InkCognito Tattoo sets up new shop in downtown Villisca

The community of Villisca is welcoming a new downtown business.
On Sept. 20, a grand opening celebration was held for InkCognito Tattoo at 320 S. 3rd Ave. in Villisca, which is ready to serve the tattoo needs of the Villisca community and the surrounding area.
The joint venture is owned by tattoo artists Ember Adams and Cheyenne Roberson, who both have multiple years of tattooing experience.
“I’ve been tattooing for almost three years now. My old boss, Shelby Ransom, actually inspired me to get started. She got my foot in the door and I’ve been working over at Mystic Warrior in Oakland now for going on three years,” Roberson said.
Adams said she’s also been tattooing clients for roughly the same amout of time.
“I’ve been tattooing a little more than three years now. I started off being a bit self-taught. I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for college about a year studying game art and design, but ended up not pursuing it. After a while, I started picking up on tattooing because my brother was getting into it,” explained Adams. “I designed a couple of tattoo designs for myself and some other people, and I’ve had other tattoo artists tell me that I could make it into a career if I wanted to. I decided to try it. I asked my brother to assist me in getting started with it and he did. I immediately loved it and continued to pursue it. Because of my work and family responsibilities and the limited availability of local apprenticeships, I did my apprenticeship through a program called Tattooing101 that allowed me to work directly with other tattoo artists and mentors from all over the country. The owner of Mystic Warrior found me and invited me to come tattoo at her shop as an artist there, and that’s how Cheyenne and I met.”
When Adams and Roberson found that they lived close to each other, Roberson said they decided to branch out into new territory when they discovered the Villisca location.
“I think we actually both saw the listing for this place at the same time because it was on Facebook. We found it on marketplace and both sent it at the same time to each other the group chat that we have. It was reasonable enough for us, so we just hopped right on it, and within the day it was back off Facebook,” Roberson advised.
Setting up the shop, Adams said, wasn’t very complicated, and didn’t require major renovations to suit their needs.
“We had to come in and clean quite a bit because we moved in basically right after the other tenant moved right out, and there was still some residual stuff in here that we had to get out. We also had to install our own outlets towards the back because all of the outlets in the main space are in the front of the room. The last thing we needed was to have a sink installed and then once we finished setting up internet, we were ready,” commented Adams.
Roberson and Adams both have particular styles of tattooing. Roberson likes working with blacks and grays.
“I like a lot of black and gray work, like with whip shading, things like that. Doing nature-inspired pieces are what I like to do most,” stated Roberson.
As for Adams, she said she does a lot of traditional and neo-traditional tattooing.
“While I like black and gray and color, my favorite is stipple shading. I also particularly like spooky stuff when it comes to tattoo artwork, but it seems like not a lot of people around here tend to lean towards that,” Adams commented.
While tattoo art is similar to other types of art, Adams said there’s little room for error because they are working on a person.
“There are a lot of similarities. It’s important to have some kind of art background because some of that stuff does sort of transfer over and learning your color theory is important as well. As far as the technique, it’s wildly different from anything else I’ve ever tried. The biggest thing you have to remember is that you don’t have an eraser. The tattoo you’re doing on a person is there forever,” Adams explained.
Tying in with that, Adams said she and Roberson also have the ability to make modifications to someone’s existing tattoo, depending on the type and what they want to do.
“There are coverups that you can do, though depending on what the original tattoo is, it can be really difficult to cover certain things. Sometimes the things that people tend to want as their cover-ups don’t always work out. They have to be a certain size or it has to be a certain shape and it has to be darker than what’s underneath it in order for it to completely cover, but we can do cover-ups,” Adams advised. “If they don’t want to change the design completely, sometimes we can just fix it by modifying certain line weights. If there was a line messed up due to a blowout or something of that nature, we can grab a bigger liner needle and go over that to cover that blowout.”
Adams said for anyone who is considering getting a tattoo but is squeamish abut the needle, Adams said they can start out by getting a small tattoo on their arm or leg. Roberson added that despite what people might think, the actual sensation of the needle is far less painful than a hospital needle or even a bee sting, and people will be surprised.
While many customers have a set idea for the type of tattoo they want, Adams said they also have options available for those who are undecided.
“Cheyenne and I both have our own flashboards of flash tattoos. A flash tattoo is just a smaller tattoo design that the artist comes up with that you can just kind of come in and get as a walk-in client. People are welcome to look at our flash designs and pick from them, or we also have some tattoo books that they can look at for ideas as well. We have accounts where we post like available designs on there, and they are on Facebook. I have an Instagram account as well. We will post available designs, tattoos that we want do or things that people can get, including pre-made designs that are set to a certain size that they can just come in and get,” explained Adams.
Adams and Roberson both said they were excited by the turn out for the grand opening and the continued support.
“We had a really good turnout. We had about 30 people here, and they were waiting outside for us. We had some people that grabbed business cards and came back later on after scheduling appointments,” Adams said.
Roberson said most of those attending the grand opening stayed to get their own tattoos.
“It was busy, that’s for sure. I think both of us were consecutively tattooing for the entire time we were open. I would have about a 20 minute break before somebody else walked in, so it was a really good turn out and we were pleased to be busy all day,” Roberson stated.
Adams shared the pricing options for those wanting to get a tattoo.
“We’re always working with customers to make sure they’re getting a fair price. There is a lot of flexibility in our pricing based on the individual tattoos. Pricing can start as low as $25-$50 for some of our smaller flash pieces and event specific tattoos, and increase from there for more complex and custom designs. We encourage anyone that’s interested in a tattoo to reach out to the artist best suited for the style they want with their ideas so we can discuss pricing during a free online or in-person consultation,” advised Adams.
The shop is currently open by appointment only or during special events.
To schedule a tattoo session, contact Roberson by Facebook message at facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579823143945.
To schedule an appointment with Adams, contact her through her Instagram account at instagram.com/em_inkcognito.
People can also book through the main website for InkCognito Tattoo, which is inkcognitotattoostudio.com, or through the main Facebook page at facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564917280275. Adams said you can also check the business website or main Facebook page for information on upcoming special events.