Demetra Stamus/The Morning Call Oliver Kennedy, tattoo artist and owner of Chalice Body Art Tattoos, poses with his latest award-winning tattoo art, the stocking of Debbie Strong, of Richland, Bucks County, at his Quakertown studio earlier this month. Click photo for larger image.

ALLENTOWN -- Debbie Strong never used to be one for sexy stockings.

Now she can't take hers off.

Sometimes the other grandmothers ask her about it at the grocery store. She shows them the ornate pattern that draws attention down toward her ankle or the dainty seam that never gets crooked on the back of her thigh.

"I love looking at it," the Richland, Bucks County, resident said last week, staring down at the garter belt and stocking tattoo that graces her right leg. "It makes me feel pretty."

Ms. Strong's lingerie has nothing to do with lace or delicate ruffles. Instead, it's about ink and scrupulous effort.

Tattoo artist Oliver Kennedy spent dozens of four-hour sessions over a 13-month period to embellish Strong's right leg at Chalice Body Art Tattoos, his Quakertown studio.

Ms. Strong, 44, isn't the only one who enjoys the results. She and Kennedy took one of the top trophies at last month's Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention.

Ms. Strong and Mr. Kennedy shared the second-place trophy for best overall tattoo on a woman.

Ms. Strong's still giddy about the victory. "I never won anything before," she said.

Mr. Kennedy began the design by tattooing a tropical menagerie just above Ms. Strong's right ankle. Leaf-cutter ants, a giraffe, an elephant and the like sit among exotic vegetation that slinks up her leg, morphing into a stocking.

Mr. Kennedy then connected the stocking to an inked-on belt that already encircled Strong's waist. Inspired by old Westerns, he holstered an embroidered Beretta pistol in the garter.

Her left leg remains largely bare.

He estimates he used at least 30 pigments in the design, blending shades of green, yellow, purple and the like into colors that would be difficult to recreate. He finally finished the tattoo just in time for the Philadelphia convention.

How expensive was this venture? Ms. Strong and Mr. Kennedy wouldn't say how much she paid for the artwork.

And while the idea of such an extensive tattoo may scare the fainthearted, Ms. Strong said there was surprisingly little pain; she only yelped a few times.

A tattoo fan for decades who views them as art, Ms. Strong got her first a tiny heart near the bottom of her stomach around 1980.

Seven or eight now take up residence all over her body, several of which were incorporated into her prize-winning new tattoo.

The leg sleeve itself didn't start out as such an elaborate endeavor. Strong just wanted something to cover a scar on her shin.

She already had an elephant tattooed nearby, so Mr. Kennedy built off that.

She's not worried about the tattoo fading or becoming an embarrassment as she ages. Indeed, she said, it should help cover any flaws:

"How's anyone gonna see varicose veins with a purple and yellow leg?"

And while she enjoys showing off the personal artwork, she also loves that she can cover it when appropriate.

"It's a super-cool tattoo," she said, "because you can wear pants and nobody has any idea that I'm different from anybody else."