shaneenholm

I may have talked about this elsewhere but i thought some of you may be interested in this as my first post here Jaz Dringenberg turned me on to the site
As most of you know the swinggate is a machine design that is usually attributed to bob shaw...as in the "bob shaw swinggate". I had always known it was a manifestation of THE PIKE but stumbled on some fascinating facts about it and its invention....
('the pike' a small area of long beach california like coney island for want of a better description)a few streets cedar way,chestnut place,seaside and at various times lots of tattoo shops or a few...Bert grimms,Leeroys,Long beach tattoo(the 1st one) the rose,seven seas,and alot of others)
nonetheless bob shaw has always been a hero of mine..he did my first tattoo when i was16....30.00 a hotstuff coverup(like hotstuff sitting on a cliff covering up my "led zep' handpoked" beaut".....i digress
recently I acquired all of Lou lewis's machine building stuff..(recently last 5 years)Lou was partners at times with ernie sutton and they had a small tattoo supply company they ran out of their main street shop called LOS ANGELES TATTOO SUPPLY i have a flyer from 53( this is a new computer i will try to post it)....basically they were taking Jonesys and reworking them...cutting the top of the sidewing off or all of the sidewing and rewinding the coils with 26g. wire for a smoother ride replating them etc....In fact that flyer is the firstttime i saw "handmade"...anyway they made really nice machines I have a few of them...Lou was doing some real trick shit with springs..he was doubling up front ones...and i have one that he used a super floppy front spring that has a gap smaller than a dime but a 3 mile throw.... another that the abar hits the top of both coils square and alot of them were I think his search for a better machine pre capicitor(73 ish) as if you collect old machines as i do you know what the feel is but some of his really run good... but that is another story
well i knew of lou lewis because leeroy always said he was the best tattooer on the pike.....so whenever i heard his name i would perk up and listen... sutton and lewis had a shop at 10 cedar way upstairs in the early 60s...fred thorton was partners with captain jim at the long beach tattoo..they called it "the other corner" lewis and suttons lease was up so fredthorton went to the landlord and'bought out" their lease...not an uncommon practice when tattooing was smaller....so Lou and ernie took all the plastic off the flash and house painted it filled the shitters with cement and left that to thorton... sutton moved back to downtown and Lewis went to work for Bert grimm.That is of big importance in the invention of the swinggate
bert grimms was always the flagship of the pike....and there were usually pairs of tattooers...I know it was opened in 27 and i know people like Lawson and red gibbons and charlie barr etc worked there before bert bought it....regardless the 60s had Zeke and lou working the nightshift and bert and bob working the day shift. later(70s) it was nolan and hongkong tom etc....
In 1964 the health department came in and told them due to a hepatitis out break that the sponge and bucket days was over....at the time the setups were four machines outliner black shader ,red and green machine....they wanted them changing tubes and inks etc....and they wanted them to start doing it yesterday
So lou who held various jobs everything from a customs agent and postal inspector to a machinist(thats the key) for the airplane companies during the war went home that night and came back with the swinggate design. I have a roundback jonesy that was one of the 1st from the collection of his i obtained which caused me to investigate this matter..i knew it was super early and real trick so.....)
It is a simple enough design and easy to put on...you do not even need to remove the coils....so that was the birth of the swinggate...in fact the swinggate we know now Bob Shaws..well the first runs were waters frames waters #2...the iron ones...they would cut off the back dual binders and half the vice and rechrome them....I have seen some that were never completely built and you could see the indent left on the back upright from the dual binders and the PW or W stamped on the inside of the front upright...I am not sure if they took old machines and reworked them or if bob shaw had a connection for abunch of waters frames...I am pretty sure waters died in 51 in anniston alabama but there may have been alot of NOS left....hard to say
Lou finished out his career at bert grimms...he died in 1969...so i figure with the relationship he had with shaw after his death it was natural that shaw kept the design.I also know alot of retired tattooers that tattooed on the pike that refer to tubevices simply as "gates"...so the impact is evident....There was a run of ASluminum jensens(jensen specials) that were swinggates....I do not know if there are 11 or 22 but jensen cast a tree of 22 with the specials...anyway those must have been made right after lewis died and jensen filled lewis chair before bert and him had a flling out and he finished his career at Leeroys....(the reason i mention this is jensen was a great machinist..he was Barbers machinsit that is why there is a Barber perfection machin pre jensen goping off on his own...different in design but same name..i think Baber was F. W. barber but i could be wrong, but obviously the swinggate was good enough for an old machinist like jensen to give it a whirl...
as a side not i inherited some of jensens machines and his engraver and springpunch from Bill mokry...when bill died. why i mention this is jensen was not using a swinggate at the time of his death he was sawing them back at least the ones i got that were his...some of you that were around Maaske when he was friends with leeroy probably know more about that then me and i am curious if there were any jensen swinggates(not aluminum... in the stuff erik was getting from Leeroy...so i do not know if that small run of jensen aluminums with the swinggate were just his "team' enthusiasm when hewas at grimms or truly though they were a winning design.
I also beleieve thats Zeke was the first guy making cutback liners...he was taking machines and hammering back the front and hammering forward the back and viola' instant cutback....I think lou lewis may have had a hand in that too..since they worked together at bert grimms.....but i will write about that later..when i have my photos hooked up here as examples
If you want to see Los angeles tattoo supply company machines they are floating around..they will have the modified sidewing but will be rechromed so it looks like it was cast that way....Masters in sandiego had alot of them a few years ago (tahiti felix)
I always had a hardtime with them as i am a jonesy freak and when i would come across one that was modified and rechromed i would have a hardtime believing they were jonesys....But through a little digging i found that Lou was buying them for 3 for 10.00(maybe cheaper if he was buying them unbuilt) and modifying them then reselling them for 10.00 and 12.00 bucks depending on the plating....also the other trick shit he was doing for that time period.... regardless I thought i would do this as my first post.

....here is his website for those interested...I always have them too..i will be at the spotlight booth at state of grace....but if you really want an experience..buy one from him....
his number is 757- 463-0249...also i have some out here west coast...you can contact me here...or at [email protected]
I did not see his website link..i musta mucked that up..but here is his number....he makes these...now....also a shader but i will get a pic up of that too.....

well deb..I get it..since we have alot of mutual friends and that seems to be the subject amoung us as of late. I just dissappear for awhile...( I did it for the entire decade of the 90s well part of the late 80s too but some of that was beyond my control.so to speak)then I kinda step out and see whats going on...I am at the point where i feel like stepping off again,well i kinda have and i know it left some people puzzled but I (hopefully) got that straightened out.
There,I guess was always politics in this just not so mainstream...but now more than ever that end is heart breakingly sad...Jack Rudy had an idea one time of starting "the tattoo tattler" a gossip column dedicated to the politics and whispers thereof...I only wish I had thought that up first.
You know the thing is after many years basically all you know besides a few people have something to do with tattooing.And once upon a time it was harder to have those that were not in this relate to you..but it is so mainstream now that it does not matter as much anymore.I mean the whole world tattoos now...I miss the smell of angel dust in the shop...(not that I ever liked that shit)but just the fact that it was a possibility....etc..etc...
I think you just have the blues..the regular old blues..what do you have 30 plus years in now....We need you more than ever...so dont sell your inversion table just yet...did you feel this way before you went to jax bch or after your return...? just wonderin...you got a great spot to lay low...so hang in there...just know you are not alone with those feelings....
you do not need me to tell ya this but remember that is not water some of these people think they are walkin on..after all it aint like we are transplant surgeons..we just put colored scabs on people...then it becomes kinda funny...from the sidelines anyway....hope you feel better

You see I think it goes in cycles..i remembered when i first got tattooed the tattooer told me kings and queens and royalty getting tattooed....(little did I know HE was tattoo royalty)and then convicts...unfashionable.....and then it became fashionable ...again....this recent..last decade maybe just a little longer is the "in fashion" times...not diffrent than elephant bells.....or hip huggers...baggy verse tight...crimefighter underwear versus boxers...well thats pushing it there....
But if you look at the recently released Ben corday and amund dietzel books...those designs were the artistic forefather of ones that later became cruder...after someone did a rubbing...then copied it...to someone else not as articulate... that arm became less graceful...or a certain line was left out Ii will try and give you an example tonite(hopefully)there is a hula girl that Corday drew that you see in so many other peoples flash..some drew it very well..others missed the mark....and you can see it mutate...
In fact the center of roses...changed...and i think it was a mistake...you see ones with the classic s and y shape...well the s in the center...I see guys do them now with the 3 petals..which was a posiitive mutation..they look good..but it came from a missing line in the stencil....
I think with the explosion of artists now it is really hard to tell where people learned from...the access to all the reference that was so protected...now its easy to see what a good dragon looks like etc.....so with popularity comes what...mud...in a sense...
I digress....I think the genre that was born in the last 20 years of tattoo painting is amazing.....It still does not have a name..like impressionism or surrealism...Where a hundred years ago ..tattooers paInted to have designs...now they paint to paint...
In fact there was a period where(at least in my experience) a young tattooer was not allowed to paint flash...if you did the guys that brought you in that painted all the flash in their shop would ask"why are you doing that..." painting? " ...you gonna open your own shop?"...use our flash....or you wanna know how to mix colors...why??? you gonna open your own shop??? use our colors...etc....
but of course that is all diffrent now...and no i am not bitching about the state of things...because to tell ya the truth..I stay busy..so what do i care about 20,000,000 tattooers now...as long as i have work......it really does not effect me...EXCEPT NOW ITS HARDER TO GET OLD MACHINES AND FLASH BECAUSE EVERYONE IS COLLECTING...that is my only gripe now i guess....
I DIGRESS AGAIN...what i was saying was at ome point in the mid 20th century not as many tattooers had the talent artisically as at the turn of the century.....
That is why some of them shined so brightly....again it comes in circles..or little circles..no I mean cycles...

Thanks for sharing that picture...I somehow always end up with things of owens...but i never tried to get them..someone dies and tells there family to give their stuff to me..or someone approaches me with something he owned etc....
i have dainty dotties memorium..like the little booklet that everyone signed at her funeral...I tattooed leeroys grandsons back for it...it is a bad marfar....Mckeever signed it...sutton, sailor west and on and on...I have some of owens stuff..his engraver ,his spring punch a few of his personal machines....I had that left handed wagner he is pictured tattooing(or acting like he was tattooing) on some guys chest..like sparrows...it is a pretty well known photo
anyway i traded it for an nevr been used Paul rogers swiss cheese prefab..#8 in 1983 to my pal charlie parsons...he had never got up off one of his PRs before...anyway sometimes i regret trading it....but as Mike wilson says..."shane you actually went into a time machine and came out with a PR...."
yeah for a while i was on ahuge mob book kick..bob was the only guy i know that has read as many as i have....Im think everything was run by the outfit at one time or another...the first ward...pat marcy....you guys had aldermans that were made...There is a book out now called 'a mob of his own about mad sam destefano....that guy was a real nut job...
again thanks for sharing that picture.....

thanks for saying that you guys..i had about 40 minutes between tattoos and i was trying to post something outside "machines"...you know alot of this is in the book "tattoo" secrets of a strange art" albert parry...dover(one of my favorite publishers) republished it for 10.00...TEN BUCKS>>>YOU CAN BARELY BUY A DECK OF SQUARES FOR THAT...get it read it..enjoy it.....
page 9..."in the summer of 1925 alone,Trixie richardson herself an intricate exhibit,practised on the beaches of new jersey and placed some 10,000 butterflies,forget me nots and what nots on her lady customers"
Also I agree about the circus suits....though at bert grimms height they waned...now i would not be tattooing if it was not for bert grimm...you can tie me back to him,as alot of my frineds...and Bert grimm did alot ofr tattooing..gave his life for it...along with inventing the photo booth...no shit...now i know he told tall tales..tattooed bonnie and clyde,john Dillenger etc...but don't we all tell tall tales....however and the risk of disrespecting him..you can see a decline in work between grimshaw and grimm.....However grimms protege was a smokin tattooer....but that is a good example of how the work declined.....the tattooers at the turn of the century were artists...and tattooers....that changed to tattooers...which whatever.... now there are more artists tattooing than ever...and more nitwits too..I am afraid....
I AM JUST GRATEFUL TO BE APART OF IT...TO STILL BE ALIVE AND NOT DIGGING DITCHES OR RUNNING A JACKHAMMER(well if you saw my tattoos that point may have a double meaning)
Also traditional...OK that has really come into its own...but what is traditional...now i know what traditional designs are...bold lines ,texas thirds,thrid black third color third skin...or the 20 20 rule..tell what it is at 20 feet or within 20 seconds...however...and i love the aesthetic...i (at times line with loose groupings etc....but lets look at that....
people back 100 or even 60 years ago mostly lined with 4s....now did that 4 put in that bold line or did time put in that bold line....four flats were also common...ok so these guys were doing body suits with the last supper,president portraits,pharoahs horses,the king the crown and the cross(remember that one?)quickly....I learned with flats...well single was the rage but I did not pick up a mag until i started again...Flats take longer but really put it in....these guys were not breaking out the 25 mags etc....that to me is amazing....the throw on their machines was the almost nickel dime thing...also they did not have liner shader custom machines per se'
Oh i am sure each shop and area had its secrets....but if wagner had a liner and shader we woulda heard about it...maybe not thru him because he did not really have a catalog....he did have bill jones until he died though...aand that guy was a HAWG...4 real....but if he had that secret surely when percy waters went up and worked for him and got his Professor title....before their big falling out then wouldn't we see it in his numours catalogs....you know bill jones is the one who told percy about the machine shop in detroit he fled to...or went to...I am getting off track here...but my point to tattooers reading this is imagine doing body suits like those with four and fours...WOW!!!!! Dull ones too...
what was it a needle breaks in about the fourth tattoo..come on....so with the advances in tattoo mechanics...well have we advanced.?????.i know those pics are black and white(i will try and post some of these bodysuits) but they look great...i mean really great....give or take a few....but remember the time frame when you are searching them out.......
like there is a famous pic of captain elvy Fosdick (who was like the west coast or oregon wagner) did ...thosse roses are a trip...but the date is 43...not 1903...
and i have not even begun to discuss how they patterned that shit....put that thought in your subconscience crack pipe and smoke it...
they were doing those suits fast...i will find some reference of how fast and post it..i have it lying around here somewhere....(and berts early work was really nice so I am not badrapping him...I know he and bob shaw painted like 140 shhets of flash in a weekend....maybe 139..i have some of them..they are really really really nice....so if that gives you any idea...
This era is diffrent than coleman or what era coleman is remebered for..I am not talking about the 50 sailors out the door....that is another favorite thing i talk to friends about...todays tattooers are really really good...but if you put them in a shop with 50 sailors could they clean up.... anyway i talk too much...
I digress...read that book...i have a few others with a paragraph here or a page there... but generally that one has it all.....and is priced to buy...

We still have plenty of shoot outs with Sheriffs and bad guys here in the "Old West" of Oakland.

i think it all comes down to this
no matter how much money anyone has, celebrities are just regular morons like everyone else, and in general the public can not determine between a good and a bad tattoo...
people don't give a fuck about who they are getting tattooed by because they think all tattooers are created equal.
also i can't believe no one's posted this piece of amazingness
i give to you, Gucci Mane in all his icy glory

Eric Inksmith's wife just posted this on Facebook
Paul Rogers on Eric Inksmith 6/8/1982

well deb..I get it..since we have alot of mutual friends and that seems to be the subject amoung us as of late. I just dissappear for awhile...( I did it for the entire decade of the 90s well part of the late 80s too but some of that was beyond my control.so to speak)then I kinda step out and see whats going on...I am at the point where i feel like stepping off again,well i kinda have and i know it left some people puzzled but I (hopefully) got that straightened out.
There,I guess was always politics in this just not so mainstream...but now more than ever that end is heart breakingly sad...Jack Rudy had an idea one time of starting "the tattoo tattler" a gossip column dedicated to the politics and whispers thereof...I only wish I had thought that up first.
You know the thing is after many years basically all you know besides a few people have something to do with tattooing.And once upon a time it was harder to have those that were not in this relate to you..but it is so mainstream now that it does not matter as much anymore.I mean the whole world tattoos now...I miss the smell of angel dust in the shop...(not that I ever liked that shit)but just the fact that it was a possibility....etc..etc...
I think you just have the blues..the regular old blues..what do you have 30 plus years in now....We need you more than ever...so dont sell your inversion table just yet...did you feel this way before you went to jax bch or after your return...? just wonderin...you got a great spot to lay low...so hang in there...just know you are not alone with those feelings....
you do not need me to tell ya this but remember that is not water some of these people think they are walkin on..after all it aint like we are transplant surgeons..we just put colored scabs on people...then it becomes kinda funny...from the sidelines anyway....hope you feel better

well deb..I get it..since we have alot of mutual friends and that seems to be the subject amoung us as of late. I just dissappear for awhile...( I did it for the entire decade of the 90s well part of the late 80s too but some of that was beyond my control.so to speak)then I kinda step out and see whats going on...I am at the point where i feel like stepping off again,well i kinda have and i know it left some people puzzled but I (hopefully) got that straightened out.
There,I guess was always politics in this just not so mainstream...but now more than ever that end is heart breakingly sad...Jack Rudy had an idea one time of starting "the tattoo tattler" a gossip column dedicated to the politics and whispers thereof...I only wish I had thought that up first.
You know the thing is after many years basically all you know besides a few people have something to do with tattooing.And once upon a time it was harder to have those that were not in this relate to you..but it is so mainstream now that it does not matter as much anymore.I mean the whole world tattoos now...I miss the smell of angel dust in the shop...(not that I ever liked that shit)but just the fact that it was a possibility....etc..etc...
I think you just have the blues..the regular old blues..what do you have 30 plus years in now....We need you more than ever...so dont sell your inversion table just yet...did you feel this way before you went to jax bch or after your return...? just wonderin...you got a great spot to lay low...so hang in there...just know you are not alone with those feelings....
you do not need me to tell ya this but remember that is not water some of these people think they are walkin on..after all it aint like we are transplant surgeons..we just put colored scabs on people...then it becomes kinda funny...from the sidelines anyway....hope you feel better

well deb..I get it..since we have alot of mutual friends and that seems to be the subject amoung us as of late. I just dissappear for awhile...( I did it for the entire decade of the 90s well part of the late 80s too but some of that was beyond my control.so to speak)then I kinda step out and see whats going on...I am at the point where i feel like stepping off again,well i kinda have and i know it left some people puzzled but I (hopefully) got that straightened out.
There,I guess was always politics in this just not so mainstream...but now more than ever that end is heart breakingly sad...Jack Rudy had an idea one time of starting "the tattoo tattler" a gossip column dedicated to the politics and whispers thereof...I only wish I had thought that up first.
You know the thing is after many years basically all you know besides a few people have something to do with tattooing.And once upon a time it was harder to have those that were not in this relate to you..but it is so mainstream now that it does not matter as much anymore.I mean the whole world tattoos now...I miss the smell of angel dust in the shop...(not that I ever liked that shit)but just the fact that it was a possibility....etc..etc...
I think you just have the blues..the regular old blues..what do you have 30 plus years in now....We need you more than ever...so dont sell your inversion table just yet...did you feel this way before you went to jax bch or after your return...? just wonderin...you got a great spot to lay low...so hang in there...just know you are not alone with those feelings....
you do not need me to tell ya this but remember that is not water some of these people think they are walkin on..after all it aint like we are transplant surgeons..we just put colored scabs on people...then it becomes kinda funny...from the sidelines anyway....hope you feel better

Well that is an interesting subject..I am the father of 5 kids...ages 28 ,26,24,21,16.....and they grew up around tattooing. And only 2 of them have any tattoos and they are minimal and by 19(1983) i was sleeved and a parent.
I think they look at it like that is their Pops job and not some cool thing.None of them wanted to tattoo ..though it was offered as a career to all of them..I am very happy they passed.Though i beleive it helped influence their creativity but I will never know for sure because I have no non tattooing family to compare it to...if ya follow me.
I think because they grew up around it ..it gave them more of an open mind into not judging people by their appearances...i think it also helped them not care what others thought of their apprearance or their friends appearances, i was recently at one of their weddings and a friend of my daughters came up to and said he was always terrified of me when he was younger...which i wondered how that perception by my childrens friends of me may have affected them...but i am pretty sure it did not do as much damage as my parenting in general may have done.
They have never asked me to cover my tattoos ,though one of the step daughters(2 of the 5) used to ask her mother to cover hers ( she too tattoos for aliving)...but that was early on.
I think it is as much the internet as anything that has normalized tattooing in the eyes of the youth. I wonder if the whole premise that the generations revolt and do the opposite of their parents will be like in 20 years...they revolt as teenagers but beome their parents in their 30s and 40s...so i guess we will see....
What is it..that today a 15 year old in africa who owns an I phone has access to more information than the president of the united states did on the year of the the teenagers birth( long winded way of saying 15 years ago)
THAT HAS TO HAVE SOME INFLUENCE ON EVERYTHING...INCLUDING OUR CHILDRENS PERCEPTIONS OF TATTOOING AND THIER PARENTS TATTOOS....NO?

well deb..I get it..since we have alot of mutual friends and that seems to be the subject amoung us as of late. I just dissappear for awhile...( I did it for the entire decade of the 90s well part of the late 80s too but some of that was beyond my control.so to speak)then I kinda step out and see whats going on...I am at the point where i feel like stepping off again,well i kinda have and i know it left some people puzzled but I (hopefully) got that straightened out.
There,I guess was always politics in this just not so mainstream...but now more than ever that end is heart breakingly sad...Jack Rudy had an idea one time of starting "the tattoo tattler" a gossip column dedicated to the politics and whispers thereof...I only wish I had thought that up first.
You know the thing is after many years basically all you know besides a few people have something to do with tattooing.And once upon a time it was harder to have those that were not in this relate to you..but it is so mainstream now that it does not matter as much anymore.I mean the whole world tattoos now...I miss the smell of angel dust in the shop...(not that I ever liked that shit)but just the fact that it was a possibility....etc..etc...
I think you just have the blues..the regular old blues..what do you have 30 plus years in now....We need you more than ever...so dont sell your inversion table just yet...did you feel this way before you went to jax bch or after your return...? just wonderin...you got a great spot to lay low...so hang in there...just know you are not alone with those feelings....
you do not need me to tell ya this but remember that is not water some of these people think they are walkin on..after all it aint like we are transplant surgeons..we just put colored scabs on people...then it becomes kinda funny...from the sidelines anyway....hope you feel better

sleevin steve serazio....big steve serazio....Steve-o Serazio...SIR RAW ZEE OO.....thee most naturally gifted tattoo artist...spotlights janitor

CUSTOMER RESPECT...OF COURSE IT EXISTS...WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT CUSTOMERS.... It is very varied...like someone said there are all kinds of people..so there are all kinds of tattooers....Most people when they first come in the shop think i am scowling at them...but i cannot see past 15 feet so I am trying to discern who it is....
I work in a street shop..I always have worked in a street shop...I like it.....I always liked Mikey perfettos(pronounciation..not spelling) way of running a shop...the dry erase board you put your name on...whether you want a back piece or a litlle kanji...you get your name on the board..you will get tattooed that day... he takes the board away at a certain point and you gotta come back tommorrow...Also his customers are fiercely loyal...people go there with sleeves or work from really great and well known artists and his customers will look at it and say.."those are nice...but look at the ones Mikey put on me"
Tattooing has turned into a real whirlwind...more people today getting tattooed than ever...more tattooers tattooing than ever...more personalities....I promise i will not go into a "back in the day" rant.. I am not sure if it was better back then anymore but with the tattooer and tattooed population exploding that adds alot into what is happening...With all these people comes all these personalities and egos and behavior....
It is a imperative for a tattooer to remember that his customer may have worked 40 hours for the 200 bucks you are gonna get in an hour or two...and it is also hard to have 6 or 7 18 year old girls ask you'what place hurts the least on the body and i can hide it from my parents" naturally I think...if you want a tattoo you will get it where you want it regardless of the pain...it is a tightrope or have people coming at you all day asking"how much would you have charged for this?" rolling up their sleeve...
but it is important for customers to remember that a tattoo machine is not a magic wand...(well Id swear it is in some peoples hands)Like all the young tattoo-ologists that come with their friend to get their first and you put the pattern on and they ask their friend rather than look in the mirror...or the facebook thing...tattooing with people trying to film it to put it on line with their phones...or when you go to dip your machine in ink they slip a camera in and take a shot of a pattern with one line....I mean it is alot....
then the memorial tattoo.... they are going thru the biggest changes in their life and you are poking holes in them...there is so much going on that people do not realize....and while all that is going on you may have had a fight with your significant other, or your kid or grandkid is sick....but you have to leave all that outside of what you are doing..
Then we have that all too ga-narly EGO...on both sides of the fence...Like in sobriety at the end of a 12 step meeting they say the lords prayer and I heard a guy say "deliver us from ego" rather than "deliver us from evil"...ego is a huge thing...more now than ever...Opinions(like mine i am typing out now) are a big factor too....what was it rollo said"alot of tattooers are building monuments to themselves rather than doing what the customer wants"
people get tattooed for all kinds of reasons..and sometimes people think a tattoo is gonna change their life...its not...it is just them with a tattoo...
Then the cool factor... right??? I had a guy tattooing for a couple of days at the shop who used to have a serious attitude...not anymore..and i asked him about it.and he said he learned it..like watching more 'experienced" tattooers act bothered by the customers...Its actually pretty funny when you think about it...but he realized that is what he thought he was suppose to act like...and you tattooers would laugh if you knew they guy he learned from...this guy was notorius like sitting behind a counter with his hands hidden smiling and talking to the customer while flipping them off with both hands
Most Tattooers start hanging around shops very young...they are very impressionable...it is the old nature versus nurture arguement..and one day the nature wins over if they were nurtured liked the guy i just mentioned...unless they are naturally nitwits to begin with...but they may have learned that arrogant behavior....but usually they will lose it if it is in their nature....
Or how about they act like they think they are suppose to act because they heard some story about a big noise tattooer acted towards a customer...the story is completley blown out of proportion and when you get the real skinny on what happened it all made sense....
Tattooing is hard work...most people that spend an hour in a shop that you spend your whole life in probably get the perception it is easy....IT IS VERY DRAINING.....I mean ass kicking as hard as running a jack hammer or ditch digging(I guess i still am kinda)ass kicking...
but the customers are the real reward...that is why it gets good...and I have a alot of friends that agree...However the customer also makes it the biggest struggle...
what is that saying..'people only ask how your doing so they don't let on how little they care"...Ok a customer books an appointment(thats why i like walk ins..I tell them i will get em tattooed if they can wait...for the people in front of them or the hours it takes to draw the picture they showed you on their phone...)is every single customers printer always out of ink...
But lets go with an appointment..Ok the guy works all week and he has an appointment at 5 on friday...he is running a little late but figures it is his time anyway so what is 15 minutes...at the same time at the shop the artist has a guy there with the cash that wants a small one...well is the appointment coming?...if i tell the guy at the shop no and the customer does not show up i am out both tattoos and cannot pay my starbucks debit card(yeah right...somethin important like that)...whatever...so you take the guy there and then the appt. shows up... he flies right up to your station and you tell him.."i got this one infront of you and then i will get to you..."he is pissed...pacing...but he will get over it....He shoulda been on time..I am a nut about being on time....it is all about the individuals personality...
Ok or you are working on a tattoo that some guy worked all week for the $ and another customer comes up and wants to ask you how you can add on to a tattoo..and you try politely to tell them.."hey i gotta do this right now when i get to you you will have my undivided attention" in which the customer replies.."do you think cherry blossoms will work?" like you did not say anything....usually we are guarded until we see where they are coming from...
there is a whole lot going on before you walk in the shop....
The customers are usually intimidated to begin with...they think their questions will be dumb...but i always ask them what they do...lets say they cut hair..i do not know anything about that..like they do not know anything about tattooing...of course they have questions....fire away....but when you get the customer that wants you to give them the answer THEY WANT..not the truth...tattooing is so overrun now they will find someone who will give them the answer they want...maybe not the tattoo but the answer....
People love their tattoos....I was told that very young by a great tattooer....remember people love thier tattoos...I have seen a perfectly good reaper done on a customer by someone and had a tattooer look at it and say 'who did that reaper?...they shaded it backwards..." (actually it is that cliff raven reaper..it is not shaded backwards it is like that on the flash) so a week later i get a call from the customer"shane can you fix my reaper?"...Why? whats wrong with it? it is because that guy told you it was shaded wrong? it was fine and you loved it for 2 years until some nitiwt says something about it...you loved it when you picked it....that is so sad...
Anyway....It is a fine line......but there are all kinds of tattooers..like there are all kinds of customers...
Another older tattooer told me when i was young that it is the experience...the whole of it...someone who bumps into a world famous guy tattooing them may do a beautiful eagle but they like the one that we, as tattooers, may not think is the best technically because they dug the experience people get tattooed for all knids of reasons and art is relative......
My longest friendships are with tattooers...in spite of us being tattooers..some i may not see everyday or every year but when i do it is like not a day has passed....and in every tattooer there is a customer...WE ARE CUSTOMERS...all of us....and regardless of what they may portray they all put there pants on one leg at a time...noone truly shits beige....
I do not take breaks....not rest breaks anyway..i may have to pour some color..but I usually do not stop to smoke or coffee or eat...I barely do that between tattoos...and i know i am not as good as my peers...but i have been around it and done it since i was a little kid and i know part of the reason i am so swamped every single day is customer relations...THANK GOD I AM SO SWAMPED....
gratitude...being grateful that we have the best job in the world...in spite of the bad backs,neck extra 20 pounds the lack of privacy,the hurt hands and wrists,bad eyes,the judgements,bad diet,the intra industry personality wars, who knows who, thousands of people chasing the same nickel....the cant get to sleep because i crossed that line on the eagle feather...,is my dick too small( where did that one come from) the IRS,state laws,the internet etc...etc.etc...it is still the best job in the world....
The customer is the most important part of all of this....no question....it is a two way street and keeping your side clean is the best thing you can do....
PS i did an article/ interview with Big bad Jack Rudy that is coming out in TAM #25...check it out....

CUSTOMER RESPECT...OF COURSE IT EXISTS...WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT CUSTOMERS.... It is very varied...like someone said there are all kinds of people..so there are all kinds of tattooers....Most people when they first come in the shop think i am scowling at them...but i cannot see past 15 feet so I am trying to discern who it is....
I work in a street shop..I always have worked in a street shop...I like it.....I always liked Mikey perfettos(pronounciation..not spelling) way of running a shop...the dry erase board you put your name on...whether you want a back piece or a litlle kanji...you get your name on the board..you will get tattooed that day... he takes the board away at a certain point and you gotta come back tommorrow...Also his customers are fiercely loyal...people go there with sleeves or work from really great and well known artists and his customers will look at it and say.."those are nice...but look at the ones Mikey put on me"
Tattooing has turned into a real whirlwind...more people today getting tattooed than ever...more tattooers tattooing than ever...more personalities....I promise i will not go into a "back in the day" rant.. I am not sure if it was better back then anymore but with the tattooer and tattooed population exploding that adds alot into what is happening...With all these people comes all these personalities and egos and behavior....
It is a imperative for a tattooer to remember that his customer may have worked 40 hours for the 200 bucks you are gonna get in an hour or two...and it is also hard to have 6 or 7 18 year old girls ask you'what place hurts the least on the body and i can hide it from my parents" naturally I think...if you want a tattoo you will get it where you want it regardless of the pain...it is a tightrope or have people coming at you all day asking"how much would you have charged for this?" rolling up their sleeve...
but it is important for customers to remember that a tattoo machine is not a magic wand...(well Id swear it is in some peoples hands)Like all the young tattoo-ologists that come with their friend to get their first and you put the pattern on and they ask their friend rather than look in the mirror...or the facebook thing...tattooing with people trying to film it to put it on line with their phones...or when you go to dip your machine in ink they slip a camera in and take a shot of a pattern with one line....I mean it is alot....
then the memorial tattoo.... they are going thru the biggest changes in their life and you are poking holes in them...there is so much going on that people do not realize....and while all that is going on you may have had a fight with your significant other, or your kid or grandkid is sick....but you have to leave all that outside of what you are doing..
Then we have that all too ga-narly EGO...on both sides of the fence...Like in sobriety at the end of a 12 step meeting they say the lords prayer and I heard a guy say "deliver us from ego" rather than "deliver us from evil"...ego is a huge thing...more now than ever...Opinions(like mine i am typing out now) are a big factor too....what was it rollo said"alot of tattooers are building monuments to themselves rather than doing what the customer wants"
people get tattooed for all kinds of reasons..and sometimes people think a tattoo is gonna change their life...its not...it is just them with a tattoo...
Then the cool factor... right??? I had a guy tattooing for a couple of days at the shop who used to have a serious attitude...not anymore..and i asked him about it.and he said he learned it..like watching more 'experienced" tattooers act bothered by the customers...Its actually pretty funny when you think about it...but he realized that is what he thought he was suppose to act like...and you tattooers would laugh if you knew they guy he learned from...this guy was notorius like sitting behind a counter with his hands hidden smiling and talking to the customer while flipping them off with both hands
Most Tattooers start hanging around shops very young...they are very impressionable...it is the old nature versus nurture arguement..and one day the nature wins over if they were nurtured liked the guy i just mentioned...unless they are naturally nitwits to begin with...but they may have learned that arrogant behavior....but usually they will lose it if it is in their nature....
Or how about they act like they think they are suppose to act because they heard some story about a big noise tattooer acted towards a customer...the story is completley blown out of proportion and when you get the real skinny on what happened it all made sense....
Tattooing is hard work...most people that spend an hour in a shop that you spend your whole life in probably get the perception it is easy....IT IS VERY DRAINING.....I mean ass kicking as hard as running a jack hammer or ditch digging(I guess i still am kinda)ass kicking...
but the customers are the real reward...that is why it gets good...and I have a alot of friends that agree...However the customer also makes it the biggest struggle...
what is that saying..'people only ask how your doing so they don't let on how little they care"...Ok a customer books an appointment(thats why i like walk ins..I tell them i will get em tattooed if they can wait...for the people in front of them or the hours it takes to draw the picture they showed you on their phone...)is every single customers printer always out of ink...
But lets go with an appointment..Ok the guy works all week and he has an appointment at 5 on friday...he is running a little late but figures it is his time anyway so what is 15 minutes...at the same time at the shop the artist has a guy there with the cash that wants a small one...well is the appointment coming?...if i tell the guy at the shop no and the customer does not show up i am out both tattoos and cannot pay my starbucks debit card(yeah right...somethin important like that)...whatever...so you take the guy there and then the appt. shows up... he flies right up to your station and you tell him.."i got this one infront of you and then i will get to you..."he is pissed...pacing...but he will get over it....He shoulda been on time..I am a nut about being on time....it is all about the individuals personality...
Ok or you are working on a tattoo that some guy worked all week for the $ and another customer comes up and wants to ask you how you can add on to a tattoo..and you try politely to tell them.."hey i gotta do this right now when i get to you you will have my undivided attention" in which the customer replies.."do you think cherry blossoms will work?" like you did not say anything....usually we are guarded until we see where they are coming from...
there is a whole lot going on before you walk in the shop....
The customers are usually intimidated to begin with...they think their questions will be dumb...but i always ask them what they do...lets say they cut hair..i do not know anything about that..like they do not know anything about tattooing...of course they have questions....fire away....but when you get the customer that wants you to give them the answer THEY WANT..not the truth...tattooing is so overrun now they will find someone who will give them the answer they want...maybe not the tattoo but the answer....
People love their tattoos....I was told that very young by a great tattooer....remember people love thier tattoos...I have seen a perfectly good reaper done on a customer by someone and had a tattooer look at it and say 'who did that reaper?...they shaded it backwards..." (actually it is that cliff raven reaper..it is not shaded backwards it is like that on the flash) so a week later i get a call from the customer"shane can you fix my reaper?"...Why? whats wrong with it? it is because that guy told you it was shaded wrong? it was fine and you loved it for 2 years until some nitiwt says something about it...you loved it when you picked it....that is so sad...
Anyway....It is a fine line......but there are all kinds of tattooers..like there are all kinds of customers...
Another older tattooer told me when i was young that it is the experience...the whole of it...someone who bumps into a world famous guy tattooing them may do a beautiful eagle but they like the one that we, as tattooers, may not think is the best technically because they dug the experience people get tattooed for all knids of reasons and art is relative......
My longest friendships are with tattooers...in spite of us being tattooers..some i may not see everyday or every year but when i do it is like not a day has passed....and in every tattooer there is a customer...WE ARE CUSTOMERS...all of us....and regardless of what they may portray they all put there pants on one leg at a time...noone truly shits beige....
I do not take breaks....not rest breaks anyway..i may have to pour some color..but I usually do not stop to smoke or coffee or eat...I barely do that between tattoos...and i know i am not as good as my peers...but i have been around it and done it since i was a little kid and i know part of the reason i am so swamped every single day is customer relations...THANK GOD I AM SO SWAMPED....
gratitude...being grateful that we have the best job in the world...in spite of the bad backs,neck extra 20 pounds the lack of privacy,the hurt hands and wrists,bad eyes,the judgements,bad diet,the intra industry personality wars, who knows who, thousands of people chasing the same nickel....the cant get to sleep because i crossed that line on the eagle feather...,is my dick too small( where did that one come from) the IRS,state laws,the internet etc...etc.etc...it is still the best job in the world....
The customer is the most important part of all of this....no question....it is a two way street and keeping your side clean is the best thing you can do....
PS i did an article/ interview with Big bad Jack Rudy that is coming out in TAM #25...check it out....

OK kids...here it is the best ink...used by Mike wilson,bert krak,Spotlight tattoo,everyone at inksmith and rogers Tim hendricks,shit the whole world give or take 30,000,000 billion...this is the real deal...you get the same ink we get...this was the secret shit once upon a time....
he is calling it TIME TELLS, with the classic red velvet,Pike green, and so on and so froth...call angelo at 904-247-4005.....but please call ready to order...he has what he has just mixed up give or take and you may happen to hit some special blend.....but thats a maybe....
Angelo has a real talent for ink mixing...get in on it.....Thanks

OK kids...here it is the best ink...used by Mike wilson,bert krak,Spotlight tattoo,everyone at inksmith and rogers Tim hendricks,shit the whole world give or take 30,000,000 billion...this is the real deal...you get the same ink we get...this was the secret shit once upon a time....
he is calling it TIME TELLS, with the classic red velvet,Pike green, and so on and so froth...call angelo at 904-247-4005.....but please call ready to order...he has what he has just mixed up give or take and you may happen to hit some special blend.....but thats a maybe....
Angelo has a real talent for ink mixing...get in on it.....Thanks

I may have talked about this elsewhere but i thought some of you may be interested in this as my first post here Jaz Dringenberg turned me on to the site
As most of you know the swinggate is a machine design that is usually attributed to bob shaw...as in the "bob shaw swinggate". I had always known it was a manifestation of THE PIKE but stumbled on some fascinating facts about it and its invention....
('the pike' a small area of long beach california like coney island for want of a better description)a few streets cedar way,chestnut place,seaside and at various times lots of tattoo shops or a few...Bert grimms,Leeroys,Long beach tattoo(the 1st one) the rose,seven seas,and alot of others)
nonetheless bob shaw has always been a hero of mine..he did my first tattoo when i was16....30.00 a hotstuff coverup(like hotstuff sitting on a cliff covering up my "led zep' handpoked" beaut".....i digress
recently I acquired all of Lou lewis's machine building stuff..(recently last 5 years)Lou was partners at times with ernie sutton and they had a small tattoo supply company they ran out of their main street shop called LOS ANGELES TATTOO SUPPLY i have a flyer from 53( this is a new computer i will try to post it)....basically they were taking Jonesys and reworking them...cutting the top of the sidewing off or all of the sidewing and rewinding the coils with 26g. wire for a smoother ride replating them etc....In fact that flyer is the firstttime i saw "handmade"...anyway they made really nice machines I have a few of them...Lou was doing some real trick shit with springs..he was doubling up front ones...and i have one that he used a super floppy front spring that has a gap smaller than a dime but a 3 mile throw.... another that the abar hits the top of both coils square and alot of them were I think his search for a better machine pre capicitor(73 ish) as if you collect old machines as i do you know what the feel is but some of his really run good... but that is another story
well i knew of lou lewis because leeroy always said he was the best tattooer on the pike.....so whenever i heard his name i would perk up and listen... sutton and lewis had a shop at 10 cedar way upstairs in the early 60s...fred thorton was partners with captain jim at the long beach tattoo..they called it "the other corner" lewis and suttons lease was up so fredthorton went to the landlord and'bought out" their lease...not an uncommon practice when tattooing was smaller....so Lou and ernie took all the plastic off the flash and house painted it filled the shitters with cement and left that to thorton... sutton moved back to downtown and Lewis went to work for Bert grimm.That is of big importance in the invention of the swinggate
bert grimms was always the flagship of the pike....and there were usually pairs of tattooers...I know it was opened in 27 and i know people like Lawson and red gibbons and charlie barr etc worked there before bert bought it....regardless the 60s had Zeke and lou working the nightshift and bert and bob working the day shift. later(70s) it was nolan and hongkong tom etc....
In 1964 the health department came in and told them due to a hepatitis out break that the sponge and bucket days was over....at the time the setups were four machines outliner black shader ,red and green machine....they wanted them changing tubes and inks etc....and they wanted them to start doing it yesterday
So lou who held various jobs everything from a customs agent and postal inspector to a machinist(thats the key) for the airplane companies during the war went home that night and came back with the swinggate design. I have a roundback jonesy that was one of the 1st from the collection of his i obtained which caused me to investigate this matter..i knew it was super early and real trick so.....)
It is a simple enough design and easy to put on...you do not even need to remove the coils....so that was the birth of the swinggate...in fact the swinggate we know now Bob Shaws..well the first runs were waters frames waters #2...the iron ones...they would cut off the back dual binders and half the vice and rechrome them....I have seen some that were never completely built and you could see the indent left on the back upright from the dual binders and the PW or W stamped on the inside of the front upright...I am not sure if they took old machines and reworked them or if bob shaw had a connection for abunch of waters frames...I am pretty sure waters died in 51 in anniston alabama but there may have been alot of NOS left....hard to say
Lou finished out his career at bert grimms...he died in 1969...so i figure with the relationship he had with shaw after his death it was natural that shaw kept the design.I also know alot of retired tattooers that tattooed on the pike that refer to tubevices simply as "gates"...so the impact is evident....There was a run of ASluminum jensens(jensen specials) that were swinggates....I do not know if there are 11 or 22 but jensen cast a tree of 22 with the specials...anyway those must have been made right after lewis died and jensen filled lewis chair before bert and him had a flling out and he finished his career at Leeroys....(the reason i mention this is jensen was a great machinist..he was Barbers machinsit that is why there is a Barber perfection machin pre jensen goping off on his own...different in design but same name..i think Baber was F. W. barber but i could be wrong, but obviously the swinggate was good enough for an old machinist like jensen to give it a whirl...
as a side not i inherited some of jensens machines and his engraver and springpunch from Bill mokry...when bill died. why i mention this is jensen was not using a swinggate at the time of his death he was sawing them back at least the ones i got that were his...some of you that were around Maaske when he was friends with leeroy probably know more about that then me and i am curious if there were any jensen swinggates(not aluminum... in the stuff erik was getting from Leeroy...so i do not know if that small run of jensen aluminums with the swinggate were just his "team' enthusiasm when hewas at grimms or truly though they were a winning design.
I also beleieve thats Zeke was the first guy making cutback liners...he was taking machines and hammering back the front and hammering forward the back and viola' instant cutback....I think lou lewis may have had a hand in that too..since they worked together at bert grimms.....but i will write about that later..when i have my photos hooked up here as examples
If you want to see Los angeles tattoo supply company machines they are floating around..they will have the modified sidewing but will be rechromed so it looks like it was cast that way....Masters in sandiego had alot of them a few years ago (tahiti felix)
I always had a hardtime with them as i am a jonesy freak and when i would come across one that was modified and rechromed i would have a hardtime believing they were jonesys....But through a little digging i found that Lou was buying them for 3 for 10.00(maybe cheaper if he was buying them unbuilt) and modifying them then reselling them for 10.00 and 12.00 bucks depending on the plating....also the other trick shit he was doing for that time period.... regardless I thought i would do this as my first post.

you think they misspelled his boyfriends name on him or something....I do not think i would keep a samarai sword in the shop where anyone could reach it but myself.....

CUSTOMER RESPECT...OF COURSE IT EXISTS...WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT CUSTOMERS.... It is very varied...like someone said there are all kinds of people..so there are all kinds of tattooers....Most people when they first come in the shop think i am scowling at them...but i cannot see past 15 feet so I am trying to discern who it is....
I work in a street shop..I always have worked in a street shop...I like it.....I always liked Mikey perfettos(pronounciation..not spelling) way of running a shop...the dry erase board you put your name on...whether you want a back piece or a litlle kanji...you get your name on the board..you will get tattooed that day... he takes the board away at a certain point and you gotta come back tommorrow...Also his customers are fiercely loyal...people go there with sleeves or work from really great and well known artists and his customers will look at it and say.."those are nice...but look at the ones Mikey put on me"
Tattooing has turned into a real whirlwind...more people today getting tattooed than ever...more tattooers tattooing than ever...more personalities....I promise i will not go into a "back in the day" rant.. I am not sure if it was better back then anymore but with the tattooer and tattooed population exploding that adds alot into what is happening...With all these people comes all these personalities and egos and behavior....
It is a imperative for a tattooer to remember that his customer may have worked 40 hours for the 200 bucks you are gonna get in an hour or two...and it is also hard to have 6 or 7 18 year old girls ask you'what place hurts the least on the body and i can hide it from my parents" naturally I think...if you want a tattoo you will get it where you want it regardless of the pain...it is a tightrope or have people coming at you all day asking"how much would you have charged for this?" rolling up their sleeve...
but it is important for customers to remember that a tattoo machine is not a magic wand...(well Id swear it is in some peoples hands)Like all the young tattoo-ologists that come with their friend to get their first and you put the pattern on and they ask their friend rather than look in the mirror...or the facebook thing...tattooing with people trying to film it to put it on line with their phones...or when you go to dip your machine in ink they slip a camera in and take a shot of a pattern with one line....I mean it is alot....
then the memorial tattoo.... they are going thru the biggest changes in their life and you are poking holes in them...there is so much going on that people do not realize....and while all that is going on you may have had a fight with your significant other, or your kid or grandkid is sick....but you have to leave all that outside of what you are doing..
Then we have that all too ga-narly EGO...on both sides of the fence...Like in sobriety at the end of a 12 step meeting they say the lords prayer and I heard a guy say "deliver us from ego" rather than "deliver us from evil"...ego is a huge thing...more now than ever...Opinions(like mine i am typing out now) are a big factor too....what was it rollo said"alot of tattooers are building monuments to themselves rather than doing what the customer wants"
people get tattooed for all kinds of reasons..and sometimes people think a tattoo is gonna change their life...its not...it is just them with a tattoo...
Then the cool factor... right??? I had a guy tattooing for a couple of days at the shop who used to have a serious attitude...not anymore..and i asked him about it.and he said he learned it..like watching more 'experienced" tattooers act bothered by the customers...Its actually pretty funny when you think about it...but he realized that is what he thought he was suppose to act like...and you tattooers would laugh if you knew they guy he learned from...this guy was notorius like sitting behind a counter with his hands hidden smiling and talking to the customer while flipping them off with both hands
Most Tattooers start hanging around shops very young...they are very impressionable...it is the old nature versus nurture arguement..and one day the nature wins over if they were nurtured liked the guy i just mentioned...unless they are naturally nitwits to begin with...but they may have learned that arrogant behavior....but usually they will lose it if it is in their nature....
Or how about they act like they think they are suppose to act because they heard some story about a big noise tattooer acted towards a customer...the story is completley blown out of proportion and when you get the real skinny on what happened it all made sense....
Tattooing is hard work...most people that spend an hour in a shop that you spend your whole life in probably get the perception it is easy....IT IS VERY DRAINING.....I mean ass kicking as hard as running a jack hammer or ditch digging(I guess i still am kinda)ass kicking...
but the customers are the real reward...that is why it gets good...and I have a alot of friends that agree...However the customer also makes it the biggest struggle...
what is that saying..'people only ask how your doing so they don't let on how little they care"...Ok a customer books an appointment(thats why i like walk ins..I tell them i will get em tattooed if they can wait...for the people in front of them or the hours it takes to draw the picture they showed you on their phone...)is every single customers printer always out of ink...
But lets go with an appointment..Ok the guy works all week and he has an appointment at 5 on friday...he is running a little late but figures it is his time anyway so what is 15 minutes...at the same time at the shop the artist has a guy there with the cash that wants a small one...well is the appointment coming?...if i tell the guy at the shop no and the customer does not show up i am out both tattoos and cannot pay my starbucks debit card(yeah right...somethin important like that)...whatever...so you take the guy there and then the appt. shows up... he flies right up to your station and you tell him.."i got this one infront of you and then i will get to you..."he is pissed...pacing...but he will get over it....He shoulda been on time..I am a nut about being on time....it is all about the individuals personality...
Ok or you are working on a tattoo that some guy worked all week for the $ and another customer comes up and wants to ask you how you can add on to a tattoo..and you try politely to tell them.."hey i gotta do this right now when i get to you you will have my undivided attention" in which the customer replies.."do you think cherry blossoms will work?" like you did not say anything....usually we are guarded until we see where they are coming from...
there is a whole lot going on before you walk in the shop....
The customers are usually intimidated to begin with...they think their questions will be dumb...but i always ask them what they do...lets say they cut hair..i do not know anything about that..like they do not know anything about tattooing...of course they have questions....fire away....but when you get the customer that wants you to give them the answer THEY WANT..not the truth...tattooing is so overrun now they will find someone who will give them the answer they want...maybe not the tattoo but the answer....
People love their tattoos....I was told that very young by a great tattooer....remember people love thier tattoos...I have seen a perfectly good reaper done on a customer by someone and had a tattooer look at it and say 'who did that reaper?...they shaded it backwards..." (actually it is that cliff raven reaper..it is not shaded backwards it is like that on the flash) so a week later i get a call from the customer"shane can you fix my reaper?"...Why? whats wrong with it? it is because that guy told you it was shaded wrong? it was fine and you loved it for 2 years until some nitiwt says something about it...you loved it when you picked it....that is so sad...
Anyway....It is a fine line......but there are all kinds of tattooers..like there are all kinds of customers...
Another older tattooer told me when i was young that it is the experience...the whole of it...someone who bumps into a world famous guy tattooing them may do a beautiful eagle but they like the one that we, as tattooers, may not think is the best technically because they dug the experience people get tattooed for all knids of reasons and art is relative......
My longest friendships are with tattooers...in spite of us being tattooers..some i may not see everyday or every year but when i do it is like not a day has passed....and in every tattooer there is a customer...WE ARE CUSTOMERS...all of us....and regardless of what they may portray they all put there pants on one leg at a time...noone truly shits beige....
I do not take breaks....not rest breaks anyway..i may have to pour some color..but I usually do not stop to smoke or coffee or eat...I barely do that between tattoos...and i know i am not as good as my peers...but i have been around it and done it since i was a little kid and i know part of the reason i am so swamped every single day is customer relations...THANK GOD I AM SO SWAMPED....
gratitude...being grateful that we have the best job in the world...in spite of the bad backs,neck extra 20 pounds the lack of privacy,the hurt hands and wrists,bad eyes,the judgements,bad diet,the intra industry personality wars, who knows who, thousands of people chasing the same nickel....the cant get to sleep because i crossed that line on the eagle feather...,is my dick too small( where did that one come from) the IRS,state laws,the internet etc...etc.etc...it is still the best job in the world....
The customer is the most important part of all of this....no question....it is a two way street and keeping your side clean is the best thing you can do....
PS i did an article/ interview with Big bad Jack Rudy that is coming out in TAM #25...check it out....

I will have to take some pics with my camera tommorrow..the ones i am taking with my phone do not tell the whole story...but believe me...he is a monster....and he will never forgive me for posting something he wouldnt want out there...
so is Angelo Miller and Mike Bruce at inksmith and rogers....Poor Angelo...every tattoo he does is either before or after one Mike wilson does....Tattooers get his Ink products they are calling it "Time Tells"....and Mike Bruce...he works at the Atlantic Blvd shop....real low key but just amazing...Eric inksmiths forearm...i thought Rollo did it but it was Mike Bruce....
All three do not care for alot of attention...but they are all real real good....
It is funny...there are so so many good tattooers now.....

CUSTOMER RESPECT...OF COURSE IT EXISTS...WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT CUSTOMERS.... It is very varied...like someone said there are all kinds of people..so there are all kinds of tattooers....Most people when they first come in the shop think i am scowling at them...but i cannot see past 15 feet so I am trying to discern who it is....
I work in a street shop..I always have worked in a street shop...I like it.....I always liked Mikey perfettos(pronounciation..not spelling) way of running a shop...the dry erase board you put your name on...whether you want a back piece or a litlle kanji...you get your name on the board..you will get tattooed that day... he takes the board away at a certain point and you gotta come back tommorrow...Also his customers are fiercely loyal...people go there with sleeves or work from really great and well known artists and his customers will look at it and say.."those are nice...but look at the ones Mikey put on me"
Tattooing has turned into a real whirlwind...more people today getting tattooed than ever...more tattooers tattooing than ever...more personalities....I promise i will not go into a "back in the day" rant.. I am not sure if it was better back then anymore but with the tattooer and tattooed population exploding that adds alot into what is happening...With all these people comes all these personalities and egos and behavior....
It is a imperative for a tattooer to remember that his customer may have worked 40 hours for the 200 bucks you are gonna get in an hour or two...and it is also hard to have 6 or 7 18 year old girls ask you'what place hurts the least on the body and i can hide it from my parents" naturally I think...if you want a tattoo you will get it where you want it regardless of the pain...it is a tightrope or have people coming at you all day asking"how much would you have charged for this?" rolling up their sleeve...
but it is important for customers to remember that a tattoo machine is not a magic wand...(well Id swear it is in some peoples hands)Like all the young tattoo-ologists that come with their friend to get their first and you put the pattern on and they ask their friend rather than look in the mirror...or the facebook thing...tattooing with people trying to film it to put it on line with their phones...or when you go to dip your machine in ink they slip a camera in and take a shot of a pattern with one line....I mean it is alot....
then the memorial tattoo.... they are going thru the biggest changes in their life and you are poking holes in them...there is so much going on that people do not realize....and while all that is going on you may have had a fight with your significant other, or your kid or grandkid is sick....but you have to leave all that outside of what you are doing..
Then we have that all too ga-narly EGO...on both sides of the fence...Like in sobriety at the end of a 12 step meeting they say the lords prayer and I heard a guy say "deliver us from ego" rather than "deliver us from evil"...ego is a huge thing...more now than ever...Opinions(like mine i am typing out now) are a big factor too....what was it rollo said"alot of tattooers are building monuments to themselves rather than doing what the customer wants"
people get tattooed for all kinds of reasons..and sometimes people think a tattoo is gonna change their life...its not...it is just them with a tattoo...
Then the cool factor... right??? I had a guy tattooing for a couple of days at the shop who used to have a serious attitude...not anymore..and i asked him about it.and he said he learned it..like watching more 'experienced" tattooers act bothered by the customers...Its actually pretty funny when you think about it...but he realized that is what he thought he was suppose to act like...and you tattooers would laugh if you knew they guy he learned from...this guy was notorius like sitting behind a counter with his hands hidden smiling and talking to the customer while flipping them off with both hands
Most Tattooers start hanging around shops very young...they are very impressionable...it is the old nature versus nurture arguement..and one day the nature wins over if they were nurtured liked the guy i just mentioned...unless they are naturally nitwits to begin with...but they may have learned that arrogant behavior....but usually they will lose it if it is in their nature....
Or how about they act like they think they are suppose to act because they heard some story about a big noise tattooer acted towards a customer...the story is completley blown out of proportion and when you get the real skinny on what happened it all made sense....
Tattooing is hard work...most people that spend an hour in a shop that you spend your whole life in probably get the perception it is easy....IT IS VERY DRAINING.....I mean ass kicking as hard as running a jack hammer or ditch digging(I guess i still am kinda)ass kicking...
but the customers are the real reward...that is why it gets good...and I have a alot of friends that agree...However the customer also makes it the biggest struggle...
what is that saying..'people only ask how your doing so they don't let on how little they care"...Ok a customer books an appointment(thats why i like walk ins..I tell them i will get em tattooed if they can wait...for the people in front of them or the hours it takes to draw the picture they showed you on their phone...)is every single customers printer always out of ink...
But lets go with an appointment..Ok the guy works all week and he has an appointment at 5 on friday...he is running a little late but figures it is his time anyway so what is 15 minutes...at the same time at the shop the artist has a guy there with the cash that wants a small one...well is the appointment coming?...if i tell the guy at the shop no and the customer does not show up i am out both tattoos and cannot pay my starbucks debit card(yeah right...somethin important like that)...whatever...so you take the guy there and then the appt. shows up... he flies right up to your station and you tell him.."i got this one infront of you and then i will get to you..."he is pissed...pacing...but he will get over it....He shoulda been on time..I am a nut about being on time....it is all about the individuals personality...
Ok or you are working on a tattoo that some guy worked all week for the $ and another customer comes up and wants to ask you how you can add on to a tattoo..and you try politely to tell them.."hey i gotta do this right now when i get to you you will have my undivided attention" in which the customer replies.."do you think cherry blossoms will work?" like you did not say anything....usually we are guarded until we see where they are coming from...
there is a whole lot going on before you walk in the shop....
The customers are usually intimidated to begin with...they think their questions will be dumb...but i always ask them what they do...lets say they cut hair..i do not know anything about that..like they do not know anything about tattooing...of course they have questions....fire away....but when you get the customer that wants you to give them the answer THEY WANT..not the truth...tattooing is so overrun now they will find someone who will give them the answer they want...maybe not the tattoo but the answer....
People love their tattoos....I was told that very young by a great tattooer....remember people love thier tattoos...I have seen a perfectly good reaper done on a customer by someone and had a tattooer look at it and say 'who did that reaper?...they shaded it backwards..." (actually it is that cliff raven reaper..it is not shaded backwards it is like that on the flash) so a week later i get a call from the customer"shane can you fix my reaper?"...Why? whats wrong with it? it is because that guy told you it was shaded wrong? it was fine and you loved it for 2 years until some nitiwt says something about it...you loved it when you picked it....that is so sad...
Anyway....It is a fine line......but there are all kinds of tattooers..like there are all kinds of customers...
Another older tattooer told me when i was young that it is the experience...the whole of it...someone who bumps into a world famous guy tattooing them may do a beautiful eagle but they like the one that we, as tattooers, may not think is the best technically because they dug the experience people get tattooed for all knids of reasons and art is relative......
My longest friendships are with tattooers...in spite of us being tattooers..some i may not see everyday or every year but when i do it is like not a day has passed....and in every tattooer there is a customer...WE ARE CUSTOMERS...all of us....and regardless of what they may portray they all put there pants on one leg at a time...noone truly shits beige....
I do not take breaks....not rest breaks anyway..i may have to pour some color..but I usually do not stop to smoke or coffee or eat...I barely do that between tattoos...and i know i am not as good as my peers...but i have been around it and done it since i was a little kid and i know part of the reason i am so swamped every single day is customer relations...THANK GOD I AM SO SWAMPED....
gratitude...being grateful that we have the best job in the world...in spite of the bad backs,neck extra 20 pounds the lack of privacy,the hurt hands and wrists,bad eyes,the judgements,bad diet,the intra industry personality wars, who knows who, thousands of people chasing the same nickel....the cant get to sleep because i crossed that line on the eagle feather...,is my dick too small( where did that one come from) the IRS,state laws,the internet etc...etc.etc...it is still the best job in the world....
The customer is the most important part of all of this....no question....it is a two way street and keeping your side clean is the best thing you can do....
PS i did an article/ interview with Big bad Jack Rudy that is coming out in TAM #25...check it out....

I will have to take some pics with my camera tommorrow..the ones i am taking with my phone do not tell the whole story...but believe me...he is a monster....and he will never forgive me for posting something he wouldnt want out there...
so is Angelo Miller and Mike Bruce at inksmith and rogers....Poor Angelo...every tattoo he does is either before or after one Mike wilson does....Tattooers get his Ink products they are calling it "Time Tells"....and Mike Bruce...he works at the Atlantic Blvd shop....real low key but just amazing...Eric inksmiths forearm...i thought Rollo did it but it was Mike Bruce....
All three do not care for alot of attention...but they are all real real good....
It is funny...there are so so many good tattooers now.....