ESTEVAN — The community was invited to join local tattoo artist DC and permanent makeup artist Tammy Alcantara in celebrating the grand opening of their new business – DC Ink Studio - on Oct. 14.
Helping them make the day special were Regina tattoo artists Nolan Malbeuf of The Midnight Oil Tattoo, Cole Pacunayen of Boo Radley, and Chris Oakley, the owner of Black Smith art studio. For the grand opening, the artists organized a tattoo marathon. Each artist participating has their own style so that the public had a unique opportunity to have any dream tattoo – be it traditional, black and grey, coloured, neo-traditional, Japanese or tiny – done right away.
The idea proved to be really popular among the guests.
"It was crazy," said Alcantara. "The artists were able to tattoo 25 people that day, but I can't count how many people we had to turn away. We were supposed to be open only from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., but people were still coming at around 10 p.m. And if we didn't close, we probably would keep going for 24 hours."
The artists missed breakfast and lunch trying to accommodate as many guests as possible that day. With the success of the event, they decided they would host another similar tattoo bash in the future.
With 20 years of experience in graphic design, DC turned to tattoo art about four years ago due to many requests from his friends. And he has been steadily busy ever since.
"I have a lot of friends that wanted to get tattoos. And they kept asking me if I could do tattooing. And I always said no," DC recalled, saying that one day he gave up and got into the field, which soon became his full-time job.
"I've been super busy, booking five to six months in advance. And I have a lot of people still inquiring every day. Right now, I'm booking into January."
DC does black and grey tattoos, likes drawing people's faces and animals, and usually works with bigger pieces.
Alcantara is just starting as a permanent makeup artist. She said when visiting the Philippines earlier this year, she noticed how big permanent makeup was there, and decided to study it and offer her services in Estevan. She went for her beginner and advanced courses in B.C. last spring and is now booking clients for Mondays and Tuesdays every week.
The two business owners, who are originally from the Philippines, made Estevan their home many years ago and were grateful to the community for the support people showed them.
"Thanks for your love and support. I've been doing it for four years, and it's been non-stop," DC said.
"We just want to thank the Estevan community for coming and supporting us. A lot of people came there to just congratulate us, they didn't want tattoos, they just came and supported us. And we just want to thank them. And we're sorry for the people that we turned away. But we promise that this will happen again," Alcantara said.
While walk-ins were welcome at the grand opening, one day wasn't enough to accommodate everyone. They plan on inviting their friends over again and it's going to be a longer event this time around.
"Because we couldn't fit everybody in one day, we're going to do a two-day tattoo event next time," Alcantara said.
DC Ink Studio works by appointment. To follow their work and news and to book, people can reach out to artists on Facebook or Instagram @dcinkstudio and @inkedbytammy.
