Shannon Shirley

I am no expert here, but solid information on tattooing in that era is really hard to come by. I don't think that really anybody was doing any documentation of tattooing, so I think most of what we're left with is photographs and business cards. I think it is in the introduction to the Tattootime reissues that Ed Hardy notes that prior to I think the 1980s, there had only been two books about tattooing published in the English language.
That said, for Internet sources, check out Chuck Eldridge's Tattoo Archive. He's been documenting tattoo history for decades and is probably the single best source about this kind of stuff.
For books, Margot Mifflin's Bodies of Subversion is essential. It's about women and tattoos, and she writes a fair bit about circus sideshows, and the book is just excellent. She recently published a new edition of it too.
Stoney Knows How by Leonard "Stoney" St. Clair and Alan Govenar is a delight. Stoney started off tattooing in the circuses so there's plenty of circus stories in there. There's also a documentary of this, check the Ed Hardy thread for a link to it.
It is hard to come by and usually extremely expensive, but George Burchett's Memoirs of a Tattooist is about European and American tattooing in the earlier part of the 20th century. It's a bit sensational, but is a cool read.

wow!!!!! the future scares me......

wow!!!!! the future scares me......

hahaha things have gotten less awesome... ?

wow!!!!! the future scares me......

wow!!!!! the future scares me......

WTFHTTT.....(whatthefuckhappenedtothisthread)

One of the biggest lies reality television has created is that you need a "reason" to get a tattoo. If it's cool, and makes you feel awesome, then that is all you need.

to me photorealism is a very specific genre of tattooing. This is the type of artist you need to find.. portfolios are very important. I feel like so many walk ins completely miss this point..That very few are diverse enough to pull off everything..

hhmmmm....Bill Salmon , GTC ,Martin Robson ,PJ English, Fip Buchanan, cant remember his name at Doc Webbs(no gloves) 88'ish.....and yeah I think freddy C started right around that time. I started in 89'....

I don't like talking about money either and call me old fashion...or just plain old, I prefer to bring gifts. Books, bottles of alcohol, some type of food or treats. Sure cash can be king, but this works for me and the artist always seem to appreciate it.

he's in amsterdam now I think.....If you see him tell him Shannon said hey...

Save up all of your money , go for a holiday to Texas and book with Nick Baxter

Martin Robson here also .

No gloves...it's funny, I was thinking about that the other day, I remember when the big deal at CTC was the autoclave...NO ONE wore gloves. Sitting getting worked on by Dale, both of us smoking. Cigarettes, yeah, that's the ticket, cigarettes...

hhmmmm....Bill Salmon , GTC ,Martin Robson ,PJ English, Fip Buchanan, cant remember his name at Doc Webbs(no gloves) 88'ish.....and yeah I think freddy C started right around that time. I started in 89'....

ppfffftttt!!

ppfffftttt!!

ppfffftttt!!

Yeah, this reminded me of a time I had a conversation with a friend's friend. I think she asked me about my tattoos initially and it somehow segued to Hardy. At that point she spewed some trash about Ed Hardy thinking of the clothing. I responded by trying to inform her that he's actually a great artist, a legend in the tattoo world, and a great influence on people despite what feelings there are towards the clothing design. Also that it was Audigier who she should probably be disgusted with. In her elitist arrogance, her look at me turned to disgust and saw me as a huge douche for even trying to say anything positive about the name "Ed Hardy".
That pretty much ended the conversation and we happily went our separate ways. I might not necessarily be a fan of the stereotypes wearing the clothes but I'm far less interested in the people too elitist to have an open mind and who trash others they know nothing about.

@riddle
READ: Last Sparrow Tattoo - Newbie Guidelines
Do not start threads asking questions about "breaking into the business" of tattooing.
also this
Do introduce yourself in the initiation thread so that we can properly welcome you!

I don't usually post in the contest threads but I thought it would be fun to have a Henning vs. Rubendall showdown. Done at the Montreal tattoo convention last week:

This is from Henning Jorgensen.
done at Royal Tattoo.
enjoy!

okay sorry.. maybe i'll have something new in a couple of months..
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Okay here is one of my older tattoos. Not finished..
By Phil Szlosek at Kingsave NYC

Guess I'll throw in with my dragon head by Will Lollie at Empire Tattoo. One is my pic, the other was taken from his IG.