We welcome Liz, or as we call her Dougie....shes our new Full time front girl! I will get her up a webpage as soon as we get some material together. We have a New addition to the Salem Shop, his name is Josh, again, maybe we can get some material from him for the site. John Hinkle is back with us, he slings the ink at both Salem and Groton. He has a NEW webpage up, give it a swingby! To get a hold of him call Salem or Groton to see where he will be that day. Briana is also back at Flats, shes located at the Groton shop, but right now on a limited scedule. If you wish to speak to Briana or book her for a certain day, please contact the shop as to her personal scedule and availibility. Matt has Moved, he is now located at the Salem shop, I just did extensive updates to his portfolio page! Ed has moved from Salem and now is located at the Groton location. He has website links to his Myspace page on his Page. Dan and Briana also have their own special pages that they post on, links are all posted on their pages as well.

Guy went away this winter to Vermont and Officially tied the knot! This July we all got together and celebrated their union! We all wish them the warmest and best of everything!

Firts theres NEVER a silly question, the only silly one is the one UNASKED. A few of the MOST Often commonly asked questions when getting a Tattoo, weather it be for the first time or even if its not your first is...

• DOES IT HURT?- That question is really all up to the individual, pain is all so personal. What you may think be painless, may be considered painful to someone else. Take me for an example, I pass out and freak out ANY time, (and STILL do to this day) when I get shots or blood drawn. As for tattooing though, I can sit there all day long. Many clients we have are also needle phoebics! Getting a shot is far more painful and deeper than a tattoo. A tattoo does not fully break the skin, we only hit the middle about 3 layers down. All and all, it feels more like you are scratching a bad sunburn.

• DOES IT HURT MORE OR LESS ON BONE, FAT MUSCLE OF THIN OR THICK?-Does not matter what you are as far as build or where you are getting it. Thick, thin, bony area, padded areas....dont matter. Its based not on composition, its based on nerve endings and where theres more of them and if they are located closer to the surface in that area. For example. lower back, it hurtls less in the center on the spine than it does on the sides! The sides hide your tickle and sensitive spots and therefore will be a little more ouchie to tattoo. A few bad areas would be the palms of yur hands, bottom of feet, armpits, genetiles....all very clustered with nerve endings. Where you touch on your body that is most sensitive will be more painful to tattoo. Good hardy areas are ankles, shoulders, arms and such.

• DO I NEED TO FOLLOW TATTOO ARTISTS HEALING INSTRUCTIONS?- Definateley so!!! If you do not get directions, then make sure you go over it ALL, and ask ANY and ALL questions you may have regarding this!

• IS TIPPING YOUR ARTIST SOMETHING WE DO?-Tattoo Artists are pretty much like subcontractors. At the end of the day we give a certain cut to the shop. We all pretty much rent the spaces we have. Everything we use we all own ourselves, down to and including all inks, supplies, towels and even the chairs we use. So, we are like Hairdressers or barbers or waiters, we are a service business. Any tip is always greatly appreciated by any artist. As far as how much, it is all personal to each individual. Theres a 20 percent of the total amount of the cost if you want to know its a service oriented business standard. So, if the tattoo is a 100 tattoo, 20 percent of that would be a 20 dollar tip= 120 to artist.

• DO I NEED TO EAT BEFORE I GET TATTOOED? WHAT CAUSES PASSING OUT- Even if you have already been tattooed, you can STILL passout when getting another one! It happens. If you didnt eat anything all day and came in for a tat, your bloodsugar level may be low, and that is what causes passing out or light headedness. Best thing BEFORE you get a tattoo or even a piercing too....have a little something to eat. Nothing worse than getting any work done on an empty stomach. Even come in with some candy, soda or juice drinks if its your first...this will keep that bloodsugar level up and pretty much make it hard to pass out! In drs office or hospitals if you pass out the first thing they do is get your sugar level back up to par. We suggest bring candy or something you may want to much when getting tattooed, it keeps you busy too! We keep lollypopps at the shop just for this.

FLATS T SHIRTS FOR GUYS AND GALS_NOW AVAILABLE AND IN STOCK!... New design, New shirts here at Flats! They are being printed now! A cool skull design! The business cards are redone as well and will have the same design in full color. The Guys T shirts are the standard cut and Muscle sleeveless cut, black with red and white art on them. (Guys shirts are 10 bucks). The Girls shirts have the same design, but in Baby Doll fitted small cut and in Pink and Blacks...pretty cool! (Girls shirts are 20 bucks)Check them out, just click on the following T Shirt Icons and see a big pictures of them...

Current and future access to this site...Please keep in mind that this site is really a mature audience site. This site contains photos of certain bodyparts either displaying a tattoo or piercing. If you are trying to access this site from a School, a Business, Library, Public system....you may be blocked to enter. Why?...because the server that the info is going through at your end to to get the info to that particular site has been set up with protection, firewalls and blocks. It would be like you trying to enter an adult site. The servers you are running through may consider this site just that as far as the code goes. I try the best to keep it fun, informative and real cool, but we also have pics of male and female bodyparts on this site that may not be appropriate for younger children to view. I just post the work that is done...be it a piercing or tattoo. I try my best and appologize for any inconviences. I am not able to control the blocks at this end (its up to each parent and individual household to control access.). Thanks for visiting us, stop in anytime!_ Dawn.

Call us about ANY piercing Specials!... We are running Piercing Specials from time to time!! We will be running all kinds of specials, so just call us and ask..stop in and see. Just ask us about our Piercing Specials... Call Us and talk to any of our piercers... Ask us any questions and about any of our Piercing Specials. Call us directly at the shop on the Telephone at 860-448-6844 between 12 noon-9 PM weekdays and till 8PM weekends, OPEN 7 Days a Week! We will be glad to answer any questions! We are located near Dairy Queen, at 10 Fort Hill Road in Groton. We will be glad to answer any of your questions!

We Offer Tattoo and Piercing Gift Certificates! They make cool gifts. We accept any denomination! Get someone that something special on their wish list, ... We here at flats offer all kinds of Gift Certificates YOU choose what you would like to spend. Get it now, and get a head start on the Holidays... even maybe a birthday, or just a suprise gift. We accept Cash and Credit and Debit cards, sorry, no personal checks accepted.

Cash accepted. Visa and Master Credit or Debit also accepted. Sorry, No personal Checks please.

LOOKING FOR INK...HERES SOME THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR AND THINK ABOUT... BEFORE YOU HAVE ANYTHING DONE TO YOUR BODY!

• Price shopping...I DONT reccomend it...you get what you pay for!!! Just do this for me...Just look at the artists portfolio BEFORE that artist touches you!! No Matter what shop you go to!! Just because they work in a shop and you walk in...doesnt mean that they are good! you may spend double... getting that bad tattoo from a shop other than us, then comming to us to fix it. reall, all I ask is that you look at the portfolios...its on you forever!!! Its like this...You dont go to a cosmetic surgeon and say..."hey, Ill take the really cheapie nose job, I only have ten bucks, so do your best with my face with ten bucks"...so DONT do it with your tattoo!! If you want to maybe go down the road, that is fine, but we tell, you...just because a place may LOOK fancy, or the artists you may speak to SEEMS to be real cool...again, this all does NOT mean that you will leave with the best Ink! so be SMART and look at the Pictures before anyone marks on your body permanently!!!! Proof is in the Portfolios...and WE have them all right here On-Line so you can browse through the pics at your leisure on your computer. Enjoy!

• Piercing We are running Specials this summer! See below for more info on that. ...you can walk right in, we dont take appointments for piercings. Remember to make sure you bring your ID!!!

• Identification...To speed up the process, bring your PROPER ID.... No ID, NO tattoo or Piercing and NO Whining. If you are not sure what to bring, please call us and simply ask us before you come.

• Cleanliness ...watch our artists work, ask us many questions on our sterilization process, make sure that you see that the working surface is covered, that the bottles are bagged. We use disposable items. We cover ALL the bases and we do it ALL in front of you...by Hospital standards. Is the artists working surface clean...make sure that the shop you go to does this! Theres a lot to look for, just ask us.

• Artists and the Artwork...Its YOUR body, you get what YOU want. We cant decide that. Pick something out...maybe change it a little, maybe bring an idea in or even some artwork you have. It may be a drawing a friend did for you, or something from a magazine or T-Shirt, even something printed off a website! If we need to draw something up for you, please keep in mind that if we are busy, you may need to set up an appointment. When you come in it will be all drawn up and set up for you! If its a small easy thing for us, we will draw it right on the spot and you get right in. If you are indecisive and you are not sure what you want...then you need to really think about it some more...this is an important decision in your life!

  Depending on the amount that you may need drwan up, we need thetime to do the drawing...if its an extensive time consuming drawing. Rememeber this is what we do, this is our job...we are all artists and capable of many styles. You may want to pick an artist that suites your style needs...no problem, just ask. Discuss your ideas with your individual artist. By picking a person, this will match you with what you will want your tattoo to be...if you will any artist, we will be more than happy to hook you up!

  Hey, just swing by and visit us, maybe just talk to us...talking is free, ha. No matter what shop you go to, you need to be happy and comfortable with your artist. We DONT do assembly line tattoos, we treat each one as ART, no matter how big all small...its important for each individual.

  We DONT do it fast...we just do it the BEST!