Few know Denver ink better than the lovely inked ladies of the Denver Roller Dolls. Below, a few Dolls share their tattoo stories:

I can't really say that I have a favorite tat as they all have a special place for me.

My first one is the most sentimental. I got it on the second anniversary of my mother's death. It's in the typical tramp stamp spot (well, a lot lower than usual) and is a butterfly hovering over a caterpillar. When we found out my mom was sick, she had to explain to me what was happening and in efforts to explain death to an 11 year old, she described it as a metamorphosis, like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly ... so the tat represents her looking over me, still a caterpillar.

The next tats I got were a bit sillier. I have the Rebel Alliance on the left hip and the Imperial Crest on the other. Why? I love Star Wars, am a member of the Jedi Knights Scooter Club, and am a liberal political science major so I put the good guys on the left in blue and the bad guys on the right in red - they're pretty much all around nerdy tats but they're probably the ones I show off the most. They were my way of branding myself nerd for life.

I'm in the process of getting my final tats - I don't see myself getting any more after these (well, maybe adding to what I have but not adding new ones). The ones I'm working on are side pieces that go from my hips to under my arm pits and are about 4 inches wide. The left side is a Colorado landscape with mountains, aspens, my favorite lake, wild flowers, etc. and the name of our family's mountain place. The right side is Greece with the blue and white buildings, the ocean, ancient columns, ect. and a lifesaver with the name of the ship I grew up on. I'm half Greek and half Coloradan (I'm 5th generation Coloradan). I like how the tats sandwich me in the two sides of my family and are amazingly symmetrical due to an awesome tattoo artist. I have a thing for symmetry and opposites that comes out in the tats - good/evil, night/day, mom/dad. With the side pieces, it was also nice to get to add in two very important places in my life - my ship and our mountain place. I've had to say goodbye to both recently so it's comforting to feel like I carry a piece of them with me wherever I go.

The side pieces have taken a few months to get as far as they have as I'll only do one side at a time and it's 2 weeks before I can go back for more. I didn't believe people when they said the ribs are the most painful place 'til I got it done which doesn't help anything go faster as I'll only sit for about 2 hours at a time before I'm done. All in all, the side pieces will take about 20 hours, bringing me to a grand total of 23.25 hours of getting tattooed in my life. A day of pain for a lifetime of art is a pretty good deal.

-- Amaleia Kolovos (still a rookie, no derby name yet), Denver

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My chest piece is one of my favs which has two skeleton angels wrapped up to a sacred heart, and on my inner arms are two sugar skulls which are tributes to hairdressing (which is what I do). The boy has a rockin' blue pompadour and the girl has a pink bee hive.

I don't love the process of getting tatooed but the finished result is well worth the pain.

All of my tattoos are significant to where I am or have been in my life or where I am going....The next is sure to be derby related!

-- Tina McKeever aka Amputina, Denver
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