Nottingham has no shortage of great places to get tattooed with some of the most talented artists working in the city. However, there are few studios that have stood the test of time like Bodycraft which has been open on Pelham Street since 1997.
The popular studio offers many different styles of tattooing and piercing along with permanent makeup. It can be fascinating to watch locals pop in and out to discuss artwork with the artists and reveal parts of their personal lives in the process.
Jordan Stevenson is the manager of Bodycraft and she is also a semi-permanent make-up artist. Semi-permanent makeup is the art of using very fine needles to replicate the appearance of makeup or hair on the skin.
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"I was always a creative person but I went into accountancy. I wanted to do something different and I knew I loved makeup and the idea of tattooing. My partner's father owned a studio and he suggested I look into tattooing makeup," she said.
There are many reasons why clients come to Jordan for semi-permanent makeup. She says that some of the reasons behind the work can be emotional and health-related.
"I do a lot of eyebrows and eyeliner as a make-up look but there are those who have had to go through cancer treatment and lost their hair through chemotherapy. You can make it look as if they have hair there. I had one lady who came to me after chemotherapy and she burst into tears afterward because she said she looked like herself again. We both had a good cry together."
She added: "Things like that are sad but making that change for someone really hits home. You don't know how much it can mean to someone, especially when it comes to covering things like self-harm scars. We've seen such a rise in that over the past five years. It's a good celebration because it shows they have overcome that trauma and want to cover it by stepping into a happier mindset."
The life of a tattoo artist can be high pressure and it's not always about what the clients see happening in the studio. Artists also have to respond to requests for work or prices, draw up custom or flash pieces, and update social media while balancing their family life.
"What people don't understand is that artists tattoo all day then go home only to draw at night but they have friends, and families. They need to eat or sleep too which means they may not respond to emails for a few days. It's not just what happens in the studio as it's a lot at home too," Jordan explained.
Even the more unusual requests can take a while to develop and the artists have seen and heard it all over the years. However, the more 'custom' the request, the more the artists enjoy the challenge.
"It can be irritating because everything is on Pinterest so someone will ask for something different then show us something from there that has been done before. On the fun side, you get people who find an artist, like their style and ask for a cat with a waffle on its back which will have a story behind it."
Jordan added; "People will say I want a frog on top of an ice cream that has a lollipop and ask if we can create it. Those are the ones that the artist enjoy, not the ones they see on the internet. As a studio, we are heavy on the design basis so if we are shown a piece of work by another artist, we won't copy that work out of respect."
Cat Pickard was drawn to tattooing as a creative outlet and has been working at Bodycraft for two years. She specialises in fine lines and designs with lots of detail in her work.
"The weirdest request I had was a wild boar wearing boxer shorts. It's a bit strange but I don't remember the story behind it but it was for a leg. Each to their own," she said.
Upstairs, the piercing studio has a steady flow of customers looking for a new addition or two. Shannon Babasanya, a body piercer, did a piercing course before an apprenticeship and has been piercing for around three years now.
"I did my first piercing on my boyfriend which took the pressure off massively, but I was a bit more nervous for the next one. When you are still an apprentice, you have to let them know so it takes the edge off because they are happy with the fact you are still learning," she said.
"I once had someone ask me to pierce their helix from the top of the ear down to the earlobe because they didn't want to pay for the surgery to get them pinned. It wasn't going to work and would reject so I said no."
