£10 tattoos at Sheffield studio see customers queue down the street to support suicide prevention

Patrons queued down the street from the Momma Inks parlour in Chapeltown on April 5 on the promise of a £10 tattoo for charity.

By the end of the day, owner Krissy Langley sketched out the special price tattoos for 121 customers in a backbreaking session that lasted 16 hours straight.

The all-day event was in aid of Suicide Awareness and Prevention UK (SAP UK), with some clients waiting over four hours for their turn in the chair.

“I was originally dubious anyone was going to show up,” said Krissy. “But when I got to the studio, there were already dozens of people and some of them had been queueing for two hours. They were literally queueing all the way down the road.

"I said I would keep going until the last person was served, and we ended up closing at midnight.

"We’ve raised over £2,500 with donations still coming in. I never ever expected it to be that much.”

SAP UK launched the event asking artists to offer a semicolon tattoo for £10.

The semicolon tattoo has become a symbol of suicide prevention and awareness, as in in a sentence it marks a writer’s decision to continue a sentence. In this vein, it has been adopted as the decision to continue living and show support for mental health.

Krissy said: “I made a sheet of different tattoos people could have for different prices – flowers, the ying-yang, different styles of semicolon.

"It was a really good day, really uplifting. There were people in the queue who met on the day and were chatting like friends. I was making conversation and they would say ‘yeah we’ve just met but we’re going for a drink after this’.

"It’s a subject that gives people the chance to talk about their experiences.”

Krissy says some customers were there for their first tattoo ever, and others have called in at the shop asking to get the deal and donate as they couldn’t make it on the day or had to leave the queue.

The £10 tattoo event will return to Momma Inks on May 17.