Indelible mark of a craftsman | The Chronicle Herald
Ferrier is talking about being a 17-year-old dad with a job assembling furniture at Ikea and a core titanium hip joint and the skeletons of various animals in glass display cases under the receptionist&rsquo. Andy Ferrier, the owner of Utility Tattoo and Piercing and the Coast&rsquo. After jumping ship in Montreal, Snow ended up tattooing in a shop on Barrington Street that dated back to 1890, making it, at the time, the oldest tattoo parlour in Canada. s tattooing styles, Ferrier doesn&rsquo. s perennial choice as tattoo artist of the year, doesn&rsquo. According to Ferrier, that makes him North America&rsquo. It costs about $120 an hour before tax to get a tattoo from Ferrier or one of his colleagues. Ferrier&rsquo. s 100th birthday, Ferrier&rsquo. Men such as (Sailor) Jerry Collins, the Hawaiian forefather of North American tattooing. That, frankly, is not the kind of language I imagined coming from the owner of a Halifax tattoo parlour. Until the 1950s tattooing was so just a single tattooer is at work, on a blond-haired guy in his early 20s. s shop held a Jerry Collins day, during which customers got tattoo discounts. (Anyone seeking more information about Snow and Swallow should check out John Irving&rsquo. All this highfallutin talk about artistry tends to make Ferrier, whose ancestors, at some point, must have shod horses, cringe. Then I would be left with the pure joy of wondering, for instance, what the inside of a tattoo parlour is like and then just going off to find out. Earlier this year, on what would have been Collins&rsquo. Another giant walked through the door of Snow&rsquo. s ink: a rose and skull on the side of his neck, some kind of tribal design encircling an eye, fish scales peeking out under sleeves of his jacket. s a pattern Ferrier calls &ldquo. So does tattooer&rsquo. He will tell you what doesn&rsquo. Ferrier, 35, sits &mdash. s a very intense bonding experience between the tattooer and the tattooee," Ferrier s ays. Somewhere a tattoo needle buzzes. When Ferrier lifts up his pant leg, a snake with a samurai sword is visible. There&rsquo. In the end, it&rsquo. Yet I do picture Charlie Snow looking up from his needle and winking in approval at a sentiment His arms carry a cherry blossom and one of those Japanese trolls with blazing eyes and wild fangs called an Oni. Sailor Jerry Swallow still has a parlour in New Glasgow.