Clint “Hot Rod” Sletten came to Iowa State to be an architect. After getting further into his coursework, Sletten decided it wasn’t all he wanted it to be.

“I had to take an astronomy class and thought, ‘What does this have to do with architecture?’” said Sletten. “That’s when I realized I was just spending money.”

After leaving Iowa State, Sletten wishes he finished school and changed majors to an art background.

He put on his gloves and picked up a marker and began to draw flames on a man’s arm — it’s apparent he’s where he’s meant to be.

Hot Rod, who has worked with the shop for nearly 14 years, has 11/16-inch gauges in both of his ears and is covered head to toe in tattoos of various designs.

When he was a 16 years old, Hot Rod opened his own air brush business in his parents’ house. He had about six stock cars he’d letter and airbrush from time to time, as well as painting signs for local businesses. When he was 19, Hot Rod started an apprenticeship with a local tattoo artist. Now, at age 36, he hasn’t stopped tattooing.

Hot Rod usually wakes up about 7:30 a.m. each day of the week. He opens up the shop at 10 a.m., except for on Sundays, when it opens at noon.

Although he puts in long hours, Hot Rod said the job is more of a mental strain than a physical one. Usually staying until around midnight each night, Hot Rod does about 8-10 tattoos per day during the week and 15-20 Fridays and Saturdays.The shop has been busy both with customers and turning over a new shop with a relatively new staff, making numerous changes that Hot Rod has heard people complain about in the past. After recently buying his partner out, Hot Rod is the only person from the Asylum that was part of the original team.

When he first started, Hot Rod worked at a tattoo shop on Main Street in Ames that closed its doors.

“I was a young kid,” Sletten said, “It was cool and I went to work and didn’t get a very big percentage, you know, because I was just starting. I was still making more money than any of my friends were at the time, which isn’t saying much, but still. Whenever I went out I was the ‘tattoo artist.’ It was kinda this rock star life.”

After working at the shop for eight months, he quit and moved to Athens, Ga., where he worked right by the college in a similar fashion to Iowa State. At only 20 years old, being surrounded by the college atmosphere and being a tattoo artist made for an interesting sort of lifestyle, he said.

“My parents actually said that being a tattoo artist was more suiting to me when I told them I wasn’t going to be an architect,” Sletten said. “They were skeptical because all they knew about it was what everybody else thought with tattoos, and the shops being covers for drugs and alcohol and all the craziness. But once they saw what it was really about, they were all for it.”

Hot Rod was never as good at sports as his sister, who is three years older. Growing up, he had a typical childhood of riding bikes, goofing off and getting into a little bit of trouble. When he was younger, he and his cousin “tinkered around” with their muscle cars and eventually the name Hot Rod stuck for Sletten.

Hot Rod’s childhood was, overall, pretty normal.

His mom owned her own hair salon in their house and his dad struggled at Case International Harvester, where he was laid off. Although they weren’t well off, the Sletten’s weren’t poor either. Everything Hot Rod had to do in his life, he had to work for.

Although Hot Rod finds education important, he doesn’t think it’s important for his career. None of it shows how good of an artist you are, and just says that you know about art history and other things.

Although he didn’t finish school, Hot Rod got a few things out of his college experience. He acquired the dedication of waking up early, the importance of being on time to classes and learning the discipline of everything he did.

After realizing he wanted his own business and to be able to do his own things with tattooing, he understood that he had to give up a career in college to make another career.

“I have to be here every day and make sure this thing pans out, and you just have to stay and work on things and try new things to get through it,” he said.

Hot Rod finished with tracing out the flames around an existing tattoo on the upper arm of the man in the chair. They discussed what color he might want the flames to be, “Dark green? No. Red? No. Blue? No. Dark green? Yes.” With the sound of a country song blaring from speakers from a television in the corner of the shop, another sound rang and Hot Rod answered his phone.

“OK. You get yourself some good sleep tonight okay? I’ll see you in the morning. Alright, sweet dreams. Thanks buddy … Sorry, had to answer that — it was my son,” he said.

“You’re a good daddy,” said Gary Bales, the man in the chair. “You always answer your phone for your boy — always answer the call.”

Hot Rod is inspired by other tattoo artists work across the country. Tattoo artists begin to tattoo differently, using alternate techniques and ways of coloring things.

Being in the Midwest, tattoo artists and others don’t get exposed to it and have to rely mostly on tattooing magazines. Inspired by the work of artist Big Daddy Roth, and more colorful pieces or black and grey photos and portraits, Hot Rod said he’s always been into the 40s, 50s, retro and classic art. He also enjoys working on nature scenes or anything crazy and big. More of his personal art is of a retro style.

Unopposed to drawing or tattooing anything, Hot Rod feels it’s important to be a diversified person when you’re a tattoo artist, because not everyone is going to want the same thing.

“Tattoos are kinda like your life story; they tell your story,” Bales said. “You have to find something that you can live with for the rest of your life that means something to you or [it] isn’t worth anything.

One thing Hot Rod wants people to know about tattooing is that it’s a lot easier to pay for a good tattoo from the start than to get something that isn’t as good of quality work and have to get it fixed later on. Tattoos aren’t used cars, and just because you may get the best deal on a tattoo doesn’t mean it’s worth anything. People should shop around for quality and not price.

As for Hot Rod and his shop, he would like people to know they’re going in a new direction and getting a complete makeover. He plans on opening up a couple of shops and to find some new artists, because he said the Asylum is probably the only shop of its caliber that has been around a long time that could have more than one location. He wants to change its image from what it has been over the last couple of years, and to have people see that it is dedicated to top quality work, the best atmosphere and experience you have getting tattooed. He wants people leaving feeling comfortable.

“When you do tattoos that are in memory of things or people, or something to means something to them; it’s a just a good feeling to know they’re going to see that for the rest of their life and make them think of something good. In some cases their tattoo represents something bad in their life and they can look at that every day and be reminded the path they’ve gone down and to move on from it.”

To Hot Rod, tattoos are important because they mean something. He doesn’t agree with people who try to be trendy by getting tattoos because they see their favorite person with one on E!

“I love this job because there isn’t a single thing that I do that isn’t art to me,” he said. “I’m not sitting around making copies of blueprints, and I’m always drawing or doing something that uses more and more of my artistic talent. It gives you the freedom to kinda do what you want. I think tattoos are a truly important part of people’s lives and as a form of self expression.”