Life & Work with Kelly Buckband of Clarksville, Tennessee

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Buckband

Kelly, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In 2019, I started working for a small tattoo studio in Lebanon, TN where I ran administrative tasks and took on their social media with plan to become a tattoo apprentice. First, the shop owner did teach me to pierce before teaching me to tattoo so I could make money through my apprenticeship. About 2 years into my apprenticeship journey I decided to add Permanent Makeup to my tool belt, for an assortment of reasons, and while I was doing that training in Murfreesboro, TN I was offered a position piercing for a new and upcoming Jewlery brand where I would do some additional training in Miami, then open up there store front on Broadway in Nashville!

This move really changed my career trajectory as I spent the next two years travelling and working for Forbes level companies opening piercing studios from coast to coast. Tattooing took a slight back burner as I was only able to moonlight in the cities I was working, meaning I was just tattooing where I could when I could. In 2023, I found myself missing tattooing, art, and the tattoo shop environment so I moved back to Tennessee where my tattoo roots began and started rebuilding my clientele and niching down on my style.

About a year back and I was ready to open a new tattoo studio. My ear curation and fine line tattoo portfolio filled a hole in the Clarksville market. My boyfriend and I started a shop with just the two of us in July of 2024 and now we have built a full team of 6 tattoo artists, an additional full-time piercer, and even a front desk helper aka an aspiring tattoo apprentice.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
While I will premise that I feel nothing but blessed to have landed a tattoo apprenticeship, the stereotypes you hear about apprenticing at a tattoo shop seemed to be true. You start off by working for free for your mentor in exchange for the chance to learn to tattoo. There are no rules in the world of apprenticing; endless hours of detailing and cleaning, making what felt like little to no money, and 50+ hour work weeks. I can recall several 16 hour work days.

It’s not often you can find a mentor who can teach you to tattoo and pierce, but I lucked out. I will say, this means even though I started my tattoo journey in 2019 I don’t feel like I’ve had the same ability to just focus on one craft. I truly enjoy and appreciate both tattooing and piercing and always feel the constant pull of which I should do, with the thought “If I don’t give one up, I’ll never be great at the other.”

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
In the world of piercing, I specialize in what’s known as ear curation; Combing the traditional methods of piercing with the aesthetic and elevated side of the jewelry industry.

Tattoo wise, my specialty is in fine line and floral tattoos. These client groups work very well together, think more on the feminine side. I refer to my client base as “tattooed girly pops.”

In todays day and age, it’s not enough to be just a good tattoo artist so here are a few things that I have felt have really helped me rise above competition:
1) Good bedside manner is a must, this is a customer facing field, and relying on good art chops alone doesn’t always cut it.
2) In college, I was able to study Communications with an emphasis on social media and mass marketing and in this generation, it has really benefited not only me but also now the studio we currently own.
3) My mentor had the philosophy, it’s our job to make quality tattoos and piercings obtainable for everyone (fiscally). So I’ve always tried to set what I felt like are highly competitive market prices, and I will say I don’t feel like it’s ever hindered me to charge less then some of my competitors. I’ve always been lucky enough to stay booked.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I don’t think anyone ever anticipated me going into the body modification field based on my childhood experience. I was a multi-sport athlete, president of the student body, and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. My parents were also very involved with my life, which is not the norm for a tattoo artists’ upbringing.

Fun fact: the town I grew up in for 15 years didn’t even have a tattoo shop so until my early 20’s becoming a tattoo artist never even crossed my mind. I was always a creative though, almost equally left and right brained which is why I thought a marketing direction would’ve been fulfilling enough.

Pricing:

• My shops minimum for tattoos is $80.
• Our piercings start at $40 including standard Jewlery.
• We do all day session specials starting at $500.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.leapthenlooktattoo.com
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/kellydoestattoos
• Other: https://Www.Instagram.com/LeapThenLookTattoo