(machine buzzing) (machine buzzing) - [Stephany] How was that?

- [Client] Just fine.

(upbeat rock music) - So describe your business.

What do you offer?

- So we are the biggest queer-owned shop in Kalamazoo.

We're all neurodivergent, queer, LGBT friendly, BPOC friendly.

Our mission is to kind of offset the traditional like butch, like big beefy dude kind of tattoo studio and be pretty and girly and have all of our fun stuff here, but most importantly being like a safe space for those communities in Kalamazoo.

- Wow.

- [Mae] Yeah.

- How'd you get into the business of tattooing?

- So, I have a degree in costume design from Western Michigan University.

Didn't like it.

(Mae laughs) Loved the program, had a good time, learned a lot, but it wasn't really a good fit for me.

And so I went and got a master's degree also from Western in public history, which is like museum studies.

I was a collections manager at a local museum.

Also didn't like that.

And while I was in grad school, I met some folks that previously owned the shop and got in with them, was hanging out with them, and just fell in love with tattooing.

And when my museum job came to an end, the former owner, they were like, "Hey, we need help with the social media, the website, that kind of thing."

So I slowly started to do stuff with that.

And when they moved away back to Oregon this past year, we traded the shop off to me, so, yeah.

- And here you are inviting others to receive their tattoos.

So a client comes in interested in a tattoo.

What is the process?

How do you work with he or she mentally, physically, they or them?

- Yeah, so typically, so I'm the shop owner, and I'm kind of like the central hub for most of the booking.

So people will typically reach out to me and say, "Hey, I want this cat on a mountain," or whatever crazy stuff that people want.

And I say, okay, give me some of your reference images.

Where do you want it?

How big do you want it?

Do you have any specific things that you want added into it?

And then I work with the client to just determine which of our artists will do the tattoo 'cause we all have different styles and different specialties.

And then from there, sometimes we'll do an in-person consultation to discuss further if it's something really big, or we'll draw it up for them, and they'll be able to choose sizes and things like that.

- I'll be blunt, how painful is it?

- [Mae] It hurts, but it's not like the worst thing.

We say like, cat scratch on a sunburn for most placements.

Yeah.

(Mae laughs) (machine buzzing) - [Stephany] Aw yeah!

- Let's get into, first of all, the atmosphere that you provide.

- Yeah.

- Is music important?

Do you talk to your people?

- I do, I'm extremely chatty, and it's definitely a lot of learning clients' cues.

Like if I'm talking, and I can tell that they're not quite as into it, or if they put headphones in, then I know to kind of, you know, just do the work and be done.

But most clients, they love to talk.

They love feeling comfortable.

Like, it is really important to me to foster a like a relationship between me and my client that is fun, friendly, still maintains that client/tattooer relationship, but I want them to be comfortable.

I want them, like if we're at any point in the procedure, if they look down and they don't understand what I'm doing, I want them to be comfortable enough to be like, oh, hey, I don't understand this, or why are you doing this this way?

I would've assumed it was that way.

And then there's that ability to sit down and be like, oh, okay, so I'm doing this with this ink this color because of how this will turn out.

And then once we get past this part, the shading will come in, and it won't be just a line.

Just really like getting down to the nitty gritty, really explaining to them like every single step that I'm doing as they watch it go by on their own skin.

- And you are using your university degree?

- I am.

I like to joke, I can't be one of those tattooers that say I didn't go to college for this.

Obviously I not study tattooing.

I got my BFA in graphic design from Western Michigan University.

And I did that for many years.

And Mae and I went to college together.

We worked in the tech department.

And so when, I've always wanted to be a tattooer.

I always felt that it was unattainable, that it was too hard to get into.

Thankfully I was able to make it work with Mae and the permission from my husband to, you know, go unpaid for a little while or make less than I had wanted money and just pursue my dreams.

And- - He allowed you to write on, to draw on people?

- Yes, he did.

He even allowed me to tattoo him.

I gave him his first tattoos.

And it's funny, he's actually one of my whiniest clients, but that's how it is sometimes.

(Stephany Laughs) - So let's talk about this actual procedure.

And you have a little prop with us.

- Yes.

- So what do you use on me?

- So this is a coil machine.

There are typically two types of machines that get used.

There's a rotary and a coil.

Kind of the difference between them is like the difference between an automatic and a manual transmission in a car.

So in these you can see all the parts.

You see the armature bar.

You see the tightening screw.

You see the actual coils and where you plug the machine in.

Whereas a rotary is kind of more like a pen or a computer in that it's all housed in one thing, and you can't see the internal parts.

They each have their different abilities and differences.

It's totally up to the artist.

So Mae and I are very, as they say, loyal to the coil.

These are the only machines that we use.

And you can tune them.

So like if this were to break mid procedure, like say one of these springs broke, I have backup springs.

I'm able to just stop the tattoo, clean up my machine, fix it, and get right back to it, which is really, really nice and convenient because it does happen sometimes.

The mechanical aspect of this job is one of the things I like the most.

(upbeat rock music) So how I'm gonna start is I'm gonna start down here.

I'm gonna do a little line, I'm gonna pull back, and you're gonna be like, oh, that was fine.

And we'll keep going.

- Great.

- If you need a break for water or snacks, or if you get lightheaded at any time, just let me know.

- Sure.

(upbeat rock music) (machine buzzing) - [Stephany] How you doing now?

- [Client] Oh, doing great.

That's gonna look so sick.

- Yes it is.

(upbeat rock music) (machine buzzing) (upbeat rock music) (machine buzzing) - Show off your knees.

- Oh yes, these are my knees.

This one is for my grandpa 'cause he was a CB in the Navy.

He was the only person in my family with a tattoo before I got one.

And of course his was from like the 50s when he was in the Navy.

And they're my favorite tattoos.

And the ability to show off that I have both my knees tattooed when knee tattoos are pretty painful.

I would say maybe one of the most painful spots on your body to get tattooed.

To go through both of them, and I think that's the ultimate goal with tattooing besides covering yourself in beautiful artwork, is to prove that I'm strong.

- Do people stare?

- I definitely get looks.

There was one time I was in Meijer, and an older woman like turned the corner and saw my tattoos, and she goes, "Oh dear Lord in heaven."

(both laughs) And my mother-in-law got upset.

And I was like, "No, Leanne, that was amazing."

'Cause most people now, they respect it.

- [Shelley] Yes.

- Like they think it's cool.

They see it for what it is.

- Yeah, they're kinda of looking.

It's like, whoa, that is cool.

- Yeah, so I don't mind the staring.

You can usually tell if somebody means it in a mean way too.

(both laughing) - That's funny.

Well, let's start with this bird.

- Sure.

- And why you chose the colors, and is it a robin?

- Yeah, it's a robin.

So my friend Nate did this.

He's also the guy that makes my machines, which is super cool.

But I'm from Michigan.

I love all things Michigan.

And so I'm slowly collecting Michigan wildlife kind of things on that arm.

- Tattoo safety, you wanna go there?

- Yeah, absolutely.

So tattoo safety is something we take super seriously here.

We make sure to show expiration dates on our needles to every client.

We make sure that we're never reusing things.

Obviously the needles go into the sharps container when we're done.

We clean with all sorts of chemicals and things like hospital grade chemicals to make sure everything is ready to go, and you're not getting anything nasty.

(Mae laughs) - Right.

Are mistakes made when tattooing?

- Oh, absolutely, it's art.

It happens, right?

It happens to everybody.

Sometimes it can be on our end.

Sometimes it can be on the healing end of things.

But you know, it's skin.

Skin is unpredictable.

Like if someone has a skin condition underneath that we might not have known about, sometimes things can like fade or not heal the way we want them to, but most of the time things are fixable.

It's pretty hard to have a tattoo that is just beyond repair.

And even in that event, you can usually get some laser removal if you need to like, if you wanna cover it up or something like that.

- Let's talk about how this is true art.

- Yeah, I mean art is such a general thing, right?

It can be any, there's so many things it can be.

And everyone here went to art school in some way or form.

We all went through an apprenticeship.

We all did all of the training and everything, but we get to design things and make people love their bodies more than they, you know, did when they came in, which is really, really, really, really cool.

- Every tattoo is a story.

- [Mae] Yeah.

- And you must, there must be tears of joy once a parent's name is written, or a love signal or something.

- A lot of the time when the tears happen, it's because we're covering something up that they didn't want anymore.

We work a lot with the like domestic violence survivors that have a tattoo that their ex or abuser like gave them, and they want it gone or they need it gone for a court proceeding, or like, we cover up a lot of scars from situations like that too.

And that's when like the most emotional moments happen, honestly, is because like, they're like, oh my God, I don't have to look at this every day.

That's beautiful.

(Mae laughs) - And you mentioned Western.

How is this area Kalamazoo accepting of what you do and what we want to do with our bodies?

- We are super accepted by a lot of the folks in our community.

My artist Stephany and I will go to career days at the local high school to talk to kids about becoming a tattoo apprentice and like what that looks like, and tattoo safety, things like that.

We're very active in the community as far as events.

So we attend Kalamazoo Pride.

We hosted our own Pride this year.

We are really passionate about like being out in the community and doing things like that.

- Great.

Are there regular opportunities for guests to come in?

- Absolutely.

So we're not only just a tattoo shop, we do art gallery showings, we do little live show concerts.

We also do these clothing swaps where folks can bring in clothing that they don't necessarily love anymore, but don't wanna just, you know, throw out.

We have it all broken down into shirts, and pants, and dresses, and things, and people can take whatever they want for free and try stuff on.

And 'cause, you know, when you're changing your gender identity or things like that, it gets expensive to redo your wardrobe every two months or whatever.

So we like to provide those kind of opportunities for our clients.

- What's your next tattoo?

- I don't have one planned.

I should have one planned.

I don't, yeah, I don't have an answer.

- We'll do good this a year from now, and we'll talk about it.

(Mae laughs) Thank you for your good time.

- Yeah, of course.

(upbeat rock music) - Thank you so much for watching.

There's also more to explore with Kalamazoo Lively Arts on YouTube, Instagram, and WGVU.org.

We'll see you next time.

- [Announcer 2] Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.