The common consensus of Valentine’s Day is either you love it, or you hate it. Usually, it’s hard to find an in-between. Dinky Dachshund Tattoo Parlor, located in Slippery Rock, PA decided to put a spin on Valentine’s Day this year by hosting a Flash Event.
For those of you who don’t know, flash events are pretty common among tattoo studios. Flash events, like flash sales, are first-come-first-served, and instead of making your own design, you choose from “flash sheets,” pre-drawn artwork done by the artists in house.
The line, nearly out the door Monday morning, lets the artists at Dinky know they are in for an honest day's work.
David Richards and Samantha Faye, two Slippery Rock locals, excitedly look through the flash sheets for the event.
Emily Forrest, 28, of Hermitage, PA made a trip to Slippery Rock this Valentine's Day to get her first tattoo.
Will Gornley, the owner of Dinky Dachshund, is applying the stencil to Emily's arm.
Secretary and professional piercer, Lily Hazlett, is turning the flash sheets into stencils for the tattoo artists.
Lydia Mercer, a junior at SRU, winces in pain as she receives her third ever tattoo from Dinky's artist Alex Aspinall.
Emily Gates, 19, of Oil City, grabbed her best friend, Max Downing, 18, and jumped in the car this morning to get matching tattoos on their cheeks at Dinky Dachshunds.
Will, who tattooed both Max and Emily, says that he has tattooed close to probably 150 butts. "Most [of them] in the last two years, up here."
In 2019, Will stumbled upon this shop and took ownership. He described his finding as "coincidence, everything happens for a reason, type deal."
Emily is admiring the finished product before it's Max's turn to take a seat.
Brittany Solomon, 20, of Youngstown, said that she saw the flash sale on Facebook and told her wife, "Let's try it!"
Brittany is looking at the stencil, as her wife Skylar, sitting behind her, is getting an addition to her sleeve.
Alex Aspinall started his career roughly two years ago and loves the flash sale.
"Flash things are fun, a nice little opportunity to get people in the door and then introduce them to the shop," Alex said.
Kaylene Dunkle, 18, is a 2021 graduate of Rocky Grove High School.
Kaylene is an apprentice and has been since last October.
Will and Alex credit Kaylene for the success of the flash sale, she responds humbly:
"It's great practice," She said, "I figured it would be something fun to do."
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