Atomic Tattoos Returns With Friday the 13th Ink, Piercing Discounts

, including at its Brandon location at 210 South Kings Ave., is offering a one-day discount for tattoos and piercings Friday, April 13.

These so-called Friday the 13^th specials over the years have become an Atomic Tattoo tradition, with tattoos inked for $13. Piercings, too, cost $13 during the one-day discount. Selections are controlled and limitations do apply. Piercings exclude some body areas.

Atomic Tattoos closes at 10 p.m.

“This has become a Friday the 13^th tradition at Atomic, and all of the artists really enjoy tattooing the miniature masterpieces drawn specially for the event,” said tattoo artists Chris “Rooster” Hiner.

Count among these artists Deirdre Zinn, who works in Brandon, and said she has been a tattoo artists for just over four years. Her first tattoo, at age 15, was "a little half-moon on my shoulder."

Today, she added, her tattoos could best be described as plentiful.

"I have one big one, I'm covered from head to toe," she said. "It's a bunch of different stuff. I've been getting tattoos for over 10 years."

Her attraction to tattoos, she said, is rooted in her passion for art.

"It's just always something I wanted to do," Zinn said. "My father is an artist, so we always had an art gallery in our house. He's an oil painter, he's into realistic ships and water. And I've always painted and drawn."

Becoming a tattoo artist, she said, "was just the next step."

Among her clients was her mother.

"I actually tattooed her first one, which was when she was 56-years-old," Zinn said. "I gave her her first one and that's it, she only has one, a little flower on the her lower back."

As for the public's view of tattoos, Zinn said she is aware of misconceptions, "that all tattoo people are criminals and bikers and that kind of stuff."

The truth is, "we're not," Zinn said. "I'm a mom, I have two kids, I live in a suburban neighborhood."

And, Zinn added, "I'm an artist."

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News From Atomic Tattoos of Tampa Bay:

• Atomic Tattoos was founded in October 2001 in Brandon by four tattooing and piercing professionals with more than 40 years of combined industry experience. Since then, 12 new shops have opened, and Atomic Tattoos has expanded throughout Tampa Bay, Orlando and Milwaukee.

• Atomic Tattoos is the largest and fastest-growing, tattoo-inspired experiential retail brand in the country. Atomic Tattoos was selected as one of Inc. Magazine’s 5,000 Fastest Growing Companies for three consecutive years. For information about Atomic Tattoos, and its locations,visit atomictattoos.com.