A Tattoo Is Forever

Good Morning Friends of Speakeasy Tattoo Los Angeles!

This is Marléna here again with another weekly update! The days are getting longer, and it’s starting to feel a lot like Summer! I’ve been tattooing and feeling really absorbed by the technical subtleties of tattooing. James is about to start tattooing any day now, I’m really excited to see him start. My hands have gotten a little bit stronger after my first few tattoos, which left my hand feeling more or less dead. Speaking of dead, this week I would like to talk a little bit about the potential lifespan of a tattoo!

Generally, we think of tattoos as being permanent. However, tattoos are only as permanent as we are…which is not actually all that permanent . In 2015 The National Association for the Preservation of Skin Art began offering a membership to tattooed people. This membership includes a service in which the company will preserve your loved one’s tattoos for you post mortem. Family and loved ones now have the option to keep their loved one’s tattoos in addition or as an alternative to ashes.

Once someone has passed away, the mortician cuts away the desired tattoo during autopsy. The skin is then sent back to the NAPSA headquarters in Ohio. At the facility, the skin is finished and framed before being returned in the mail. While I’m not sure about the likelihood of anyone ever wanting to keep my tattoos bad enough for me to arrange for it, I do think the tattoo preservation is super neat and basically just a human branch of taxidermy. Thats all for this week!

Thanks everyone for reading! Until next time,

-M.M