If you look at one of Jess Laurello’s tattoos, you have to look at all eight of them. It’s rare to find someone whose pieces have a recurring theme.

Laurello, a senior advertising major, created a pattern of experimenting with typography on her body.

“I think the process of getting these tattoos led me to being a copy writer,” Laurello said.

Having started her collection just after she turned eighteen, Laurello’s tattoos range in font and style, and are all located on her back and sides. Quotes such as “fail harder,” “pursuing happiness” and “all who wander are not lost” make up part of the collection.

She received her most recent piece under special circumstances. It was two a.m. when she decided to ask her cousin, Michael, to ink her right in his own home — something most people don’t decide to do on a whim.

“He was like, ‘yeah, sure, I haven’t done one in a few months,’” Laurello said.

Though, since he was an experienced tattoo artist, she felt comfortable moving forward with the process.

The piece, which Michael originally wanted to put on Laurello’s ribs in a much larger size, rests on the middle of her back. It recites a famous line of text from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland.” In the shape of a spade in the middle of her back, it says, “We’re all mad here.”

“It kind of goes with the people I surround myself with in my field,” she said.

The process took three hours, which Laurello thinks was because Michael hadn’t done a tattoo in a while. But she has nothing negative to say about the piece. In fact, Laurello said it’s her favorite because her cousin did it.

 

She has plans to fill her back, maybe bringing the pieces together in the shape of a mountain.

 

Said Laurello: “Your life is a story. Why wouldn’t you try something like getting a tattoo?”

 

Published on January 27, 2014 at 10:34 pm