Tennessee Tattoo Artist’s 24-Hour Tattoo Challenge

Practice makes perfect. Amanda Stiles, owner of Modify Tattoo and Piercing in Morristown, Tennessee, hopes that practice will not only make her the best tattoo artists possible, but also a world record breaker. Currently, the Guinness World Record for the longest session tattooing multiple people is held by Alessandro Bonacrosi, who set the record of 50 hours and 8 minutes at the Palermo Tattoo Expo in Italy last year.

Stiles hopes to someday beat that, and until that day, she practices as much as she can. “I’m no Olympian,” Stiles tells WVLT news in the video below. “I’ll never be able to do anything like that for running or something, but maybe I can do something like that for tattooing.”

One way she’s working towards this goal is through the 24 Hour Toughman Challenge that she started at her shop. Through the challenge, customers can bring their ideas to her, and a discounted rate is set for a marathon session. Stiles will go as long as the person getting tattooed can go. “I started challenging myself by trying to see how long I could go,” Stiles explained. “I wanted to try to show myself that I was good enough, that I could do anything that I really wanted to do.”

In the video, Stiles starts working on Emily Gray, a 27-year-old who brought her sleeve idea to Modify Tattoo and Piercing to take her shot at the 24 Hour Toughman Challenge. Gray makes it 11 hours and 28 minutes. But Stiles will keep going.

“I never want anyone to ever say, ‘that girl was talented but she never did anything with it.”