✦ Steel Works Tattoo & Laser ✦

 The smell of disinfectant and ink hit the air the second we walked into Steel Works Tattoo & Laser — that perfect mix of sterile and edgy, like a hospital run by punks. My friend was the one in the chair, but I swear I felt every buzz of that needle deep in my bones.

The shop was glowing with that moody studio light — neon reflected off stainless steel, the walls lined with flash sheets and framed art that looked like stories frozen mid-breath. There was music playing low, something fuzzy and psychedelic, the kind of track that makes your heartbeat slow down to match it.

I sat in the corner, half zoned-out, half mesmerized, watching my friend’s face shift between brave and blissed out. You could feel the energy — a weird combo of focus, adrenaline, and peace. Tattoo artists have this aura about them, calm but intense, like they’re channeling something ancient through their hands.

We talked a bit about what tattoos mean — how they’re like little bookmarks in your life story. Everyone in that room was carrying pieces of themselves on their skin, literal memories turned to linework. The hum of the machine was almost meditative after a while — rhythmic, grounding.

By the time my friend’s tattoo was done, we were both buzzing — them from the needle, me from the energy of the place (and maybe the pre-sesh blunt we shared in the parking lot beforehand 🌿). We stepped out into the late Okanagan sun, everything golden, everything alive.

It wasn’t my tattoo session, but somehow, I left feeling marked too — not on the skin, but in the vibe.