Tattoos have been around for thousands of years, but persevering tattoos into art after death is relatively new, and the purpose of Save My Ink Forever out of Ohio.
The company creates everlasting memorials by harvesting tattooed skin into framed pieces of art.
“One of our buddies said that he wanted to have his tattoo preserved. So, we kind of started looking into it.” Explained Kyle Sherwood COO of Save My Ink Forever. “We developed a proprietary process which is able to preserve the actual tattoo art itself. We then frame the tattoo and present it back to the family as a memorial keepsake. People are getting away from the cookie-cutter funerals and really trying to customize the funeral around that person. And basically, we said what is more personalized than the actual tattoo itself.”
The first memorial was framed into a framed piece of art in 2016.
“Faded tattoos become more clear, colors become more vibrant, and also the skin ends up looking more like parchment. They are designed to pretty much, you know, last multiple generations. As long as you treat it like a fine piece of art, it’s going to last generations. Museum quality, archival quality framing, and we generally try to keep the orientation of how it was displayed on the person.” Explained Sherwood.
The process takes three to six months to complete and starts at a funeral home.
“We would embalm their loved one and we would remove that area and then we would treat it, send it to Save My Ink.” Explained Diane Lee owner and founder of Family First Cremation Services in Spring. “Just the upper layer of the skin. And they treat it as if someone had an abrasion.”
Lee said this option is growing in popularity.
“Something like this is more of a memorial than a marker that they’re never going to visit. And then we spend all this money on. But every day, every day, they can see a piece of their loved one.” Explained Lee.
Sherwood added, “So there’s kind of the shock factor there. Unless you have something that’s blatantly obvious, that kind of designates or show that it’s an arm, you really wouldn’t know.”
As for the legality of preserving tattoos into art, Sherwood says Save My Ink Forever adheres to state laws.
“We fall under funeral law because any time you’re dealing with a dissident we have the necessary proper paperwork. Our authorization form is authority to excise tissue for the purposes of preservation. We follow the chain of custody of a decedent which it starts off with you know court-appointed guardian.” Explained Sherwood.
Prices start at $1,700. Save My Ink Forever will not preserve full-face tattoos or tattoos on genitalia.