For some, Friday the 13th is a day for caution. But for those steeped in tattoo tradition, it’s an opportunity to get some new ink.
That's why it is no surprise that Friday, February 13th, was a bustling day at Evolution Tattoo in Midtown Reno.
The buzz of tattoo guns filled the air as Seth Hartley, the shop hand at Evolution Tattoo, managed a ringing phone and busy front counter.
“Right at the jump, right as we opened, they started pouring in and just one after the other. These days are really fun to do,” Hartley said.
Hartley said he can’t pinpoint exactly when or why the tradition began, but it’s been around for years.
“Most shops at the beginning, before inflation and all this stuff, would do like $13 tattoos on Friday the 13th just out of the superstition of it, like tiny ones, but that was years ago,” Hartley said.
Now it’s become a tradition and a day to do discounted flash tattoos or “flash tats,” which are pre-drawn designs people can choose from. On the counter in front of Hartley, large sheets of these designs, known as flash sheets, were spread out.
The hand-drawn designs depicted spooky themes in honor of the day, from ghosts and flaming skulls to black and white grim reapers and wolves. But this Friday the 13th in February fell a day before Valentine's Day, so the darker designs were juxtaposed next to colorful bubble-gum pink and cotton-candy blue sugar hearts with quotes from the movie “Mean Girls.”
This is just one of three Friday the 13ths this year. February, March and November all have the "unlucky" day, which has not only become a tattoo holiday, but for some aficionados it’s also become a family affair.
Sydney Vest was there with her family – her brother Tyler, sister Sam, and their mom, Mary Lee.
“It's just kind of a tradition with our family that we've been doing. That's my little brother getting tattooed and my mom is sitting with him," Sydney said.
Sydney showed off her fresh tattoo — a black, heart-shaped bat on her bicep. Her brother Tyler went with the Necronomicon from the 1980s classic horror film “Evil Dead.”
“I just love ‘Evil Dead’ and I saw it and I was like, ‘I'm going to get that one,’” Tyler said.
His tattoo artist, Deuce Hindelang, drew some of the designs for today's Friday the 13th event. Hindelang first began his tattooing journey in Phoenix before making his way to Reno. He said this tattoo phenomenon isn’t unique to this city.
“I have friends all over the country that have people lining up the door to do the same thing that we're doing today,” Hindelang said.
