"I wanted her to be impressed when she got back," said the 24-year-old. "We did it on the floor of my (vintage clothing) shop, over a bottle of whisky, three hours later."

These non-professional tattoos - known as stick and poke or hand poke tattoos - are done with a sewing needle, thread and India ink.

"The immediate health risk could be an infection and the second risk would be to traumatizing the skin," she said. "Also if you're using an infected needle, you're looking at the risk of hepatitis and HIV."

"It takes one treatment to put this on, it's going to take multiple treatments to remove it," she said.