October is a time when many are carving pumpkins and watching scary movies, but this October might also be a great time to get a tattoo.
Whenever the 13th day of the month falls on a Friday, select tattoo parlors will offer special designs and promotions to celebrate Friday the 13th. This Halloween month presents that opportunity.
Tattooed Planet and Skin Lab Tattoo and Body Piercing in Tempe, and Gypsy Rose Tattoo and Golden Rule Tattoo in Phoenix are just a few of the tattoo parlors that will be offering specials on Friday, Oct. 13 this year.
This is the second Friday the 13th in 2017. According to Lloyd Parrack, owner of Gypsy Rose Tattoo, about 300-350 people waited in line to get tattoos during their Friday the 13th event in January.
Gypsy Rose Tattoo offered these designs for their Jan. 13 "Friday the 13th" special.
Parrack said that because it is October, the designs for this event will be Halloween themed, and customers are welcome to wear costumes to celebrate.
He also said it may still be hot outside, so customers should bring water and maybe an umbrella. The artists at Gypsy Rose Tattoo will not be tattooing hands, feet, faces, necks or rib cages and will stop taking release forms at 6 p.m. on Oct. 13 this year.
“Patience goes a long way when we’re doing an event like this. We don’t have to do it, we just enjoy doing it,” said Parrack. “We’ll try to accommodate people the best we can and take care of as many people as we possibly can.”
For their Friday the 13th event in January, Gypsy Rose Tattoo posted the designs on their Instagram on Jan. 12, so those interested should look out for the October designs the day before the event.
Art sophomore Conner Jensen got a tattoo at Gypsy Rose during the Friday the 13th in January and said the process took over 12 hours.
“(We) got there — I want to say around noon — and we didn’t make it back to the dorms until midnight,” said Jensen. “It depends on the shop though, it depends on the quality, but they make sure to do quality tattoos, so it took a little longer.”
Jensen suggested that anyone planning to get a tattoo on Oct. 13 should arrive as early as possible and be prepared to wait in line.
Usually, each participating tattoo parlor will have a sheet of small, 1-inch or 2-inch designs for customers to choose from. Traditionally, these tattoos feature the number 13 prominently or hidden somewhere in the design.
"A lot of people like to collect them too," Jensen said. "Most of them incorporate something to do with (the number) 13."
Not all tattoo parlors have special designs for the event. According to Elizabeth Rose, tattoo artist at Skin Lab Tattoo and Body Piercing, customers will be able to bring in their own small designs.
“We’re doing pretty much anything that fits in a 2-inch by 2-inch space,” said Rose, “but it is at the artist's discretion.”
However, Rose also has a sheet of Halloween designs on her Facebook page that customers can choose from.
Not all tattoo parlors offers promotions on Friday the 13th, and each may have their own process, discounts and designs. Contact your tattoo parlor for details.
Reach the reporter at abpotter@asu.edu and follow @abpotter4 on Twitter.
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