By David Harry

Staff Writer

By mid-afternoon last Friday, a constant buzzing sound filled a convention room at the Merry Manor Inn in South Portland.

It was the sound of a colorful, enduring tradition as tattoo artists and enthusiasts converged for the third annual Hatter Remains convention.

From Medusa to a raven and a killer clown, pictures and drawings went from paper to skin. Tattoo artists from 20 companies were on hand, organizer Deana Lippens said.

Lippens came from Florida for the convention, established in homage to the Mad Hatter Tea Party conventions organized by retired tattoo artist Lou Robbins for about 20 years.

Tattoo parlors went portable for the convention, and came from Florida, West Virginia and New England states. After three inspectors from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services made sure temporary licenses were in order and all conditions were safe and sanitary, the electromagnetic needles injecting ink began whirring.

Jim and Cheryle Bradley traveled from Weymouth, Mass., for the convention, and each was on a table once artists were cleared to work.

Cheryle was adding to her collection of tattooed dragonflies along her legs, a design she said she first got after a butterfly drawing turned out poorly and was mistaken for a scorpion.

Jim lay on his side, watching Stephen D’Asti of Mass Ink sketch Pennywise the Clown along his right calf.

He said inking the child-eating villain of Stephen King’s novel “It” to his skin was a way to overcome his fear of clowns.

“I can get over it or cut my leg off,” he said.

The convention drew local support, too, giving Scarborough resident Ed Daniel a chance to have Portland-based artist James McGrory draw a picture of The Cure singer and guitarist Robert Smith just below his left knee.

“He is the only guy I go to, he is an artist,” Daniel said.

McGrory stayed steady at his needle, staring at a photo of Smith and wiping away excess ink when needed. 

“This was a way to keep my art career going and I like the medium,” McGrory said.

The sensations of getting a tattoo can vary, Cheryle Bradley said, some areas of the body are more sensitive and some people feel stinging or pain in different spots.

“Basically, it is like having someone scratch you,” she said. “But I once fell asleep as I was having a back piece done.”

Artists can develop a loyal following and Bradley said some have lighter touches than others.

“Get to know them and their work first,” she said.

Artist Justin Buduo said he always liked drawing and his brother suggested applying tattoo art.

“I was shaking worse than my customer was,” he said about his first drawing.

Buduo was hard at work making a drawing of a raven a reality on the bicep of Myra Thompson of northern Massachusetts.

Thompson said she got her first tattoo about four years ago, an elongated design of roses stretching along her left side.

“I had a fat lip from biting it the whole time,” she recalled about the nine-hour job.

Buduo said he uses as many as three machines to draw – one for lines and two to shade the drawings. Thompson said she was definite about her artistic tastes.

“I’m morbid, I don’t like color,” she said.

The three-day convention also featured contests for the best tattoos, judged in eight categories, including the most unusual.

What makes a tattoo unusual, Lippens said something like a mustache drawn across a finger that someone holds over their upper lip is unique.

The convention also featured a showing of the documentary “Covered” and demonstrations by artists.

By late afternoon Friday, Lippens and Don Haggett, director of sales for the inn, were discussing booking the show for next year.

Haggett said the convention is now a staple after some shifts in location from another hotel and the Italian Heritage Center in Portland.

Haggett said he used to see crowds of 5,000 gather for Mad Hatter conventions, with artists from all over the world. Additional restrictions after the 911 attacks prevented artists from getting visas, Haggett said.

Staff Writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219.