I went to Michele in September 2007 with a custom design. I did so for the same reason as the other reviewer - to avoid the big burly men of other tattoo shops. I expected professionalism and instead she was pushy and condescending. I allowed her to do the design because the price was reasonable and I didn't know of any other female tattoo "artists" in the area. It was a larger design than she was used to tattooing but she said she could do it. She suggested I add the vines (which was just clip art... not even her own creation!) and I told her exactly where I wanted it placed on my back. She did not ask me to look at the stencil before she put it on and I didn't ask to see it because I believed she would honor my request for a lower back tattoo. During the tattooing she actually said the word "oops..." because she messed up. When she was done I saw she had placed the design two inches too high and the "oops" was in reference to a squiggly line where it should have been straight (turns out there was a lot of "oops"s...) All of her lines were done with an unsteady hand... Not only that but there was a mysterious bleeding of ink all around the tattoo. It looked smeared - as if the ink had run and she didn't wipe it up. But it was a permanent smearing.
Since that day I have been to tattoo artists in Madison, in Hollywood, in Paris, and in Dublin, Ireland. And everyone who has seen it has said it was a very poorly done job. Every single one of them said "It sucks!" :(
I was told the smeared color around the tattoo was from something called "blow out" and it is when the tattooist does not know how to properly use a tattoo needle. Michele held the tattoo needle at an improper angle and pushed too deep into my back where the skin could not hold the color. So not only did the color not stick (and would continue to disappear with time!), but I was told by a myriad of other tattoo artists that in 5 years the lines of the tattoo would blur together and become an unrecognizable blob.
I had no choice but to go to a new tattoo place and have the tattoo reworked! Big burly men don't scare me nearly as much as a BAD TATTOO JOB does!
Here is a before and after so you can see how childlike and unprofessional her job is compared to a REAL artist's work:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/shimmer_x/comparison.jpg
Here are close up shots taken right after she tattooed me. I don't have any recent photos to show how much it deteriorated over the past year, but you can clearly see the "blow out" of the green and black ink (the red is a normal after effect, the other colors should not spread hazily in a similar way but as you can see they do. The hazy shade of green and even black were all spreading as the tattoo aged and the only way to get rid of it is to cover it up with a new tattoo.) You can also see the shaky and squiggly lines.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/shimmer_x/Dscf5747.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/shimmer_x/Image8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/shimmer_x/Image1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/shimmer_x/Image10.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/shimmer_x/Image7.jpg
She told me the squiggly lines were the result of my moving while she was tattooing me but I do not flinch from pain - you can ask the man who reworked this tattoo, Just Dave, from Ultimate Arts Custom Tattoo right here in Madison. He is an AMAZING artist - a true artist - and you can see in the before and after shot just how talented he is. This man knows how to use a tattoo needle properly.
Michele does not know how to use her own equipment, and as a result my tattoo was disfigured and the color was spreading outside of the lines and disappearing from within the lines! The black lines would have blurred together and been unidentifiable in just 5-6 years.
Do not ruin your body by going to Michele. She does not honor her clients' opinions, nor does she keep things confidential - she badmouthed me and my design to other people after I told her I was unsatisfied and had to go to a new tattoo artist to have her mistakes fixed. This woman is immature and unprofessional and unskilled with a tattoo needle!!! read more