Looking for ink on the spot? Artists at Seattle’s Tattoo Expo are ready and waiting this weekend

SEATTLE — The Seattle Tattoo Expo is kicking off this Friday at the Seattle Center! It will be three days jam-packed with hundreds of artists and people from around the country.

“It’s a fun event for the whole family and we love it it’s a great family reunion of sorts,” Owner/Tattooer at Hidden Hand and Altar Tatoo April Cornell said. “A lot of these tattooers, we do a lot of conventions and coming together is really nice every year.”

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Seattle Tattoo Expo (Seattle Tattoo Expo/Seattle Tattoo Expo)

Cornell says the Seattle Tattoo Expo is one of the largest, if not the largest expo of its kind on the West Coast, and it’s not only about getting some ink.

“There’s so much art to buy, people watching, there’s more live entertainment than just the burlesque show, there’s music as well, shopping around,” Cornell described. “It’s also a great opportunity if you’re thinking about getting a tattoo and you want to see a lot of tattooers that are local and in the same place.”

Not only will there be hundreds of hand-selected local artists, but also artists from across the country and world, all under the same roof this weekend. Cornell says if you want to get a tattoo at the event, you might get lucky and just walk up to an artists and get one on the spot. If there’s a specific artist you know you want a piece done by, show up early, buy tickets early, and pre-book.

“They’re doing live tattoos and a lot of them pre-book appointments, so it’s great to get a hold of the artist in advance, but there are some that do walk-up only,” Cornell said. “A lot will do pre-drawn flash [tattoos] specifically for the expo, so designs that customers can choose then get tattooed that day.”

The tattoo expo kicks off Friday and lasts through Sunday. You can buy tickets here.

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