from Tattoo Savage, March 2004

Lish Daelnar
A Legend In Her Own Mind

"I'm a genius and I'm struck with inspiration every
moment," says Lish Daelnar of Pompano Beach,
Florida. "Some translate into tattoos. Other ideas
become non-skin projects. I am always thinking
and busy."
  Alberta Einstein here has always had an interest
in tattoos. She got her first one at the age of 17
from a man in a kitchen in Philadelphia. The piece is
of a "rather chunky band around my ankle," she
explains. "You will never figure out what it says or
means and that's fine by me."
  But Lish's calling to body modifications came
even earlier in life. While her mother planned to get
her daughter's ears pierced at age 6, Lish just
couldn't wait that long. "I begged and pleaded so
vehemently [/Read: Threw a fit/] that she allowed me
to have them pierced at age 4. I recall quite
impressing the eargun-jockey with my lack of tears
and general stoicism." And it didn't stop there; her
piercings now number 30.
  Lish's tattoos include a band on her right ankle,
the design around her navel, and the lizard on the
back of her head by Kyrah Nork of Philadelphia. Her
backpiece was done by Cat Spencer of Skin City
Tattoo in St. Roberts, Missouri. Nick Wiggins at Mark
of Cain in Champaign, Illinois, is responsible for the
dragon on her right thigh, runes on her upper arm,
heart on her chest, screws on her arm, and Doom
demon on her left calf. Patrick Cornolo at Cherry
Bomb in Chicago inked the Braille on her left arm,
the '50s women on her left calf, and broken heart
on her left upper arm.
  While Lish is happy to list off the individual pieces
she has, don't look to her for any explanations of
them. "If you're going to be tattooed in a publicly
visible place, you must be prepared for people to
look," she says. "However, while I'm willing to share
the images, the meanings are my own. The reader-
ship of /Savage/ are perfectly welcome to draw their
own - inaccurate and mundane - conclusions as to
my motivations. Have a blast." Isn't she a treat?
  Luckily, she will tell us what type of theme she
follows with her collection: "I /am/ art. I do not
approve of people getting shitty tattoos. The grand
majority of my work rails against the usual scratcher
and uber-scratcher crap you see all over the streets
and - for that matter - in most tattoo magazines.
Many have been turned around on what is possible
with tattoos by seeing the work I wear."
  I don't know about you, dear readers, but I just
feel...enlightened.
                                 - Anna Mossitee