SOLVAY, N.Y. (NCC News) – Step into Therapeutic Ink and you’ll see a tattoo artist who’s a master of his craft.
Owner Scott Crandall deftly grips his tattoo machine in his right hand, his eyes laser focused. One lapse in concentration would mean a permanent, irreversible mistake, but you can tell in an instant there’s no chance of that happening. Crandall, 49, radiates confidence and control, but he hasn’t always been this way.
“For the longest time, life was living me instead of me living life,” Crandall said.
A decade ago, that lack of control defined his life, largely due to a drinking problem.
“I had a pretty strong relationship with alcohol back in the day, and it took away my confidence,” Crandall said.
As a result, Crandall, who had loved art since he was a child, didn’t believe in his artistic abilities enough to pursue it professionally.
“I didn’t have the confidence to think that was something I could do as a career,” Crandall said.
However, eight years ago, Crandall got sober and with sobriety came confidence.
“I stopped trying to numb the pain,” Crandall said, “and I really started to focus on ‘what do I want,’ and ‘who am I?’”
He realized being a tattoo artist was his true calling.
Today, Crandall has his own business – Therapeutic Ink. He opened the shop on Milton Avenue on Jan. 1 of this year, and he explained that the name is anything but random.
“There is a very therapeutic aspect to getting tattoos,” Crandall said. “It’s a combination of the pain, the pleasure, the meaning behind it and really earning that story.”
Tattoos as a form of therapy may sound like a stretch, but the science supports it. A research study in 2019 showed that tattoos can serve as a “vehicle for promoting healing.”
The therapeutic benefit to permanent ink is what drew Crandall’s client, Chris Turgeon, to his shop. Turgeon, 43, is getting a bicep tattoo of Toth – the ancient Egyptian god of the moon who is the keeper of time, knowledge and wisdom.
“I feel like the stage of life I’m at right now, I know too much to ever go back and be the person I used to be,” Turgeon said. “I want to protect that knowledge because it’s a part of me.”
Turgeon said he trusted Crandall to be his tattoo artist because of Crandall’s openness about his sobriety journey on social media.
“It appeared that he had a past of his own that he had healed from,” Turgeon said about Crandall, “and I felt that this was someone who was going to understand what I was trying to convey in my art.”
Crandall hopes to continue growing Therapeutic Ink by attracting more clients like Turgeon.
“The dream is to have Therapeutic Ink Incorporated,” Crandall said with a wry smile, “where there’s massage, tattoo, holistic, and other different therapies to really help someone get through whatever they’re going through.”
Transcript:
Eddie McCarthy: Scott Crandall always loved art, but never thought it could be more than a hobby.
Scott Crandall: I didn’t have the confidence to think that’s something I could do as a career.
McCarthy: Today, Scott’s exuding confidence: steady-handed, laser-focused. But a decade ago, it was a different story.
Crandall: I had a pretty strong relationship with alcohol back in the day and it took away my confidence.
McCarthy: Eventually, Scott managed to get sober and with sobriety came the confidence to both ask and answer the question that changed his life:
Crandall: What do I want and who am I, and then going from there and turns out this is who I am. I’m a tattoo artist.
McCarthy: Now over eight years sober, Scott recently opened Therapeutic Ink — a name he picked based on his belief that tattoos are a form of therapy.
Crandall: It’s a combination of the pain and the pleasure and just the meaning behind it and really earning that story.
McCarthy: His client today certainly asked for a unique design.
Chris Turgeon: His name is Toth and he is the Egyptian Moon God. He is the keeper of time and knowledge and wisdom.
McCarthy: But there’s still something therapeutic behind it.
Turgeon: The stage of life I’m at right now, I know too much to ever go back and be the person I used to be. And I feel that that knowledge and wisdom really coincides with this piece.
McCarthy: Two hours later, it’s all done. And the client approves.
Turgeon: You did a wonderful job.
McCarthy: Scott’s done for the day, but before he leaves, the new small business owner tells me he hasn’t hit his ceiling yet.
Crandall: The dream is to not just have Therapeutic Ink as a tattoo, but Therapeutic Ink (I-N-C) like incorporated where there’s massage, there’s tattoo, there’s holistic, different things to really help someone get through whatever they’re going through.
McCarthy: For Scott, the confidence he once lacked is now written permanently in ink. Eddie McCarthy, NCC News.