The Expo
A body covered in ink and stretched ears certainly looked at home at the Australian Body Art and Tattoo Expo but it in no way was a requirement, as all looked to enjoy Perth's leg of this event.
Last weekend saw the expo hit the Perth Convention Centre, leaving behind the sound of buzzing needles and the clean, slightly sweet smell of antiseptic cream.
Over 200 tattoo artists were crammed into the tiny convention room making it unclear if the expo was packed to capacity or maybe just too small for the many exhibitors and visitors.
If you were looking to get a tattoo at the convention then Friday would have been the day to go. Every two steps a bored looking tattoo artist would be offering their services with a small, sad looking crowd wandering around.
A WEEKEND OF TATTOOS...
On Saturday, however, it was almost impossible to move, making it obvious the most popular artists, with stand still crowds swarming their stalls.
Tattoists had travelled far and wide to showcase their art. The majority were from local shops, such as Abandoned Art (Malaga, Wanneroo), Emerald Ink (Osborne Park) and Holdfast Tattoo (Mt Lawley, Victoria Park).
But the expo also featured the (ridiculously good looking) Melbourne tattoo shop, Good Luck Tattoos and even artists from Asia. Creation Tattoos trekked all the way from China whilst a Bali Dreamz tried to erase the stigma surrounding tattoos done in Indonesia.
For those that do not care for tattoos, (which probably defeats the purpose of attending the expo) there was still plenty to do. Friday featured a live wrestling show whilst Saturday put on a pin up pageant and burlesque show.
This year the pin up pageant had two intermissions, a booty shaking burlesque show and a flying anchor trapeze.
The pageant was split into two categories, pin up fashion and lingerie or swimwear. The girls had about a minute to come on stage in each category and show off their best pin up styling and posing in front of the audience and judges.
A gorgeous red haired girl named Lacey Lace won Miss Pin Up Pageant Queen and recieved a sparkley tiara, as well as pin up photo shoot courtesty of Stealth Photographics, $250 in cash and a pictorial spread in Inked Girls Magazine. Runner ups Sassi Lou and Kenjai also recieved the photo shoot and cash prize.
Throughout the whole weekend Stealth Photography were offering show specials that included a pin up style session and a photo shoot, for a fee of course.
And something you would not expect to find at a tattoo expo, tattoo removal companies. Not only were there several stalls advertising tattoo removal on the day (yes, you could get a tattoo removed at the expo in a little booth with a sheet over it) but they were actually getting pretty good business too!
Some stalls were even selling tattoo guns, which proved to be quite helpful when tattoo artists needed a quick replacement.
All weekend there was a very tiny kids corner which offered children the chance to get ‘inked’ without the permanency, in the form of airbrushed tattoos and face painting.
Surprisingly there were a lot of children at the expo on Saturday as the Yo Gabba Gabba show finished a couple of hours after the expo began.
The expo ran better than expected and there were a lot of very satisfied freshly inked customers roaming around throughout the day. Despite the momentary pain during the tattoos there was not a sour face in sight.
On Saturday, however, it was almost impossible to move, making it obvious the most popular artists, with stand still crowds swarming their stalls.
