Tattoo Preservation: How Save My Ink Forever Lets Loved Ones Be Kept Close After Death Through Their Tattoos
By Sidra Lackey
Did you ever morbidly wonder if there was a possibility you could have your tattoos “saved” for your loved ones to have as a memento, after your death? Or wish you could keep a loved one’s tattoo as a keepsake after they pass away? Well, guess what? Both are unbelievably possible. Save My Ink Forever, a company in Northfield, Ohio started in 2016 by Kyle Sherwood, a third-generation mortician and his father Mike, offers: tattoo preservation.
Savemyink.tattoo
The Save My Ink Forever website states the following: “We have developed a unique proprietary process for PRESERVING TATTOOS. Our mission is to help carry on a loved one’s story. We hope to ensure that the spirit and legacy of your loved ones can live on for generations to come. Save My Ink Forever focuses on creating an everlasting memorial. At Save My Ink Forever we create more than just a picture. You will receive the ACTUAL TATTOO. This becomes a framed piece of art that is presented to the family in a DIGNIFIED MANNER.” A very important note is also added: “PROFESSIONALLY DONE TATTOOS ONLY. We can not guarantee tattoos done outside of a tattoo parlor, or done with non-professional tattoo ink.” The Save My Ink Forever time frame to receive a deceased loved one’s tattoo art is, “within 3 months” and assures their framing artist,“will pair a frame to best suit the style of the tattoo, accompanied with museum quality UV glass.”
How does tattoo preservation work? The process is explained in an interview with the Sherwoods in The New York Times article, “Their Loved Ones Died. Preserved Tattoos Offer a Way to Keep Them Close”: “When Save My Ink Forever receives a request to preserve a tattoo, the company sends a package of materials to the funeral home for the tattoo to be excised. Morticians are directed through an instructional video to remove only the necessary amount of skin needed to preserve the tattoo. The mortician places the tattoo into a preservative. It then is shipped to Ohio for the team of about five people to clean, trim excess skin and fix any blemishes. Finally, the tattoo gets a frame. Families pick the type of frame and matting and then a professional framer gets started. Each tattoo is sewn to the canvas and the frame is pumped with nitrogen to help keep it pristinely preserved as museum-grade UV blocking glass is inserted into place.” The cost? From $1,700 for a small, 5 inch by 5 inch tattoo, to over $120,000 to preserve a full body suit. And Mr. Sherwood reassures that his team, “does not alter the tattoo in any way.”
The Sherwoods of Save My Ink Forever aren’t the first to perfect tattoo preservation. The rise of tattoo preservation can be traced back to the mid-to-late 19th century. Fukushi Masaichi, a Japanese physician, is credited as one of the pioneers in the field, according to Karly Etz, a postdoctoral associate at the Rochester Institute of Technology who studies tattoo art history.
According to the National Funeral Directors Association, more mourners are asking funeral homes about this type of service. Funeral home director and spokesman for the association, Walker Posey said, “more than half of his roughly 400 clients inquire each year about the keepsakes.” The practice of tattoo preservation under funeral laws, is allowed in 49 states (except Washington) The New York Times reports.
Mr. Sherwood said in his New York Times interview, some people may find his tattoo preservation business “outlandish” but he “takes pride in being able to give people a long-lasting physical memory of their loved one.” The mortician told the story of, “one man who had a tattoo with both of his daughters’ names in a heart. The family contemplated whether to save the tattoo.” Sherwood suggested, “cutting it in half in the style of a friendship necklace, so each daughter would have a piece of their father with them.” At Save My Ink Forever, tattoo preservation isn’t just for people who are deceased either. The company has preserved a few tattoos for amputees and more recently, a special client who wants to preserve a tattoo after surgery for gender confirmation.
Save My Ink Forever may sound too good to be true or WTF, depending if you find tattoo preservation cool or grotesque. Savemyink.tattoo allows you to view the portfolio of the Sherwood’s tattoo preservation work and it is unreal. The preserved tattoos truly look like pieces of art one would see hanging on the wall of a museum or in one’s home. But that seems to be the point, to beautify the preserved tattoos and display them just like a non-flesh piece of precious art would be. Tattoo collectors, would you consider tattoo preservation for yourself? Tattoo artists, do you think tattoo preservation is one of the few ways your tattoo art on a client can truly, “live forever?”