At 15, Jessica Weichers decided she would one day own a tattoo shop, although she didn’t know anyone with tattoos. Already planning on art school, she had found herself in a tattoo studio a considerable distance from where she lived, and she was amazed. “All the people were carrying pieces of artwork on their body. From that moment on, everything was focused on figuring out how to be a tattoo artist.”
Years later, with an official degree in art and an unofficial degree in paying her dues from bottom up, her shop is called Seed of Life Tattoo. Located in Festus, MO, near where she was raised, it now also includes Let Go Tattoo Removal, the Tatt2Away® part of her business that enables her to selectively remove tattoos and change people’s lives. “I’ve had people come in crying having an ex-husband’s name on them or kids who passed away that they can’t look at the names anymore,” said Weichers. “Your heart goes out to them, and I want to give them something that doesn’t make them hate their body.”
Her first paying client was a coverup, and now, almost half her work is coverups. “At the time I was so scared, because they said, ‘Sink or swim you’re going to do this,’” she remembers. “And I was able to cover it up and it was the most amazing thing.” Her style – lots of line work, shading, solid colors, and ripple effects – lends itself to camouflaging bad art. What people are wearing matters greatly to her. Said Weichers, “There is a lot of home tattooing here. People buy machines and tattoo in their kitchen. Then they have a coverup and coverup of a coverup of a coverup.” Then they come to Weichers. “I can’t fix that,” she said. “I do amazing coverups, but theirs are so bad, and I can’t do anything to help them.”
Although there’s a laser option nearby, Weichers is reluctant to send people there. “Many are scared of the pain. They hear they’ll have to go back 10 – 15 times, and they don’t want to do that,” she said. She’s had four of her own pieces lasered. “They were the most painful things ever. One of them was horribly scarred, and blistered two to three inches off my leg,” Two of her four lasered tattoos were color. “I had one gone over seven or eight times and the blues, purples and greens were still there one hundred percent,” said Weichers. “Only the black was gone, and the reds and yellows were faded. I was really unhappy with the process considering how much it hurt and how expensive it was.”
She’d heard about Tatt2Away years ago from a tattooist friend in Michigan but couldn’t remember the name, so she went online and searched until she found it. “I wanted to be able to help my clients lighten up their work or get rid of the name completely. Tatt2Away sounds so much safer and better for people, and I’d like to be able to help them.”
How people feel about themselves and their bodies is a key ingredient in what she does and includes tattooing breast cancer patients. Said Weichers, “It gives them back a part of their life, a part of their body.” Next door to Seed of Life is a probation counselor. From him she learned about government programs that exist to help parolees get jobs and operate on a normal basis. “I’ve had several people come in with teardrops on their eyes, crosses on their face and their hands all done up. They tell me they can’t get a job anywhere,” said Weichers. “Being next to this counselor’s office will really help both of us out a lot. Hopefully we can get into that kind of program to help them out.”
Her vision is for everyone in the area to have wonderful tattoos. “I thought it was amazing that there is a new technique that isn’t laser,’ she said. “So I’m really happy that Tatt2Away is out there, works better than laser, is healthier for your body, is less painful, and needs fewer sessions. It’s wonderful that people have that opportunity now.”
Tatt2Away is a specific patented method with a registered trademark. The patent covers multiple unique elements – one is the template – that contribute to its success. If you visit a location claiming to be a certified Tatt2Away center and they fail to use the template in your procedure, leave (and please let us know).
Let Go Tattoo Removal of Festus, Missouri is now scheduling consultations in their studio. New art, coverups, and tattoo removal all under one roof!
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