Inked: a life-long art

Local tattoo shop owner Charlie Kasnowski has been inking skin and creating art in Pair-O-Dice for 10 years

Caitlin Renn

Pair-O-Dice Tattoo owner Charlie Kasnowski works through the first hour of this client’s medieval armor design. His wife and shop co-owner Mary mentions “the immortality thing” when she talks about Charlie’s work. “We weren’t able to have kids, so with every tattoo Charlie puts a little bit of himself out there. His tattoos are the marks he makes on the world.”

Over the last 40 years or so, ink has bled across popular culture. Outlaws, bikers and general misfits no longer carry tattoos as an exclusive mark of their rebellion; celebrities, soccer moms and college kids are all splattered with ink. Even Barbie has tattoos. From the East Village to Middle Georgia, princesses to prisoners, tattoos reach every social and economic class in the country.

According to a survey conducted by the American Society of Dermatological Surgery, 24 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 50 have at least one tattoo. Compare that to the 10 percent of Americans who were inked in 1936, according to Life Magazine. U.S. News & World Report revealed tattooing as one of the fastest growing markets, next to computers, cell phones and the Internet.

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Charlie Kasnowski and his wife,

Mary, own Pair-O-Dice Tattoos. Since opening their shop  Halloween of 2001, they’ve earned recognition as the best tattoo and piercing studio in Milledgeville by the Union Recorder’s “Reader’s Choice Awards” six years straight. Charlie has worked as a tattoo artist for the better part of 30 years, but owning his own shop for the last 10 has provided some perspective – and a routine he’s very much accustomed to.

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At 9 a.m. Charlie tries his best not to wake Mary as he gets out of bed. If he waits any longer, the dogs will harass him mercilessly until they get their breakfast. His two dogs chow down, and Charlie flops on the couch for some “Call of Duty” action on the PlayStation 3. After blowing some things up, he takes breakfast up to his wife.

“It’s sweet. Every day for the last two years he’s brought me breakfast in bed. Then it’s back to ‘Call of Duty’ until about noon,” Mary said. “Awful, isn’t it?”

Around 1 p.m., the two of them head to the shop. Charlie usually has an appointment as soon as he gets in, so business begins. A cycle of appointments, design draw-ups, and preparations for future appointments spin the clock hands to 10 p.m., when Charlie and Mary head home.

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“It’s always the same steps, but it’s never the same thing,” Mary says.

First, the client chooses the tattoo, and the artist chooses to do the tattoo. The client gives Charlie an idea of what she wants. Charlie comes up with a few sketches and the client chooses the one she wants – tweak here, adjustment there. Charlie runs his design through an old secretarial machine that makes “a coloring book version” of the image with carbon paper and heat. He first shaves and cleanses the client’s chosen area – her right shoulder – to get it clean enough to prevent infection. He stencils the design onto her skin with water, then gathers his supplies.

She sets everything up on a piece of paper on a silver tray: a little stack of paper towels, five small cups of ink (black, green, red, yellow and blue) held in place with a bit of ointment, and the needles for the job, right out of the packaging. As sterilization and safety are the most important things to a modern tattoo artist, Pair-O-Dice uses new equipment for everything.

“You have to remember, he’s dealing with your blood,” Mary says.

She judges the shape, size and groupings of the needles Charlie will need. Anywhere from one to 50 or 60 needles may be grouped together, depending on the size of the line or area. He has round needles, used for outlines and straight lines – sort of like a pencil – or magnums, that are basically brush-shaped for shading and larger areas. Once she sets up his tools and supplies, Charlie explains sterilization, what to expect and the importance of sitting still while he works to his client. Then, the buzzing.

The tattoo machine works basically like a sewing machine – the needles move up and down very quickly when Charlie steps on the pedal. I watch the needles almost dance, pushing black ink into the client’s skin, bits of blood surfacing here and there. Nothing gruesome, though. The client’s face twists a little once in a while, but she mostly sits still, intermittently chatting with Charlie.

He traces the outline from the stencil in small lines, about three or four seconds at a time. Then he wipes the blood and excess ink away.

Buzz. Wipe. Buzz. Wipe.

A life of tattooing comes with certain highlights and low-lights.

Mary rattles off a list of the physical repercussions of doing tattoos.

“They all have back problems, they all have knee problems, they all have carpel tunnel, they all need Lasik eye surgery, they always have massive headaches,” she says. “You wouldn’t think of it as a physically taxing job, but it certainly is. It’s physically taxing, mentally taxing, and it takes a lot of grit.”

There is, of course, the danger. Working with clients who can’t sit still or clients who may or may not have blood-borne diseases can pose serious risks to the artist. Mary has “the world’s tiniest tattoo” on her thumb because a client jumped at a sudden jolt of pain, causing Mary to prick herself so severely that the needle lodged into her bone.

But for Charlie, two things trumps every danger, inconvenience and general drawback: he gets to work as an artist and leave his mark on the world.

“On a personal level,” Charlie said. “I know I’m privileged to work as an artist. Most people don’t get to actually work as artists, for them it stays a hobby. The ability to do what I love is the best part.”

At 10 p.m. the buzzing stops. The radio goes silent. Nobody waits on the couch. Charlie and Mary pack up their things as the last client of the night leaves the shop. I flip through Charlie’s portfolio for a few minutes while I wait for them to lock up. The glossy pages boast beautiful colors, intricate lines and hundreds of amazingly realistic renderings – everything from bulldogs to butterflies to fighter jets.

“Everybody wants to make their mark,” Mary said.

Posted by Caitlin Renn on Dec 1 2011. Filed under Lead stories, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.