Tattoos are more mainstream than ever
BY KATHRYN CATES MOORE / Lincoln Journal Star
.....Gary Mayo, owner of Guns 2 Roses tattoo shop, puts most of his customers in
the 18 to 25 age group.
...."We cater to what I like to call ‘the intelligent college student,'" he
said. If it is their first tattoo experience, Mayo tries to steer them away from
inking skin that will be on display 24/7. Faces and the backs of hands, for
example, are best left unmarked, he believes, at least until you are sure of the
permanency of your decision.
.....Mayo, who has been in the business five years,
is a fanatic about the sterility of his instruments,
and is
the only shop in the state to use equipment that is driven by air and can be
totally sterilized in an autoclave. There's no chance for hepatitis,
which star Pamela Anderson contends she contracted by receiving a tattoo.
.....Mayo believes the up and down of the air-driven needle produces a more
consistent and precise image than regular tattoo machines. "I think it hurts
less," he said.
.... Mayo likes the symmetry and preciseness that comes
with digital imaging. Letters are centered, evenly spaced and the same size when
he puts them up on his computer screen. He can size them up or down and then
print the design so clients know exactly what it is going to look like on their
skin.
"I'm not big on freehand," he said. "When they go out the door, they are wearing
my art" and he wants it exactly right.