Tattoo mum’s body of work is just ink-redible
ATATTOO-LOVING mum has made the unique pledge to cover her entire body with ink by the time of her 40th birthday.
Alex Derbyshire, who runs a vintage memorabilia shop in Ramsbottom, has spent the last 20 years covering her body in tattoos, spending thousands of pounds in the process.
The 38-year-old has spent around 200 hours in the process of getting inked.
Alex’s love for modification began during childhood and as soon as she turned 18, which is the legal age to get inked in the UK, she began her body transformation with a subtle Celtic design on her lower back.
The following years saw her add 16 further pieces across her body, all of which could then be concealed by clothing.
But when entering her 30s, the barber ventured more down the path of doing what she wanted rather than caring what people thought of her and got further tattoos on her face, toes, armpits, neck, back, and arms.
“I’ve always loved tattoos. Before I was old enough to get one, I was dying to know what they felt like,” Alex said.
“I have no idea how much I’ve spent in total - it must be quite a few thousand pounds - but that’s been spread across two decades, during which, on average, I’ve had one to two large pieces done a year. I have had the odd nasty comment, with people telling me I’m stupid for spending so much money on them, but that doesn’t bother me. To me, tattoos are a hobby and an art form - why shouldn’t I show them off?”
Single mum Alex said her love for ink has mirrored the cultural shift towards them being accepted. Her love of music plays an integral part in her body art, with several pieces dedicated to Pink Floyd and Johnny Cash lyrics on her foot. There is also a portrait of Sweeney Todd - a dark nod to her job as a barber.
She added: “I was really inspired by the people I was seeing on Instagram - especially other women. It’s a really friendly community and I love seeing everybody’s individual artwork, and the sorts of styles and designs they go for.
“The blackwork is more about the style than any sort of meaning.
“I started getting it about four years ago. As it’s a completely solid tattoo - almost as if you’re colouring in a piece of paper - it’s more high intensity pain. And it’s not like you can ask them to stop. Once you get going, that’s it.
“The most painful places I’ve had tattoos so far are my back, armpit and my toes. I didn’t expect that to hurt quite as much as it did.
“I have a couple of tattoos on my face - mainly little linear designs done in white ink, so they aren’t super visible - which was a very strange sensation. You can feel the vibration going through your whole body the second that gun touches your skin.
“The longest I’ve ever sat without a break is probably around six hours to have my neck tattoo done. It sounds odd, but sometimes I almost don’t want a break - I just want to power through. The pain is like a challenge, to see how far I can push my body. Sometimes when you break through that barrier, it’s almost meditative.
“Even big burly blokes need a little breather every now and then, though. You can find your body starts to shake a bit after a while.”
Now almost completely covered, she hopes to have all her work completed by the time she turns 40 in December 2022.
Alex’s two sons, Joseph, 18, and Liam, 12, are also big fans of her ink - and she anticipates they will follow in her footsteps. Over the years, Alex, who lives in Bolton, has built up a following of more than 20,000 followers on her Instagram page where she shares pictures of her tattoos.