I once, many years ago met an artist from Lubbock who called himself “Tattoo Ron.” He would pay many compliments toward my art and ink work throughout the years.

I am now suffering from three internal health issues, and am desperately looking for him to help me with my headstone design. I need a drawn tattoo gun with its supply hose coming from an oil rig (as if the black ink was the oil itself).

I know Ron would try his best if I could locate him. Please help!

From Sarina (StitchWitch) Harper, northern Texas

If anyone has any information regarding the whereabouts of Tattoo Ron please contact Sarina Harper at petrogypsy_1@yahoo.com

Those advocating for the madness claim adding shape beneath the skin enhances the tattoo by having the pattern injected giving extra shape to the design. But what are the complications?

What it is:

The basic idea of a 3D tattoo is to slightly lift a tattoo up about two millimeters. This is done by putting a tiny amount of hyaluronic acid (sugar) under the skin, by means of injection. It goes underneath the tattoo in specific areas of the design to show the shape of the outline and specific points of the tattoo, creating a contoured design.

The amazing aspect about these tattoos is that any part of the body can be raised. It doesn’t matter if it’s your cheeks, your thighs or your left shoulder, it can be done.

Few tattoo artists will attempt these strange designs, and even fewer specialize in them.

What’s the appeal:

A tattoo in three dimensions does not look cool. It looks like your tattoo was done wrong and needs extra special care. It looks like a scarred tattoo often seen when the artist doesn’t really know what he’s doing. It looks like the client had a bad reaction to the ink for it to puff up in 3-D. It just looks bad.

Safety:

Today we will do anything for the purpose of looks. We will go through surgical procedures, and take numerous types of drugs to enhance our physical appearance. But some things just aren’t safe. Injecting yourself with sugar so that your tattoo pops up in three dimensions is not safe, and definitely not cool.

Once in a while someone would ask me to show it, and of course I would, with pride. But even my senior prom photo shows a large bandage over my arm, as well as my upper back, hiding my artwork.

Hiding my body art from school officials was nothing compared to what I had to go through to hide them from my parents. I constantly kept socks in my car to shove on before entering the house, even after a day of sandals at the beach.

Working in restaurants throughout high school and college my body art was never an issue. But after college came the job interviews, then the jobs and the stereotypes.

Appearance matters. Even if you’re not experiencing it first-hand, it’s there. One day I entered the busy newsroom I worked in dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, tattoos showing. Nobody batted an eye, but nobody took me seriously either.

Coming to work in a nice dress shirt, ironed pants, hair up in a bun with a notepad and pen in hand, people looked at me in the meetings. They acknowledged that I knew what I was doing and didn’t question my expertise.

I don’t question dress codes and I don’t question whether or not to cover up tattoos when necessary. I just do it because that’s the way it is. If you want people to take you seriously, you have to look the part.

I always laugh when I hear people complaining about dress codes, and having to cover up their tattoos in the workplace. I have been inflicted with a dress code my entire life, so the fact that I could not show up to school or work in a tank top displaying my body art didn’t phase me at all.

When I was in high school someone once asked me, “Doesn’t it bother you that you wear a uniform all day in school, then you put on a uniform to come to work directly after?”

I just shrugged and said, “Nah, I’m used to it.”

I have no sympathy for those against dress codes and covering up tattoos in the workplace. I know it’s the year 2006 and times have changed, but that’s the way it is so everyone needs to get used to it.