Artist Uses Plants and Flowers as Stencils for Beautiful ‘Live Leaf’ Tattoos

Ukrainian ink artist Rita Zolotukhina employs flowers and other botanicals to outline beautifully designed tattoos for clients using her original Liveleaf Tattoo process that she invented in 2015. Essentially, the flower or plant is pressed upon the skin as a stencil, and the tattoo is formed from there.

Applying this technique I have rejected the common tattoo-process. I have chosen another path – using live flowers and plants or a herbarium instead of sketches. This means I literally replicate a live flower on the skin with the tattoo machine. Depending on the request I select/search/slip off plants myself, the clients could also bring the flowers which they find to be significant.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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