Dan Horkey knows what it is like to have your self-esteem ripped from you.

At age 21, he was in a motorcycle accident.  His ankle was shattered so badly, he had to have his leg amputated below the knee.  He spent years embarrassed about wearing a prosthetic limb.

"I never wore shorts," Horkey, now 45 said. "I was very self-conscious and didn't want anyone to see my leg."

Twenty-four years later, Horkey has come full circle.  For starters, he created a tattoo for his prosthetic.  Now, not only does he now wear shorts, he also founded a business that creates customized tattoos for prosthetics.  Additionally, he has a patent pending for a process that uses custom painted automotive finishes that are applied onto airbrushed and hand-painted custom designs.

"My finishes are a durable quality," he said. "They are similar to what is used for custom jobs on hot rods and motorcycles.  What I'm offering for prosthetics vastly expands the options beyond the laminated fabric choices that are currently available." 

Horkey's prosthetic awakening began back in 2004 when he worked as a prosthetic technician for the Tacoma-based Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics.  Working from the ground up, Horkey fabricated braces and sockets. The defining moment came while at work when he found a fabric in the store, which had flames of a fire on it.  He laminated the flames onto his prosthetic, thereby creating his first tattoo.

"My prosthetic became a subject of conversation," said Horkey, who spent about 20 years as a general contractor remodeling and building houses. "My self-confidence and self-esteem went up.  The way I felt, made me want to bring the world of color and custom art to other amputees."

Last year Horkey realized his dream to create the custom made designs for the masses, when he opened GTOPI (Global Tattoo Orthotic Prosthetic Innovations) a company that creates art work for prosthetics for fellow amputees, which totaled more than 1.7 million in 2008, according to the National Limb Loss Information Center.

The designs - which cost $500 to $3,200 - depict portraits, team logos, tribal designs, stencil designs, clip art, and 3-D graphics. They are created by Mark Dalton, a nationally acclaimed airbrush artist and illustrator who resides in Bremerton.  Dalton wanted to help with the project because he thought it was a great new way to express himself with his art, he said.

"I think it's a great idea," Dalton said. "I like the idea of being able to make something positive out of the work I do.  I think it also gives other people choices on how they can express themselves."

For 20 years Horkey has worn a prosthetic, and no one ever offered him art and he had no idea where to go to find it, he said.

"I really want to help fellow entities open up and not be ashamed or hide their prosthetics," he said. "I want to help amputees be themselves again. I think that having a prosthetic they are proud of, can really help them feel better sooner."

Nancy Andrist, Horkey's first customer concurred.  An amputee since 1988, Andrist, 55, who resides in Kingston, was in the market for a new leg when she met Horkey, she said.  Her son, who loves tattoos, suggested that she get a tattoo on her prosthetic. 

"I thought it would be cool," she said. "It was a bonding experience for my son and I."

After her son drew a design of a clay fish, she had it tattooed onto her prosthetic but it was poor quality, she said.

"As it turned out, I had to get yet another new leg," she said. "This time I went to Dan, and asked him to have the design made for me. When it was finished, I just loved it. Everyone loves it. It is one of the neatest things I have ever done for myself."

Andrist is hopeful that the custom artwork will help speed the healing process for veterans who lose limbs in battle, she said.

"I'm delighted that something like this is out there for my new brothers and sisters as they come home from the war...amputees are like one big family, because we are the only ones who know what it is like," she said. "Losing a limb is a devastating loss. I think that if these soldiers coming back from war can have something they can be proud of, it might help them get over losing a limb sooner."

Horkey has already started the wheels in motion to create prosthetics for amputee veterans, which included 500 soldiers, in 2007, according to Army Medicine.  The Veteran's Administration is covering the cost of the customized prosthetic artwork, said Horkey, who became a VA contractor in August 2009.

"My life has been affected by war, and all these guys coming back with amputated limbs," he said. "I want to do whatever I can to help."

Horkey has traveled around the country including the wheel chair games in Spokane, and Brooke Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, he said. Also his brochures are being distributed around the country in the Fisher Houses, he said.  One soldier told him he would contact him as soon as he received his leg, he said.

His first opportunity to actually create a prosthetic limb came when he was commissioned by a soldier who lost an arm and a leg in Iraq, he said. The soldier, who was being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center wanted a chrome arm similar to the one worn by Arnold Schwarzenager in the movie, The Terminator, Horkey said.

With veteran customers on the horizon, Horkey hopes to operate the business under one roof, and hire handicapped veterans, and Native Americans to work in his company, he said.

"A lot of the amputees have good attitudes, but a lot of them are closed up," he said. "I want to help them accept their loss, and learn to be happy despite it.  I want to hire fellow amputees to work for my company, because they know how it feels to have to wear a prosthetic limb."