It's been a while since I got my tattoo at Body Armor in Jan 2010, but it was such a bad experience for me that I still get really upset thinking about it. I recommend AGAINST this place -- and especially this artist -- in the most emphatic way possible.
I had spent lots of time and money planning for the perfect tattoo on top of a surgical scar on my wrist, and I commemorated the anniversary of getting the surgery by getting this tattoo done in Kalamazoo. After lots of research, I knew the issues of getting a tattoo solely done in white ink, and I understood lots of precautions of getting tattoos done on/around a scar. I talked to the receptionist at the studio about this when I was making my decisions about where to go, and of course I also tried talking to the artist about this as well. (I can't remember for sure who the artist was, although I'm pretty sure it was Danny.)
I also talked to the artist about how important this tattoo was for me, in meaning and symbolism. Simply put, he didn't respect my wishes or concerns at all. For example, I told him that I'd heard that the stencil ink can get into the white tattoo ink and discolor the tattoo. He confidently told me that was impossible because he was using the same ink that teachers used to use for dittos, saying that it washes off easily. (As you might imagine, my white ink tattoo, which was supposed to end up looking like an extension of the scar, has hints of blue throughout more than half of it, making it look instead like extension of my veins. Eww.)
Even more traumatic for me: after specifically requesting that he not ink directly on the scar, he did so *repeatedly*, in two separate places. When I implored/demanded that he not do it again, he told me to "stop being a bitch."
He probably wasn't actually paying attention to me and what I was saying about my tattoo because he spent so much time talking to me, going on and on about completely inappropriate things about his relationship -- including sex life and temptations to cheat -- with his wife, and the drug habits of his kids' friends. While the topics of conversation were ridiculously self-centered and revealed his complete oblivion to me, they also were clearly distracting him from doing his job well.
I had been so upset by the fact that I'd been inked on my scar that I went back to the studio about a week after getting the tattoo in order to voice my complaints and ask for some money back, which I thought would be the least they could do for messing up something so personal and irrevocably permanent. Instead of being directed to any kind of manager, the artist came back out and accused me of being a liar in a confrontational way. I left the studio in tears.
If you care about the experience of getting a tattoo such that you want to be heard and respected, then I think you should go elsewhere. read more
