Gene Dalton | The Roanoke Times

Tattoo artist Shaun Carroll works on a customer’s arm at Hot Rod Tattoo, which Carroll owns.

When Shaun Carroll saw his father's Army friends come home from Vietnam covered in tattoos, he was influenced in such a profound way he decided to make his entire body a piece of art.

"I knew in 1975 that I wanted to be covered in tattoos," Carroll, owner of Hot Rod Tattoo in Blacksburg, said. "It's hard to say exactly how many I have, but I eventually want them to be joined so I have only one on my entire body."

Carroll said he has tattooed at least 10,000 people, some of whom have traveled from as far as New York and Georgia to make themselves his canvas. The tattoo artist and enthusiast said his location farther away from the Virginia Tech campus than other shops, at 1805 S. Main St. between Blacksburg and Christiansburg, is unique because it allows him to run a different type of studio.

"We're the only shop in this part of the state that does only custom tattoos by appointment only," Carroll said.

When he worked at other shops that accept walk-ins before owning his own, Carroll said he would often do the same tattoo many times in the same day.

"I really prefer developing a client relationship," he said. "That way, they can communicate with me and we can pick up where we left off. We're the only shop in the area that operates like this, and most people want to get tattooed when they walk in. We have a map of other shops in town that we'll gladly send them to if they want it today -- we consider our competitors more friends than anything."

There are as many reasons for people getting tattoos as there are people who get them, Carroll said.

Gene Dalton | The Roanoke Times

Hot Rod Tattoo office manager Mindi Bray shows off her tattoo of tropical beach scene.

"It's truly a very individual thing," he said. "Sometimes they do it to fit into a group, sometimes to stand out. Sometimes it's for love, or in memory of someone. I've even seen women with fat ankles get flowers tattooed on them to help their self-esteem and give them something they do like to look at -- it's so unique to each person, there is no real reason why."

Unique tattoos are Carroll's specialty and the only tattoos he wants his clients to have, he said.

"When it comes to what's in style or fashionable, I will try to talk my client out of it," he said. "Every white guy that comes in the door wants a tribal armband -- I got mine in the '80s, and I realize now that it means nothing to me. Let's take a fad and do something original with it, something that you won't run in to with every other guy you meet."

Carroll takes notes on every detail a customer talks about during his or her initial appointment, regarding everything from placement to the type of coloring.

"I begin with rough sketches," he said. "I don't do a finished drawing until they've proofed it. I'm not a sensitive, fussy artist. If they don't like every bit of it, we'll throw it out -- they are the ones who have to live with it."

Plenty of clients have been interested in Virginia Tech tattoos in memory of those killed in the shootings that took place April 16 at the university. Carroll said he has done about 25 Tech memorial tattoos since then, and new customers call about getting them every day. One client even brought a photograph of the 32 balloons released on campus, symbolic of the victims of the tragedy, and had the image tattooed on his body.

Not many adults are getting piercings lately, Carroll said, and though his clients have historically been in the 18- to 25-year-old demographic, his clientele has diversified in the past five years.

"I don't tattoo people under 18, even with parental consent," he said. "But we have regular clients all the way into their 70s. Tattoos have been in the media more positively in recent years, and plenty of middle-aged people get tattooed."

Tattoo artists and their respective shops must be licensed by the state of Virginia, and staff must keep CPR certifications current, along with other training.

"There are different, fairly easy classes we have to take through the health department," Carroll said. "We use the same autoclave sterilization used by dentists and doctors for our equipment, and it's tested by a laboratory monthly. We use single-use needles that are disposed of after every tattoo, and we take universal precautions such as considering your actions and movements within the area."

Worries about getting tattooed depend mostly on a person's lifestyle, Carroll said.

"It's very wrapped up with mortality," he said. "A tattoo being permanent is only permanent until you are dead. People don't like to think about themselves aging, but a tattoo will age as the person does. If they stay in the sun, the abuse will show on the tattoo as well."

Carroll said people do not view tattoos as being permanent as much as they used to, though, because removal technology is so popular now. However, myths are one thing that still plague his industry.

"Some doctors will tell women they can't have an epidural if they have a lower back tattoo, which isn't true," Carroll said. "The idea that a different color hurts more than another is amazing to me. There are plenty of interesting myths, but most of them just aren't true."

In fact, the color of the ink does not matter, but the closer a tattoo is to a bone, the more it will hurt.

"The inside of the arm hurts more than the outside, but it's by no means the worst on the body," Carroll said. "The sternum and the ribs are the worst because they are so close to bones and nerve bundles."

Very few people get small tattoos that cost about $50 at Carroll's studio, but most of his clients travel to the shop for large tattoos that take 12 or more hours of work to complete and cost $4,000 or more.

Jeff Mangold, manager of The Rivermill in downtown Blacksburg, knows all about Carroll's larger works because Carroll has tattooed for a total of 180 hours on Mangold's body, including works of art on his arms, chest, back and stomach.

Mangold started getting tattoos 10 years ago at age 21, and they are constant reminders of where he is in the cycle of life.

"All of my tattoos are centered around positive changes in my life, and I've reflected them with the artwork on my body," he said. "When I see myself in the mirror, I know where I am."

There are J-shaped symbols intertwined into the designs on Mangold's body, representing his son, who is also named Jeff.

"My son is the center of my strength," he said. "There is also a lot of significance in my right arm that represents life energy."

Mangold's right arm is tattooed with a dragon, a Mandarin Chinese symbol meaning dragon and a water design that signifies life and its energy.

"The dragon is my energy creature," he said. "When I was understanding my path in life, I was introduced to it by some Mandarin Chinese people I worked with."

Mangold feels as though others definitely stereotype him, he said, and he gets tagged with negative looks from people quite often.

"That's the oldest thing there is, to judge a book by its cover," he said. "It's elementary to judge a person by his or her looks."