It's only 7:30 p.m. and Celebrity Tattoo already has 20 tattoos and 13 piercings on the books for the night.
The chilled air filled with rain might have something to do with it, but it's also just the typical Saturday night rush Celebrity Tattoo at 11730 W. Colfax Ave. experiences on a regular basis.
Zeke Pasateri is the owner of all four Celebrity Tattoo shops in the Denver metro area. The Lakewood shop has been injecting ink into willing customers' skin since 1996, followed by two shops in Denver, one in Wheat Ridge and a shop soon to debut in Mexico.
Working for Pasateri for more than five years,
Natalie Elton is the manager of the Lakewood Celebrity Tattoo. Elton says she started working at Celebrity Tattoo as a bookkeeper and has worked her way up the ladder to shop manager.
Boasting 15 piercings and seven tattoos, Elton is a walking spokesperson for the services offered by Celebrity Tattoo. She says there are about 75 people working at the shop, including tattoo artists, apprentices and piercing experts.
Elton says the Lakewood shop is the most established location and serves as the main office for Celebrity Tattoo and the site where the majority of tattoo training takes place.
With 11 years of credibility, thousands of customers and nearly 100 employees, Elton doesn't seem surprised at the shop's success.
"There are great people here, great artists," she says while taking a break in the store's cluttered office. Employees bustle around her, grabbing paperwork for customers and answering phone calls.
Outside in the main part of the store, potential tatooees browse the colorful walls for designs or flip through thick books. The air is filled with the buzz of multiple tattoo guns.
In one of the chairs is
Michael Sumner, of Evergreen, who is getting his arm tattoo touched up. He works for a Christian organization, so by day he keeps his tattoos hidden under long sleeves, he says.
Also going under the needle is Westminster resident
Kellie Hoffman. She flashes a nervous smile as she reclines on the left side of her body while her right thigh is acquiring a new mixture of pink, blue and green ink by tattoo artist
Sean Gevedon.
A flower the size of her palm will now decorate her body for the rest of her life -- or until she decides to invest in some handy laser work.
Hoffman and her four friends have been creating a new meaning to "girls night out." They have been at Celebrity Tattoo since early in the afternoon, each taking their turn in an artist's chair. She explains they decided to get tattoos together.
One of Hoffman's friends,
Michelle Glitzer, of Westminster says,"I got it because no one thought I would, in a moment of insanity." Glitzer lifts up her bandage to reveal a multi-colored unicorn now dancing across her thigh. Another friend,
Robin Saulis, shows off the revamped rose adorning her ankle.
The unicorn is Glitzer's fourth tattoo.
"Getting a tattoo is like giving birth. After you do it, you forget how painful it is, so you go and do it again," she says.
Scarred for life: Breaking into the tattoo biz
The hardest part of getting a tattoo may be choosing a design that you want for the rest of your life, but breaking into the business of tattooing is a challenging task, according to local artists.
Chad Martin, owner of Sinfulltration Tattoo at 7004 W. Colfax Ave.and a Lakewood resident, says potential artists usually have to know someone in the business who will take them on as an apprentice. Martin is hesitant to take on apprentices because ones he's had in the past didn't treat it like a real job, he says.
Amelia Kraft, a tattoo artist at Celebrity Tattoo in Lakewood, also says the best way to learn the skills to become an artist is to know someone who will take you under their wing.
Kraft grew up around the tattoo business because a family friend is an artist. When she decided she wanted to learn, she "pretty much showed up at his house every day for two years" before he took her on, she says.
Imani Layne, who was recently apprenticed by Celebrity Tattoo, said he called tattoo places all over Denver to try and score an apprenticeship. Celebrity was the only one accepting applications, so he jumped on the opportunity, he says.
Layne takes the bus from northwest Denver up to Lakewood on weekends to work at Celebrity. Layne mostly cleans the shop and performs other menial tasks, but it is worth it for the knowledge he is receiving, he says.
Even if a potential artist can find a willing teacher, there's the cost. Depending on the shop, apprenticeships often cost between $2,500 to $5,000 and last one to two years, Martin says.
Before trying their hand at the tattoo gun, apprentices have to learn proper sterilization techniques and are required to take a blood-born pathogen course through an organization such as the Red Cross, Martin says.
New apprentices often have to put up with a lot of grunt work (such as cleaning) before moving on to real tattoo training, Kraft says. Many apprentices get fed up and leave before the time is up, she says.
"You have to prove you have the heart for it," Kraft says.
| Popular tats |
According to Chad Martin, the most popular tattoo for women to get is flowers.
For men, it is more of a mixed bag, but he said pinup girls, skulls and portraits of family members are all popular. |
Layne, who is 27, didn't get his first tattoo until recently, after a friend of his bought a tattoo gun off the Internet. He was inspired to learn to tattoo others, but first, he decided it would be best to try it on himself.
"I didn't want to tattoo friends without feeling it myself," Layne says. His forearms and legs showcase his handiwork - faint blue lines zigzagging across his skin.
"You learn to breathe through the pain," he says.
Martin says it is common for budding tattoo artists to practice on themselves and trusting friends before being allowed to serve customers. Even if an apprentice has an art background, skin as canvas presents unique challenges.
"Skin has a different texture. Paper doesn't move, it doesn't bleed or complain," he says.