Let’s Be Frank. Das Frank That Is!
Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, Mr. Frank was previously known as Ben Elliott. Oh how things change!
Ben’s first influence in the world of art began when his third grade art teacher took him under his wing and had him doing special art projects during his lunch period at school. After impressing his teacher with an amazing butterfly print made from styrofoam. Ben was mentored with private lessons at his teacher’s home. Now, this was back in the old days. These days that would probably not fly! (insert laughing face here).
Fast forward to the year 2003, Ben picked up and moved to Las Vegas and soon began an apprenticeship with some wacky characters at a shop on the fabulous Las Vegas Strip where he soon adopted the nickname Frankenberry. We’ll leave that one alone! They soon shortened it to Frankie. Later on while working at another shop across the street, a customer who was a regular from over in Germany started calling him”Das Frank” and it just stuck. We think Ben kinda liked the whole nickname thing. Why not, right? Well, there it is folks. We all wondered about this and now we know!
This young man now known as Das Frank started tattooing full time in 2005 and has been at it ever since. He has a diverse portfolio covering a range of tattoo styles. An excellent painter when time permits, Frank is also recently married to a lovely Canadian lady named Sam and has an eight year old daughter named Emma Gene. This guy has been married four, count ’em, four times so far. When asked if he planned on doing that again he emphatically replied “Sweet Jesus I hope not!” (insert another laughing face here).
For the past seven years Frank, sometimes called Das, has been making the long trek in the hot month of August to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. He has been tattooing with the American Tattoo Society (sounds fancier than it probably is). This began when a guy named Reverend Bob from Richmond, Virginia recruited him. This year he towed his recently acquired 1964 Aristocrat Little Loafer the 2, 278 mile round trip without a hitch! Just kidding about the hitch. Pretty sure there was one of those attached.
Das Frank’s hobbies include painting, sculpting and restoring his 1964 T-Bird. That T-Bird is going to look great towing the aforementioned Aristocrat trailer!
When asked what the weirdest tattoo he’s done, Frank replied “I got paid $500.00 to tattoo (I heart Steve Madden) on some tourist dude who was on a scavenger hunt. That is weird! Don’t even know what to say about that one.
If you are thinking about doing a session or two with Das Frank you might want to know that his favorite part of the anatomy to tattoo is the outside of the calf. Das says “Nothing beats the good side of the calf!”. He actually has a good point there. Pretty sure most tattooers would enjoy nothing more than doing calf tattoos ’til the cows come home! No pun intended.
When asked if it hurts when he tattoos Frank said with a smile, “Of course it does!”. He still likes to tell his customers that if feels like being licked by kittens. Not sure if we would all agree with that but Das Frank will always put his best foot forward and try to keep you entertained while those kitties are a’ lickin’.
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