His skin is a tribute to the history of tattooing

The ink on Jamie Revis’ body salutes more than a century of tattooing.

An orange Japanese fish has, in effect, turned one of his arms orange and scaly. Shadowy praying hands have spread a gray hue on his chest. His arms and legs are covered in color that he has been paying for since he was in high school.

“I’m a collector. I want to get tattooed by specific artists,” Revis said.

Tattoos are becoming more commonplace among college graduates and their parents.

The job market has generally accepted the increasingly popular art form.

“I’ve never had a situation where a client was disappointed because a prospective employee had a tattoo,” said Matt Walker of HR Staffing Soluctions in Springfield. “Personally, in here, it’s not something that would faze use at all.”

But as one Prince William County resident has learned, a person he meets on the street could still be taken aback by colorful ink.

An employee for a federal agency in Prince William County, Revis lives in Lake Ridge with his wife and two pit bulls.

Although his skin decoration hasn’t affected the attitudes of his bosses, Revis has received some criticism from perfect strangers.

“You work for the federal government?” he has been asked, incredulously. He said people have been surprised that, in addition to his sleeves of tattoos, he has a steady job that supports his family and mortgage.

“I don’t think people realize how hurtful they are when they come up and say things to you,” he said.

“A lot of times I wear long sleeves. Not because I want to cover them up, but because I don’t want to put up with the dumb questions and gawkin,” he said.

After all, he is on his way to being an illustrated man.

His body is inked with pieces that represent various eras of tattoo history and each has its own story.

His right arm bears a stone cross that has been inked on the flesh of men since at lease the early 1900s.

A “Rock of Ages” is planted on his right forearm, a woman clinging to its salvation as ocean waves churn at her feet.

As early as the 1700s sailors tattooed HOLD on one set of four knuckles, and FAST on the other.

The permanence of the succinct reminder spoke to the imperativeness of a strong grip, Revis explains when he exhibits his body’s canvas.

To honor the sailor’s ways, he commissioned a tattoo artist to inscribe “HOLD FAST” on his arm.

“I loved the history behind it,” he said.

A playing card and smiling nurse on his right arm ensure that Revis will always have an “ace up his sleeve” and a “nurse by his side at all times.”

He said he’s making plans to travel to other continents just to be tattooed by famous artists. Still, he meets people who just don’t get his extremely personal form of expression, displayed from just under his epidermis.

He’s been asked if he’s going to regret “tearing his skin apart.”

He won’t, he said.

This is just the skin he’ll live inside as long as he’s alive. After that, it won’t matter.

This article originally appeared in the Sunday, June 26, 2005 edition of the Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger with the headline, “Lake Ridge Man Makes His Skin a Tribute to a Diverse History of Tattooing.”