ORANGE — It started as a hobby.
John A. Chapin Jr. decided to start experimenting with tattoo guns and ink eight years ago, just tattooing friends and himself. Never did he think he would one day own a studio.
But after training, taking private lessons and an apprenticeship — and obtaining certification from the Department of Public Health — Chapin is a licensed body art practitioner and business owner.
Smok’in Irons Tattoo & Art Studio opened recently at 9 East Main St., and Chapin is elated.
“I just wanted to have a place I considered to be mine,” said Chapin, 45.
Originally from Leyden, Chapin has a background in art and construction. He does a variety of tattoos, from stylized skulls, to animals, Kanji characters and tattoos with patriotic themes.
Some stand-out pieces of past work he shows clients are a black scorpion on a burning orange backdrop, or a tattoo resembling cuts across the tattoo recipient’s skin, revealing an American flag underneath.
It’s not about Chapin and what he likes to tattoo, though.
“It’s whatever people want, really,” Chapin said.
Chapin got word of Smok’in Irons out through Facebook and Instagram pages and friends, but he’s surprised at the amount of clients he has already gained.
“It got busy pretty fast,” said Chapin, adding that he got his legal paperwork in last Monday and has “been tattooing every day since.”
Chapin said that he has been doing a tattoo or two a day at Smok’in Irons, which is steady work considering tattoos take a long time and the store has just opened.
According to Chapin, the studio’s central location in Orange, “right across from Subway and a liquor store,” and the fact that there are not very many studios in the area has helped bring people in.
Having had some stressful experiences with past jobs, Chapin wants his tattoo studio to have a “clean and friendly atmosphere.”
He describes the waiting room of the studio as having a “nice, living room feel, homely.”
The front room has sleek, wooden floors, a couch and several areas to sit. Chapin said he wants people to be able to have some alone time or socialize while waiting for their tattoo, whichever they would like. He is also getting internet connection for the studio.
Although he is the only artist at Smok’in Irons, the location is spacious. Chapin has not ruled out allowing another artist to come in and use one of the two tattoo rooms in a tenant-like relationship. Smok’in Irons is his creation, though, and he does not want to be a boss with employees.
While he has considered himself an artist “since kindergarten,” it is Chapin’s background as a construction worker — and his father’s influence as a master carpenter — that’s helped opening Smok’in Irons go smoothly.
Chapin has installed his own tile floors in the upstairs tattoo rooms, as well as wooden shelving and black leather tattoo chairs.
He’s put heavy emphasis on cleanliness, too, and has 15 different tattoo guns that he cleans with alcohol, Madacide and bleach. Each bleached needle has to sit and be given enough time for the bleach to kill all remaining germs that were not eliminated by the alcohol or Madacide, an alcohol-free solution popular among tattoo artists. Having 15 tattoo guns will allow him to have a rotation that ensures client safety.
“I try and go above and beyond with cleanliness,” Chapin said. “No one can say anything else.”
Chapin learned a lot about health and safety while going the apprenticeship and certification processes to get his tattoo license. Aspiring tattoo artists even learn how to do CPR in case a client has a medical emergency in the seat.
Owning a business, though, is something Chapin is learning first-hand, and based on the amount of people he has tattooed, he is doing well.
“I didn’t think it would be as busy. It’s rented for a year so hopefully it goes well,” Chapin said. “I already ordered a big neon sign.”
Reach David McLellan at:
dmclellan@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.