For many people getting a tattoo can become and addiction so its fortunate Liverpool has plenty of salons.
The ECHO spoke to tattoo artists in the city to find out what it is really like dealing with customers request from the touching to the slightly odd. We first spoke to Pablo Stollios from Tattoo Society UK located in The Basement, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool City Centre. The studio has five star reviews and is hugely popular with tattoo lovers.
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Describing one of his most strange requests, Pablo spoke of a gentleman who asked for a very detailed tattoo of his girlfriend turned into a raccoon carrying a pint. He said: “The customer asked me to turn his girlfriend into a raccoon. Not happy with just that, he decided that he would like her to ride a Xenomorph with a unicorn horn.
“And wearing a leather jacket and a t-shirt of her favourite band with a glass of beer in one hand and a baseball bat in the other with the word 'Huracán' written on it. Woodstock, Snoop’s little yellow bird sitting on the bat wearing a Viking helmet and some bats in the background was also requested.
“So yeah, each detail that you see on the tattoo was specifically requested by the customer, goes without saying it took me a while to design it.”
Pablo also told the ECHO about what tattoo is most requested by scousers. According to Pablo, it is a popular demand from scousers to have a permanent reminder of their home mascot tattooed on their body.
He added: “Obviously the liver bird, especially the one on the LFC badge. I don't know how many of them I have done, that was until I decided to stop doing walk-ins, so now to get a liver bird from me it has to have some artistic interest, like this one [below] I did not long ago.”
Sean Lysaght runs Creative Element tattoo studio. His apprentice Danny Riding gave us insight into life at the studio.
He said: “Sean’s most bizarre tattoo is probably the one that came through today. A chef has asked for his whole body to be tattooed entirely in chef-related things.
“So they want knives, pots and pans. He also worked on one today based on the game Halo. Someone is getting a whole leg tattoo of all the characters."
Danny Riding explained Sean’s most annoying tattoo that people always ask for. Apparently at least three are requested everyday and Sean accepts just three a week.
The apprentice said: “Oh the pocket watch, everyone wants it with the time their child was born. He must do about three of them a week.
“I work his emails and when I come in, in the morning there are about three emails from clients wanting one. They’re just so popular at the moment. A lion is a runner-up.”
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