02-25-2024 Harford Mag - Flipbook - Page 11
been done in this industry? That’s always been
something I wanted to do.”
Now, “people call the shop and ask if it’s the
glitter shop,” she added — and travel across
the country to Harford County to get glitter
tattoos.
“Her glitter tattoo’s something that I’ve
never seen before. I just couldn’t get enough of
‘em,” said Hope Smith, who discovered Graves
on social media last year.
In December, she drove with her husband
from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Maryland to
finally get one herself.
The tattoo — an approximately 8-inch
design on her right upper thigh of Dopey from
“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” — is an
homage to Smith’s nickname, “Hopey Dopey.”
She said the hours-long process was more
comfortable than other tattoo experiences
she’d had before.
“It was literally like butterflies were licking
me,” Smith, 46, said. “There was no pain
whatsoever.”
To mimic the visual effect of glitter, Graves
employs a technique called pointillism,
layering white dots atop dots of other colors.
Instead of regular tattoo needles, she uses
permanent makeup tattoo needles.
Civonna Saunders, a tattoo artist at Dark
Arts, had attempted the technique after
Graves talks
with her
husband, Corey,
while she holds
her daughter,
Meadow, 9, at
the Dark Arts
Tattoo Studio in
Churchville.
watching one of Graves’ YouTube videos
before working at her studio, she said. Around
the end of last year, she learned from Graves
in person.
“It’s a little bit more tedious. It takes a lot
more time than what I originally thought,”
Saunders, 25, said. “You have to persevere and
stay focused throughout it.”
Graves said for her, it’s become “brainless.”
Some customers come in thinking there’s
glitter in the ink, Saunders said, adding that
the finished result “makes you smile and it
makes you happy.”
Dark Arts has a “family dynamic,” said
Saunders, who spends time there even when
she doesn’t have a tattoo appointment on the
books.
“I want people and clients to come in here
and not feel like they’re walking into a place of
tension or judgment or gatekeeping,” Graves
said. “You’re getting a tattoo on your body
forever and you’re going to be sitting with that
person in an intimate setting for hours on end.
You should feel comfortable.”
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