Former Auckland tattooist Brent McCown, (left) and his colleague Smiley Dogg, from Mallorca, create a tattoo using traditional Samoan techniques at the NZ Tattoo and Art Festival in New Plymouth, 2017. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Laser treatment worth thousands of dollars is up for grabs at a 'tattoo fail' competition in New Plymouth this weekend.
The event is part of the New Zealand Tattoo and Art Festival being held at the TSB Stadium.
Festival organiser Brent Taylor said the competition which was running for just the second time was hugely popular, but also had a serious side.
"Generally, it's not a tattoo done in a shop or professionally what's going to win - it is a home job or a very poorly executed tattoo. That could be life-changing for someone to get that removed when they can't afford it as well.
"Sacred Laser is also very generous with the prize, which gets the people queuing up because $2000 would probably remove - mostly remove or fully remove - a terrible tattoo."
Taylor said last year's winner was overwhelmed.
"The winner was almost in tears when she won that, and she knew she was going to get this horrible monstrosity taken off - I think it was her stomach or something. So, she was like, stoked, which is pretty cool too. It's kind of a win-win for everyone."
Brent Taylor. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin
Taylor said he expected more entrants this year.
"It's just whether they are brave enough to get up there, but the MC makes it really fun as well. There's no judgement, it's all just a bit of a laugh and done in good spirit."
Taylor said he had seen a few bad tattoos in his time.
"There's just some of the silly home jobs. The ones you see where people I don't know whether they've been drinking and there's a tattoo machine around or they think it's a good idea to let their mate tattoo them. Some of them can be pretty average."
He had seen a few grammatical fails, a la the misspellings in Energy Online's infamous 'No Regerts' advertisement.
"Oh yeah, you see a bit of that sometimes where there's some terrible spelling or things that are done poorly and don't look like they are supposed to look like."
And then there were the proverbs or similar in foreign languages and scripts which were not what they seemed.
"Yeah, you get a bit of that too, but they're not as popular as they used to be. Yeah, you get a bit of that - a stitch-up where you think it means 'strength' or something and it actually means 'dog' or 'cat' or whatever.
"A bit of that has happened in the past, but not so much now because people aren't getting those tattoos. But definitely in the past, that was a thing."
As for Taylor, he did not have any tattoos he regretted, or had 'regerts' over for that matter.
"Nah, I haven't regretted any, I've made fairly good decisions. The odd one's been covered over if it didn't work with what was planned."
For anyone wanting to get a legitimate tattoo from a top-quality artist, more than 250 tattooists from around the world will be plying their trade in New Plymouth until Sunday afternoon.
They are supported by a cast of musicians, BMX riders and street entertainers at Australasia's largest tattoo festival, which is now in its 11th year.