Tattoo Shop Owner Is Making Her Mark

Tattoos, burlesque, faeries, an internet fundraising campaign and a castle in the Pyrenees: All are strands in the life of Farmingdale business owner Scarlet Sinclair. As diverse as those threads may seem, they are completely entwined.

In August, the owner of is headed to a weeklong art class at Belcastel in Aveyron, France, taught by movie fantasy illustrator Brian Froud, the man behind the artwork of such films as Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal.

“He is one of my idols,” said Sinclair, who holds a bachelor of fine arts from the Pratt Institute. “He’s had an incredible influence on my work. It’s going to be a magical experience.”

Eager to get to that class of about six students, she took her campaign to raise about $4,000 to IndieGoGo, a website designed to help donors fund projects of their liking. And among her donors were people from her four years working in burlesque in New York City.

“I used to perform in New York City burlesque and I became their tattooer,” she said. When she went looking for help for the trip, performers showed her an amazing level of support. “They threw benefit shows, donated money, the bars donated percentages from the shows. I wouldn’t be going without the burlesque supporters,” she said.

Sinclair’s professional journey leading up to the class in France has taken her from college to the world of burlesque, back to an art gallery and then recognition that tattooing offered her a perfect platform for her creativity.

“I’m excited to see how the class will influence me,” she said. She will keep her donors and others updated about her experiences on her Tumblr account.

She expects to bring new ideas back to her shop at 211 Main St. where she is one of four artists.  “Each artist has a specialty,” she said, concentrating on such areas as photo realism or animation styles.  She describes her own as “an illustrative style, not cartoony but not based on realism. But there’s somebody here with the potential to please anyone.”

Sinclair attributes the growing acceptance of tattooing to TV shows and other media. TV has “made it much more palatable and people are not loking to us as criminals and deviants. People can feel that we’re just normal people,” she said. “It’s created more of a social acceptance to have a tattoo.”

In New York, anyone wanting a tattoo has to be 18.  She said parents occasionally accompany their children who are about to turn 18 who haven’t yet “reached a comfort level” with the idea of a tattoo.  “I’ve definitely had those conversations,” she said, reminding parents that the choice belongs to the youngsters.

“We’re here to provide an experience, not just apply a tattoo. We provide a level of intimacy and privacy,” which is especially important to female clients.”

“We never like to pressure—if I sense reluctance, I have to pay attention to that,” she said.

A complex design could require up to 20 hours of work, with recipients sitting perhaps three or fours, up to seven hours at a time, on the outside.  “It’s an organic process,” she said.

Though she said “we don’t command that kind of clientele,” she said Tattoo Ritual draws a line at one kind of design. “Nothing gang or hatred-related,” she said.

And one other request makes her hesitate, though with a touch of humor.

Though she’ll create tattoos as memorials or showing the names of customers’ children, “I have a superstition about significant others’ names,” she said, and usually tries to persuade customers to avoid permanently linking themselves to another person. “I’ve definitely dissuaded some of them.

“But if they insist, I’ll do it.”