The Truth About Tattoos: A Trip to the War of the Roses Tattoo Convention
Last weekend I found myself at the Lancaster Host Conference Center and Resort holding my arm out to get my third tattoo. It was my second day at the War of the Rose III Tattoo Convention and the small wrist tattoo was soon finished. On the first day, I got my second tattoo. So what is the big deal about tattoos?
I’ve never been against tattoos, but I know plenty of people who are. Some people are just uncomfortable by the idea; others don’t think tattoos are professional. Honestly, I wanted a tattoo before I was eighteen, but even then like many young adults, I wanted it because I could. It’s like when you can first vote, you might not understand the logistics, but you still want to do.
The biggest thing about tattoos is the commitment. It’s permanent. Once it is there you are stuck with it. Commitment was the reason I personally waited so long to get my first tattoo. While my first tattoo was rather spontaneous, it didn’t change that I had thought about the idea for a significant amount of time.
Until this last weekend, I would say my knowledge of tattoos was rather limited. I definitely have a Pintrest board of ideas and have watched Buzzfeeders get their own tattoos, but beyond that, I didn’t know much about the industry.
My friend and I walked around the tables and flipped through every artist’s portfolio, while punk rock and metal bands played in the background. So yeah, the scene was pretty much what you would expect at a tattoo convention. Oddly or grossly, there was a guy who did paintings with human blood. This guy represented the extreme of the convention and his dermal studded head was proof of that. Despite every cliché that could be present, everybody there was normal and chill. There were even a couple of women who reminded me of my grandmother whom had full sleeve tattoos. Just because someone’s arm is cover in a tattoo it doesn’t mean they’re less normal, which I think is something that we often miss.
As my friend lay down to get his tattoo on his leg, I went down to the Jamberry booth to show the sales women my new tattoo. She loved it. Jamberry is not a tattoo parlor, but rather a nail wrap service similar to Mary Kay. If you love nail art like I do, I highly recommend checking their wraps out or emailing Jeannine Scope (J9Jams@yahoo.com).
It was great to see all the different sectors of the tattoo industry in one place and to see what other people were present. Even better was knowing that the money we spent on our admission was going to charity and that this eccentric group had come together not only to hang out and show off their talent, but to give back to something. On the way out we waved to AJ, the tattoo artist who has done all of my tattoos, taking a big bite into a ham sandwich from Campus Grille. The same ham sandwich that paid for my newest tattoo on my wrist. So maybe I only thought one night about my newest tattoo, but the bullet with a heart in it was a story inked my skin. Some of us tell are stories by writing, doing art, speaking, but others tell our stories by tattooing them in our skin.
To view some of the artists visit the WOTR Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/WarOfTheRosesTattooConvention
AJ Weaver, Rayzor Tattoo in Steelton, did all tattoos in this post from. You can check his work and other Rayzor artists on Instagram: @rayzortatoos and @ajweavertatoos.