The Mad Tatter is Oklahoma's only Alice in Wonderland themed tattoo and body piercing shop. Come to think of it, it may well be the only fully themed tattoo shop in the state, of any theme at all. Isaac wanted something completely different from every cookie-cutter place, so he built this one to feel like you fell down the rabbit hole. Textured walls, bright colors, and rooms themed around the story. He means the 1951 cartoon, by the way, not the Johnny Depp version. The point is to give you something to sink into so you forget you are about to get stabbed with a needle.

Owner Isaac Bruno has been tattooing for more than three decades. He started back when it was still illegal in Oklahoma and worked underground, because that was the only way to do it at the time. The art goes back even further. He won his first contest in elementary school for a Star Trek drawing and has been at it ever since. "I get to color with loud crayons all day long," he says. "Who doesn't like that?"

Isaac is a citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, from the Wamego family, and he opened The Mad Tatter in 2016 after wanting his own shop for years. He set it up in Shawnee on purpose, close to family and his ancestral roots. His work runs across every style, from skulls and dragons to watercolor and portraits, and a lot of it carries Native American art and ideals.

He won't push you toward his own taste. If an idea won't sit right on the body he tells you straight, then works out how to give you what you actually want. "What if we do it like this," he'll say, "it would really bring out your eyes." A lot of the tattoos here start with a heartfelt story, and he has teared up right alongside clients by the time a piece is done. One tattoo of his own is an angel his daughter drew when she was four. She is nearly grown now, and he still calls her monkey.

Family runs through all of it. Isaac and the shop give back through things like Santa for Soldiers and local food drives, and the door stays open to anyone. "We treat everybody like family," he says. "That is the most important thing, just helping people out." In 2018, Shawnee News-Star readers voted The Mad Tatter the best tattoo parlor in town.