Eastside Tattoos' new, compact digs allows Grand Rapids tattooist to focus on the art

Deborah Johnson Wood

Tattooist Andy Zylstra says his new store at 856 Michigan St. NE is one-tenth the size of his old place on Wealthy Street, but the uncluttered atmosphere helps him focus on his art.

Eastside Tattoos offers only tattooing – much of which is custom artwork by Zylstra, who has 12 years' experience as a tattoo artist and is also a watercolor artist.

"We have lots of flash (tattoo designs), we have hundreds, maybe thousands," says Zylstra. "But I mostly do custom stuff. People usually come in with an idea or a drawing or something printed off the computer. Other people just trust me and I do my own artwork; that's my favorite thing to do."

Zylstra "can do pretty much any color" of ink, but his personal preference is to work in black and gray.

"Black and gray goes with everything, it looks good, it weathers nicely," he says. "Lots of colors fade, but as black and gray fades it looks better and better."

Most of Eastside Tattoos' customers are women, Zylstra says, so he does a lot of flowers, but also does Japanese designs and skulls. His most popular request is medieval-style script writing. A special thermal fax machine allows him to print outlines of images he transfers to customers' skin so they can see how a tattoo looks before making the commitment.

Zylstra says his shop is licensed by the state of Michigan, complies with the requirements of the Kent County Health Department and has received an award of completion on blood borne pathogens from the Alliance of Professional Tattooists.

"Everything gets sterilized, everything comes of out packages," he says. "Nothing is stored all together outside of its packaging like it was in the 1930s. That would be horrific."

Store hours are 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.; closed Sundays and Tuesdays.

Source: Andy Zylstra, Eastside Tattoos

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].