Just out., July 18, 2003, Page 25, Image 25

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Human canvas
Both artists have had their share of unusual
requests. Fish notes that her most interesting piece
was a dragon on a man’s forearm, but her strangest
job was tattooing flames on a man’s penis. "1 want­
ed to do it because I’d tattixxxl ears, lips, faces, all
the takxi places, and 1 hadn’t done that yet. I
don’t think I’ll do it again. It was really hard.”
She stops and laughs. “Actually it wasn’t
hard. It was soft, and that way it was hard to
tattoo. ’Cause it’s like stretching this endlessly
stretchy skin.”
Randall’s adventures haven’t been quite so
daring. “I think if somebody really wanted their
dick tattixied, they’d probably want somekxly
who’d really appreciate doing it, and they
should go to someone who enjoys tattooing
dicks,” she says with a wry laugh.
But she does note: “There was the guy who
got the flying ass, the enema dominatrix, the
holy royal cheeseburger and the Tasmanian
Devil as a hixiker. And there was an uncut
Winnie the Pooh in kxits and a leather vest.
That’s pretty hard to top, don’t you think?"
More recently, she gave a Herb Ritts mixlel his
first tattoo, “a rainkiw with a hunky guy in
cutoffs standing in front of it and a skyline."
Societal attitudes toward tattooing have
changed in mixlem years, but kith artists cau­
tion against getting a tattoo simply because it’s
now trendy.
“You’ll probably be seeing laser-removal
places at the mall in the upcoming decade,”
Randall jokes.
Fish adds: “Rather than trendy, I would say
it’s more ‘acceptable.’ We have a disposable
society, and our culture’s really lacking in any­
thing permanent. Part of me wants to think
that tattooing is making a mark, something
that’s permanent.”
Continued from Page 24
Randall didn’t consider tattooing as a poten­
tial career even after she started getting her own
skin inked. (She now has more than 40 tattoos.)
In 1986, a famous female tattooist, Juli Mwn,
lixiked at Randall’s art portfolio and suggested
she had a future as a tattooist, hut it wasn’t until
1991 that she began tattooing all the time.
About 10 years ago, Randall and her partner
decided to come to Portland. Within two weeks,
she was working at Sea Tramp, Portland’s oldest
tatttxi shop. There, she’s not only toughly
androgynous, but she displays on the wall a cover
of Just Out on which her lover’s picture appeared.
“No closet can hold me," Randall jokes.
"This is kind of the old beaten-down geriatric
version of me. When 1 was in my 20s, 1 was so
androgynous, often enough people were at a
loss to figure out what I was at all.”
With a sly grin, she adds, “Except for the
ones that really needed to.”
In 1997 Fish opened her own shop, Medusa
Tattixi and Gallery. She’s also very out, though
she’s amused that she tattoos more men than
women.
“My strength is doing figurative work. I do a
lot of fantasy male pinup-type things on men.
Women seem to want more fem. My tattixis
aren’t as feminine. I don’t do as many flowers. 1
also have a business partner, and she’s very femi­
nine, and her drawing and tattoo work is very
feminine and really pretty. When someone comes
in the dixtr who wants that type of tattoo, 1 usual­
ly swing them her way and vice versa. She’s not so
much into drawing demons," Fish says with a grin.
Both artists agree that gay people were get­
ting tattoos long before it became trendy.
“Gay people have been on the tattixi band­
wagon longer than the straight community,” Fish
says. For beginners, she notes, “Usually we’ll get
little leather flags or the gay pride flags or triangles
when people are first coming out and expressing
themselves. Once someone starts getting a lot of
tattix«, usually they just start expressing them­
selves as individuals and not as a community so
much. But 1 think that’s still a rite of passage."
Among gay people, Randall says the most
popular tattix« are “things that say, ‘This is
what I am,’ more or less. Double Venus, double
Mars, pink triangles, a labris, dominatrixes,
studly guys, something that reflects sexuality
and orientation...and of course something to
piss off the folks. That’s a constant."
o, if you’re thinking about getting a tattoo,
what should you consider?
“Be unique, be original," Randall says.
“How many times do you need to see the Bor­
neo scorpion on somekxly already? How many
biohazards dix's the world need? Don’t we have
S
very tattoo shop is different, kit all of them
should have extensive safety procedures.
“It’s basically the same things a phle-
botomist or a dental technician would do to
make sure things are safe," Randall says. “It’s
so much more than just new needles, new
gloves. If somekxly isn’t willing to show you
the autoclave or take you through the steps
to show you [thatJ you’re not endangering
your health, don’t walk out of the shop, mn.”
Fish adds that Oregon is one of the toughest
states for tattooists to get licenses.
When one comes in for tattooing, Randall
warns, “don’t show up here dnink. Be well rest­
ed. Be reasonably well fed. Don’t have been out
in the sun all day. Don’t be hung over. However
minor, what you’re doing is going to put a
demand on your physiology, and your kxly will
react accordingly. Use common sense."
E
yin-yangs coming out of our yin-yangs already?
And please, no more dolphins."
She shudders, adding: “I’m so tired of doing
dolphins, I’ve kind of gotten into the habit of
saying: ‘Oh, you should get a skull. Not enough
gals have skulls.’ ’’
One woman tix>k Randall up on the idea,
and she drew a skull with eyelashes, lipstick and
a pair of crossed tampons beneath it. “It’s beauti­
ful. It’s making her a lix^il celebrity. Most people
love it, and for the occasional person who’s com­
pletely aghast, well, that’s it’s own reward, too.”
Fish prefers customers with a strong idea of
what they want, but many of her repeat cus­
tomers prefer her to design something. “That’s
where I get the most freedom," she says.
Continued on Page 21
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