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Tattoos by Caroline Martin🌻🐝✨

@pollenpowder

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illustrative cutie tattoos
🐂 Durham NC ✈️ MTTE Nashville Nov 6-8
✨ @thirdcharmtattoo
⬇️Use link to book⬇️

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Pretty and powerful tattoos made by Pollen Powder! 🌸✨ @pollenpowder is back at Middle Tennessee Tattoo Expo tattooing illustrative, cartoony, manga/anime, and hot lady tattoos! Bring your ideas to @pollenpowder , pick from their flash, or reach out and book ahead using the email pollenpowdertattoos@gmail.com
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Middle Tennessee Tattoo Expo
🗓️ Nov 6-8, 2026
📍 The Nashville Fairgrounds Expo 1
🎟️ 25/One-Day & 50/Three-Day
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XO,
@safehousetattoo

#nashville #tennessee #tattooexpo #tattoo #tattooconvention

www.middletennesseetattoo.com
www.safehousetattoo.com taken in The Fairgrounds Nashville by @pollenpowder

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12 days ago

about time to do an about me! 💛🐝💛

i'm Caroline, and i live in Durham NC with my husband and our sweet pup Merlin. i've been an artist & illustrator for a loooong time and started tattooing two years ago. before that, i was a high school art teacher (let's go ravens), mural painter, ran a summer camp in California, bath & kitchen designer... all sorts of stuff!

i run @arts_and_drafts_drm with my pal @___chelsea.rose___ (every Monday from 5-8, free! come hang out and make art!)

i truly love art, i got to go to Italy earlier this year and shed so many tears over seeing all my favorite things. my favorite art piece is the Gaddi torso (he lives in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. cried when i saw him and sobbed when i had to leave him frfr)

i got married in 2020 in a hot air balloon over the Rocky Mountains to my favorite person 💞 also i LOVE going to weddings, bring me to the dance floor babyyyyy

really any excuse to dress up is my jam. halloween, ren faire, themed party, random friday night, whatever.

i did roller derby when we lived in Colorado but now i just stick to skate nights at the rink. i'm a sucker for karaoke, catch me on stage being absolutely too much.

and i do love traveling. part of why i'm excited to grow as a tattoo artist is so i can travel more! i love meeting people and living in new places for a minute.

things i'm always down to talk about:
💛 twilight and how amazingly camp it is 💛 why i am the mona lisa's number one hater 💛 your current hyperfixation 💛 love!!! 💛 brandon sanderson books 💛 history of any kind 💛 the cool-ass summer camps i've worked at 💛 literally whatever

okay that's me! thx for reading and see ya around! by @pollenpowder

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a year ago

Art vs Artist 2025!
I had the hardest time picking these!! So grateful for all my clients this past year and every year, I am truly so blessed to get to do this work and I love all of the weird and wonderful ideas I get to put in folks' bodies! 🥲 taken in Downtown Durham by @pollenpowder

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10 months ago

really really cute weekend to celebrate one year of @thirdcharmtattoo , thank you to to everyone to came and got a tattoo and everyone who came and partied and admired all the hard work we've put into the studio for the last year. it means so much to have your support and love and my little mushy heart is so so full.

i wanna reflect real quick on how deeply lucky i feel to be where i am with our studio. from @br0ken.body & @sofiasparklez and i all wanting something new at the same time, to all the long conversations we had about our intentions and picking our little slice of the Snow Building, to @taiguey.tatu & @mono.makes jumping on this moving train with us and making the expansion a beautiful sparkly dream, to now with everything feeling in a good state (and no more leaking!! for now??), it's all been good and hard and wonderful. it's crazy getting to work alongside people you also look up to.

i feel like this year i've been building a little cocoon and i'm melting away into something, all while safely in the branches of this beautiful little studio. i'm deeply thankful for the communication and trust we actively built, the encouragement i've received, and the drive i get to witness from my fellow artists.

also, on saturday it felt really good to tattoo some lil rats next to other artists that i adore and have helped me along the way!! every time i see another tattoo buddy's work and the client says they want mine next door, i cry and scream and puke and cheer because wow wow what a life what a dream! to be among the greats!! some days i feel like i'm scribbling next to Michelangelos but i'll get there one day! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

and big big love to our Snow Building Pals who bring so much light into this old building. truly hashtag blessed to be here with yall.

finally, big big BIG love to my husband Jacob, for without his encouragement, support, and love, i never would have tried to do any of this. thank you for seeing me, thank you for hyping me up when i send you a picture of a piece i finish, thank you for zooming in on my lines and REALLY LOOKING before you give a compliment hehe. i love you so much, thank you thank you thank you 💗 taken in Third Charm Tattoo by @pollenpowder

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5 days ago

✨ FLASH DAY SATURDAY & OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY ✨

Come celebrate Third Charm Tattoo's one year anniversary in Downtown Durham! We've got a cute flash tattoo day on Saturday (sign up in my bio)~ then we're opening the doors on Sunday from 2-7pm for yall to come by the space and party with us during our Open House 💛

Follow @thirdcharmtattoo to stay up to date, check out all the flash from everybody, and hope to see you this weekend! taken in Third Charm Tattoo by @pollenpowder

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13 days ago

FLASH DAY!!!
10/10 • 12pm-8pm
APPOINTMENT ONLY!
BOOK WITH EACH ARTIST INDEPENDENTLY
@mono.makes @pollenpowder @sofiasparklez @taiguey.tatu

We have a weekend of fun coming up in celebration of our first birthday, starting with a flash event on Saturday! Join us for an open house on Sunday to meet the artists, check out the space, and try some yummy treats from local faves! RSVP in bio 💖 taken in Durham, North Carolina by @pollenpowder

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13 days ago

skate rat!! thanks Evie for getting this stinker and the lovely conversation~ ( bonus baby skate rat herself if ya swipe -- please revive Disco Sweat @wheelsdurham )

more rats with hobbies available in my flash, or let me draw you a custom one? 🐭👉👈

done at @thirdcharmtattoo in downtown durham nc.

{ illustrative tattoo north carolina queer tattoo studio } by @pollenpowder

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2 months ago

i had a blast doing this sleepy squirtle tattoo for @halle.lf !! she asked if i could do one based on an old piece of flash of a sleepy gengar (swipe for some sketch options i gave her). she asked to mix and match elements from the sketches i gave her and i LOVED the idea, i love collaborating with my clients so muuuuch.

more pokémon tattoos please!!! books are open :3

done at @thirdcharmtattoo in downtown durham nc. taken in Third Charm Tattoo by @pollenpowder

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2 months ago

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2 months ago

⚔️I AM MINE⚔️ we finally finished this big honkin piece! huge thanks to @bek_dawn for bringing this idea to me, letting me design it around an existing tattoo, for the brave hours under the needles, and for being an amazing model (omg slayyyy your enemies!)
we might go back and add some more to this when she forgets tattoos hurt again hehehe 👹
based on a line from Nayyirah Waheed. please let me do more ladies in armor and lady knight tattoos PLEASE

done at @thirdcharmtattoo in downtown durham nc. taken in Third Charm Tattoo by @pollenpowder

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2 months ago

two sweet pups for two unrelated clients! i loved doing these lil dogs holding natural elements, i'd do a hundred more of these gladly. bring me your pets to tattoo!

done at @thirdcharmtattoo in downtown durham nc. book using my link.

#pettattoo #illustrativetattoo #qttr taken in Third Charm Tattoo by @pollenpowder

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3 months ago

🌟 little peek inside the process 🌟
all my customs start with multiple sketches that my clients choose from (or mix n match parts) so that we both know we're on the same page days before our tattoo appointment. I ended up checking in with this client again with a more polished sketch to make sure we were on the right track, and then I sent her the final design the night before our appointment so she could sleep on it and come into our appointment feeling confident. i do this every time for customs!

🌟 WHY DO YOU DO THIS? 🌟
a bunch of reasons, but it all comes down to both of us feeling comfortable. it's very vulnerable for a client to ask an artist to design something that will adorn their body forever, and it's very nerve wracking for me as a tattoo artist to try and get it right on the first shot! i'd much rather give my client the opportunity to give input early on and keep that communication open during the drawing process. also, i'm a dirty procrastinator, so this process keeps me accountable so i'm not drawing and freaking out right before my client walks in the door lol

🌟BUT AREN'T YOU AFRAID YOUR CLIENT WILL STEAL THE FINISHED DRAWING AND JUST GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT??🌟
well golly gee gosh i sure hope they don't do that 🥺 i haven't had anyone burn me like that so far and i hope that my fair prices and open communication make it so i'm the tattoo artist they want to come to! (also i take a deposit before i draw anything so whatever?)

🌟WHAT IF YOUR CLIENT WANTS A MILLION CHANGES?🌟
this also hasn't happened so far, which i think is thanks to the sketches up front, etc. i'm always happy to change things day of and i try to account for that editing in our session timing. However, if i sense we're not aligned on the design, there's a chance i'll reschedule the tattooing portion of our appointment and just work with you on the drawing some more. There's nothing wrong with that on my end -- another hour or so of design work is no problem for me; you're the one that's going to be wearing it forever so i want you to like it.

📣 SPEAK YOUR MIND 📣 GET THE TATTOOS YOU WANT 📣 LASER REMOVAL FUCKING HURTS AND IT'S WAY MORE EXPENSIVE 📣 taken in Third Charm Tattoo by @pollenpowder

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3 months ago