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 tattooed skin


Father-son morticians turn tattoos into wall art

Popular Science

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Tattoos, as anyone's concerned parents have reminded them, are notoriously permanent. But even ink needled under the surface of the skin can't withstand time's inescapable weathering. Untreated dead bodies eventually decay, and skin dotted with panels of stark-lined tigers or delicate wildflowers eventually break down to nothing more than the soil around it. A father and son team of morticians are trying to break that natural cycle using a secretive formula, preservative chemicals, and a taxidermist's eye.