The gun has been loaded, blood will flow, a buzz will pierce through ears, moans of pain will be heard, and tears may even be shed. But in the end, the pain endured will be worth it -you will have been inked with a one-of-a-kind tattoo.

Let It Bleed, a new custom tattoo shop located in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco, opened its doors for the first time earlier this year with one goal in mind: decorating people from all over with mind-blowing original tattoos. "I believe we are all put on this earth for one thing," says Eric Jones, 37, owner of Let It Bleed. "If mine isn't tattooing, then I don't know what I am doing here."

Although Jones never had the desire to own his own shop, it seems as though it was meant to be. The shop is decked out with his own personal style. The walls are a shade of yellowish-green with stainless steel booths and old antique keys hanging above the door, and there is plenty of original art all over. Before starting his journey of opening his own shop, Jones was working at Mom's Tattoo, a popular shop in the Upper Haight district. However, it reached a point that after eight years at the shop, Jones had done everything he could do, and he knew it was time for the next step in his career.

His journey to open Let It Bleed began by spending a lot of time maxing out his credit cards, dealing with various city officials, and following old-school tattoo traditions by introducing himself to any nearby tattoo shops. His next order of business was to find some talented artists to fill the shop with. The first to join the team was Taler Nicols, 27, and a few months later Danny Boy Smith, 41, jumped on board. Both Nicols and Smith also worked at Mom's Body Shop on Haight and were looking for something where they could have more freedom as artists and be able to further their individual career goals. The three have created a trio that is ready to make a mark on the tattoo industry.

"It's the new shop on the block," says Jones. "We have a lot of original hand-painted flash work...and not the typical flash you see in those shops that attract bad clientele. And we aren't going to be specializing in tribal tattoos, that's for sure."

Now the shop is starting to build a loyal clientele. Chloe Turner first came in as a walk-in customer to get one small tattoo done. Nicols did a small ambigram tattoo on Turner's arm and she was so happy that she made another appointment. Since then, Turner has come back several times and is now working on a half-sleeve with Nicols.

"I really didn't have any specific idea of what was going to happen once the shop was open and running," says Jones as he works on the coloring of a cover-up tattoo on a girl's ankle. "But it's been all right so far. It pays the bills and that is more than a lot of new businesses can say."

Like a lot of local shops, business has been coming and going at Let It Bleed. For a few weeks the shop will be slow, and then for a few weeks, they are very busy. The downtime has given the crew plenty of time to work on the shop. They are still in the process of getting a drawing table made and designing a sign for the front, and always working on getting more artwork up on the walls. "The thing is, there is no real operation manual for tattoo shops," says Nicols, "which is actually the nice thing about it."

Just then, sisters Meredith and Becky Doyle wandered into the shop. When Meredith wanted to get a tattoo of an anchor as a sign of her relatives in the Navy on her shoulder blade, Becky recommends that she go to Smith. She heard of Smith and his work from friends.

"I had been thinking about getting it for two and a half years," says Meredith. "Today I decided this would be the perfect timing." Meredith was right. As Smith finished and cleaned her up she had the first glance of her new tattoo in the mirror. Her smile stretched all the way across her face. [X]