![Siena IV (The Tuscany Series) [Explore]](http://static.flickr.com/7083/7320391910_8e527775a2_t.jpg "Siena IV (The Tuscany Series) [Explore]")
sad lady tat, originally uploaded by spraynardkreuger.
G4P: What have been some of the most extreme reactions people have had while you’ve been tattooing them?
AC: Typically, people either cry or pass out. I almost feel worse when people pass out. If people cry when they get a tattoo, they’re obviously pretty sensitive. One girl I worked on was really pumped [before] and then she got nervous when I put the stencil on her. I was inches from starting the tattoo and she started bawling.
G4P: It’s probably hard to deal with people crying and freaking out.
AC: All the anxiety seems to happen before it starts. When people cry, it’s frustrating their whole body heaves. Typically, after a while they’ll either tell me to start or calm down. I’ve started before with the intention of finishing and people won’t come back to get the tattoo finished up. One girl wanted this traditional tramp stamp with a heart and some black tribal around it, and I got through the heart and she asked me to stop.
G4P: Have any guys had really bad reactions?
AC: I’ve heard of guys peeing themselves but that’s never happened to me. Usually, they’ll pass out then come to and act like nothing has happened.
G4P: Is it hard to tattoo people knowing that you’re hurting them?
AC: At first, it’s super hard because you’re causing people pain. It’s a bizarre feeling. After time goes on, it’s a job, like anything else. If you worry too much about it, it affects the product.
ugly tat, originally uploaded by spraynardkreuger.
Tattoos can be utterly hideous and completely defile one’s body. Yet, by the masses, people continue to spend large amounts of dough on getting “inked,” including myself. So what sort of person can put up with being commissioned to create the best of the worst in body art?
Sweet tribal tats, slutty tramp stamps, offensive, sociopathic criminal-inspired scenes – tattoo artist Aaron Kramer of Decorative Injections in Athens, Ohio has done them all. Kramer is a longtime resident of OU’s college town and comes from a long line of arty people, so it’s no wonder that he gets sadistic glee out of using flesh as his canvas. With 22 tattoos of his own, (his favorite being of Lenny Kilmeister from Motorhead,) he’s had a great deal of experience on both ends of the deal.
G4P: I know there have probably been a bunch, but what were some of the worst tattoos you’ve ever given?
AC: Joe Birch, the brother to the mayor of Chauncey, got “last person said they gonna fuck my sister is dead” in Ren and Stimpy writing. [Another one] was on the arm this biker who got in a high speed car chase while he was high on meth. There were a few people riding in the car and the girl in the back, his son’s girlfriend, got decapitated. This guy got a tattoo of the grim reaper cradling his son’s girlfriend in his arms and [the grim reaper] was also holding her decapitated head up by her hair. The same guy also said he wanted another tattoo of the grim reaper but ‘with big tits.’
