A tattoo the size of a silver dollar starts at $50. Most of the owners apprenticed with a tattoo artist to learn their craft, and all offer a free consultation and a preliminary drawing if it’s customized, as opposed to “flash” (taken from one of the “flats”—books of tattoo designs). By state law, clients have to be over age 18 (piercings are legal for those under 18 with a parent’s permission), but other than that requirement, anything goes.

Michael Francis, whose shop, Ink, Inc., has been a fixture at 327 Wall Street for the past 14 years, is a master tattoo artist,  judging from the complex imagery that covered the arm of client Greg Burhans, which included a portrait of his three-year-old son, his footprints at birth, depictions of a lotus and other “birth” flowers, a sinuous, waterfall-like landscape and several Japanese characters signifying family protection. Francis, who was working on Burhans’ other arm with his needle (“it’s dark and organic,” he said of the tattoo), has been a tattoo artist for 27 years. His air-conditioned, silver-colored shop has hundreds of flats laid out in books and provocative art—including skulls, crosses, and a reproduction of a detail from Michaelangelo–on the walls.

The most challenging body part is the rib or side. The client’s “pain threshold is challenging,” Francis said. “I have a heart.” He’s happy with his location Uptown: “I love the people, the shops, the relationships I built up with everybody. It’s changed for the better.” He is assisted by apprentice David Matthews and is open from 11 to 9 Monday through Saturday and Sunday by appointment.

Down in the Rondout, Paul O’Donnell, owner of The Body Shop, at 25 Broadway, was busy working on Bonnie Snyder, etching a dark swirl of flowers below her right collar bone. O’Donnell, a native of England who said he’d wanted to be a tattoo artist from the age of 10, having admired the decorated arms of his sailor-uncle, originally was a staff artist at the location and bought out the owner (who was Francis; the two remain close friends) five years ago. “Black and gray is my thing,” said O’Donnell, noting he prefers to do his own customized designs. “Anything big and scary I like.”

“I get to meet all kinds of awesome people,” he added. “I live in the dream. I love my job.” Business is mostly word of mouth, and in this unregulated industry O’Donnell cautions people to avoid “kitchen magicians” and get their tattoos in a proper shop. He also advises people to make sure the tattoo artist uses a new needle, which is taken out of a package and disposed of afterwards, so as to avoid harmful infections. The Body Shop is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday from one to 9 pm and on Sunday from one to six.

Brian Smith, owner of Body Graffix Tattoo, has been tattooing for 20 years, opening his job at 354 Broadway in 2006. One of his most expensive tattoos was a full back, which cost $3,500 and took months. Like his colleagues, he prefers customized work. His shop is elegant, with its pale wood floor, track lighting, hand-crafted cabinet–displaying cans of after-care spray– and high tin ceiling. Smith has an employee and an apprentice. He’s open Monday through Saturday from 12 to 8.

A little farther up Broadway, across from the high school, is Metamorphosis, located in a brick Gothic house. Tania Trowbridge, who owns the business with her husband Jorian, bought the building in 1997, after renting space in the Rondout. One room is dedicated to the sale of piercing jewelry, displayed under two glass counters, while the other three are occupied by tattooing stations. Trowbridge said she always loved to paint and draw and became a tattoo apprentice after she realized it offered her way to make a living off her art.

Working with her husband and Ed Dempsey, an independent contractor, she said that lettering and phrases are popular, along with rib tattoos. Most customers are in their early twenties, although people in their sixties have also gotten tattoos. She said the Midtown location has better parking than in the Rondout, and “it seems to be busier.” Metamorphosis is open Monday through Friday, from 1 to 9, on Saturday from 12 to 9 and Sunday from 12 to 5.