WOULD you brave a tattoo on a date considered by most of us as unlucky?

That’s exactly what people across Taunton did on Friday, May 13, as part of a tattoo artist’s charity challenge.

Stuart Harmer, who works at Indelible Inc Tattoo Studio on East Reach, decided to take part in a tattooist’s tradition.

It saw him, offering tattoos to those brave enough, for £13, while raising money for charity.

And over 50 people bared their skin to help him on his challenge, raising over £700 for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

Stuart, 23, said he was surprised at how well the event went.

He added: “It went really well and better than I expected.

“I was tattooing pretty much solidly for 15 hours, I didn’t fin- ish until 1.30am and I had to turn people away.

“And I had been up until 4am so I was pretty tired.

“I wanted to take part in the tradition because it’s not really been done here before in Taun- ton. About six weeks ago I be- came vegan so I decided to raise money for Sea Shepherd, who help protect marine life.”

One of those braving a tattoo was Meg Welstead, who had a de- sign done on her foot.

This was Meg’s seventh tattoo.

She said: “It’s a good way to raise money for charity while having something nice done.”

And Stuart is no stranger to the gun himself, he says he has lost count of how many tattoos he has, and is keen to get more.

He added: “I trained to do tattoos five years ago but then I went over to California and worked there as an illustrator for some time.

“But last July I decided I want- ed to get back into tattooing so I did.

“I really enjoy it, and I enjoyed Friday, I did tattoos all over people’s bodies and quite a few different designs.

“One of the more unusual ones was my friend asked me to tattoo the inside of their lip.

“They said it wasn’t painful at all.

“I will definitely take part in the tradition again, it’s in Janu- ary next year so I’ll be ready.