Did You Know Your Tattoo Can Live On After You’ve Gone?

Does your ink have a special meaning or significance? Is the art exceptionally well done? Now you can save it for future generations.

When Someone Suggested Saving A Tattoo, I Wondered Can It Be Done?

I recently overheard a conversation where a woman said her daughter was interested in preserving a tattoo her husband had dedicated to her on his forearm.

I immediately thought, "That's a weird desire." But then I quickly became curious and wondered, "Is that even a thing? Can you have a tattoo removed and preserved from a dead person?"

It turns out it is a thing.

A quick Google search led me to several places where this procedure can be done.

It Turns Out Tattoos Are Being Preserved

One place is Save My Ink Forever, which is located in Cleveland and is run by morticians Kyle and Mike Sherwood. Mike is Kyle's dad.

I spoke with Kyle on my show Wednesday, and he said as a third generation mortician, he was drinking with some friends when the subject came up, was it possible to remove and save tattoos from the deceased?

"If there's 50 million people tattooed there's obviously a market. We started then thinking about our funeral background and we're like, hey, people put ashes on the mantle, or visit a cemetery for the headstone, this isn't super crazy."

It's A Process That Takes Time

Kyle says they need to be notified within 72 hours of someone's death. The web site is pretty clear on this issue:

The  funeral home/crematory has 48-72 hours to contact us. NOTE: This does  not mean the tattoo has to be removed within this time frame. We just  need to be notified. We will then send a recovery kit that contains all  of the essential paperwork and materials for the recovery process for  your loved one's tattoo(s). After  the recovery process is completed, the family can expect to receive  their loved one's framed tattoo art within 3 months.

The details of how the tattoo is preserved appears proprietary, for the details were not revealed.

It is simply stated that the art work would be returned to the family framed within three to four months.

Tattoo Artists Deserve More Recognition

Speaking with 9News, Kyle admits there have been some unusual requests by people to make things like book covers and lamp shades from tattoos, but they have been refused, staying with tastefully done wall pieces, examples of which you can view at their web site, SaveMyInk.Tattoo.

Kyle added that it's as much about the art as it it the memorial. "Some of these artists are...modern day Rembrandts and Picassos and I don't think that they get the credit they deserve because their medium is ink and skin instead of paint and parchment. So I'm looking at it like you wouldn't bury or burn a Picasso."