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When Chris Wenzel knew that he was going to die, he had an unusual claim for his wife.
The famous Saskatoon tattoo artist requested that his ink-stained skin be removed and preserved before burial. He wanted his children and grandchildren to see the work of his life long after he left.
"He thought it would be really cool," his wife Cheryl Wenzel said Wednesday. "I thought it was different, but yes, it's cool.
"I do not care what's needed. I will do it for him. "
Her husband, 41, owner of Electric Underground Tattoos, died of an illness on October 28. Before he died, he discovered Save My Ink Forever, an American company that makes tattoos.
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His wife contacted the company that had never worked on such a scale before. Her husband's body contained only a few uncovered parts of art and he wanted all of his finished tattoos to be preserved.
Kyle Sherwood, the company's chief operating officer, traveled to Saskatoon to surgically cut Wenzel's skin on 70% of his body and preserve it using a special formula in a frame.
The whole job will cost around $ 80,000 and will take about three months.
Cheryl Wenzel was in the room with Sherwood when he started to remove the skin.
"I was able to tell what tattoos (Chris) wanted."
Wenzel's pbadion for tattoos was evident from a very young age, when he put his aunt to ink at nine, she said.
"He fell in love with it. He fell in love with art and was pbadionate about tattoos, "she said. "He would say that he was a slave to the needle because he loved so much tattooing."
The art of her husband's skin will end up hanging on the wall of her tattoo studio, Wenzel said.
"You can hang an image on a wall. You can do all kinds of art, "she said. "A tattoo is something that has been done for hundreds of years. It's just keep it.
Sherwood said his company has preserved hundreds of tattoos, but the work he did on Chris Wenzel was the greatest preservation in North America. He removed seven motifs from the artist's back, chest, legs and arms.
"It's quite innovative," he said.
Sherwood does not normally travel to do his job, but he does not trust anyone else to do it.
Retaining her husband's work is a fitting tribute to a man who has "a great spirit," said Cheryl Wenzel. But she added that it was more for their children, aged 9 and 13, who already look promising in their father's footsteps.
"This tribute represents the world in their eyes," she said. "It's something they knew Dad wanted and that's something daddy will have."
The Canadian press
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