This book is a collection of stories and photographs of my experiences
being a Twentieth Century Tattooed Woman, Artist, and writer, in the fas-
cinating world of tattooing.
The first time I saw tattoos I was five years old. There were numbers on
my great, great cousins' arms. My grandmother took me with her when she
brought grocieries to them. They lived in a dark basement apartment.
They were survivors of the Holocaust.
On Saturdays, after Hebrew studies, my father would pick me up, and off
we'd go to the Jewish Deli for matzo-ball soup and blintzes. Then I'd go
to work with him. I was allowed entrance throught he back doors with brass
plaques engraved "private" leading to rooms laced with sweet smoke from
gooey cigars hanging from the mouths of men looking like greasy dignitaries,
their hair slicked back like Elvis.
They wore big diamond rings on their pinkies. Peeking out from their
starched white shirt cuffs were markings on their wrists. These were
different from my great, great cousins' tattoos.
Being a precious young girl, I remember reaching over to push up a starched
sleeve cuff and seeing pictures that wouldn't wash off: tigers, hearts,
naked ladies, dice, four-leaf clovers, and women's names. These became more
intriguing than the shiny diamonds, or even the white powdered sugar donuts
they would give me for being such a good girl, quietly waiting for my father
to roll and count quarters from his pinball machines and juke boxes.
Twenty years later, acrosss the street from that smoked filled room, I got
my first tattoo from Zeke Owen in Seattle, and twenty-three years after that
I met my mentor and mate, Mr.G. Together wer have created Triangle Tattoo &
Museum in Northern California. I would never have known then that my first
glimpses into the obscure world of tattoos would lead me here.
-Madame Chinchilla,from the introduction of
Stewed, Screwed and Tattooed
Isadore Press Attn: Chinchilla
Triangle Tattoo & Museum
356B North Main Street
Fort Bragg, Ca 95437
Copies of this book can be found atAmazon Books
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Pages and Links
Melusina
More Poetry
Great Mermaid and Mythological Site (More of my poetry too!!)
Mermaid Rules....
Mermaid Cave
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