Friday the 13th
In lieu of Friday the 13th I thought I’d dig a little more into the history and see what the trend is all about. Many of the articles I found credit the trend to Ink Master judge Oliver Peck and his shop Elm Street Tattoos in Dallas Texas. Though Peck was one of the first and certainly one of the biggest names to do Friday the 13th flash I find it hard to believe that he was the very first one to do it. Especially with his start to tattooing being in 1988 and he didn’t tattoo seriously until 1991. Peck undoubtedly has turned Friday the 13th into a bigger spectacle in the industry than it has been before but there were certainly 13 and Friday the 13th tattoos long before Peck turned it into a big event.
Traditionally on Friday the 13th some shops, especially in America, offer flash sheets of discounted and spooky tattoos. An article by Inked explains that sometimes the best tattoos don’t come out of these days. The artists at some of these larger events are overworked and getting paid less for the special, at times this can have an impact on the art, says Devon Preston with Inked.
Tattooist Iron Monk raised his concerns about the fad in an article by vice. He recollects that in his Friday the 13th flash sheets the number 13 doesn’t actually appear. His concern stems from gang numbers. Monk says you never know what numbers may be associated with different gangs (especially when travelling) so he leans more towards the spooky flash side of the holiday.
The number 13 has a much longer history in tattooing than Peck. Sailors used to get the number 13 tattooed as a good omen actually! Their theory was that when bad luck would approach them it would see the number 13, see that bad luck was already there and move on. Bryan even found some 13 flash tattoos by W.R King (1897-1967) in a book at the studio here.
Though Peck is a big name and he may have popularized the Friday the 13th tattoos he wasn’t the very first person to do them. In the Canadian tattoo industry I don’t think Friday the 13th is as big of a deal, although some shops still celebrate with discounted tattoos or special flash events. These events come with their risks as highlighted by tattooist Iron Monk and collector Devon Preston but can also be tons of fun. After all who doesn’t love a spooky or discounted tattoo.
Sources:
- https://www.inkedmag.com/original-news/fridaythe13th-tattooregret
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/8x8zxb/how-friday-the-13th-became-black-friday-for-tattoos
- https://www.tattoo.com/blog/tattoo-history-friday-13th/
