Temporary tattoos are removable, but one Tucson business that makes them is proving it has staying power.
Tattoo Manufacturing International, a multimillion-dollar business at 3761 E. Technical Drive, has been producing temporary tattoos since 1989, but in recent years the business has grown steadily, said Stephen L. Tooker, CEO and part owner.
"We've been growing just because tattoos are so mainstream now," Tooker, 49, said. "I mean, find a professional athlete or a movie star or a musician that doesn't have a tattoo. It's just so mainstream, and we've been riding that wave."
The company manufactures a "limitless" range of custom temporary tattoos for events ranging from 50th birthday parties to promotional items for companies such as Subway, Tooker said.
It also makes temporary tattoos for sale in retail stores including Walmart, Claire's and Sally Beauty Supply.
People are also reading…
One of its most popular lines of temporary tattoos is called Snuggle Buddies Tattoos, which feature adorable animals from penguins to puppies with wide eyes and smiles, Tooker said.
Not all the tattoos are as sweet, however. One line, called Gross Out Tattoos, includes fake scratches, warts and scars.
All the tattoos are designed, manufactured and shipped from Tucson.
Although its products are made in the United States, one-third of TMI's business is outside of the country. One package of custom temporary tattoos awaiting shipping was bound for Australia, for example.
TMI manufactures 6 million temporary tattoos daily on two unique tattoo-printing machines, Tooker said.
The process for each temporary tattoo starts with the artist.
After the artist creates and perfects the tattoo, the art is scanned into a computer and placed on a large piece of paper containing around 100 spots for temporary tattoos. This paper becomes the printing plate.
Multiple tattoos are then printed onto a 28-by-40-inch piece of tattoo paper.
Next, the tattoos are placed on a machine that silk-screens the adhesive, and glitter when necessary, onto the tattoo, bakes it for around 10 seconds at 550 degrees Fahrenheit to seal the adhesive, and finally covers the sheet of tattoos with protective laminate paper.
The ink used is vegetable-based, and the adhesive is non-toxic, Tooker said.
"The adhesive, you can literally start scooping it in your mouth and it wouldn't do anything," he said. " 'Cause it goes on skin, it has to be really, really chemical-free."
TMI owns the only two of these machines in the world, Tooker said.
The sheets of tattoos are then taken to another room, where they are cut in stacks of 200 with two guillotine-like machines.
In that room, the custom tattoos are packaged and shipped.
The temporary tattoos bound for retail stores are sent to a town south of Nogales, Sonora, where they are packaged and then brought back to Tucson for shipping, Tooker said.
The company calls itself the world's largest temporary-tattoo manufacturer.
Debbie Coopwood, TMI's chief financial officer, said that because of company officials' knowledge of the industry, they are confident that label is correct.
TMI employs 82 people and is contained in one building, but it's still keeping up with the rest of the world.
"We're competing very effectively against China and other places just because we've got a really cool process," Tooker said.
The company works with more than 60,000 custom-tattoo customers as well as companies such as Disney and Mattel Inc.
TMI also had a license with Ed Hardy stores for four years to produce temporary tattoos of their logos, he said.
It also makes watercolor paint sheets, scratch-lottery type cards and tattoo books.
Chuck E. Cheese's ordered about 10 million watercolor paint sheets for one of its prizes, Tooker said.
TMI also manufactures tattoos for Mattel's Tattoo Barbie, he said. "That's how mainstream tattoos have become — (you can) put them on your Barbie."
TMI is a finalist for the Wells Fargo Copper Cactus Award for the Tucson business with the highest growth.
"We're getting a lot of publicity," Tooker said. "I think it's because we're still growing in a crummy economic environment and we're a domestic U.S. manufacturer. And our product is just cool."