Tattoo Artists Hold Convention

Friday, November 2nd 2007, 10:18 am

By: News On 6

Oklahoma's largest Tattoo Convention has taken up residence in south Tulsa. It's been a year since tattooing became legal in Oklahoma, and The News On 6â€™s Rick Wells reports some of the tattoos go way beyond the dolphin tattoo you might have gotten on spring break.

Dennis Tucker inks a lotus tattoo on Kristie Wofford's left shoulder. It takes two sittings, and about two and a half hours. Friday was the first day of the Midwest Body Art Festival.

As Oklahoma marks its first anniversary of legal tattooing, the artist say cleaner, safer, and ultimately better quality tattooing will be the result.

One of the featured celebrity artists at the Midwest Body Art Festival is Katzen or Kat, the Tiger Lady. Her name is a reference to the stripes she has tattooed from head to toe.

â€œI'm almost finished I still have a little bit under my arms to do,â€ said Katzen.

She says she likes it. She says she started on her leg and chose to keep going.

â€œI've had 227 different artists tattoo me in the last 15 years,â€ added Katzen.

Katzenâ€™s attending the Midwest Body Art Festival with her husband, and 6-month-old son, Felix. She and her husband perform as the Katzen-Ignatz Zirkus. She describes it as pain proof acts with music. Their performance involves a concrete block and a bed of nails.

The Midwest Body Art Festival continues through Sunday at the Other Side Event Center on South Lewis.

For more information on the festival, click here.

Watch the video: Ink Flowing At Tattoo Convention

Related stories:

10/30/2006 Tattooing to Become Legal In Oklahoma

1/11/2007 Tattoo Artists Complain About Licensing Procedures

2/19/2007 Red Tape Threatens Oklahoma's Tattoo Parlors

5/7/2007 State To Appeal Ruling On Tattoo Parlors

11/1/2007 The Business Of Tattoos, One Year Later