IT’S POLITE to tip your tattoo artist for a job well done, but one woman revealed multiple clients have gifted her with human teeth as a thank-you for new ink.
Kate Schmelter, an Indiana tattoo artist, showed off her collection of weird gifts from clients on TikTok.
The most bizarre treasure was a collection of teeth, which Kate keeps in a glittery, coffin-shaped box.
In comments and a second video, Kate answered frequently asked questions about the teeth and revealed that two separate clients had contributed to the collection.
While working at a tattoo convention, Kate stopped by a booth selling oddities and purchased human teeth the vendor was selling.
When she told her next client about the strange souvenir, the woman mentioned her upcoming wisdom tooth extraction.
“She said ‘Hey, I can give you my wisdom teeth,'” Kate recalled.
The artist was skeptical her client would follow through with such a strange offer.
A short time later, the customer showed up at Kate’s shop with four teeth in a sterile specimen bag.
“I then told another client about that story,” Kate said, “and that client said ‘Oh, I have my kids’ baby teeth.'”
Once again, Kate was surprised to see her client walk in days later and present another bag full of bones.
In the moment, Kate laughed and wondered if clients would include teeth with their tips going forward.
“Are people just gonna give me teeth now?” she asked.
Though the box of teeth looks full, Kate explained that baby teeth are brittle, so many in her collection have shattered into smaller pieces.
“It looks like I have a lot more teeth than I actually do,” she said.
“So, I bought two, I was gifted four more wisdom teeth, and the rest are brittle baby teeth,” Kate counted.
Several of the baby teeth also have cavities and fillings.
Along with her box of dental oddities, the tattoo artist showed off other non-monetary tips she’s received: polished rocks, a single domino, tiny bottles of hot sauce and olive oil, music CDs, stickers, and a custom poster featuring her Instagram handle.
The bizarre inventory drew lots of eyes, and TikTok users joked about using teeth instead of cash in their own transactions.
“That’s almost better than money I think,” said one commenter.
“Excuse me I have all my baby teeth still in a container,” said another. “What could that get me?”
But in her follow-up, Kate was quick to clarify that she was given cash gratuities as well.
“These were not instead of a cash tip, but in addition to cash,” she said.
Meanwhile, one woman was devastated when her artist applied the tattoo stencil backward, then free-handed a new design.
And a couple attempted to honor their daughter with a handprint tattoo, but the result was so bad their tattoo artist was shut down.
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