"I'm actually on a plane home to Brooklyn, NY from the Bay Area Tattoo Convention as I write this. My boyfriend was tattooing there, so I went for a few days to help him set up and to hang out with a good amount of our friends who also flew in to work the convention. Right after this convention he is headed to the New Zealand tattoo convention for close to a month, so this was a way for us to spend some time together before he left again. And in that sense, tattooing has a bigger role in my life than most people's and that I ever expected it to have.
Rewinding a bit, my first spark with tattoos came from my dad I suppose, who in his day was a badass punk with a mohawk and a flaming skull tattoo on his shoulder. When I was old enough to get my first tattoo at 18, I was living on my own, unable to live any longer under the extremely conservative, christian rules of my mother and step-father, and definitely channeling my dad's younger spirit. At this time I was very close with a tattoo artist and decided, after spending some time playing with the idea, that I would go to his mentor to get my first one done. It was a decent sized anchor on my thigh.
My first couple of tattoos were a stretch towards symbolism in my life at the time and were more specific, but the more I got tattooed the more my understanding of the art and culture of it broadened. As I matured so did my taste in tattoos. I never intended to be heavily tattooed and I still don't think of myself as having that many, especially not when I see people working on entire full body pieces. But I've always been an all or nothing individual, so once I got one I had to get more. I tell people with no tattoos all the time to never get one because of that very reason.
Jade's arms and legs adorned with ink // Reaper tattoos on the back of her thighs are by Jacob Neumann
Most of mine were done after I moved from California, back home to Vegas when I was 19. I was going to school to be a hair stylist and looking for an artist that specialized in American Traditional, but I kept finding artists that were tracers or that tried to pass off extremely simple, screwy designs as "American Traditional." Then I found Ross Henry. We immediately clicked, and he and I came up with designs together that we thought were rad and fun and just did them. At this time I was working at a very corporate job that didn't allow me to show any of my tattoos, so I wore makeup over them every day to hide them. It was this job that helped me decide that I wanted more visible tattoos and that I never wanted to work somewhere again that didn't accept me for the person that I was, tattoos and all. I had to take a break from getting tattooed for a bit here because my priorities were to pay off my schooling and remain debt free. As soon as I was done I was back to going on road trips, exploring the wilderness, and attempting to see the whole country. This enabled me to get tattooed by friends while I was traveling or while they were guest-spotting near me.
It was around this time that I met my other half, Beau Brady, who happens to be a tattoo artist. He was living in New York and working at Invisible NYC in the Lower East Side. It wasn't even six months after meeting him that I moved to New York (a place that seems to be the center of passion and talent for artists especially). Because my boyfriend has been fully submerged in the tattoo culture for most of his life, his knowledge on tattooing has greatly influenced my newer pieces and the artists that I've chosen more recently.
Snake by Eric Zona // Lady by Claudia De Sabe // Eye by Beau Brady
Collectively I've been tattooed by Ross Henry, Jacob Neumann, KC Lange, Nick Colella, Eric Zona, Claudia De Sabe, Brad Stevens, Mina Aoki, Grez, Rose Hardy, Bryan Lavish, Adam Warmerdam, and of course Beau Brady.
Every time I get a new tattoo, it's my new favorite, and currently that would be an eagle I had Grez do on my leg at Kings Avenue.
Getting tattooed by Grez at Kings Avenue // Eagle by Grez
My back piece is a tiger that is about four sessions in. It's been an interesting experience having Beau do it for me. It's awesome because he knows me very well, I trust him, I'm comfortable with him, and he knows what I like and what I don't like. On the downside though, because of how well he knows me, he definitely pushes my pain tolerance. It's pretty hard to find time to get it worked on because Beau is always traveling and when he is home his schedule is pretty packed, so my piece definitely gets put on the back burner. I'd potentially like to finish it before next year though.
Jade's back piece // Getting her back worked on by Beau Brady at Invisible NYC
I'll be going to Italy with Beau in April to go to the Bologna convention and then in May I'm hoping to get tattooed at Blue Arms in Norway. I'll hopefully have Grez do a few more fun things on me as well, and I'm saving my right arm for a specific style in the future. I don't really have too many people that I'd like to be tattooed by specifically, but rather artists that do work that stands the test of time. I don't see myself ever getting my chest tattooed, or my hands, as I feel it's more of a feminine attribute to have them clean and bare.
Being a lady and being tattooed is unfortunately an easy way to receive a lot of unwanted attention. I think that being tattooed is becoming more acceptable socially and more common, but I still get those strangers that come up to me and try to touch my arm or that stare at my legs on the subway, and it sucks. I'm also quite the introvert, so I don't like any attention usually. As a hair stylist, my clients always tend to ask me about them and it definitely gets old answering the same five questions, but I'm polite and nice about it and I'll answer their questions to an extent. Typically when someone randomly brings them up it takes me a second to understand what they're referring to because I don't even see them anymore. I'm so used to tattoos, all of my friends have them, and my boyfriend is a tattoo artist, so I'm surrounded by them. It's a part of who I am.
I think covering parts of my skin with adornments in any form does, in a way, improve my self-esteem because it pulls the focus away from other aspects that I don't exactly like about my body. I also think that it's a day and age of comparisons. Everyone is always comparing their life or how they look with the person next to them. It's a black hole of personal negativity, but I'm confident enough in the person that I am that I try to avoid falling into that. When I get a new tattoo, it always helps me feel more like an individual, more like myself.
So here I am presently, a 23 year old lady with some tattoos by amazing artists, but more importantly, I've managed to make a few awesome memories on the way with more friends than a girl could ask for.
Thank you so much, Heloisa, for thinking of me for this blog! It was a pleasure getting to share my experience."
Thank YOU, Jade, for such a great interview!
Follow Jade on Instagram @dominafortuna and see more of her incredible tattoos.
Thank YOU, Jade, for such a great interview!
Follow Jade on Instagram @dominafortuna and see more of her incredible tattoos.
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