Tattoos & Titties!!

I was telling Catherine that I wasn't sure what I was gonna blog about this week because it's been slow as shit.  Her response was that we needed to do something crazy like run in traffic naked with signs that said "TATTOOS".  I told her I wasn't going outside naked but that I would name this post after her idea :)

Mostly this week I've been suffering from exhaustion and boredom.  I've been thinking about my sleeve that Catherine has been working on.  Pat says I need to have a plan and know what I want so that it goes smoother.   Trying to figure out what you want on your entire sleeve is crazy hard.  If you don't know, my left arm is Catherine's arm, she's tattooing pink, black and white traditional pieces and it will be all tied together with wind swirls and stars.  So far we have my panther.

And my lyrics, which are from AM-JAM in November 2010

My wrist tattoo

and my sparrow on my wrist

So that's pretty much it for this week, like I mentioned before it was a slow and kinda boring week.  Hopefully I get more to write about for you guys.  I've been reading a lot more so we'll see, maybe I'll post interesting articles and give my opinion on the matter. lol

Look at all the wonderful things I've done this week! YAY for me :)

So this week has been a very productive for me.  I don't work on Mondays, so Tuesday when I went in to work I had a lettering tattoo that I had to draw for my appointment on Wednesday.  She wanted "Just Breathe" right under her left breast.   She had a deal worked out with her mother that if she chose a tattoo design and location and stuck with it for 6 months, her mom would pay for the tattoo.  Her mom came in with her and was quite surly but wasn't so bad that I couldn't stand it.  I was asking Pat about the stencil stuff we use, mostly because I always have difficulty with it and her mom was like "is this the first tattoo you've done?"  My response was of course "no".  The tattoo went well for the most part, she was a mover though.  It didn't help that it was on her ribs and she wouldn't stop talking, so it was like tattooing a moving target.  My client and her mom and friend were all talking about this girl who went to school nearby who had killed herself due to bullying.  I can't even imagine what the family is going through.

A few days later I got a Facebook message from a friend I hadn't talked to in a couple months.  She had said she wanted to get a tattoo and she had text me and I never responded.  I wrote her back and apologized and informed her that I had changed my phone number and gave it to her.  She wants a purple awareness ribbon with lettering that says "Sixty Five Roses".  I drew something up for her and from what I understand she likes it but wants to make a few tweaks to the design.  I believe it's for her long time running boyfriend who has Cystic Fibrosis.  I think she wants the lettering straight instead of having the bend in it and for the word "Roses" to be below the ribbon.  I love the font that I chose, so I hope she sticks with that. 

Then I got to see my friend Rob almost everyday this week.  He stopped in Wed, Thurs, and then I tattooed him on Friday.   I had started the "Dead Men Tell no Tales"  tattoo on his inner bicep and I was going to color it in for him.   I had been thinking about the tattoo all week and trying to figure out what I was going to do in order to get a nice beige for the banners and thinking about washed out colors to get a nice effect going.  I've never really had a tattoo that had too much wash in it so this was definitely a learning tattoo.  But Rob is great and he knows that if I don't do something right I will fix it sooner than later.  Pat is always reassuring to that nothing will ever look bad coming out of the shop. 

Every time I look at the picture I smile.  I'm very proud of myself with this one.  I know there are areas that I'm going to have to go back and touch up or "fix" if you will.  But I think the fact that it's my design from when I was looking for an apprenticeship and it's on someone's skin.  That's a pretty cool feeling.

Cat had stopped in to say "Hi" and snapped this photo of me actually working!  There are never very many photos of tattoo artists actually tattooing, so I thought this was kinda cool and I'd share it with ya!

Been on a mental vacation.....

But I've still been working, just not writing or posting pictures.

So last Friday I tattooed my friend Rob.  He picked a picture out of my portfolio that I hadn't tattooed yet and I redrew it to fit the inside of his bicep.  It's an old school tattoo and I only did the lining and was at work an hour late to get that accomplished.  But I'll be coloring it in on paper soon and then finishing it for him.  Learned how to hold the arm around behind it in order to tattoo it the right way, it made my left hand really tired.  I think I need to get one of those hand squeezing things to make my muscles stronger.

And then today I tattooed Tabatha, the couple that I posted a picture of before.  I was very nervous about this one, but it came out very nice.  Tattooing went ok, I lost my stencil on the girl almost immediately and wasn't happy about that, but was able to tattoo it from the picture I had drawn.

And next week I have another tattoo, JUST BREATHE.

Just Because....

I'm a tattoo artist doesn't mean that I know or should know all the meaning behind imagery.   That's the beauty of tattoos.  They can have a traditional meaning, but the meaning really lies in the mind of the wearer.  With that being said, you should probably look up the meanings of images you want and not decide against or for an image dependent on what the internet or a book says, but on what it means to you.

Oh boy! I think I've bitten off more than I can chew!

So I went out to lunch with a friend of mine from high school.  We hadn't seen each other in a few years and figured we'd catch up.  We discussed a lot of things, but of course my tattooing came up.  She showed me the few pieces she's gotten done by a specific artist, and said that she'd be interested in getting work from me. 


The artists name is Kurt Halsey and he does these really cute, whimsical, romantic, drawings.  That's the best way I can describe them.  So she has fire flies and a bat done from another shop.

Very cute and nice coloring from what I can see.  She's interested in getting one of the couples that he's drawn with a city sky line behind them.  As well as the zebra and blue bird.

 

So I guess we're doing the couple with the city scape behind them first across either her upper or lower back.   I'm definitely nervous and rightfully should be.  We're looking at $150.   

Pats suggestion to me was to copy the picture as many times as I can in three weeks before the appointment.  So I have it all printed out and that's gonna be my homework every week at least 4 times a week, so I should have 12 copies before I go to tattoo it.  Wish me luck!

WooHoo!

We got a stencil making machine, or thermal copier if you will, today!  I'm excited, it'll make life much easier, and tattooing faster!

Lunatics are amusing!

Gotta love when drunk people come to get tattooed.  Poor Cat had to tattoo this chick that came in and was drunk.  She was touching her and giggling through the whole tattoo.  What an obnoxious situation.  She changed her appointment about four times and missed one of them.  Cat never really knew what she was going to tattoo until the girl got here today.

Strike 1: The girl walks in and had already got the tattoo she had originally set up the appointment for, done by another shop the same fucking day as the appointment she missed.
Strike 2: While she was getting tattooed she was touching Cat and giggling and then requested that she come in the other room and bring the other tattoo artists into the room so she had someone to talk to.
She was hammered and we couldn't understand what she was trying to tell us as far as what she wanted. 
Strike 3: Decides once her tattoo was done that she also wanted a lip piercing.  We're already sick of her at this point and she runs out of the shop and I see her run one way then the other.  She comes back in and says something about taking "a couple shots".  We shouldn't have done the piercing but we couldn't a hundred percent understand what she was saying so we did it anyways.

Please, I beg of you, never do this to your tattoo artist or piercers! We will loathe you and never want to work on you!

It was def busy today a lot of appointment making and selling of jewelery and showing art.  We're running specials on Facebook to get more business in.  But that's pretty much it for now.