A downtown West Chester tattoo artist has put 124 E. Gay St. on the world map.

Brannan Clift, 44, owner of Liberty Bell Tattoo & Piercing, tattooed massage therapist Christian Eshbaugh of South Sacramento, California, for 76 consecutive hours, setting what the Daily Local News reports as a new Guinness World Record for the longest tattoo session on a single person. The marathon ran from noon Wednesday, July 22, to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 25.

Clift, a 26-year veteran of the trade, previously held the record at 52 hours before an Italian team surpassed it. The 76-hour target was deliberate: a nod to 1776 and America's 250th birthday.

"It feels really good that the world record is back in America for the longest tattoo, especially on America's 250th Birthday during July," Clift told the Daily Local News after the session ended.

The tattoos Eshbaugh received are all religious and patriotic: David and Goliath, Jesus bearing a cross, Jesus tipping over tables in a temple, Daniel and the Lion's Den, Jesus getting baptized, and imagery honoring the nation's semiquincentennial. Clift used only black and gray ink. He cited less skin trauma and greater longevity than colored ink.

Liberty Bell Tattoo describes itself as a faith-based shop. Clift told the Daily Local News he agreed to attempt the record only if the tattoos honored God.

Eshbaugh slept through portions of the session while the needle kept working. Clift described him to the Daily Local News as "one of the most pain tolerant people I've met in traveling the world." A small refrigerator stocked with seaweed, peanut butter and jelly, bananas, spinach, avocados and protein bars fueled the pair through the three-day stretch.

Rev. Doctor Glenn Dietz, a Kansas native and West Chester transplant who is a retired firefighter, served as an official Guinness witness. He stayed awake through at least one full night of the attempt.

Beyond the record, Clift is turning the session into a business venture. He designed a custom ergonomic chair specifically for the marathon to reduce strain on tattoo artists during long sessions.

"There's not anything on the market," he told the Daily Local News. "I had to make it myself. Fifty-two hours into the original [record attempt] I knew how to make the best chair in the world better."

Clift plans to bring the chair to market within a few months through a startup called Wind Ward Ergonomic. VISTA.Today also confirmed the record attempt on July 29. Liberty Bell Tattoo & Piercing is open 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily except Sundays.