LEFT: A tattoo by Erik Rieth, co-owner and tattoo artist at Seventh Son Tattoo in San Francisco, who has been tattooing for more than 20 years. Photo courtesy of Erik Rieth RIGHT: A tattoo by a student at the World’s Only Tattoo School in Shreveport, La., which offers a two week tattoo course. Photo courtesy of L.W. Pogue
requires artists to register annually with a local enforcement agency and specifies strict sanitation procedures. Even so, people still break the law, tattooing out of their homes or tattooing minors. The latter is a misdemeanor in California, according to California Penal Code 653. “Unfortunately, they [illegal tattoo shops] don’t get shut down because there’s not a lot of knowledge in the law enforcement community about this,” Roze says. There also isn’t any regulation against being a bad tattoo artist. According to the San Francisco Health Department, all a tattoo license requires is a photo ID, a bloodborne pathogen training certificate, a hepatitis vaccinations certificate and $25. Even though the application asks for a brief background description, Rieth says an apprenticeship is not a legal requirement. “Licensing is required in California, but there’s no background check on apprenticeships here,” he says. But Roze says the tattoo industry’s close-knit communities and word-of-mouth advertising help stifle sub-par work. “If somebody’s messing with the business, I call the shops and say ‘Don’t hire this guy’,” Roze says. But this hasn’t stopped those looking for a cheap tattoo from finding a shop or scratcher (an untrained amateur who tattoos out of his/her home) who will do it for a few bucks. Kelsey Trier, a Palo Alto High School alumnus, paid $40 for her first tattoo, which she got at the age of 16. “I got it done in a house by an artist that was formerly
licensed and employed in a legitimate tattoo shop but was fired for tattooing minors,” she says. “It was literally just a phone call for me, but it all really depends on who you know.” But Roze says a cheap tattoo is a warning sign. According to her, the typical minimum for a professional tattoo is $100, with rates usually ranging from $150-350 per hour. “Don’t shop for the cheapest tattoo, because you get what you pay for,” she says. “There’s an old saying that good tattoos aren’t cheap and cheap tattoos aren’t good.” Not only do cheap shops do subpar work, but they cheapen the industry as well, according to Roze. “The price of tattooing has been crushed by the abundance of unskilled people who charge less money,” she says. “It kind of mirrors this complaint about unskilled labor. Like if I owned a construction company, and all the guys down at Home Depot charged 50 bucks a day to do the same work as my skilled, bonded, insured carpenters who want 150 a day.” Rieth says tattoo schools have made tattooing more mainstream. But he and Roze aren’t sure this is a good thing. “If anyone can do this, then where’s the special treat?” Roze asks. “It [tattooing] hurts. It should be expensive. They [tattoo schools] are taking the mystery out of it and they’ve created a plethora of new unskilled artists who just sprung up like weeds.” “Our popular culture is devouring anything that used to be on the fringe and spitting it back out,” Rieth adds. “Some things maybe should remain on the fringe.” v PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: Luke Stewart, co-owner and tattoo artist at Seventh Son Tattoo in San Fracnisco, carefully outlines a client’s future sleeve tattoo. Karen Roze, owner and tattoo artist at Sacred Rose Tattoo in Berkeley, says a good tatttoo always has consistent line quality.
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