JOLLY J

It is Dr.Bronners magic soap.It's a castile soap they sell at health food stores,the peppermint kind.Some tattoo artist use it instead of green soap.The only difference is that Dr.Bronner's isn't antiseptic like green soap.Sometimes during large pieces the alcohol in green soap and the constant wiping can make a tattoo sore and raw,then I switch to the magic soap & the peppermint in it cools the area down giving it "a topical anesthetic" feel even though it doesn't have a topical anesthetic in it,because it takes away the burn.You can apply stencils with it too.

A guy I was tattooing said "your job is awesome,you get to tattoo all sorts of good looking women.You tattoo women's tits and asses all the time right?".I said "Yeah,but it's really not quite as cool as it sounds,I mean there are as many horrible looking girls getting tattooed as there are good looking ones,maybe even more ." "You ever tattoo a dick?" he asked.I said "Yeah,I'm tattooing you."

I don't want product in my hair.

I totally identify with this.I used to just shave my head myself because there are only feminine salons around me.Now I just grow my hair.I don't feel comfortable in salons.It's the same thing with tattoo shops nowadays,they went from being like barber shops to now being all like fern bars or feminine hair salons.I'm gonna open my own tattoo shop soon,only serving bikers, strippers,waitresses,blue collar workers,drug dealers and people that live on the fringes of society.

I think the most painful spot to get tattooed is Tijuana.

The bamboo (I think it is bamboo) in the water is pretty bad.I think it looks a little overworked and scarred at the base of it when it comes out of the water.I could be wrong and it's hard to tell from the picture but the tribal armband seems scarred and raised.A good cover up artist could camouflage these scars and kind of distract the eye so that you would not be able to see that it is raised unless you were real close to it. You are right,the woman's face and the 3 larger letters look decent. I'm not an expert on laser removal but I think that all that does is remove the ink from visibility.If your skin is scarred and raised on the tribal after laser removal it will still be raised and scarred In my opinion you have 2 choices on how to fix this.You could get a large color piece that starts where the fish's tail starts and goes up to the top of your upper arm above where the tribal is.Obviously you prefer black & grey work but if you had someone try and cover it up with more black, you would have large fields of black and it would look like a cover-up and a bad one at that. Keep in mind that all color pieces don't have to be candy colored or feminine.they could be in more subtle colors like different shades of browns or greys (not grey wash,but the color grey,like battleship grey).With something that size you would have a lot of choices as to what the subject matter of the cover up could be. The second choice you have is to find a good artist to fix the existing tattoos on your lower arm.They may not be that great, but they could easily be repaired by someone that knows what they are doing.The koi's outline could be thickened and the lines that make up the scales & features could be put in more solidly.You could get rid of a lot of those negative space/motion lines or smoke or whatever it is supposed to be and it would look more solid.Putting more solid white highlights in it would also give it more definition.While the tattooist is doing that they can do the same to the lettering in the banner,and I mean no offense by this if you like it,but you should get the flower there redone too,because I think that is the worst part of the whole tattoo. I hope I've helped you out a little with what you could do with this.

I respect customers,but never kiss their asses.Maybe it's just me but nothing about the initial story that started this thread seems rude.You have to understand,the customer that is getting tattooed before you may not be sitting well and moving,or maybe they are making the artist stop many times.If they have to stop many times or if the customer is sitting like a fish that's just been taken out of water their initial time estimate for that tattoo may be off.Maybe they just were off the mark when giving a time estimate in the first place because it's not always an exact science.If there was a customer with an appointment after you,then they would have to wait longer too.Sometimes tattoo artists are overworked and it can also be stressful for them,if you are a smoker you know that smokers sometimes smoke when they are stressed to decompress.Most people (at least in America) are required by law to be allowed at least a 30 minute lunch break and normally two 15 minute breaks throughout the day.Normally tattoo artists don't take a lunch break and if they go outside for a cigarette can you really fault them for that?The shop helper is there to help the shop (i.e. the workers of the shop).If you are sitting for a $300 tattoo you might want to bring a drink with you in the first place.While yes,I would have had someone ask if you wanted something if I was ordering coffee,but it isn't that rude not to.I would have also told you that I would knock like $20 off of the price of the tattoo for making you wait that extra 1hr 35min,but you shouldn't expect that.What sometimes people perceive as a "cool guy tude" isn't.You have to understand that they didn't ask you for your time,you asked them for their time and because of that their time is more important than yours.If they asked you to get a tattoo and you were 1hr and 35minutes late that would be OK because in that situation your time would be more important than theirs.If you have a reservation at a restaurant at 6pm and your meal doesn't arrive at your table until 6:45 does the chef then have a "cool guy tude"?I don't think so anyway.I also don't think it would be a good idea to smack the "motherfucker" right in his mouth because you feel disrespected.A lot of tattoo artists I know keep weapons near them just in case something like that happens(I keep a sock full of gold dollars by me)...I don't know try it and see what happens.You say that you are a "very easy going guy" and that you don't judge people,but you come on a forum and ask people for their opinions and when Shawn shares his point of view and his life experiences you try to turn it into an argument or fight,when you are the one that asked for people's opinions.If that isn't a "tude" I don't know what is.

To wait a long time for a notable artist like Grime or Filip is understandable,but I have seen artists that aren't even very good that are "booked solid" for several months. Like Deb said some artists only book 1 appointment a day.That equals out most times to be a little over 20 tattoos a month,while other artists do that many in a couple of days.Being the "hardest artist to book" may mean that they are very good but it could also mean that the artist has no work ethic.I think a lot of times artists do this to stroke their own egos and seem more in demand than they actually are. I get a lot of customers saying that they went to other shops for something small like a name or something and they are told that they can't get it done because everyone at that shop is fully booked,but the customer says that there were like 5 artists there and none of them were tattooing or drawing custom pieces,but instead just hanging out and playing video games or watching TV. It is a lot like people in the 1970s waiting on line with a few hundred people to get into an exclusive club like studio 54 or something,only to finally be let inside to find out that there are only a handful of people inside the club.What I am trying to say is that while for a great artist it is worth the wait,in most cases it is just a manufactured waiting period and a marketing gimmick to charge more and act exclusive........just putting on airs.

I like poking people with needles.Always have.

I don't know the exact address,but it's off 6th avenue.not sure about the peep booths.You may have to stick whatever body part you want to get tattooed through a glory hole though-you know- for anonymity.It gives me an idea for when you get an obnoxious customer.......a ball gag!I think the place is called pricks & pricks,I know it's off 6th ave. but I could be wrong about the name though.

The term I hate the most is "slingin' ink".I'm not an "ink slinger",I'm a dermographic redecorator.......that way I can charge more to yuppies because I tell them I use feng shui. I used to use the word "gun",but just to irritate the other artists I worked with.An old timer once told me "machines create and guns destroy" and I guess that is the difference.

go to Greenwich Village in NYC,there are 100s of these places there.I even saw an adult bookstore/tattoo shop.

Oh,yeah....& the first three rules of business are 1)location 2)location 3)location.Anyone who doesn't understand this shouldn't be taken seriously as a business man or business woman. Don't be cheap,pay a few extra hundred a month & get a location where people can see the sign that says TATTOO.

I joined last sparrow specifically because I found that this seems to be the only place online discussing this,and in my opinion it is a growing problem.It may be okay for the non-tattooer to be an owner of a shop,but for an artist it can be hell and for so many reasons!I have had many bad experiences working at shops run by non-tattooers,too many to list here. The main problem is that the tattoo business is a whole different animal.Running other types of business establishments is not the same at all,and nowadays far too many people get a decent size tax return & a book on business and think that they know what they are doing,because they spent a few hours in a tattoo shop.They all spit out catch phrases that they acquire in these books.I had a non-tattooer recently tell me(after putting me through a bunch of unnecessary nonsense) that he worked in the"retail" business before & that the "retail" business can sometimes be rough.I told him that he should take it up with his "wholesaler",but I don't think he was bright enough to understand what I was saying.A lot of these "business" people also don't understand why if you get a detailed description of what the customer wants from them and then when you spend 6 hours drawing it,only to have the customer come in for their appointment and say "yeah,I was talking to my friends and I have decided that instead of that I want this...." why you won't draw them something else after they have wasted 6 hours of your life that you will never get back.I don't think that is hard to understand,but what do I know,I have only been tattooing for two decades. I have a phrase-"the customer isn't always right,you can only try to do right by your customers".Most non-tattoo artists that run shops don't understand this.If someone comes in with say for instance a horrible maze-looking tribal design that their little brother drew at school on a spiral notebook and I tell them that it isn't really a drawing that translates to a tattoo and that I can draw something that is similar,but better (rather than saying that the drawing is shit and insulting them).Yet still they are insistent that they want it EXACTLY like it is on the paper,the non-artist owner that owns the place will say,"that's what they want,so just do it!"-not understanding that they are trying to force me into doing a bad tattoo,which in turn would give me and their shop a bad reputation. The non-tattooer also normally doesn't do research before they open a shop,I think they just watch television shows & figure that is how it is supposed to be.So when they are building up the inside of a shop,they say"okay I will have a row of barber chairs over there that 5 or 6 artists can work at (in this small town) ".Not realizing that without dividers of some sort if the customer wants a tattoo in a private place that they will be exposed in front of everyone else in the shop and a small town doesn't have enough business to support 5 or 6 artists.They are worried about having a koi pond,crushed red velvet curtains,leather couches & flat screens,but don't worry about things like a thermographic copier,because the artist can hand trace everything and what do they care if they make the artist work way more than they have to,it isn't making them work any harder. When a non-tattooer opens a shop they will post something online that normally says "No rock stars!".I have grown to realize that this is code for:leave your individuality and self respect at the door,because really they are looking for rock stars.I am one of the least pretentious artists that there is.I just want to make a living and do great tattoos,which after all these years of denial & error I have finally become very good at my work.I love tattooing,but I am an artist not an entertainer,some people may be both,but I choose not to be a part of that.The non-tattooing owner doesn't seem to understand why I don't want 10 people leaning over me while I'm working,all taking photos & video of me on thier cellphones.They don't understand why I don't work at conventions and have no urge to.They don't understand why I don't care how many people press the like button on their shop's facebook page,or why I don't want to pose for a group photo outside their shop with everyone folding thier arms and acting tougher than they are in their Ed Hardy shirts and with thier fauxhawks.I don't want a biography on your stupid website,let my work speak for itself! Some job postings online say "must have own clientele,you will not be getting walk-ins"-that is just an insult to anyone with any intelligence,especially if your not looking to work near where you live & looking to relocate.What would they be doing for their half of a 50/50 split,providing paper towels? Most of all I have had problems with non-tattoo artist owners trying to give away my hard work for nothing."Welcome to our tattoo family,now we will take advantage of you like we do our real family" they might as well be saying when they say"we are giving away $200 gift certificates on the radio,because it will be good for business!" .Who's business?-not mine,I don't work for free."we are running a special:as long as you can sit for $250,it will be good for our business!".Yeah,sure,maybe for you-you don't have to depend on this for your living,you have another job as a contractor or a bartender or whatever it is that you do when you are not here most of the time.I appreciate you stopping by for an hour every day and bitching about how tired you are & how hard your primary job is & then telling me something I should do differently.You must know more than me,you have done 5 tattoos in your lifetime & have been in the industry for a staggering 6 months!with expertise like that,you must know what you are talking about! It feels good to vent! Can I get an Amen?