My name is Camille Hawkins and I am the creator and owner of Tattoos by Camille. I am a tattoo artist out of Norwich, NY since this past January. While I am still new to the career of tattooing, I have grown up in the industry. I am currently working at Rosebud Tattoo and Tanning. This business was originally opened by my great uncle Don. After teaching his sister (my great aunt), she took over the second location of his shop and making it her own. From there she taught her son, who in turn taught me. 

I try to offer everything I can through my business to make the experience of getting a tattoo an enjoyable and easy one. The services I am currently offering include, design consultations, custom drawings, walk in appointments on designated days, tattoo application, after-care instruction and inquiry, and touch up appointments, just to name a few. 

Over the past 9 months, tattooing has become my life. While I hope to make this my full- time career, there is so much more that attracts me to this field. A few months ago, my community and my family were struck with tragedy. My 16-year-old cousin was murdered in a domestic violence dispute with her then boyfriend. At the time I felt like there was nothing I could do to help the situation. I wasn’t the type to go hug her family at the funeral or send flowers, but I felt like I needed to do something to make a difference in all of it. 2 days later my opportunity presented itself. A girl who had gone to school with my cousin came in requesting I do a tattoo in her honor. This was an emotional one for me as it was an exact copy of a drawing my cousin had done on the girl, in the exact same spot that it had once existed. This wasn’t the only tattoo I had done in memory of my cousin. Her former classmates, relatives and even her mother allowed me to tattoo them. Each experience was different, but all shared one major commonality (aside from their subject matter). Each of these appointments was therapeutic for the client. We would talk for the duration of the tattoo and so many people that I had never met before were sharing their deepest feelings and thoughts with me. This was the moment that I realized what I was tattooing for. For those of us that don’t cope in the common ways such as crying, tattooing can help relieve some of the pain that we feel. Since then, I have done a multitude of meaningful pieces on people. From covering self-harm scars, to other memorial pieces, to simply enhancing a part of the body that had made my client feel less than confident in the past, I have been so fortunate to help the people I already have, and the thought of how many others I can help as I advance in my career is what drives me every single day. 

Check out this article to see some of the many ways that tattooing can become therapeutic:  https://madamenoire.com/618797/tattoos-as-therapy/2/ 

Currently my business is gearing up for the Halloween season. I am planning to run a promotional event in which clients can choose their design from a sheet of flash (see bottom of post or visit this link for definition of flash https://www.inkedmag.com/ culture/tattoo-lingo ). These designs will be created by me specifically for this promotion and will be offered at a discounted, flat price. 

With this blog I plan to not only discuss tattooing and my experiences with it as I progress in my career, but to also offer advice on specific topics related to tattooing, such as choosing a tattoo, proper aftercare, tattoo copying, etc.. I also plan to keep you up-to-date on everything going on with my business as a whole. 

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Flash—Pre-designed images that can be purchased by tattoo artists or clients as templates for tattoos. Most flash comes as a collection of images to choose from on sheets and is most commonly used nowadays for wall displays in shops, choice designs for charity events, and to teach apprentices.