I walked into Iron Will Tattoo with virgin skin, wondering if that’s how I’d walk out. Despite spreading like wildfire across most parts of the country, I still regarded the tattoo parlor as an alien place with no desire to get myself inked, or even a piercing. Guess there’s something about my nature that resists what I once considered extreme behavior.
Sam Sea doesn’t seem to embody that kind of behavior. Belying the depictions in movies or maybe the horror stories parents told by worried parents, Sam’s relaxed demeanor might easily coax out your inner wild-child.
When I walked in the door, I found Sam discussing a design brought in by a new customer, Ray. Sam had reworked a nautical-themed illustration to better fit on Ray’s rather beefy forearm.
Looking around at what looked like hundreds of designs, some suitable for framing in a stylish game room somewhere, I asked Sam how many bring in their own drawings versus choosing from the gallery?
“These days, more and more people want their own design,” he tells me as he prepares to ink. “I’m happy to work with that.” The challenge, he says, is making the design work for the medium. Tiny details and some colors can cause problems. As someone who works as a creative as well, I wonder how he deals with those who think they know more than he does.
“Usually, I just show them some of the work I did and tell them about how I did it,” he says matter of factly. “That usually works.”
The process looks potentially painful. The tattoo needle vibrates up and down a tiny distance to force ink into the dermis. At this point, I wondered about the pain. Is it worse for men than women, as I’ve often heard? Ray insisted, “I can barely feel it!”, but Sam did confirm that it sometimes depends on where the tattoo goes.
How, uh, intimate has Sam gone with a customer? Clinically, he replies, “Yeah, I’ve put tattoos on genitals before,” but it’s not something he jumps at doing.
Amazingly, if you’d like to start up a business painting pretty pictures into someone’s skin with electric needles, you don’t need no stinkin’ license. This might explain the proliferation of shops in our area. In Massachusetts, from where both Sam and I hail, only a physician could administer a tattoo until the courts declared that law unconstitutional in 2000.
In Pennsylvania, the laws vary from town to town, and while Sam has a certification from Philadelphia where he began his career, Abington imposes no such requirement.
Sam doesn’t seem bothered by all the new competition. After more than seven years at his current location, his reputation brings him steady business. Ray said he chose Iron Will from good word-of-mouth and the 5-star Yelp rating.
Cost wise, Sam bases his charge on an hourly fee of $150 per hour, but he gives the customer and up-front estimate. With eleven total years in the business, he knows how to price the work. Watching him work on Ray, he works with evident precision and efficiency.
After about an hour and a half, Ray’s tattoo is nearly complete. All Ray’s design needs now are some minor details, but on the whole, the process looked quick, apparently painless, and a pretty good way to spend a late afternoon shooting the breeze with a real artist.
And yes, I left the shop with skin as virgin as when I entered. But if I change my mind, I know where to go.
Iron Will Tattoo is located at 502 N Tyson Ave, Glenside; telephone number is (267) 893-7625. Follow Sam on social media — Instagram: @samseatattoo and @ironwilltattooclub. Visit the website at https://www.ironwilltattoo.club/