College is said to be the perfect time for anyone to get their first tattoo. You’re away from the ever-watchful eye of mom and dad, perhaps you have some cash left over from your fall term financial aid that’s eating a hole in your pocket that an iPod just can’t fill.
Fortunately for you, you live in Portland.
In a town that proudly lays claim to the rumor that we have more strip clubs per capita than any other city in the United States, it would seem that the only pastime Portlanders enjoy more than watching flesh is inking flesh.
While the Portland area boasts more than 30 strip clubs, the River City is home to more than twice as many tattoo parlors. So what are all the kids getting on their bodies these days?
“A lot of names, a lot of stars,” says tattoo artist Reverend Spatters. “A lot of Nicole Richie rosaries.”
Spatters is an artist at Sea Tramp Tattoo, Portland’s oldest tattoo parlor and reputedly the same shop that the infamous crime couple Bonnie and Clyde were tattooed at during a trip to Portland.
Spatters speculated that the lagging economy could be the reason for the increasing requests for smaller–and cheaper–tattoos over the larger and more ornate pieces.
Local tattoo artist Ryan Zachary said he has seen a change in placement of tattoos, particularly on women, and said that the infamous ‘tramp stamp’ is all but dead.
“The lower back is no longer popular,” said Zachary. “Women have been wanting larger rib tattoos instead.”
Zachary, who has been tattooing for the last seven years, said he has seen a large increase in requests for tattoos in traditional early American (skulls, hearts and anchors) and Japanese (koi fish, ocean waves) styles, as well as a shift from old-English-style block lettering to a fancier script.
One design Zachary said has not gone out of style is the rose. “Roses have been tattooed since the dawn of time practically,” he said. “I love tattooing roses.”
With the ever-rising popularity and awareness of veganism in Portland, it seems only natural that the “no animal products ever” credo would makes its way to the world of permanent body art.
The demand for vegan inks (the majority of tattoo inks on the market are made with animal-based glycerin and charcoal) has grown to the point where in Portland, not only do several shops carry vegan inks as an option, but the city is also home to an all-vegan tattoo parlor, Scapegoat Tattoos.
Scapegoat’s owner Brian Wilson said he has noticed the side-rib tattoo shift on women.
“Things have moved from the lower back and to the ribs, for first tattoos,” Wilson said, noting that it was a tattoo artist at Atlas tattoo who first mentioned the shift. “As soon as people started calling it the ‘tramp stamp,’ that’s when people stopped getting their lower backs tattooed.”
Oh, those tricky ladies. Quick, someone, we need a derogatory, sexually humiliating term for a tattoo placed on a woman’s rib! “Ho handle,” maybe?