rleger

I bet hipsters LOVE this guy.

thanks nicky. i will definetly check that out.

Richard said this to me once, or twice... He heard it from Hardy First... I have tattoos I hate... It's one of those... You can live with it, it'll teach you one way or another...

Looks fine to me, now its time to fill up the rest of your arms.

i guess i agree with the other tattooer you talked to. your wife is going to have to toughen up if she wants to tattoo. if you cry after fucking something up, you probably need to find a new profession. when i finish a tattoo, all i see are the mistakes i made. i don't cry about it, i try to do better the next time. the very nature of tattoo is that there are going to be flaws. what happens when you're trying to pull a nice clean long line on somebody's ribs who's squirming around and making it impossible. just do the best you can. oh, and i've only been tattooing for about 8 years, but i've never seen an apprenticeship go how it ideally should.

Of course it seems fishy - if there was not something wrong she would be there and there would be no problem. I guess we knew from the start there was a problem, but thought that it may be ok, or he would not be telling her to tattoo people, right?
Wrong !
Brian, I would be interested in what your thoughts are? I spoke to another artist today, in another well known studio, who stated that it was not how they apprentice people, but, like you indicated, she would have to tough up, get used to making mistakes, and learn how to fix them.
I think if it had been fixed she would have been OK with it. As Kore Flatmo said in his interview - " I can beat my niece in arm wrestling - it does not mean I am strong - you have to compare yourself with the best, not the worst."
So what would those who consider themselves good tattooists have done ?

my only question, and i'm only asking because this issue has been discussed on here, is does this bring too much government attention then to tattooing in general? will this then be grounds for more regulation on tattooing as a whole?
i'm all for writing letters, but i guess i'm also worried that it will do more harm than good. maybe it won't though?

There's tattoo shops in the malls in Jacksonville, FL.
It's fucked because it's home to one of the best shops in the world and they've got 5 locations, yet people still go to the shitty mall shop when they could be getting tattooed by Mike Wilson for the same price and actually get a piece of art they can be proud to wear for the rest of their lives.

i stopped caring about shit like this, or i'd be angry 24/7/365. either way i'm tattooing and will continue to tattoo, i don't give a shit what's going on where...

Ursulas advice = ridiculously sound.
Every stretch mark will be different, so I think you should take this advice. :) I think people like to ask questions online because it's not intimidating, but to be honest most tattoo studios aren't either, so just go to one you think looks great and see what they have to say, you'll be sorted in no time :)

Just saw this tattoo video of Henk Schiffmacher and figured others on here would enjoy it.....

I'm going to ho off the fence into Ed Hardy's corner, here. I get what you're saying, though I think Ed Hardy's been a lot more influential. From my perspective, anyway. I don't own a TV (I'll admit I've seen one episode of Miami Ink.. maybe two of LA Ink?), yet adore tattoos to the point where I'm making a living writing about them. Furthermore, I could look at a tattoo from Ed Hardy and know it's by him straight away- can't say the same thing for Ami James. I'm fairly sure I'm not the only person with this perspective.

Without Ed Hardy there wouldnt have even been reality tattoo shows.

you watch too much TV...

FUCK THAT. that being said, i do think people should be presentable, clean and wearing clean clothes, decent shoes, etc. i heard a saying from rollo..."if you're gonna ask somebody for $100, you better look like $100". but as for official uniforms, FUCK THAT.

I'm gonna start this off by saying I am NOT a tattooer.
What I have learned from being around the tattoo community for a while now is that it's more about the quality of work than being a tattooer or as you call it an outsider. (I don't consider myself an outsider because I have just as many tattoos, know all the same people and have worked in shops)
If your art holds up to the test, it doesn't matter where you came from or who you are. I have had zero problem selling my hand embroidered flash and sewn items to tattooers and outsiders alike (after working on my craft for over 10 years)
If you love art do it. And if stay with what you love in the end it doesn't matter.
The one last thing I'd like to add is this: if you make money off the tattoo industry in any way you better damn well put some of that money back into it by getting tattoos, or buying other people's art.