TikToker Preserves Late Husband's Tattooed Skin in Frame After His Death

Earlier this month, a woman named Angelica -- who goes by the username "@realangelicavibes" -- revealed that she had one of her late husband's tattoos "preserved" to have as a memento, and opened up about the unconventional process in multiple videos.

In a TikTok shared on July 18, Angelica shared that the frame had arrived, and teased that she would be sharing more details with her followers.

"The feeling of finally having him home with us is overwhelming! Words can’t describe what having my husband’s tattoo as a work of art means to us❤️," she captioned a video of herself holding the frame. "Even though we've had his ashes, it didn't give us the true feeling of him. How does 250 lbs, muscles, and tattoos accumulate to a box… it doesn't. Having a piece of him that I can see, feel, and love is what we needed more than anything."

A week later, Angelica debuted the frame in a TikTok slideshow, in which she and her son posed with the framed piece of her late husband's tattoo skin, which featured ink of a skull wearing a black-and-yellow Pittsburgh Steelers helmet.

"This isn't art. It's my husband's real skin. His Steelers tattoo. Preserved forever," she wrote over a photo of herself posing with the frame, in which she wore a Steelers jersey.

The second shot showed Angelica and her son smiling while holding the keepsake. "Our son chose this one. Out of 70+ tattoos, he said, 'This is Dad.' And now? It lives with us. Forever," she wrote on the photo.

The final photo in the post featured a close-up of the preserved ink. "Zoom in. Look closer," Angelica wrote. "Yes... that's hair. That's him."

Angelica reflected on the significance of the keepsake in the caption of the post, which has over 12 million views.

"We didn't just get ashes ... we got his tattoo," she wrote. "My husband was the biggest Steelers fan. How big? We preserved his real tattoo -- his actual skin. Our son chose this one. Out of 70+, he said, 'This is the one Dad would want.' This isn't a replica. You can see his hair, his wrinkles, the ink I kissed goodnight. Preserved by @Save My Ink Forever -- the only company in the world that can do this."

"Would you do this? Did you even know this was possible?" she added, before tagging the Steelers and player T.J. Watt "because he's still part of the team."

Angelina went on to open up about the preservation process in a TikTok shared on July 26.

"Yeah. We really had my husband's tattoo preserved. And no, my son and I don't think it's weird at all. Let me tell you how we had it done," she began. "When my husband passed away unexpectedly, I knew that this is something that we were going to do because we had talked about it."

"So with his consent, when I was at the funeral home making all the arrangements, for those of you, unfortunately, that have gone through this process, it's everything from how you want the chairs to what kind of flowers do you want, all of that stuff, right?" Angelina continued. "And I said, 'I want to preserve my husband's tattoo.' Naturally, they thought I was crazy. They were very nice, but it was very unheard of, and they were not familiar with it. They weren't sure how we were going to do that."

"So one of the number one comments I've been seeing is, 'How do you ask them for this? How do you ask to see if you can do this?'" she said. "I did not ask. I did not request. I did not leave room for permission from them because I knew that I could do this, and this is what my husband wanted. So I made the statement, I'm going to preserve his tattoo. So all of this is jotted down with the funeral director."

Angelina said she connected with the company, Save My Ink Forever, which preserves tattoos from lost loved ones, and "focuses on creating an human artifact," per its website. She explained that the company handles much of the "communications" with the funeral home, including sending a "very detailed video" to the mortician.

"After everybody left and I was doing my goodbye, is when the mortician and I, she and I stood there, and I got to outline the exact tattoo I wanted," she explained. "My husband having over 70 tattoos, I wanted the surrounding tattoos in it as well. So you outline it, and then the tissue is removed, and Save My Ink Forever sent the funeral home a preservation bag and [the funeral home] sends it to Save My Ink Forever. [The company representative] then contacted me every single step of the way. It took about 90 days, and we had set it up and arranged that they were going to deliver him, bring him home to us. I'm in West Virginia. The company is in Ohio."

Angelica then recalled her emotional reaction to seeing her late husband's preserved tattoo for the first time.

"When they showed us his tattoo, it was [in]describable as to what that felt," she said. "It wasn't just one feeling. It wasn't just a emotion. It was physical. It's in a frame where you don't touch it, but it filled a void that was so big. I seriously can't imagine if we wouldn't have had this done. I have many, many emotions every day, every second, and this has helped me in ways that I didn't know that I needed help, in places that I thought I needed it."

"It's something that you really can't describe," she added, before breaking down, noting that they are "happy tears."

Angelina went on to tell her 94,000 followers to "please help people know" that tattoo preservation is "available" to help "honor" their lost loved ones.

"I can go into many more details about this. You tell me what you need to know. Have you had this done? What special ways did you honor your loved ones?" she said. "I didn't just do the skin, tattoo preservation, and people thought I was crazy. I was judged for so many other things, and I will share those, and I will also share what we've gathered in throughout this whole journey on TikTok and the special, the most beautiful ways that people have honored their loved ones."

"Start planning now," Angelica advised. "Start treating this like you want to be in control of everything -- from what music is going to be played. What picture are they going to use? What clothes are you going to wear? What color are your nails going to be? Everything. I can't tell you what this journey so far has been for me, for my son, for our family, for our friends. What I can tell you is that I promised to show up on here."

"This is a space where tell me about your loved one and know that you are heard, you are seen, you are felt, and I will never judge," she concluded. "I hope to see and get to know all of you, and just know that I'm here for you.