Behind The Seen: Kat Von D
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 29-Oct-07 @ 06:39 PM
She was the only woman on TLC's Miami Ink, but tattoo artist KAT VON D is about to turn the tables on the boys' club with her own show, LA Ink.What's your new shop like? We're building it as we speak; it's gonna be called High Voltage. I own the place, so it's being built the way I want. We're putting in a skate ramp, a photo booth and a stripper pole. Stripper poles are like cameras-put them in front of girls and, for some reason, they take their clothes off, which always makes for better TV, right? Duh. Do you have all the other tattoo artists picked out? Yeah. Casting took a little while because we wanted to do the opposite of Miami Ink. Instead of all guys and one girl, it's gonna be all girls and one guy. It's a male-dominated business, obviously, so female tattooers are a little harder to come by. But the girls we got are extraordinarily talented. I did my research and flew two girls in from Chicago who are amazing, so I think we'll be able to show the world that there's a lot more to tattooing than just Miami Ink. Do you find it distracting having all the cameras around while you're tattooing? I think I adapted pretty easily. Now I don't even notice it. There can be an entire camera crew and it's like I'm alone. Some people I know have a harder time with it. Friends of mine who are super-social freeze up the minute the cameras come on, but for me it's second nature. What's more annoying for me is all the interruptions-a two-hour tattoo can take an entire day of filming. What kind of advice do you have for aspiring tattoo artists? Run while you can. This business is so oversaturated with people who flatter themselves by thinking they can tattoo people for a living. When I started, I didn't do it because I thought I was gonna make a career out of it. I did it because I love it. Now people think it's the cool thing to do. But if you're really hard-headed about it, you need to get an apprenticeship with a reputable tattooer. Those aren't easy to come by, though, because a good tattooer probably isn't gonna apprentice a stranger. It's like a secret society. -J. Bennett |
