Sunshine Coast tattoo artist helps turn pain to pride

Award-winning Sunshine Coast tattoo artist Kelara Roberts helps clients recovering from a mastectomy, or desperate to fix a poor tattoo, to feel beautiful in their skin again.

Kelara Roberts voted Sunshine Coast's best tattoo artist.

Recently voted best tattooist on the Sunshine Coast, Kelara Roberts says she feels "absolutely unreal' after winning the distinction.

Ms Roberts has worked as a tattooist for more than 15 years and has owned her own studio Forever Inked Tattoo for three years.

She says her most challenging work is cover-up tattoos for mastectomy scars, signs of self-harm and unwanted tattoos.

"I have done a few mastectomy tattoos. I think the challenge with this is making sure it's done in a manner that makes my client feel comfortable in their own skin again," Ms Roberts said.

"I also do a lot of self-harm cover ups as well as specialising in cover-ups of old or unwanted tattoos and they can be very challenging".

Yet while completing these tattoos can be taxing, Ms Roberts revels in leaving her clients with a reminder of the things they have overcome.

She said she felt proud to leave them with "a beautiful reminder" of their own strength at the end of the process.

She credits her customer first approach for her success in the industry. Source: Contributed.

Ms Roberts has worked as a tattooist for more than 15 years and has owned her own studio Forever Inked Tattoo for three years.

She says her most challenging work is cover-up tattoos for mastectomy scars, signs of self-harm and unwanted tattoos.

"I have done a few mastectomy tattoos. I think the challenge with this is making sure it's done in a manner that makes my client feel comfortable in their own skin again," Ms Roberts said.

"I also do a lot of self-harm cover ups as well as specialising in cover-ups of old or unwanted tattoos and they can be very challenging".

Yet while completing these tattoos can be taxing, Ms Roberts revels in leaving her clients with a reminder of the things they have overcome.

She said she felt proud to leave them with "a beautiful reminder" of their own strength at the end of the process.

The trick to this, she explained, was planning for the future when applying the original work and only doing tattoos which would meet her high standards for years to come.

"We don't do these micro tattoos that you see a lot of these days," she said. "We make sure in the design and stencil process that every tattoo is designed and stencilled in a way that it will not only look good in a year's time, but good ten years down the track," she said.

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