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Female tattoo artists make their mark in Oakland

The artist wears black latex gloves and dips a needle into ink. She then draws blue waves around a colorless outline of the Buddha, carefully wiping excess ink off of her living canvas. The mechanical hum of the mechanized needle doesn’t interfere with the interaction between tattoo artist, Melissa Taylor of Oakland’s Sacred Tattoo, and her client, the recipient of a large back piece. “Tattoos can be symbolic, they can be a tribute or a memorial, ” Taylor said. “It…