Stories in flesh and ink
22.05.12
Baker and cake artist Leah Stein looks at her tattoos this way: "You might change your hairstyle, your hair color, your spouse and where you live. But if you have a tattoo, it's with you until you die."
Short of expensive surgery to remove them, tattoos are permanent. And, for most people, there is a story behind each drop of ink in their skin — Stein's are an ode to her profession. Molly Penistan 's celebrate family and strong women. Don and Matthew Demers , tattoo artists themselves, enjoy collecting artwork that is theirs to keep, engraved in their skin, forever.
Molly Penistan, 31, Saratoga Springs. Communications specialist at a labor union.
Molly got her first tattoo in 1999 when she was 18, and "fully committed" to being a person who has tattoos when she had a half-sleeve of artwork inked into her upper left arm three years ago. But her favorite tattoo is the one that draws the most questions from friends and strangers. It's a bar of music from the song "Mull of Kintyre" by Paul McCartney . The song was special to her father, Michael, who played it on Sundays while he was making brunch for Molly and her sister, Meghan.
Source: Albany Times Union