I also chose a Canadian (Montreal) artist for my sleeve. I made multiple trips with no issues. Upon crossing the border, I recall even mentioning I was there to get tattooed. The only follow up question I got was “aren’t there any good tattoo artists in the US?” I explained I was looking for a very specific type of Polynesian tattoo and the artist of choice was Canadian. No issues, duties, etc. I think they are really only worried about bringing in a large amount of purchased goods. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk