Renegade Issue 27

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This is my awesome and talented tattoo artist and friend,
Dessa Blackthorn, aka “Sassy”. Her website is .
tattoozbysassy.com/ and you can find her on Facebook un-
der the same name. Her book series can be found here:
. After
reading, you will understand why we are friends!!! Chris
I have always had a form of A.D.D. when it came to what
I wanted to do for a living because frankly I wanted to do
everything, which is why I don’t understand how I could’ve
been a tattoo artist since 1989 and still enjoy it. Oh sure,
I’ve been an artist my whole life, sold my first painting at the
ripe young nubile age of 14, painted signs for a department
store, airbrushed motorcycles for a living in Hawaii but all
those things didn’t involve working on people. Yes, people
were indirectly involved, but applying my art on people has
been a challenge.
I’ve had many memorable moments in the last twenty five
years including being puked on, people passing out in the
chair (which 9 out of 10 times has to do with people not
eating), laughing so hard tears are coming out of our eyes,
and those moments when you not only lose a customer but
also a good friend and are asked to do a memorial tattoo on
the survivors. Some days I love every one of my clients and
other days I want to break out the duct tape. Oh yes, I have
used duct tape on a guy who wouldn’t stop talking with his
hands and I keep it close by just in case...
I own Tattooz by Sassy in the Harps marketplace in Moun-
tain Home Arkansas. I just happened to have my grand
opening on September 11, 2001 which turned out to be a
strange day indeed and never forgotten as we have a mural
of the New York skyline with the twin towers on the wall. I
started out by myself and took on a couple of artists a year
later to help manage all the business I was getting at the
time. The economy eventually changed, people changed,
situations changed, and I’m back to tattooing by myself
once again. The one thing that hasn’t changed is the fierce
loyalty of my clients and the amount of business they bring me
on a regular basis.
I still get at least one tattoo “virgin” a day in the shop and
haven’t lost my gentle touch ‘popping their cherries’. I’ve also
gotten very good at getting rid of people’s exes. Sorry, I don’t
actually kill anyone but rather I can do some pretty nice cover-
ups on those significant other names. I don’t recommend doing
names in the first place but human nature being what it is; it
gives me job security when they don’t want to listen to logic.
When I was 18, I wrote out a bucket list. It took me 30 years to
complete that bucket list and the road I took getting everything
done looked more like a drunken cow path complete with cow
patties. One of those things on the list was learning how to
work on cars. As a young child, my dad wouldn’t let me help
work on his trucks but still, I wanted so much to know how ev-
erything worked. While the boys took sneak peeks at Playboy,
I was peeking at my dad’s Chilton’s manuals. I eventually took
an auto mechanics course back in the mid 1980’s and enjoy
working on the older cars. I have a 1967 Camaro I’ve owned
since 1982 and have been slowly taking it apart for a frame off
resto. I plan on putting a 396 in it which I will build myself but
it’ll be a few more years before I get to where it’s ready to paint
and drive.
I’m a bit of a car whore and own two older Corvettes (one of
which I bought from my favorite fellow female crazy person
“coupon Chris” Gibbany), a 1992 Jag, a 4WD pickup truck (be-
cause I can’t drive any of my other vehicles in the snow), and
a 2001 Yamaha V-Star motorcycle with custom airbrushing I
did myself.
I’ve never been too much of a “girly” girl. Yes, I do like to dress
nicely at times, wear makeup, and I love my 6” high platform
heels but let’s face it, the boys have all the fun toys! When it
comes to those toys it’s either go big or go home too. No little
RenegadeMagazine.com 91
baby chainsaws for me and when it comes to shit that has
to be done, sometimes being destructive can be far more
satisfying than being constructive.
I collect swords and fantasy knives too. Some are just for
show and some are sharp so I will be ready for the zom-
bie apocalypse (or attack of the Jehovah Witnesses as they
love hanging out on my doorstep). I also have several hand-
guns and rifles with my favorites being my AR15 and my Ru -
ger SR9. I do know how to use them too but don’t rely on
a gun for protection which is why I’ve been taking martial
arts classes for almost four years. Anyone with any common
sense knows that even with a permit, a gun is less likely to
be effective in most situations and your hands will be the first
thing available in most attacks.
In my spare time (which is any moment I’m awake and not
tattooing) I write books. I currently have four in a series out in
print with a fifth in the making with plans to start a whole new
unrelated book in the future. Three years ago I entered a
body building competition taking 2nd in Novice, 4th in Wom-
en’s Masters and 4th in Women’s Open category and yes,
there were more than four competitors. I also like skydiving
and have done two jumps so far with the next one being my
first solo jump. Before anyone asks why I would jump out
of a “perfectly good airplane” well, you weren’t in that noisy
bumpy little bird. Jumping out seemed a whole lot safer and
quite the high! (No pun intended).
As for my great passion, I have a special love for tattooing
portraits and cover ups are an interesting challenge too. I
do specialize in black and grey realism but I’m open to just
about anything and once I got used to coloring outside the
lines, I found a new fondness for “water-color style”. I have
thousands of designs to look at and choose from in my store
although I would much rather my clients let me create a cus-
tom piece for them. Stepping outside of my comfort zone and
trying new things is what helps keep the passion
alive and my passion has been rewarded with over
40 trophies over the years. I have also won local awards
for my business and a national award for Business Woman
of the Year.
Another interesting aspect of tattooing I do is permanent
cosmetics. Having your makeup tattooed on is not only liber-
ating but pretty fucking handy if you get tossed off a boat into
a lake or stuck in a hospital for days. Seriously though, not
having to worry about your eyeliner, eyebrows, or lip color
coming off is nice. The approved pigments I use are per-
manent, not semi-permanent like some ladies prefer to use.
Because of this I am one of the top two permanent cosmetic
artists in the state with the age range of clients being from
mid 20’s to mid 80’s!
Tattooz by Sassy is also known for its cleanliness and friend-
liness of staff. Having been a licensed nurse since 2000,
I run a tight ship and guarantee sterility of equipment and
cleanliness of the shop and the staff who work here. We take
pride in providing a clean comfortable environment for all
your tattooing or body piercing needs. Between me and my
body piercer, we have 37 years of experience!
I have plans in the future for so many other things (build-
ing a new house, travel to other countries, doing another
body building competition, and writing a best-selling novel)
and even though I am a 51 year old grandmother, I see no
reason to slow down just yet. Hell, after writing all these ac-
complishments and future plans down, I think I will need to
go take a nap first...