Well upon your death, those tattoos are gone,

they're only permanent as long as you're alive

but then they're gone.

We've changed that world.

- [Narrator] So all of these tattoos used to be

on someone's body.

- [Artist] Yes, everyone of them.

- [Narrator] Charles Hamm has a lot of tattoos.

- I'm the Executive Director and Chairman of the Board

of the National Association for the Preservation

of Skin Art.

We call it NAPSA.

You know, I got all these beautiful tattoos

and I'm going to get cremated when I die,

and everything goes up in smoke.

So all the meaning, all the things that people know

about me that are close to me are gone as well.

- So Charles, which tattoo do I get?

- I can't tell you buddy.

Most of my upper body's claimed.

- [Narrator] So, why would anyone want

their tattoos cut off and hung on a wall

for posterity?

This is Shelly Krajny.

She's one of NAPSA's first members.

- I was really nervous, um, when I first got my tattoo done

to show my mom.

The first thing that she said when she saw it was that, like,

"It's so beautiful, I wish that I could like hang

that on my wall."

This is on my body forever.

Now, it can be part of someone else's story forever

thanks to NAPSA.

- [Narrator] Here's how it all works.

Within hours of a person's death,

NAPSA will mail a preservation kit

to their family.

The mortician will then cut off

the tattooed skin and apply NAPSA's

embalming solution.

The tattoo is then mailed to NAPSA's headquarters

inside this office complex just outside

of Cleveland, Ohio.

This is where they finish processing the tattoo.

It's no longer skin now.

It has the look of leather but it feels

like parchment paper.

Finally, NAPSA sends the framed tattoo

to the beneficiary.

- Everybody thought I was crazy at first in my family

but they quickly came to realize this is a beautiful thing,

and they've claimed their tattoos.

I have a gorilla on my chest.

And gorillas are known for protecting

all their females in their group,

and my wife's name resides under that.

That's my way of saying that I'm protecting my wife.

This gorilla's overlooking her.

So upon my passing, that put in a frame,

sitting above a fireplace, will remind her of me

every time that she looks at it.

And that's really what this is about.