3 P.M.: Tat's the spirit: Tattoo parlor owner got started with a little curiosity
For 15 years, Intricate Decor Tattoo Studio has sat nestled on E. Pickard Street.
Owner Jason Rhodes said Intricate was one of the first tattoo parlors in Mount Pleasant.
“I worked for the very first (tattoo) parlor here before they closed and then we decided to open Intricate in 1993,” the Grand Rapids native said.
Rhodes worked the parlor Saturday afternoon, just as Central Michigan University football was finishing up a 56-8 win over Eastern Michigan.
On the other side of Mount Pleasant, Rhodes has been tattooing for about 20 years and his curiosity is what got him started in the inking business.
“I fell in love with it and never could get back out,” he said. “I was fascinated with tattoos — my uncle had a lot of them, so that got me interested.”
Rhodes said though many can draw, it takes a certain kind of person to be a tattoo artist.
“You just don’t wake up, get inspired and just start drawing,” Rhodes said. “You have to do what someone else wants you to do right then and there, the way they want you to do it.”
Rhodes is not the only artist in the shop that fell into their craft. Piercer Scott Cotton said he got his start by frequenting the shop before he picked up a needle nearly three years ago.
“I just started hanging around and one day they had an opening and I went for it,” Cotton said.
Cotton and Rhodes said they think of tattoos and piercings as a way for people to express themselves without saying anything.
“It’s a form of self-expression; it’s what you like and I don’t understand why anyone complains about it,” Cotton said.
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