COEUR d'ALENE — A group of young men gathered to watch as one sat on the chair, leg outstretched, a grimace competing with a grin as a buzzing tattoo gun needled ink into his skin.

"It's hurting," Nathan Korth of Bonney Lake, Wash., admitted Friday afternoon as Northwest Tattoo Museum artist Douglas Swindle went about his work designing a cherry blossom tree above the ankle on the inside of Korth's leg.

“It’s from this movie I like, ‘Kung Fu Panda,’" Korth said, slightly flinching. “We’re currently on a road trip and this is on the way back home, so we’re all getting tattoos."

The Northwest Tattoo Museum is a destination for mementos and memories for people near and far as it offers on-site ink amid images and artifacts that tell the stories of how electric tattooing came to be what it is today.

Voices of the past speak through founder, curator, historian and master tattooist Jay Brown, who is intimately acquainted with every vintage tattoo machine and every flash sheet in the building.

A first exhibit visitors encounter features "Bones," the green eyeshade-topped resident skeleton, situated next to an antique barbershop display.

"I put in there a straight razor and a shave cup and brushes," Brown said. "That's because a lot of tattoo shops way back in the day were in the back of barbershops."

As well as a place where people make memories and walk away with fresh ink, the Northwest Tattoo Museum at 2934 N. Government Way is a free resource for tattoo history, education and research. Brown, who is the Idaho state representative and education committee vice chair for the Alliance of Professional Tattooists, is a fount of industry knowledge.

"I always like to tell stories," he said. "It's always a fun time."

Times at the tattoo museum haven't been too fun as of late. The shop's air conditioning went kaput during the hottest stretch of the summer, causing an unexpected financial hardship.

"We heard this bang," Brown said. "The air conditioning shut off. I went in the back and flipped the breakers back on and everything came back on" but unbeknownst to Brown and team, the unit had fried.

"You can't really tattoo in excruciating heat," he said. "You want to be comfortable."

This hit at a really bad time, Brown said, because economic conditions have also not been favorable for the tattoo business.

"The economy's doing a number on things," he said. "Times have been getting tough. People are not using their expendable income at present. They're keeping it in their pockets. In the 39 years that I have tattooed, every election year people have the unsurety of what the future is going to bring financially and otherwise."

Brown said tourism that usually brings people to check out the museum seems to have dipped as well.

"If tourist season was as it normally is, they weren't spending money here," he said. "And that's been happening all over the country. I've talked to friends all over the place that are saying the same thing."

He said the explosion of tattoo shops in the area is also having an impact.

"It's the same amount of tattooers, it's just tattooers in different shops," he said. "In the old days, guys were territorial about it."

The Northwest Tattoo Museum has reduced its hours from seven to five days a week with appointments available Sundays and Mondays. One artist works other jobs to supplement income. Brown makes tattoo machines on the side.

"You have to do what you have to do to make ends meet," he said.

Economic factors have contributed to the current situation, as well as medical emergencies and ongoing health challenges Brown and his staff are experiencing. Severe back and knee problems have required surgery for one artist. Brown, who lost his leg from the knee down when hit by a truck on his motorcycle 24 years ago, consistently faces issues with his mobility and prosthetic leg.

"You have to change your sockets every so many years," he said. "I've been out for two weeks because of a pressure sore and not being able to wear my leg."

The Northwest Tattoo Museum is not a nonprofit, but Brown is hoping community members realize the value of this unique educational resource and offer support so it can continue telling the stories of a culture that has long interested and intrigued the world.

A campaign has been launched to raise $3,500 to help the museum stay afloat. Just about $3,000 had been raised as of Friday afternoon.

Info: gofundme.com

    A group of friends gather to watch as Nathan Korth of Bonney Lake, Wash. is tattooed Friday by Douglas Swindle at the Northwest Tattoo Museum in Coeur d'Alene.
  

    Northwest Tattoo Museum founder Jay Brown holds up a tattoo machine he made by hand.
  

    Resident skeleton "Bones" is situated among one of the first exhibits people see when they visit the Northwest Tattoo Museum in Coeur d'Alene.