Custom Tattoos by Traci Hancock

EAT, SLEEP, TATTOO...

I'm a folk artist.  Really.  I create tattoos and other art forms for my friends, family and community.  Pretty simple.  You give me a theme, however vague, and I'll run with it.

I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon.  I love tattoos.  I love the medium, the symbology, the sociology and the endless possibilities...

I like other art stuff, too.  I especially like to draw with charcoal and paint with acrylics and take photos - lots of photos.   Everywhere.  Of everything and anything.

I got my first tattoo in 1989, when I was 16.  I skipped school with my best friend and we drove out to the only shop we knew of.  I got a little purple flower about the size of a quarter.  The noveltly wore off pretty quick - it really wasn't a "work of art".  Well, it did only cost $25 - you do get what you pay for, you know.

I didn't get another tattoo until 1993 when I started dating Loren, my husband.  He took me to get my first real tattoo - a mandala of Native American style animal totems on my shoulder blade.  I didn't even know I wanted it, until I saw it.  That was the start of my addiction - er, education in tattoo art.

I did my first tattoo on Loren in 1997 at Lifestyle Tattoo in Manassas, Virginia.  I owe quite alot to Tony and Scot for being such good sports and letting me slide on the grunt work of the traditional apprenticeship of the day...

I am a Northern Virginia native.  Fairfax County born and bred - 703, yo! 

I attended art classes at the Art Institute of Washington, Northern Virginia Community College and Piedmont Virginia Community College.   

I started my own business working out of my home and doing private parties all over Virginia, West Virginia, D.C., PA and New York.   I also painted murals in between everything else. 

I moved to Martinsburg to work at Tattoos by Tim in Bunker Hill.  I was there from 11/06-1/08.   Before moving to WV, I worked in a small studio at the Italian Tan in Mineral, VA - near Lake Anna. 

Finally, I opened my own tattoo studio, Boomtown Tattoo, in February 2008.

 I love tattooing now as much as I did when I started and I'm still learning something new with every piece I do.  I'm honored to be able to help people realize their vision for the ultimate in self expression.  But mostly, it's fun.  I'm so fortunate to have found a profession that I love.  It's like never really having to work a day in my life.