Pain for pleasure: All about tattoos at Beardsley and Memorial Library

WINSTED — A presentation and workshop on tattoos and tattooing was presented by Candace Welch on April 18 at the Beardsley and Memorial Library.

Welch is the owner and tattooist of Tattoos By Candace LLC at 238 Main St. She gave a description of the history of tattoos and how it has been an active influence for thousands of years during her presentation.

A member of the crowd asked, “How long has tattooing been around for?” and Welch answered simply “Since men and women could stand.”

It carried a healing connotation for some regions and for others it was a symbol of the right of passage,” Welch said. “Women were usually the ones who gave the tattoos while also being tattooed themselves. In Egypt, women were tattooed on their abdominal region to help in the process of birth. An interesting fact is that the inventor of the tattoo gun, at least the top portion, was Thomas Edison.”

Welch was asked what was the longest tattoo she ever did.

“The longest tattoo I did on a person was five hours,” she said. “I will never do that again. I’m only human, and as humans our powers of concentration are limited.” 

During her talk, Welch spoke in detail about her experiences of being a tattooist.

“I want people to feel comfortable with me,” she said. “Talking to my customers while I’m working doesn’t break my concentration. It’s when people need to take a beak every 10 minutes that’s really going to break my concentration. I can talk and work at the same time. It’s important for my clients to feel at home.”

She said she is serious about her work and when asked if she ever free-hands on a client she explained, “I always use a stencil. Skin takes ink really well but I don’t know how it will take until I work on someone. I make mistakes on paper, not on people.”

When it comes to the rules of her shop Welch said she has specific guidelines she will never break.

“This is a profession, and I don’t let people just hang out at the shop,” she said. “You wouldn’t hang out in a doctor’s office. That’s how I look at it.”

Welch explained she didn’t have a favorite tattoo she has ever created.

“That’s impossible for me to answer,” she said. “Every tattoo has a meaning or representation behind it as she pointed out, it isn’t necessarily the person who picks it. When the time is right it will jump up and down and say, ‘I am it!’ That’s what you wait for. If you try and pick one analytically, one day you’ll ask, ‘Why did I do this?’ You don’t pick the tattoo, the tattoo picks you.”