![]() Mehaffey then worked in Ocala, at Crawling Panther, but most of his customers traveled from Gainesville. “It was a situation where there were too many chiefs and not enough Indians,” he said. Mehaffey started out at Cool World Tattoos and Body Tech before helping open Anthem in 2006. Everything I do is related to tattooing.” “I was married when I started tattooing and was divorced a year later,” Mehaffey said. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.īy the time he was 26, tattooing consumed him. He also did some religious sculptures, such as three-dimensional sacred hearts. In college, Mehaffey created kinetic sculptures-like a heart spewing flames out of its ventricles. He worked construction and welding jobs to get through school. Mehaffey grew up in South Florida but also lived in New England before moving to Gainesville to attend UF. “They’ll say ‘I want this tattoo of a rose with my whole family’s names on every petal and the year I graduated and my dog’s footprints in the middle and my birth year in the thorns…’”Ī pet peeve of Mehaffey’s is when clients won’t accept input or when they bring someone with them who’s watched too many episodes of Ink Master on Spike because “They think they know everything about tattoos by watching the show.” “We call it ten pounds of crap in a five-pound bag,” he said. More common is customers trying to cram too many ideas into a single tattoo. It’s been quite a few years since Mehaffey has had to deal with that issue. “I’ll say to them, ‘Man, you’re going to ruin your life.’” My job is to make sure that I give them a tattoo that’s going to look good for the rest of their lives.” “You have to dig down to get motivated to do the same image for the 900 th time, like a feather turning into a bird, but your name is on it regardless.” One of Little Mike’s recent designs. “Sometimes you’ve done a hundred infinity symbols, or whatever’s hot on Pinterest,” he said. Mehaffey insists on giving customers tattoos they want, even if the idea is not all that original. ![]() Death or Glory stays up with the latest trends-whether it’s the zombie kit, the earth-tone collection or glow-in-the-dark inks. More than ever, social media is helping to drive the tattoo business. “The Navy was a big part of keeping tattooing alive during World War II,” Mehaffey said. The display window at the front of the shop is a shrine to the art of tattooing with such vintage items as brass knuckles, switchblades and old tattoo stencils. “Our shop harkens back to a different era,” he said. At the 2015 Jacksonville Tattoo Convention, Death or Glory earned first place in the “Best Traditional” category. As to be expected, some are quick and cheap.Īccording to Mehaffey, what sets Death or Glory apart is an old-school street approach by tattoo artists who respect tradition while using the most current methods and materials. Half of them are on the mile-long stretch of University Avenue between the University of Florida campus and downtown. More than a dozen are listed in the Yellow Pages. “Knowing the fundamentals makes a good tattoo artist.” Death or Glory Tattoo Parlour on East University Avenue.īeing a college town, Gainesville doesn’t lack for tattoo shops. “It takes a true craftsman to put ink in skin,” Mehaffey said. He oversees a small crew dedicated to preserving tattooing as an art form. Today, the 38-year-old Mehaffey answers to “Little Mike” and owns Death or Glory Tattoo Parlour in downtown Gainesville. “It takes a true craftsman to put ink in skin.” “I was instantly in love with the idea of getting tattoos.” “It’s the age-old story of people my age skateboarding and hanging out in punk clubs,” he said. For Mehaffey, however, it was only the beginning of a lifelong love affair with body art. ![]() The humiliating episode might have scarred some teens. “She saw the tattoo and started screaming, ‘I can’t believe you did that!’” “I was sitting down and my mom woke me up,” he said. “It was completely illegal.”Ī few weeks later, an exhausted Mehaffey fell asleep in his backyard after a long afternoon of chores. “I had skipped school to get the tattoo from a biker named Eddie,” Mehaffey recalled. Mike Mehaffey’s mother was not pleased when she discovered her son’s first tattoo. The colorful owner of the downtown tattoo parlor takes an old-school approach to body art. (Photo by Lena Crane/Reflections of Light Photography) ![]() “Little Mike” Mehaffey surrounded by tattoo art.
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