Krystal Ingram launched Sans Souci Tattoo in Ballston Lake in 2022, opening that and her husband\u2019s Round Lake Remodeling in a building that previously housed a pediatric practice. Having worked at different shops and under different mentors for about 10 years, Ingram said she wanted a place to welcome and foster community\u00a0\u2014 both for potential clients and artists\u00a0\u2014 as well as round out her own tattooing experiences. The Albany High grad who completed a degree in printmaking from SUNY New Paltz said she is ready to reintroduce Sans Souci Tattoo after a major renovation, with a grand opening at the headquarters planned for the fall. We spoke with her about her business and artistry.<\/p>\n
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and space.<\/p>\n
Q: Which style of tattooing do you say you specialize in?\u00a0<\/p>\n
A: I really like traditional American; Sailor Jerry, Bert\u00a0Grimm, they\u2019re great. I think tattooing is really truest in that form. Modernist artists like Jackson Pollock, they wanted the paint to do what it was doing, they said to leave the photorealism to photographers. Ink acts the way it\u2019s supposed to act when it\u2019s in a traditional style, when it has a structural integrity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q: In speaking about a style, and an artform, that is hundreds of years old, what do you bring that is special?\u00a0<\/p>\n
A: I think people think that tattooing is not accessible, and that\u2019s what I want to bring. I think people are really intimidated to walk into a shop and ask an artist what they should get or tell an artist what they want. I know tattooers can be kind of intimidating characters, but tattooing is more accessible than you think. I think younger people (understand that). I get a lot of clients that might be a little older that said they never considered (getting a tattoo) before. I feel bad because you can do whatever you want.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q: Tell me about your shop and who you have working with you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A: Jessica\u00a0Golightly, she was my apprentice, she has learned under me, she\u2019s tattooing full-time.\u00a0The reason I took her on as an apprentice was because she inspires me so much. There\u2019s a lot of people that would love to collect her work. Her partner, Tommy Lopez, he has tattooed all over the Capital Region, was downstate at a shop with a friend of his, now he works with us. He specializes in Japanese style. He\u2019s super experienced, been tattooing for 14 years. I\u2019m so honored these guys want to work with me. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any advantage being the best person in the shop, and people think because you\u2019re the owner you should be the best. That doesn\u2019t push you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q: Do you have any favorite tattoos on your own body?\u00a0<\/p>\n
A: I have two. One is, I have a very large traditional turtle back-style piece (known as kame-no-koh), done by\u00a0Geoff DeCrucq, he\u2019s been one of my mentors for the last 10 years. That was a long, intense project, it took three years to complete. Financially and physically, it was a huge commitment. It was something I wanted to do. I sat through the whole thing. Finishing something that big and understanding the commitment to it was really life changing for me. Understanding that from a client\u2019s perspective was important to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not to get crazy deep, but my brother was diagnosed with cancer in 2023, a year after I opened the shop. It was really traumatic, he was 33 years old. They ended his treatment and he wasn\u2019t getting any better, and we made the trip to Philadelphia to say goodbye to him. While we were visiting him, I would tattoo him and his partner. I just tattooed him in his kitchen; I know how to get set up and pack up, I kept everything sterile. That was a really special experience. Right before we said goodbye. I drew a heart on my leg with his initials. I put the machine in his hand \u2014 with gloves on \u2014 and I let him go for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I think tattoos are things we give to each other. They\u2019re totems we bring into the next life. He passed two days later. His name was Dan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Krystal Ingram launched Sans Souci Tattoo in Ballston Lake in 2022, opening that and her husband\u2019s Round Lake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4982,288,157,844,610,9,11,10,49,51,50,31841],"class_list":["post-218341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-arts","tag-business","tag-entertainment","tag-latestnews","tag-local","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-sarco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}