Shadow

Aaron Bell:

Horimatsu:

Jeff Jibran:

Yay! Thanks everyone. I was amazed by all the great tattoos this month. I can't wait to see what people get in May.

I've never seen skin the the color of black paper or white paper on anyone.

It did seem a bit fishy from the start. I really don't get why someone would go to all the trouble though.

I have a love/hate relationship with the wait to be tattooed. Part of me wants the instant gratification of getting it done as soon as I get the idea in my head. I'm not always the most patient. On the other hand, waiting a couple of months just builds the anticipation and is part of the whole experience. Plus, waiting a bit slows me down. I'm not looking forward to running out of room!

By the way, I could sit here all day and watch this stuff! Each one has been better than the last.

I agree! I've enjoyed each episode more and more. The Tiajuana one should be really interesting. I can't wait. I live within walking distance from George Campise's shop. I should go check it out sometime soon.

anyone have any recommendtions for a tattoo shop in the greater L.A. area? especially traditional American-stlye.

I know that there are Spotlight and True Tattoo. I just wanted to check back with you guys if you have other tattoo studios/artists in mind.

I'll be in California end of May 'till early June and I'll also be attending "Ink-n-Iron"-festival.

sorry if this question has been asked and answered before.

Dark Horse Tattoo, Unbreakable Tattoo, and Gold Rush Tattoo all put out some good work in the greater LA area. I'd definitely like to be tattooed by Bryan Burk at Dark Horse.

shadowalh

Steve Boltz

I also visited Smith Street during our trip to New York and got this from Steve Boltz.

Sarah Schor

cant wait to see, I may be sitting right next to you, Valerie is doing a couple on me so excited

That's awesome! She tattooed me at that convention last year and it was a fantastic experience. She was really nice and it's a great tattoo. I'd love to get another one by her this year, but after the two tattoos in New York I promised myself that I would slow down and only work on finishing my back for the rest of this year. We'll see if I can stick to that...

Yeah, Eli and Steve were both very nice and apologized for not being able. Win some lose some....

I'm actually amazed that you were ready to be tattooed more after the number of hours you put into your back this week. The longest session I've had on my back was 4.5 hours and that completely wiped me out. I can't imagine doing longer than that 3 days in a row!

Just spent a week in New York and got a couple of tattoos. Here is the one I got from Sarah Schor at Kings Avenue Tattoo.

I was at Smith Street Tuesday and Wednesday (with appointments), but I saw people get walk ins both days. You just have to be willing to hang out for a while. On Tuesday there was a guy who got there before 12:30 and it was around 2:00 before he got tattooed. I'm glad we had appointments, but I can see how it would be a cool experience to walk in and see who has time.

Chris O'Donnell updated his blog yesterday with photos of the collaboration back piece he is doing with Thomas Hooper. Damn, I can't wait to see that finished. It would be pretty awesome to get a collaboration piece like that by two great artists from one shop.

When I was really little my dad had a friend with a couple of old military tattoos. I can't remember what they were, but I remember thinking how much cooler he was than my dad and wishing my dad had been in the service so that he would have tattoos too.

i've never quite understood the issue with driving around town a bit, whether looking for tattoo shops or something else... i live 70 miles from the nearest good tattoo shops, including the one where i work. across town isn't the worst distance to travel, and neither is 40 minutes.

I agree. The longest I've driven for a tattoo is about an hour and a half each way, but I'd drive much further to get a tattoo from a tattooer I admire. The inconvenience of a long drive is nothing compared with a lifetime with a better tattoo.

That's awesome! Did you pick design and artist?

I really want to try walking in.... I know I can call and make an appointment, I have deep ties in NY so I will be back there and can make an appointment. I want to go in and ask for a skull and cross bones on my left elbow and see if I can get it done.....

I know what you mean about just wanting to walk in and get something done. This will be our first trip to NY, so we made appointments to make sure we didn't miss out. I'm getting an eagle by Steve. My partner is getting a couple of smallish filler pieces on her arms by Bert...maybe a rose and a small eagle. Our appointments are on different days and I think we're both tempted to get more done if any of the tattooers there have time while we are waiting for each other to get tattooed.

I'll be in New York the first week in April too. My partner and I both booked appointments at Smith Street. I just booked last weekend and they had lots of options for appointments available.

ooft ... I dont know any Tattooer who would knock back work in this day and age. Send you to another shop ???!! No chance !! They might refer you to another artist within the same shop (maybe ...) . Its a buyers market up there and its up to the artists to keep their skills up ...

While I agree that this is usually the case, there are exceptions. My partner has a large scar on her lower leg that she would eventually like to try tattooing over. Freddy Corbin did a couple of tattoos on her back and went over another, much smaller, scar. She talked to him about tattooing the larger scar on her leg and he wasn't comfortable doing it, but referred her to someone (at a different shop) who would. She found Freddy in the first place by being referred to him by a tattooer in San Diego after she told him she was moving to Oakland.

Congratulations! That's so exciting.

Good for you i'm glad you are happy. What have you got on your back? I guess traditional american imagery can be executed in this manner but not Japanese,doesn't look right.

It's a ryukannon. The artist thought just going to the bottom of my butt would be more traditional for a woman and more feminine. If I was a dude, he probably would have gone to the backs of my thighs. I'm not usually too worried about how feminine I look, but I appreciated the thought he put into it and the examples of old, traditional Japanese back pieces on women he showed me, so I agreed with his suggestion to cut it off there. It's not done yet, but I couldn't be happier with it so far. It fits the space perfectly.