Ink and drink: Martini Room in Elgin hosts first flash tattoo event

With a bright green cocktail in one hand and a tattoo artist working on her opposite arm, Tiffany Erikson of South Elgin said she never thought about the pain of the needle.

“I spent most of the time making sure I didn’t spill on myself,” she said.

Erikson came with a group of four friends to Martini Room last week for the bar’s first flash tattoo event.

The unusual collaboration was dreamed up by Martini Room bartender Sherri Edwards.

“We’re surrounded by a ton of tattoo shops and people are always coming in here before or after or both when they get tattoos,” Edwards said. “I thought, ‘Why don’t we cut out the middleman and just do them here?’”

She enlisted the help of Gloria Torres of Elgin, a friend and tattoo artist who brought along two other suburban artists, Cynthia Morales of Arlington Heights and Alex Hernandez of South Elgin. Together, they did around 30 tattoos in about five hours during the Oct. 6 event.

“It was a good experience,” Torres said after it was over. “Everyone was really happy.”

The flash tattoos, fairly simple and generally one-color designs, were usually two to five inches in size and took about 30 minutes to create. Most of the tattoos during the event cost $50 to $60.

Torres, who works at a tattoo shop in Chicago, did a few name tattoos, a cross, moon and stars, and, most serendipitously, a martini glass for Olivia Tredup of South Elgin.

Tredup, one of the group of five friends who all got tattooed, figured getting a martini glass tattoo while holding a martini glass at the Martini Room was almost too perfect.

“I came here with a purpose,” she said. “Martini was the theme.”

For Martini Room owner Ula Borodzinska, it was a first in the bar’s 20-year history.

“We’ve been around a long time and have never done anything like this,” she said. “It’s cool stuff and I’m excited.”

Shannon Lord of Elgin was first up and said for the past couple of years she’d been trying to do things outside her comfort zone, like, for instance, getting a tattoo in a bar with plenty of people around.

“I feel like that’s how you grow,” she said. “You confront your uncomfortability.”

She got the word “woosha” tattooed on her wrist. Made popular in the movie “Bad Boys,” it’s a reminder for her to stay calm in stressful situations.

“Life can be hectic and full of anxiety,” she said. “This is a reminder to take a deep breath and relax. I’m glad I did it, it was totally worth it.”