When Jesse Barksdale was 2 years old, he toddled into his family's living room with one arm covered in ink doodles and proudly declared: "Look, Mama! 'Toos!"
He was referring, of course, to tattoos, which he already had seen his uncle perform many times over at his tattoo shop.
By age 3, that uncle was letting Jesse draw "flash" — small tattoo designs typically displayed on tattoo shop walls or in binders to give tattoo customers ideas about what to get.
If a client chose one of Jesse's designs, the uncle paid Jesse a buck or two.
Now, Jesse draws, paints and designs T-shirts, and gives tattoos. By the end of the week, he will be the main tattoo artist in his mother's shop, Arizona Ink'd, which is preparing to open at 4695 N. Oracle Road.
And he's only 15.
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When he's out of earshot, his mother, Theresa Barksdale, fondly refers to him as a prodigy.
"For him, skin is just another canvas," she said.
As in many states, Arizona's tattoo business is mostly unregulated. The law says it's illegal to tattoo a minor without a parent present, and the law goes on to forbid having a tattoo business in a home, using unsterilized equipment and administering anesthesia to give a tattoo.
And that's where it stops. There's no mention of any training or other requirements a person must meet before beginning to permanently inject ink under the skin of other people.
"If we were a hot dog stand, the health department would be all over us," Theresa Barksdale said.
The point isn't lost on Jesse. He's been doing tattoos for three years now, and last summer he and his mom spent 12 weeks in Colorado at a tattoo school, earning Colorado tattoo credentials as evidence that they want to run their business right.
Both are passionate about maintaining a clean business with minimal risk of blood contamination. Everything they use is sterile and disposable. They are certified in blood-borne pathogens, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid. And they'd like to see the business in Arizona become more regulated.
Jesse Barksdale said he hopes that the new shop — which will not be dark and scary like other shops he's been in — will help set a new image for tattoo shops in the Tucson area.
"I'm not tattooing thugs or all those crackheads," he said.
Past clients in Douglas — where the family lived until recently — included pharmacists, doctors, Border Patrol agents and correctional officers.
Stacy Bryant, 44, is a pharmacist who already has had one tattoo by Jesse and can't wait for their new shop to open so she can return to him.
"He's really an incredible artist," she said. "His age didn't really bother me, but I just thought it was really interesting that he knew what he wanted to do at that age."