We all have our first ink impressions. In the case of Chantal Olson, it was a tattoo on her cousin’s husband. “He actually had some other girl’s name on his arm. He told me, ‘never get a tattoo!’” she laughs.

     Her own first tattoo experience was one of those love at first ink things, since the artist, Lucky Bastard, is now her fiancé. That’s actually his name. Seeing Chantal one can easily see how someone might call him that as well, but in this case the name came before the two met through a mutual friend in San Francisco. “But after we met and began seeing each other, he wouldn’t tattoo me for a good two or three years. He wanted to make sure it was perfect,” says Chantal. 

     As for her choices of images, Chantal explains that the fiery serpent writhing around her arm corresponds to her birthday, the Year of the Snake. Her fiancé/artist gave her that tattoo while he was working at Trigger Happy.

     “It took three sessions, but it could have taken two,” she laughs, “but I got tired and wimped out.” As for the chrysanthemum, she chose that image because her mom had often told her stories about her father growing the flowers in his garden back in the ancestral home in Korea.

     When asked about her family’s reaction to her tattoos, Chantal pauses a moment, then says, “At first they cried.” Then she laughs, and adds, “After a while they began liking them. They actually said it taught them that you shouldn’t judge people by their outward appearance, like their tattoos, and that I’m still a good person on the inside. So it really opened up their minds. My family is really nice, and as far as Lucky, if I love him, they’re going to love him, too.”

     Chantal and Lucky Bastard now live in Orange, California, where about nine months ago they opened Fine Tattoo Work. Chantal works behind the counter and is also apprenticing as a piercer. The enterprising Chantal is also taking college courses in advertising.

     We’re thinking she’s already about the best advertising the shop could create.

- Paul Garson