My Dear Friends of Inked As much as i do love this satan tattoo it is really awkward when i go and get a pedicure and i like plop my satan tattoo right in front of their face and it’s just so poorly done like with a sewing needle so it’s i if i were to do it over i probably just.
Wouldn’t have done that but 16 year old me was really feeling it really feeling the worship in satan vibes that day so it’s okay you live with it and i i laugh when i look at it because it brings me back to those memories of like being in my parents house tattooing myself being crazy the worst kid ever pretty.
Much i’m natasha gray i’m a tattoo model and cosmetic tattoo artist hi i’m josh and i’m a self-employed artist so i grew up in cleveland ohio kind of a lame story i finally moved out of my hometown and opened my tattoo studio.
I moved around a lot but ended up coming back to ohio almost a decade ago and i made it my place to grow okay so the first time i ever saw a heavily tattooed person it was on the internet it was a suicide girl and i specifically remember she had stars tattooed on her nipples.
And being like never exposed to tattoos or anything like that i was like wow that is intense but in the back of my mind i’m like i want to be that covered one day it was like i was there was a shock and awe factor and i was like i want to look like that when i grow up what about you.
I think the first tattoo i saw was on my brother and it was just a skull and he definitely did it to himself i was obsessed with it though i still think it’s the coolest tattoo he has but it’s pretty cool it’s like a stick and poke right exactly classic my brothers always say they like broke my dad in.
So like when i went off the deep end they’re like okay well it’s josh yeah not to get dark but i feel like tattoos really can boost your confidence and growing up having low self-esteem seeing people with tattoos it made me think oh that’s a way where i can decorate my body and start to learn to love myself a.
Little bit more so the second i turned 18 i went and got my sleeve outlined and like slowly but surely the more covered i get the more i feel better about myself so it’s kind of been this journey and like self-improvement through tattooing basically my first tattoo.
Is like this really terrible satan sticking poke that i did myself upside down and backwards in a mirror with a sewing needle i started tattooing myself when i was like 13 or 14. i have some left like this little moon most of them are covered up i’ve got some on my hands i started off with stick and pokes because my mom wouldn’t let me get.
Tattooed and i said i’m going to take matters into my own hands literally pierced my nose started tattooing myself and my friends and it’s been a crazy ride though because i would have never guessed that i would have started tattooing professionally through this whole journey so i’m really.
Thankful for what tattoos have done for me in my life i was sitting in high school one day and my 15 year old friend had a giant tattoo and i’m like where’d you get that how’d you get that we’re teenagers so she gives me the phone number this guy that tattoos out of his house.
And just like him i wanted to get it in a spot where people would see it so i got this spiderweb behind my ear and i can’t really hide that one so much unless my hair is down but eventually my parents just gave up on on the tattoos and everything because once i turned 18 and it was my choice to.
Start covering myself they’re like well here she goes they they didn’t care as as long as uh i was safe and not going to some creepy guy to get tattooed the guy that did this he was a normal guy not a creepy guy just in his house what yeah maybe that is creepy to be fair he didn’t id me.
Which is also creepy all right tattoo girl has gotten that sketchy non-id’d right it’s a thing i can’t believe i can’t be the only one well i tattooed myself in pottery class with a pottery needle i mean what you’re.
Uh it’s 15 and you’re in pottery class we had indian ink and i saw the needle and i was like oh i’m gonna do some dots on my arm and i only got like a couple of them to stay but it was that was my first tattoo technically so we both tattooed ourselves but my first tattoo i got when i was 18.
And my brother my oldest brother took me to this biker shop in detroit of all places and i just like terrified 18 year old josh walk in there i didn’t say a word like showed him the sketch and then he gave me this which looks like nothing like my drawing and not.
Even the same color so maybe it was colorblind i don’t know color blind texture but i just sat there he put on metallica and i was like cool metallica is cool and it was just like i’m getting tattooed and i got it right here because i played guitar and i was like i want everyone to see it when i’m playing.
Guitar how do you go about building your classics so for me i’ve always liked the imagery of snakes and flowers when i was a little kid my mom painted snakes and flowers on my bedroom wall so i’ve just always been obsessed with snakes and flowers so naturally when i started my sleeve.
That was my plan and i so far have gotten three snakes and tons of powers so i’m really addicted to that imagery it’s kind of hard once you find something you like you have to keep yourself from getting it tattooed over and over and over.
You’re gonna be the snake lady by the time i’m covered what about you hmm well i mean i got a tattoo when i was 18 got a tattoo when i was 21 and then skipped forward like seven years and.
Then i have money and power to do whatever i want with my life so i was like oh yeah like it started with a dream i had a dream i saw myself in a mirror fully tattooed and i was like gonna make it happen so i woke up and like went to the shop that was recommended to me i was like i want to get a.
Like a sleeve go give me sleep but i wanted to start with a hand tattoo so i just looked ridiculous like a patch on my hand and just be like i have to get more tattoos now i just kind of like if i get tattooed by someone new it’s just going to be something like different or like something i just feel really.
Attracted to but most of the time just ends up being like my friends or like people i know and it’s just like you’re a solid dude solid tattooer hook me up do you remember the first time like you noticed someone staring at you oh god.
So oh god the first time or the last time it has happens all the time but what’s great about being with him is that i just like hide behind him and then people will tat call him so i get harassed so much less now because people just look straight at his.
Tattoos or his ears people love asking did those hurt that’s like their intro their gateway to tat calling you oh my gosh but we were at universal and this guy’s like that’s too much like people will look at our tattoos and they’re like that’s cool but i couldn’t get a full sleeve that would just be trashy or that’s too much it’s.
Like yeah people just kind of like deep like i don’t want to go too far and say dehumanized but it’s just like they just see the tattoos on your arm and like look at you and they aren’t thinking about like you sitting there trying to get gas or using their like at the grocery store like trying to do your.
Thing and then all sudden it’s like oh i’m an art gallery come look at me and let me answer all your questions yes i love it i try not to get upset because on that trip her little brother and sister pointed out like you guys get so many compliments and i’m like wow at this point i just like i’d rather people just not say anything right but.
It’s kind of sweet but also kind of really relentless relentless yeah do you think there was a point in your life where you went from being just somebody with some tattoos to becoming a quote unquote tattooed person i love this question because i finally.
Feel like a tattooed person after getting my neck tattooed because something about getting hands neck and face that yeah triad right there makes you feel like i’m a tattooed person yeah my neck tattoo was definitely people.
Looked at me different after that there’s like what now that you are both fairly covered are your motivations for getting tattooed different yeah definitely now it’s just like well i haven’t been getting tattooed as frequently.
But i definitely are just saving like spots for artists that i really want to get tattooed by and stuff like that as before i was just like filling in space with people i like now i’m like uh i don’t really have any space for like big tattoos anymore and those are my.
Favorite so i’m like it’s changes a lot and i appreciate different things now like i don’t know when it comes to tattoos and tattooing so it’s like i definitely have changed a lot in what i get i’m not gonna stop i feel like i’m gonna.
Be like one of those people that’s like layers and whatnot i’m at the stage where i’m just trying to fill up space my goal was to have two sleeves by the time i was 21 so i’m 22 now i sort of sort of accomplished that goal even though this one’s not covered in but my goal is to just have a full japanese bodysuit even though the neck isn’t.
Usually a part of that or hands i just want to have like one big cohesive tattoo that all connects once i decided that i wanted to get covered in japanese tattoos i figured i had to pay some sort of homage and honor tabori tattooed find an artist that did that style so i came to new york i went to takashi matsuba he.
Tattooed this giant dragon on my side and it takes twice as long to do tabori so it’s it’s been a long time coming it’s been like four years now i’ve been working on it so i’m really eager to finish it but i love tabori tattoo and i recommend it for anyone interested it’s a really different process and feels way better than machine you get into like a.
Meditating state because it’s quieter it’s not that loud vibrating buzzing you’re just like sitting there calm with like the soft like flicking noise instead of right in your face and just listening to the rhythm of the tabori needles flick is it just puts you in the zone i normally like fall asleep.
Or just drift drift away but anytime i get tattooed with a machine i’m wide awake i’m like i can’t wait for this to end but the tabori is really pleasant it looks really intense people are always like that looks really painful but that’s okay it makes me look tough.
Because it’s really not that bad how do you feel that your tattoos have influenced your life definitely i just want to be here like i mean i wouldn’t have met her yeah we met yeah because chin tattoo this picture of after i first got it she started following me afterwards and it.
Was like he said really swollen and like halfway up his face and it just looked so gnarly and badass i was like who is this guy if he wouldn’t have gotten this chin tattoo i don’t know if we would have met so that changed both of our lives now we’re engaged if you had to start over would you do.
Everything the same way you have no i would love to just get giant front piece giant back piece like like i said big tattoos are my favorite it just sucks like that came to me like well into my journey because i just think that looks so cool yeah but i enjoy like.
No rag rats i love my tattoos it’s hard to say because as much as i do love this satan tattoo it is really awkward when i go and get a pedicure and plop my satan tattoo right in front of their face and it’s just so poorly done like with a sewing needle so it’s i.
If i were to do it over i probably just wouldn’t have done that but 16 year old me was really feeling it okay you live with it and i i laugh when i look at it because it brings me back to those memories of like being in my parents house tattooing myself and being crazy the worst kid ever pretty much.
That’s definitely where my love for tattooing started when i was tattooing myself and my friends that was a crucial key factor in my life because i always knew i wanted a tattoo but i didn’t know what style or how to start so once i discovered cosmetic tattooing and permanent makeup everything clicked and went and got certified for that now.
That i have my job as a cosmetic tattooer it’s like my life is complete like i’m where i am and where i’m meant to be i get to help people feel more confident through tattooing which is the best part of my job so yeah i think it started all the way back then from that first stick and poke.
And then i got addicted ever since it all started yeah it all started with the satan second poke you
Getting tattooed is a journey. We all start with one and from there everybody walks their own path. Natasha and Josh each began with something small—she did her own, he went to a biker shop in Detroit—and have built up from there. We spoke with the couple about how their tattoos brought them together, how other people react to them and the importance of dedication.
Welcome to Heavily Inked. In our newest series, we’re going to speak one-on-one with tattoo collectors and artists about what it means to be a heavily inked person. We’ll get deep as we go through the motivations behind their tattoo choices, the way they’ve been treated in society and much more.
Natasha: https://www.instagram.com/hellcat_nat/
Josh: https://www.instagram.com/ramenshamanart/
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