go within the picked for my spine tattoo, so I stencil on my wrist, I confirmed
years since my last tattoo), when I city of Wayne instead of looking else- showed him a screenshot of the font everything looked good, and he
learned the heartbreaking news that where. I figured, why not try that I wanted, and we took some time to began tattooing me.
he unexpectedly passed away in with a tattoo artist too. try to find the best match for it (since
April. So I went to Mean Ink Tattoo on I didn’t know the name of the font). See Spotlight, page 13

The Wayne Dispatch · August 2024 · 11