Beauties eye Miss Ink title in Canberra

Four Rockingham tattoo enthusiasts are getting ready to go head-to-head with a crop of tattooed beauties from around WA to win a place in this year’s Miss Ink final.

Now in its fourth year, the Canberra-based beauty pageant with a difference aims to change the world one tattooed person at a time.

Erin Burns, Tamara Valentino, Lauren Winter and Talleigha Skye each hope that, this year, they will take home the coveted crown.

Miss Burns said she was passionate about tattooing and had a selection of different sized tattoos, including a tribute to her dad who died seven years ago, thanks to a range of different tattoo artists.

“Tattoos are the best way to express your hopes, dreams, beliefs and aspirations,” she said. “They’re not material and no one can take them away from you — they are with you for the rest of your life.”

Miss Winter agreed, saying she loved tattoos and wants to have more work done.

“My grandmother thinks I will regret them when I am older,” she said.

“But they mean something and it’s something to look back on for the rest of your life.”

Mrs Valentino said she had always enjoyed painting and drawing and was apprenticed to Rockingham’s Sinister Ink as a tattooist three years ago.

“It was nerve-wracking to begin with,” she said.

“I just had to find someone who was willing to have work done by an apprentice.”

Also an employee of Sinister Ink, Miss Skye, a body piercer, said she hoped one to become a tattooist.

“I went to see the Miss Ink heats last year,” she said.

“I thought it looked like fun and wanted to be part of it.”

The Perth heats take place at Black Bettys, Northbridge on Saturday, March 15.