A tattoo shop has opened its doors along the Bath waterfront at 99 Commercial St. Joe and Elizabeth Zapper, a married couple and owners of Dark Waters Tattoo and Piercing, opened it a few weeks ago after securing their new spot in September.

So far, around 20 clients have been seen, including a combination of regulars from outside the community and a few locals. Every day, Joe will work with a client on larger tattoo jobs, such as sleeve or leg pieces. He specializes in photorealism, a style of tattoo meant to look as realistic as possible.

A tattoo of the iconic Pennywise the Dancing Clown from Steven King’s “IT” done by Dark Waters Tattoo and Piercing. Courtesy of Dark Waters Tattoo and Piercing

A few of the Zappers’ clients come from Bethel, Rumford and Waterville to Bath for a piercing appointment. The owners are looking into ways to get the word around town about their business, with Elizabeth posting flyers so far at Brackett’s Market across the street and around locations in Bath Iron Works.

“A lot of our clients — the ones that are faithful — have no problem coming out here,” Elizabeth said.

Over the years, Joe has owned several tattoo shops, including Tattoo Creations, Skin Illusions, Twin City Ink and the Creative Edge Tattoo and Body Piercing based in Auburn. The Zappers have a combined 50 years of experience. According to the Zappers, when they were the Creative Edge, they won Best Tattoo Shop in 2022 and Best Tattoo and Piercing Shop in 2023, but they walked away from it to move into a new location and start fresh.

“We don’t play well with others, so every time we step out and thought maybe it will be easier to work for another shop, [but] we like to run our own gig,” Elizabeth said.

Elizabeth is one of the only female body piercers around and is looking to attract families with mothers and daughters getting their ears pierced for the first time. Dermal implants are Elizabeth’s specialty, using the highest quality metals like implant-grade titanium, which costs about $60 per piercing.

According to Elizabeth, dermal implants have become popular over the past 15 years, and she started performing the procedure in 2011.

One of the many different photo-realistic pieces done by Dark Waters Tattoo and Piercing, located at 99 Commercial St. in Bath. Courtesy of Dark Waters Tattoo and Piercing

Elizabeth was born in Lewiston and received her master’s degree in fine art and sculpture through the University of Montana in 2002. After returning to Lewiston in 2006, Elizabeth started working with Joe as an apprentice while she was working with bronze sculpting.

They said they decided to move to Bath because the people were more laid-back, plus it’s closer to the ocean. Their clients have a view of the Kennebec River from the waiting room of the tattoo shop.

Dark Waters charges about $100 per hour, but prices are more negotiable for a bigger custom tattoo job.

“We like to take the intimidation out of coming into a tattoo store,” Joe said.

The Zappers are still ironing out the rough edges of their new business venture, which includes creating a new website at darkwaterstattoostudio.com and spreading the word more to expand their client base during the busy holiday shopping season.

Dark Waters operates seven days per week from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.