31st Year, Registered as a business in August 1989.

We thank you and everybody for making it possible 
to earn our bread in the business we love
among people who share our respect
and have a Heart for Tattoo and Piercing.

To be "part" of the Tattooed World, you must have a Tattoo.
To be "part" of the Pierced World, you must have a Piercing.
That should go without saying.

But, to work as a practitioner is not a prerequisite.
Our habitus of life's work is not controlled by unions,
associations, professional organizations,
 or government agencies - yet!
But they are all working on it!
Make no mistake, be vigilant.

A Tattoo or Piercing just happens, like falling in love.
There is no telling where it came from or why.
It just happens and you want one.

It is for the living, the human,
not the sick, not the worried, not the dying.
That says a lot about us.
Wes Wood, Pres.
_________________________

We remember where we came from!
-- when we knew nothing --
when the "professionals" refused to sell to us,
even though they started just like us,
because we were not "professional" tattooists.
Forgetting is a problem.
******
As "professionals" today we have learned that
Tattooing and Piercing can be disappointing
to customers if not done with ability and safety.
That's an internal matter and we already do it.

On the one hand Tattoo and Piercing are Folk Arts
that belong to the people as human beings
and should never be outlawed or forbidden.
They are after all Folk Arts.
Tattooing the self is embedded neurologically in us.

BUT, in this day, and age of HIV and HBV
no one can claim they don't know that used needles
can be life threatening if contaminated by
blood or other contaminated fluids.
Everybody knows not to re-use needles. 
It would be criminal to re-use contaminated needles and
should be criminal to Tattoo or Pierce Commercially
without assurance that the life and well being of
customers is protected by Practicing
Universal Precautions,
Using new rubber gloves for each customer
and Using single-use disposable needles.

This is what democracy-anchored regulation is about
which is not a burden.  The problem comes in when
legislators use the law to promote a social
anti-tattoo or anti-piercing agenda such as zoneing
Then legislators become criminals.
This is called Tyranny.
Tattoo is now part of culture and must be --
not "Allowed" to operate, but have the right to.