| Many Alaskans showing state pride with tattoos, requesting state flower, Big Dipper So many customers ask for the state flower inked across their bodies, Juneau tattoo artist David Lang says he might as well have named his shop "The Forget-Me-Not. At Ink Customers ask for Big Dippers on each component part of their bodies. She once bet her husband Todd she'd get the state stars inked on her ankle if then-Gov. "It's the Alaskan jackalope," he said. , tattooist Curtis Linton said people rarely ask for artwork commemorating the Dakotas. The other is tattooed on his thigh: A grizzly bear with antlers. "I've worked in Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Connecticut, Louisiana and here," said Debra Yarian, one half of the husband-and-wife team that runs Eagle River Tattoo. "The tattoo clientele here is different than it is in the Lower 48 in that they don't follow any trends, other than their own trend of getting state of Alaska," Yarian said. One of the newer state pride trends is the numeral "574," artists say. Others have asked for the Northern Lights, dog sleds, Alaska Native corporation logos and Inupiat, Yup'ik and Tlingit designs. " Like Alaska, the state has just one area code, he said. Otherwise, it's mainly tribal tattoos and Bible verses. Las Vegas tattoo artist Oz VonMunster said customers often ask for designs honoring their visit to Sin City, but are less likely to demand, say, the fence post outline of the condition of Nevada. In Juneau, summertime tour-industry workers sometimes ask for Alaska pieces, but most of the demand comes from locals, said Lang, of High Tide Tattoo. Other Alaskans are more creative. Frank Murkowski ran for re-election in 2006, which he did. At Body Piercing Unlimited in Fairbanks, 907 area code designs are nearly as common as Kanji, the Japanese characters ubiquitous on lower backs across the country. At 21, Roll already has two. It seems no other state - sorry, Texas - inspires such loyalty under the needle. /search/place/cbb727a881d610048a29df092526b43e/> say they've never seen anything like the Last Frontier urge to stamp yourself with state pride. Many Alaskans showing state pride with tattoos, requesting state flower, Big Dipper |
Monday, 4 June 2012
Many Alaskans showing state pride with tattoos, requesting state flower, Big Dipper
