Every year, more people jump on the bandwagon and ink their skin with a tattoo. Although some people still find tattoos to be unscrupulous, the popular consensus has shifted, and most people agree that tattoos are a creative way to express yourself. By using your skin as a canvas, tattoos allow people to create wonderful pieces of art that speak to the world around them – but there will always be people who prefer to get tattoos in places people won’t see them.
A Belgian tattoo artist named Indy Voet specialized in giving people exactly what they want. Voet works at The Purple Sun tattoo parlor in Brussels and has carved out a niche for himself in the tattoo industry by tattooing people in unconventional places. He does great work on people’s fingers and behind their ears. But Voet’s favorite place to tattoo his clients is on the roof of their mouths, which is a skill he has been perfecting for the last five years.
Voet, who now has a large portfolio of work, uses a tattoo technique called hand poking to get the results he wants. This technique uses a tattoo gun that relies on manual power instead of electricity. This means that Voet has more control and is able to take his time while tattooing the roof of people’s mouths.
When he first started working with clients, Voet was a body piercer with about a decade of experience. He said that he started offering tattoos in unconventional places because it was a “natural” extension of his work as a body artist.
“I don’t really use anything other than a needle and some dexterity, combined with the trust of my client,” Indy told Inked Magazine. “I started doing these about four years ago. I was a piercer for ten years before tattooing, so doing tattoos in uncommon spots feels natural.”
Do tattoos on the roof of your mouth hurt? Voet says that people claim they do not.
“Nine out of 10 people describe these tattoos as being almost painless or at least, very easy to handle. The other 10% mostly complain about jaw muscle aches, which seems logical.”
He also urges people to practice the following when they’re letting the tattoos on the rooves of their mouths heal.
“Healing [these tattoos] is like any other mouth tattoo or piercing—don’t have anything too spicy, no strong liquor, and be careful what you put in your mouth for a couple of days. Other than that, the natural resources of the mouth do the rest.”
Tattoo parlors are back in action as of May 18 after their government shut them down for months amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Readers on Daily Mail had a lot to say about this unconventional tattoo. Here are some thoughts.
“Great idea. Getting a tattoo where no one can see it unless you compel them to peer into your disgusting gob.”
“What possesses people? I am heavily tattooed, but draw the line at hand, face or neck tatts, but this is just ridiculous and pointless.”
What do you think about getting a tattoo on the roof of your mouth?
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