Lauren Winzer on pride, lust and envying other tattoo artists

Tattooist to the stars Lauren Winzer visits New Zealand this month.

Celebrity tattoo artist Lauren Winzer confesses to three of the deadly sins

PRIDE

What is your favourite tattoo?
It's one that my mum did. It just says "Mum" and it's really cute and really special to me. When I started tattooing, my mum was worried about what other people would think about me. She didn't want to know about it, she didn't want to come into the studio, but she accepted it and she is proud of me. Yesterday, funnily enough, she asked me to finally tattoo her. I am really stoked. I have been begging her for, like, eight years to let me do it. She is working on the south coast [of Australia] so we might do an old school frangipani. It's such a typical south coast tattoo.

Do people have preconceptions about you because of all the tattoos?
The way that people treat you is that you are cheap. I used to work in an office and I looked exactly the way I do now. The way I got the job was having long sleeves and blond hair. In some professional areas, it is still like that. I find that if I go into a shop, they don't want to help me. They don't understand that it costs a lot to look this cheap. Where I'm from, you look at people and say "Good morning." When I moved up to Sydney, I would look people in the eye and say good morning and they would hold on to their bag and cross the road. In Myer I went to buy my mum perfume for Christmas and the shop assistant went, "You do realise this is $200?" At the airport is my least favourite - every single time except one I have been randomly drug or bomb tested.

LUST

So you reckon the classic tramp stamp is on its way back?
It's definitely on its way back. I'm seeing more of them coming through the door and I am even getting one myself. I am going to get six butterflies - not colourful. When I started getting into tattooing, my style was more traditional so even though some of the tattoos on my body are quite cute, they are done in a traditional way. They have a lot more black in them than what I do for other people.

ENVY

Do you ever envy the work of other tattooists?
I get envious of people who come up with really cool ideas I haven't thought of. I used to follow every tattooist that I loved on social media but now I try not to look too much at that stuff, because you do compare yourself. But I am lucky. I get asked all the time, "What is the weirdest tattoo you've ever done?" I do get asked to do weird stuff.

What is an example of "weird" work that you've done?
I did a bowl of Coco Pops around this girl's mole, so that her mole looked like a Coco Pop. I don't get asked to do the traditional rose or a sailing ship; I get asked to do really obscure things and that's what I like too - it's right up my alley.

You have a technique of making tattoos look glittery, tell us about that.
I always wanted to make tattoos sparkly and put glitter in there. I was watching The Little Mermaid one day and when she walks out of the water she's got this sparkly dress on. I was like, "that's animation", so I freeze-framed it and it was just different-sized dots, so I sat there and tried to figure it out. It's kind of like a Magic Eye illusion. I love animation so much.

What makes a good client?
Someone who understands compromise. I get asked to do a lot of things that aren't going to heal nicely or won't look good in the future. Or people want five ideas in one tattoo. I'm pretty lucky; I mostly get easy-going people who know what to expect from me.

Your skills are in high demand. Do you risk burnout?
I can't say no. I have burned myself out a lot over the years. When I was doing my own bookings, I'd have seven appointments a day. I wanted to do everything. I have someone to do my emails now. She schedules in breaks for me. I have a bad shoulder and I go to physio. I used to do a six-month waiting list and if I was sick for a week or something came up, it would mess up the rest of the year. I only do two months in advance now, although there are people who will wait for more than six months. I try to have an extra day off here and there, mostly to chill out my brain. I can't have good ideas every day. -Eleanor Black

Sydney-based Lauren Winzer is working at a special Movember fundraising event: Ink Me, QT hotel in Queenstown, Saturday, November 30.