https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/174545685/

Sara Schwieder Inquirer Stan Writer Perhaps you'd like a tattoo of violet snakes curling around your neck? How about a red rose planted on your bicep? "Mom" written across your heart? Fire-breathing dragons cavorting across your diaphragm? All possible, and, better yet, all painless. And highly realistic. If you want to make a spectacle of yourself with a tattoo but don't want to suffer, technology has come to your rescue. A new kit, called "Temptu," has been developed by a New York City company that produces a fake tattoo that looks real. The designs are virtually identical to real tattoos, but the wearer does not have to keep these designs forever. They are created not with dye inserted under the skin by needles, but with color painted on with a brush. The fake tattoos - disappear after a few washings or with a swab of alcohol. Although the tattoo has lost none of its mystical power, it no longer has to represent a lifetime commitment. "I think the fake ones look real-er than the real ones," said Betsy Green, manager of Skinz New Wave clothing store, 331 South St. She sported a fake tattoo of a sizzling pink flower nestled below her right collarbone with a coiled, blue-green snake splashed across to her left shoulder. The store not only sells but demonstrates the product. "A lot of people have always wanted tattoos but were too scared to do it," she said, displaying a real tattoo a red heart on her wrist. "Real ones hurt so badly; they're done with needles and they really, really hurt. So these arc nice." Said she: "You can just use your imagination, and use any color you want, and just paint it in. Some people can paint in freehand. If you're the slightest bit artistic, you can. The response has been terrific." There are other types of artificial tattoos, like the wet-and-press version used as a children's plaything, or the type put on with a ballpoint pen. But the idea for the Temptu tattoos originated during the filming of the recently released movie Tattoo, which fea- Philadelphia Inqurw JOHN PAUL FILO Betsy Green displays her fake tattoo, while Dempsey shows off the real thing Jim and Jimmy Dempsey Getting look at son's fake tattoo The tattoos depict a pirate, several women, an Oriental scene, flames, a spider web, a dragon, an eagle and flowers, among other things. The tattoos cover both his arms and part of his legs. "Some people collect coins, some collect stamps, I like tattoos," explained the Philadelphia truck driver. So what did the hard-core real-tattoo lover think of those who were not so brave? "I don't put fake ones down, but it's not something you have to live with. It's a style. I guess it's all right," Dempsey said. In fact, he brought his son, Jimmy, 9, to get a "Temptu" fake tattoo for his birthday. The boy chose a design of flames, done in orange, red, yel' low, blue and black, and asked that it be painted on his tures actors with intricate tattoos all over their bodies. Because the tattoos called for in the movie were so complex, it would have taken hours to paint them on each day with ordinary makeup. Film producer Joseph E. Levine wanted designs that would retain their colors, but that could be easily removed. So he asked Dr. Samuel Zuckerman, a cosmetic chemist, to come up with somethings table. "He came to Dr. Zuckerman to solve a technical problem, which was how to get paints to stay on the body for a few days of shooting under hot lights, and with physical contact, so they didn't have to make up each day," said Roy Zuckerman, the chemist's son and a partner in Somachrome, the New York manufacturer of the fake tattoo kits. Bruce Harman, 23, an artist who is demonstrating the "Temptu" kits at Skinz, obliged. Each Friday night, he draws on fake tattoos, costing from $5 to $100, in the display window at the South Street store, attracting fascinated crowds. As Harman produced the design, Jimmy sat shivering behind the window glass, his white chest suddenly blooming with color. The crowd laughed when the red went on, and smiled encouragement to Jimmy. When it was finished, he looked at it in a mirror, a little scared, it seemed, of its instant magic. And what was the verdict? He paused a long time, looking. Finally, he seemed to have made up his mind. "It's neat," he pronounced. And the crowd clapped its agreement. "We took a technology which was done for the movie, and brought it to the point where people could buy it and do it themselves at home. Out of a theatrical need came a product," he said. The $19.95 kits are selling well here and throughout the country, especially in California, the younger Zuckerman said. The first kits came out in September, and 10,000 of them have been sold so far, he said. The kits include six colors, a brush, a brush cleaner, setting talc and designs on paper that can be traced onto the skin for those . whose artistic abilities are lacking. The kits are recommended for people 1 1 years or older.