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GONE are the days of a faded Looney Tune or Celtic band – today tattoos are readily recognised as a work of art.

And nowhere more so than here in Huddersfield.

American TV reality programmes LA Ink and Miami Ink exposed life inside a parlour and more people are putting their trust into custom tattoo artists and exploring complex designs.

The Bleeding Art, in Byram Arcade, was founded by Phil Kefford and Liz Burns five years ago.

It specialises in custom tattoos, with each of their four artists specialising in an area of creative design.

The Marsh couple, who are due to wed next July, now have a two-part studio. Liz runs the piercing while Phil manages the tattoo studio.

Phil has been tattooing professionally for the past nine years and has said that style and customer requests have changed dramatically over that time.

“We do more pin-ups and portraits and people are asking for old-school tattoos,’’ he said.

“Tribal tattoos and stars have lasted for about 10 years and it’s a popular high street design that the majority of people ask for.

“The colours are much better now and tattoos stay much brighter.’’

He added: “We attend conventions and constantly keep up with changing trends. Japanese designs and realism are up and coming.

“Tattoo artists at The Bleeding Art all come from a creative background whether it be a degree or another artistic qualification. They need it to be able to do this job well.”

But no anyone can simply walk in and get a tattoo with no questions asked.

Liz said: “Safety is really important. We will not tattoo anybody who is under 18 and we ID everybody.

“If somebody was drunk we would turn them away instantly and we don’t do anything on anybody unless they are 100% sure.

“If it is not something that we could not conceive doing on ourselves then we will try and talk them out of it or give them a period of time to think about what they are doing.

“We had three 19-year-olds come in and they wanted a teardrop on their cheeks and we refused to do it because in years to come they are not going to want that.

“We really do try and talk people out of hands and face – we don’t touch the face.

“We try and talk people out of names, especially if they have only been with a partner for a few months.

“In terms of allergies, it is a common misconception is that if you are allergic to hair dye you are allergic to tattoo ink. That only refers to henna ink and is not true for permanent ink.”

Tattooing has its funny moments.

Phil said: “Last year I had somebody who wanted a tennis racquet and ball on their elbow, so that they could have tennis elbow.

“We even had someone who wanted a small camel on their toe.”

Ian Quinlan has owned Dragon’s Lair, on Northumberland Street for the past seven years but has been a tattoo artist for 31 years.

He has a large portfolio of freehand designs.

But he said what goes around is coming back around.

He said: “I am starting to do all the designs I did 30 years ago. Old school is really making a comeback and Japanese designs are proving really popular.

“About 10 years ago everyone was asking for Celtic designs or little angels and devils but now that is quite an unusual request.

“Now everybody is looking to celebrities for inspiration and they will just come in and ask for something they have seen on someone else.

“We also have a lot more women than men coming in and asking for tattoos.

“People are really more interested in tattoos as an art. That funny stigma associated with them has gone and the face of tattooing is changing.”

Ian added: “I once tattooed the entire body of a 55-year-old man. There is a 10 day recovery period between each session so it took nearly two years to complete.

“We won’t tattoo for more than an hour on one part of the body so many tattoos are done in stages.

“The oldest person I have tattooed is a 72-year-old woman who had the same design as her daughter and granddaughter.’’

But some people later regret having their bodies permanently marked.

Ian added: “We offer tattoo, piercing and laser removal.

“If somebody regrets a tattoo as fashions change or wants a new big one, it can often be hard to incorporate a tattoo they had 20 years ago so we would laser the original and start again.

“It can take a number of sessions to remove the tattoo depending on how dark it is but green and blue will never disappear – it is something to do with the chemicals.

“With laser technology there is a four to five week period before you can have it again, so it can take a little bit of time.”

He did have one very odd request.

“Many years ago I once spent three hours writing the lyrics of Lionel Richie’s Truly across a man’s chest,’’ he said.

“He had an argument with her and this was his way of solving the problem.

“Someone also requested the Leeds United shield after they had got into the premiership.

“He had all the team members on his calf but then the players changed.”

American Chris Meredith, who runs Cactus Tattoo on Old Wakefield Road, Moldgreen, said Cheryl Cole and David Beckham are the two stars who have inspired thousands of copycat tattoos.

“Cheryl’s hand tattoo and David’s angel on the back of his neck got people wanting to copy them.

“Things have really rocketed since the American tattoo shows hit the small screen.’’

He added: “Expectations from tattoo artists used to be not great, but that has now really changed.

“If you are going to do well in this industry you need to be a really great artist. Tattoos are an art form.’’

The oddest one he was asked to do was a headless chicken on a man’s backside.

“He said that tattoo summed up his life,’’ said Chris. “It came out really good.’’

Chris Meredith on how to do a tattoo

The tattoo needles pierce the skin in the dermis by 1/16 of an inch. The skin is made up of layers the epidermis, dermis and the subcutaneous fat layer.

The epidermis is the outer layer which provides protection against the environment whilst the dermis is primarily for structure and support and the subcutaneous fat layer is primarily responsible for insulation and shock absorbency.

When you are tattooed, the skin is stretched taught. This prevents knotting in the outlining.

The ink is deposited in the dermis region and when healed the ink can be seen due to the transparency of the skin cells.

Tattoo ink must be deposited in the dermis (just below the epidermis layer) because if the ink is too shallow in the skin it will fade with time, as those skin cells are replaced and if it is too deep it will lose its form with time in the fat layer.

Fat cells contract and grow with age and your weight as the ink will move, causing a distorted image.

Stencils are applied to unstressed skin. The area should be in a natural state so don’t flex your muscles while the stencil is being applied.

Once the stencil is in place, the skin is continually stretched taught while the artist applies the ink.

If the skin is not stretched, the needles can actually bounce off the skin and not penetrate or the needles can catch the skin, tearing it, either case results in a poor tattoo.