Tattoo equipment machine and colorful ink in a workshop (lenanichizhenova (123RF))

In 2012, I was in college, working a part-time job and living with my mom who was working her own full-time job. This meant that our schedules never really matched up to be home at the same time. The one exception was Tuesdays at 10 p.m. This began a small tradition of sitting together to watch this new reality show, “Ink Master.”

Originally hosted by Jane Addiction’s guitarist, Dave Navarro and judged by Oliver Peck and Chris Nunez, “Ink Master” has produced 15 seasons, endured behind-the-scenes scandals causing the removal of Peck and Nunez, spanned two spin-off shows and survived a network owner change as well as a move to streaming services. Current seasons are now hosted by Good Charlotte’s Joel Madden and have been judged by varying combinations of former Ink Master winners Ryan Ashley Malarkey and DJ Tambe as well as tattoo artists Nikko Hurtado and Ami James.

Eventually, I moved out of my mom’s house, and our tradition ended. However, I recently had the opportunity to binge the latest season with my mom (okay I may have watched it once before without her; sorry, Mom). For the first time, in all of the 15 seasons, I not only loved the art but fell in love with a particular artist’s style: Freddie Albrighton from England who ended up in second place in the competition.

Albrighton’s blend of reality, graffiti artistry, surrealism and creativity simply blew me away. I began following him on Instagram and through what can be called simply luck and fate, he opened his diary (tattoo appointment calendar) for the very weekend I would be in his area of England. I thought there was no way he would choose to tattoo me among the many people who (I assumed) would be sending in requests, but, again, with luck on my side, I was able to book an appointment.

My spouse had originally planned to simply drop me off at Albrighton’s private studio and go to the nearest pub, while I sat for my five-to-six hour (what turned into a seven-and-a-half-hour) session. He changed his mind after Albrighton’s, or, at this point, I feel like I can say Freddie’s, warm welcome with comfy chairs, stocked beverage refrigerator and large television. My spouse happily lounged and watched Netflix movies all day while I was repeatedly poked with needles (though he did run out for snacks when my tattoo ran longer than initially thought and the earlier coffee and muffin were no longer satiating me). Freddie also keeps glucose tablets on hand which, along with the snacks, refueled my body to get through the last two hours of the tattoo.

Tattoo in progress (Tamala Malerk)

Freddie and I talked about a variety of topics throughout the day. I didn’t want to go completely fan girl and bombard him with questions about being on television. Nonetheless, he did share some behind-the-scenes tidbits that piqued my interest, both prompted and unprompted. He shared that he felt like he was accurately portrayed on the show and, surprisingly, the most frustrating part of the entire filming process was shooting the finale. The final three contestants, who had already been awake since the wee hours of the morning for filming, were told fairly early on in the day who won but had to continue filming for hours.

While hearing the tea about the show was interesting, I found myself more interested in hearing about Freddie himself and the difference between tattooing in the States versus Europe.

Freddie got his first tattoo at age 18 and has worked in shops in New Zealand and England, first as a body piercer before transitioning to tattooing. He recently married his partner of five years, has an awesome dog whose image he has tattooed on his arm and a cat who is simply mean (Freddie used another word that I can’t say in a work environment). He also makes his own brand of perfumes.

At a recent tattoo convention in Belfast, some of Freddie’s Ink Master castmates were shocked to find that they couldn’t book clients on-site because they were trying to charge U.S. tattoo rates. In fact, several of Freddie’s clients from the U.S. have found it cheaper to fly over to the U.K. and get a tattoo from him. In the States, he would have to charge the going U.S. market rate, which is much higher.

Freddie spent quite a while talking about how hard it can be to get a work visa for the U.S. While life hasn’t changed too much since he appeared on the show, he did note that obtaining a work visa for the U.S. would be impossible without appearing on the show. He hasn’t been able to tattoo on that side of the ocean since filming the show but hopes to get there by the end of 2024.

New Tattoo (Freddie Albrighton)

Freddie was incredibly personable, nice and really intuitive. I was very nervous because while I have 17 other tattoos, this was by far the longest I sat for a tattoo in one session. He seemed to know when I was into chatting with him and when I needed some quiet minutes in the more painful areas of tattooing. We swapped stories about traveling, living in different places as well as favorite movies, board games, television shows and music. (He’s into super niche indie stuff while I tend to like more of the popular releases).

At the end of the session, we needed a few more minutes for the tattoo to air dry before wrapping it with Second Skin and Freddie used that time to answer my spouse’s questions about perfume making and had us smell both pleasant and less-than-pleasant scents that make up some popular perfumes. He even gifted my spouse a bottle of perfume. We ended the day with Freddie shooting a couple of pictures and videos for his Instagram, then wrapping the tattoo and providing detailed instructions for aftercare.

While I have been getting inked since 2010, using the Second Skin as a healing tool is a completely new process for me and Freddie has been nothing but sweet about answering all of my questions, even when I seem to have a new question for him every day. He only asks that I send a picture when the tattoo has completely healed.

Freddie and I (Tamala Malerk)

I know they say to never meet your heroes, but I can honestly say that advice doesn’t apply here. This was originally just going to be a “one-off” tattoo for me; however, the experience already has me planning on returning in early 2025 for him to finish up the rest of my arm and to catch up with him on whether we’ve watched any of the shows and movies we recommended to one another.

Check out Freddie’s work on his Instagram page at instagram.com/freddiealbrighton and keep your eyes peeled for his announcement about opening his diary for later this year.

Tattoo Stories and Models Call Out (Stars and Stripes Europe)

Speaking of tattoos, we are looking for tattoo stories and models (no prior experience required) for Stars and Stripes Europe’s annual Tattoo Armed Forces magazine. You just have to be a DOD ID holder, 18+, and stationed in Europe. Scan the QR code or click on this link to share your pictures and story!