[Tattoo 3 – Long Island Tattoo Studio]

Footage of tattoo artist Peter Poulos working in the Long Island Tattoo Studio for the documentary Tattoo, by Susan Milano.

00:50Copy video clip URL Footage of designs and photographs on the wall of the Long Island Tattoo Studio.

03:03Copy video clip URL Exterior of the store. 

03:55Copy video clip URL Static. 

04:17Copy video clip URL Close-ups of tattoo artist Peter Poulos preparing to apply a design to Dave, a customer who is a tattoo artist himself, which he speculates “might be a Sailor Jerry original,” on the arm of a customer who already has several designs. He prepares to apply a preliminary acetate outline as a guide. 

06:14Copy video clip URL Discussion of the distinctions between tattoo artists, even when they’re applying the same design. Defining “flash” – the design sheets from which the customer chooses. 

09:04Copy video clip URL The difficulties of applying a large, elaborate tattoo, which might take 3-4 sittings to complete. Shaving the customer’s arm. 

11:38Copy video clip URL The colors and details being chosen by the artist. “The biggest mistake a man can do is to walk into a tattoo artist and tell him how to tattoo the tattoo, especially if he’s not an artist.” Applying vaseline or litholeum to the arm. 

14:05Copy video clip URL Dave discusses his own interest in tattoos. How he first became interested in them, how one learns how to tattoo. 

15:55Copy video clip URL Poulos talks about technique, needing to refer back to the original design. Tattooing is not simply tracing the outline applied to the skin, Voulkos says. 

17:33Copy video clip URL Close-ups of ink and needles. 

18:50Copy video clip URL Poulos begins applying the tattoo. Extreme close-ups of the needles as Poulos works on the design.

23:44Copy video clip URL “Old time skin artists” believing that the more heavily tattooed you are, the healthier you’ll be. The historical discovery of mercury as a treatment for syphilis through tattooing. Everything Poulos uses being sterilized. 

30:44Copy video clip URL Cleaning the arm’s surface with rubbing alcohol after stopping for the day. 

31:40Copy video clip URL The cost of a large, elaborate design like this one being $250. Putting lotion on Dave’s arm.