Haruethai Piankaew, 35, has always had a passion for tattoos since she was 14 years of age. Now the model has spent a whopping £11,000 on inking her body
The model has spoken out after being compared to a “drug dealer” for her extreme tattoo obsession.
Haruethai Piankaew, 35, claims to have covered around 98% of her body in flowers, dragons and other colourful designs.
Since the age of 14, she remembers watching people on TV with body art, including her dad, which made her fall in love.
Now Haruethai, from Thailand, has splurged a whopping £11,000 (500,000 baht) on covering her body in all sorts of designs.
She believes that 98% of her body is covered in ink and that all of her tattoos have now melded into one full design.
One of her tattoos were done mostly by pieces of bamboo which took 22 hours to complete just half of it.
But despite falling in love with her creations, Haruethai has had some hurtful comments directed towards her online.
She’s had strangers calling a “drug dealer”, “crazy woman”, claimed she’s “disgusting” and even “dirty”.
Other comments include “What is that? Is she even a real human?”
Although these remarks have made her feel self-conscious, Haruethai has learned to feel comfortable in her own skin.
She said: “My dad also had a few tattoos of his own and I really wanted to follow in his footsteps.
“So I began designing a tattoo of a butterfly which I fell in love with instantly.”
She added: “I did my first tattoo all by myself using a fishing hook and printer ink, as I was too young to get one professionally done.
“However, after a few hours, the butterfly wasn’t exactly how I thought it would be.
“Despite this, the feeling of having my own artwork on my body was something that I became obsessed with.
“Once I was 24 I began getting tattoos whenever I could all over my body.
“My inspiration for tattoos comes from the world and people around me, as I see my body as a piece of art.”
Haruethai believes she has spent over £11,000 on her tattoos alone and would like to get more done, but she has no space.
She continued: “I usually go into the tattoo studio and get my whole leg or arm done at once, never just one tattoo at a time.
“I used to care about what people would think, but I have learned over time that I should feel comfortable in my skin.
“If people don’t like me for the way I look, then they’re not worth my time and I’m happy being my own person for now.
“But in the end, I also have a lot of nice and supportive people who care about me and call me ‘beautiful’.”
The model also told how her family aren’t too pleased about her appearance.
She concluded: “They think that as I get older my tattoos won’t look very good anymore.
“My mum has always said that I’m never going to find anyone to marry me, which makes me laugh.
“We all only have one life, so do what you like and be yourself.
“Tattoos have changed my life and I am grateful that I have come to this point in life where I can choose to be the way I am today.
dailystar
front cover
Haruethai Piankaew claims to have tattooed around 98% of her body (Image: MDWfeatures/@sour_heart1/CJImage)
