truejew

I hope he enjoys his hep c.

fantasy tattoo is disgusting. I know scratchers that won't work there.

Everyone is talking about the dogfish beers havnt tried them myself.

I love oskar blues I believe every beer they can is liquid gold.

Ha ha these are awesome stories!

Here's mine.

I was 18 (2005) I had just torn my acl skateboarding. I had a drawing of a pair of trucks that i had drawn while laying in bed on painkillers. I got tattooed by my buddy guido baldini in Santa fe nm. Just walked in and gave him my design. He ate some pizza and tattooed the design on me in about 20min. Still love it. I got it hooked up by marie sena a couple years ago. Not as cool but figure I could share.

Been seeing this on fb. First time I heard that skin candy is involved. And my fw's are taking way too long to get here. Are they actually going to carry tattoo supplies? Why would they sell ink but nothing else? This sounds a little fishy still. I also havnt been following this too closely.

@slayer9019 Thats one hell of a beer list at Peculiar Pub.

and they have arrogant bastard on tap!

whats the good word my man?

word up. I have not been to radegast, I am down to try it.

Peculiar is pretty sweet. thursday shouldnt be to crowded. we can also try the rabbit club on mcdougal. the dude that owns it is an extra cool guy.

As long as good beer and the music isnt too loud/top10 im happy.

Im in on the 5th I work everyday pretty much.

ITT: bill is the man.

I just read all this. It's a wind up, isn't it? How to price a tattoo and deal with customers is stuff you learn before you even learn how to make a stencil.

However if this is serious, decide what the work is worth to you and if the other person doesn't think it's worth the same, that's ok, don't take it personal, maybe they're naive, maybe they're ignorant, or maybe they just can't afford it. If thgere is a sign on the door saying open for business, people are entitled to come in and try to do business.

Having a sign prominentley displayed stating the shop minimum and some examples of what you can expect for that minimum is a big help, for the customer and for the person who is selling the tattoos.

I don't want to insult ya by going any farther on this because I know you have been around a while.

Also, I'm not on here to tell anyone how to run a tattoo shop so they can open one up.

Most of the talk on here is art criticism, or how to heal up tattoos, what's in, what's out, who's cool, etc...and some of it is very interesting stuff, seriously.

I will say that a lot of the more artistic people are in the ha'penny place compared to the scratchers when it comes to hustle and street smarts.

If one man's niche is doin $20 tattoos ina basement and anothers is doing $200 an hour bodysuits, thats fine by me. It means there's a tattoo out there for everybody, and everyone can have a tattoo if they want one.

And before anyone forgets........Mike Roper tattooed in his bedroom for years, Filip Leu tattooed on the beach, Paulo Sulu'ape tattooed in a hut, Freddie Corbin tattooed in his apartment. And many of the tattooers the people on here look up to started out in their kitchens. And many of them tattooed cheap, or for free. Yea, freee, swallow that one whole.

For many of them, their first introduction to tattooing was getting tattooed by friends in their basements.

So, before we go demonising the "scratchers", getting tattooed on the cheap in a basement, kitchen or garage is just as valid as getting tattooed in a longhouse in Borneo. It probably costs about the same, has similar sterilisation, and the lines are probably equally shakey. Not to mention the spiritual/cultural/rite of passage significance of a ghetto kid getting a ghetto tattoo in a ghetto tattoo shop. At a ghetto price.

None of this is intended as a defence for idiots doing shit tattoos cheap or for arteests doing average tattoos at extortionate prices. It's just me saying that much as I can hustle, tattooing isn't a business for me, it's a practice and if I can pay my bills living this way, then that's a privilege and an honour. And a blessing. I'm grateful that I have a bit of talent and a bit of hustle. I take pride in my profession and I don't sell it short, especially not for money. I hate to not tattoo someone, but sometimes the tattoo they want isn't the tattoo they can afford, and I don't mean only in monetary terms, sometimes the persons ego is a bit big and they think they deserve more than the are entitled to. The same goes for the tattooers.

Anyway, I'm sick of typing, it's not my thing.

Im with this guy. I work in the bronx where there is a 5-1, haggler-serious client ratio. I just dont mind the hagglers. they come in ask "how much for a sleeve?" I tell them my price, and I even tell them that im willing to work with a budget. they just say ok thank and leave. I believe that they are not serious anyways and I focus on those who come in and dont even ask about a price. you will notice there is a major difference in the conversation alone. hagglers just are not ready to get a tattoo. and if they talk you down and you tattoo them chances are you wont be into tattooing them and you will regret it and so will they. I dont ever try and explain my price. thier adults they should know that you get what you pay for. especially when every shop in the nyc area has that stupid "good tattoos aren't cheap, cheap tattoos aren't good" sign... i hate that thing.

edit: i forgot to mention that we are also located across the street from "tuff city" so its easy to be right in between really expensive and really cheap.

The Jewish cemetery problem isn't true. they will bury you. They chop off part of your Dick and still bury you. The misconseption is about leaving this world as you came in. Some cemeteries will give you a hard time apparently but its b.s. I grew up in israel, plenty of us walking around with tattoos. And buried in Israel. I think its more of a disgrace for the old folk who went thru the whole nazi thing you know...

Shadow puppets, rotary dotwork and the word tats

I eagerly check my emails and this thread daily.. waiting for tge day that i can order this book.

Ha ha I actually forgot about it. Then my buddy called me up, he wanted to grab a beer in the village. So we went to the pub. No worries man. We can still grab a brew another time.

The LST nyc meet up was a great success! It was me... And well... Thats about it.

The peculier pub is pretty cool lol. @gougetheeyes we can grab a beer soon!

Lol my buddy was supposed to be on this show.

Wtf does dave navarro have anything to do with this?

I will be there

Welcome! There are a few nyc heads in here. Head over the the nyc meet up thread.

I bet the parents let it happen.

I also didnt take money into consideration when commenting on the situation.

Lols sorry I skipped that part.

Yeah equal trade....

Oh man cant wait to buy this

Well isn't that why we tattoo? Cause we enjoy it and its cool...

If it wasn't we would have to go down to home depot to get tattooed.

Luckily our society has a set checks and balances to weed out phonies. Course kitchen magicians will exist till the end of time. I just don't think you should knock every kid for trying. They might be the next Tim Hendrix.

I honestly think that our education system is fucked but that's a whole new discussion.

I bet you would trade for laser hair or tattoo removal.

I get bugged when cool hipsters photographers offer their services in a trade.

*points at the Oliver peck interview*

if you could tattoo at 15 you probably would. I know a dozen tattooers who started hand poking in their punk days. If life was perfect it would be boring.

On a side note, My girlfriend has a half sleeve done by a pro working in a more then legitimate shop. Blow outs, skips uneven line work it has it all. She however did her homework and paid a lot for terrible work she was not happy about.

What about "catching crumbs" and stooping down to their prices?

If anyone here has ever worked in the west village or st. Marks in nyc should know a few "professionals" charging $80 an hour. While doing ecstasy tabs at work. People are just dumb... They don't look aT portfolios and certificates. They don't ask about hygiene and sterility.