Crazy: A French artist has an incredible prosthetic arm that doubles as a tattoo gun

By: Danielle Muoio

JC Sheitan Tenet, a 32-year-old French artist, doesn't have an ordinary prosthetic — his doubles as a tattoo gun.

 

Lynn Art Photographer
Sheitan Tenet became a tattoo artist eight years ago using his left hand. But now he can create his designs using both hands again thanks to a new prosthetic.

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Sheitan Tenet has been drawing since he was three years old, he told TI. He lost his dominant arm at age 10 under circumstances he prefers to keep quiet, but that never stopped him from pursuing a career as a tattoo artist.

JC Sheitan Tenet

He picked up the trade using his non-dominant, left hand shortly after losing his right arm.

Lynn Art

After working in design-related jobs for a few years, Sheitan Tenet decided to quit and pursue creating tattoos as a career instead of just a hobby.

Sure enough, Sheitan Tenet met visual artist JL Gonzal at a tattoo convention."When he saw my creations, he imagined he could bring back his right arm and tattoo with it," Gonzal told TI.

J Gonzal

"It was a crazy, but such a beautiful, idea. I was immediately ok for that," he said.

Gonzal said he attached a rotative machine to the base of Sheitan Tenet's prosthetic. The machine can turn 360 degrees with minimum vibrations to ensure it's comfortable to wear.

JL Gonzal

The tattoo gun hooks up with a generator for power, but the cables linking the two are long enough so that Sheitan Tenet can move around untethered.

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Gonzal also encrusted the prosthetic with an old mechanical typewriter, gramophone, and manometer to make it more aesthetically appealing.

Because Sheitan Tenet is still adjusting to using his right arm again, he mostly uses the tattoo gun for shading purposes. Here's a tattoo he made using his left arm and his new prosthetic.

Lynn Art

Gonzal is also making another prototype with wrist mobility.

"With the next [prototype] I'll try to work with a tattoo gun in both 'hands' to find new designs," Sheitan Tenet wrote in an email to TI.

JC Sheitan Tenet