There’s more to the day than ink

Purple latex hands peer over the side of a helpless girl’s body. With heavy metal music… Purple latex hands peer over the side of a helpless girl’s body. With heavy metal music hammering through the shops’ speakers, the World War II film “Ike” playing on the television and the constant buzz of the ink gun resonating through the shop, Mr. Zeb is hard at work.

Lying back in the red parlor chair, hands crossed and resting on her upper stomach, Felicia Crawford is getting a tattoo.

When the 19-year-old Pitt freshman walked into the store, she nervously asked how much a small tree-of-life tattoo on her hip would cost. But once the first line was drawn on her skin, it seemed to be smooth.

“This your first one?” Zeb asked as she settled into the chair.

“Yep,” she quickly responded.

He asked her if she was nervous, and she again quickly responded, but this time in the negative.

“It’s not that bad,” he assured her.

As Felicia rested back into the chair, she looked over to her friend and told her to answer her phone if it rings.

“If it’s my mom don’t answer it,” she added. “She’ll kill me.”

The man giving Felicia her first ink is far from being a rookie at what he does. He’s been in the business for a little more than 12 years, ever since he started working at Inka Dinka Doo when it was located in Oakland. After Inka Dinka Doo removed itself from its original location, Zeb and fellow tattoo artist Erin opened Lefty’s and have been working together ever since.

Since Lefty’s both schedules tattoo appointments and accepts walk-ins, they can get slammed one day and have a rather slow day the next.

“Sometimes I wish those kind of days would just spread out over the whole week,” Zeb said about those kinds of days where they get hammered with six or seven customers all in a row and the inking never stops.

After finishing a tattoo earlier in the afternoon, Zeb was left without any scheduled appointments. Waiting for customers to take advantage of an open walk-in, Zeb kicked back and flipped through a magazine while also trying to find something good on television.

“This is why I keep cable in the shop,” Zeb joked as he channel-surfed to find something worth watching until he finally landed on the movie “Ike.”

“I’m a bit of a history buff,” Zeb said.

But when it comes to business, Zeb is focused on his work, and it’s clearly evident as he works with precision on Felicia’s tattoo. Working in a small place on her hip, Zeb has to make every line exact, as there is little margin for error, especially when placing something as permanent as a tattoo on someone’s body.

“Oh Christ,” Zeb suddenly said as the movie “Ike” was over and a new show was beginning.

“What?” Felicia hurried to ask.

“Oh, not your tattoo,” Zeb assured her. “Murder She Wrote,” he added as he looked up at the television playing the opening theme music to the detective show.

“There’s no way we’re watching ‘Murder She Wrote’,” Erin said as he quickly changed the channel.

“That’s like watching your grandmother solve murders,” Zeb joked.

After the scare of the horrid thought of actually watching “Murder She Wrote,” Zeb continued on the tattoo. As he colored in the tree with black ink, he asked her how she was doing. For a first tattoo she was easily a perfect customer, lying back comfortably, occasionally tilting her head up to check on the progress.

“It starts to take shape, huh?” Zeb asked her as she took a peek at the work.

Zeb finished giving Felicia her first ink and told her to take a look in the mirror to see what she thought.

“Awesome,” she raved as she looked at her tattoo in a full-length mirror on the wall. “I love it.”

Zeb readied his station for a quick shade job on another customer and went back to work in what was just another day in the shop for this local businessman.