irezumi

Got 2 art shows coming up later this year and have plenty of work to finish by then. 2 guest spots in GA and Bmore this summer and 1 or 2 other trips as well to SF and NY as well. Gonna start getting my back done real soon, that'll be a long time coming. Whole lotta shit going on and I'm spending too much time on the internet these days. So much so that I'm blundering into careless posts; I have curb a couple of forums for the sake of not being tempted to waste time. Not being able to post will actually be an awesome thing I'm doing.
Hopefully I've been able to be a mostly positive/helpful presence here and all that. The folks here that I know or follow me, I'll be in touch when I'm in your city and/or when those 2 shows come up.
Keep it up here everybody, it's been good!

Got 2 art shows coming up later this year and have plenty of work to finish by then. 2 guest spots in GA and Bmore this summer and 1 or 2 other trips as well to SF and NY as well. Gonna start getting my back done real soon, that'll be a long time coming. Whole lotta shit going on and I'm spending too much time on the internet these days. So much so that I'm blundering into careless posts; I have curb a couple of forums for the sake of not being tempted to waste time. Not being able to post will actually be an awesome thing I'm doing.
Hopefully I've been able to be a mostly positive/helpful presence here and all that. The folks here that I know or follow me, I'll be in touch when I'm in your city and/or when those 2 shows come up.
Keep it up here everybody, it's been good!

Got 2 art shows coming up later this year and have plenty of work to finish by then. 2 guest spots in GA and Bmore this summer and 1 or 2 other trips as well to SF and NY as well. Gonna start getting my back done real soon, that'll be a long time coming. Whole lotta shit going on and I'm spending too much time on the internet these days. So much so that I'm blundering into careless posts; I have curb a couple of forums for the sake of not being tempted to waste time. Not being able to post will actually be an awesome thing I'm doing.
Hopefully I've been able to be a mostly positive/helpful presence here and all that. The folks here that I know or follow me, I'll be in touch when I'm in your city and/or when those 2 shows come up.
Keep it up here everybody, it's been good!

Back-piece finished a few weeks ago.
Valerie Vargas, Frith Street Tattoo, London

I just wanna give you the heads-up that talking about specific $ amounts here is in kind of poor taste and discouraged. I mean, how much IS a tattoo worth to you? How much is that tattooers service worth to you? A tip is a sign of appreciation for the service above and beyond the agreed upon price. When you tip your artist you are also tipping the front desk as well; that person gets tipped out by the artists at the end of the day. That person has a hard and dirty job; no matter what the hourly wage is they are still in an extemely high-risk profession.
Tipping in general in the states is a bigger deal than you might think. Do you know that servers/waiters/waitresses here make WAY less than minimum wage? Employers can get away with paying one as little as $2.13 an hour. That means when you don't tip that person you really fucked up their day. I had more than a few jobs before I started tattooing and being a server was one of them for about 2 years. I know what a good tip means; that 1 person or table made all the difference that day/shift. No, your tattooer isn't in that same boat as a server but good client behavior also = good customer behavior in the outside-the-shop world as well.
I haven't read much more than 1 or 2 pages in this entire thread so if all of this was said somewhere previously then you can give me the late pass.
When a client gives me a tip of any amount these days I don't care how much it is, I'm just happy to see how stoked they are. Even broke-ass college students will make a point to do it.
I'm glad to see that you re-considered doing it from now on.
- - - Updated - - -
Also wanted to say that what you got from your Smith St visits are fucking bad-ass.

I got a dagger through a skull and a snake because, really unless I added a panther how much better can that get?

I just wanna give you the heads-up that talking about specific $ amounts here is in kind of poor taste and discouraged. I mean, how much IS a tattoo worth to you? How much is that tattooers service worth to you? A tip is a sign of appreciation for the service above and beyond the agreed upon price. When you tip your artist you are also tipping the front desk as well; that person gets tipped out by the artists at the end of the day. That person has a hard and dirty job; no matter what the hourly wage is they are still in an extemely high-risk profession.
Tipping in general in the states is a bigger deal than you might think. Do you know that servers/waiters/waitresses here make WAY less than minimum wage? Employers can get away with paying one as little as $2.13 an hour. That means when you don't tip that person you really fucked up their day. I had more than a few jobs before I started tattooing and being a server was one of them for about 2 years. I know what a good tip means; that 1 person or table made all the difference that day/shift. No, your tattooer isn't in that same boat as a server but good client behavior also = good customer behavior in the outside-the-shop world as well.
I haven't read much more than 1 or 2 pages in this entire thread so if all of this was said somewhere previously then you can give me the late pass.
When a client gives me a tip of any amount these days I don't care how much it is, I'm just happy to see how stoked they are. Even broke-ass college students will make a point to do it.
I'm glad to see that you re-considered doing it from now on.
- - - Updated - - -
Also wanted to say that what you got from your Smith St visits are fucking bad-ass.

things shot full of arrows
Well we have a thread about arrows but it's not linking.

Just because you got something stabbing through your head doesn't mean that you're having a bad time

Apologies. Can't get a better wrap around pic myself at present so stolen from her blog.
Drawn on Eagle Vs Snake piece by the amazingly talented Valerie Vargas, Frith Street Tattoo, London.

The votes have been counted, and the winner of this month's contest is....
@TrixieFaux
with her gorgeous sleeve from Kim Saigh. Congrats!!

Please PM @steve1461686340 with your shirt info (size and male or female) along with your address.
Thanks to everyone for your submissions! New contest will be up soon.

I like the ideas here. I feel that where I love now many people EXPECT to be tipped for a job being done regardless of their performance. This has actually made me want to tip
People way more when I recognize they are personalizing the experience.
I've been putting thought into how to tip for a large tattoo, especially now considering what irezumi said about it contributing to the shop guys as well.

I've been to two well regarded London studios recently (Family Business and Black Garden). Being English, I felt terribly awkward about the whole tipping thing but wanted to express my appreciation for what I consider to have been great experiences all round. Both times I asked at the desk on my way out and received the same answer: not expected but appreciated. I also asked how much and was told that most people don't tip at all so anything is great, they gave me a suggested range and I went with the upper limit of that range (because I'm in a position to do so, but I didn't feel it was expected). It wasn't a percentage, they gave me a range regardless of total tattoo cost.
I hadn't considered the shop folk, but now I've read that I'm doubly glad that I tipped as much as I could. In both shops they were fantastic.
Anyway, hope that helps a bit when people are trying to decide whether to tip or not in the UK.

I must've missed a post here, and
thank you.*edited thoughtless post

I must've missed a post here, and
thank you.*edited thoughtless post

Whilst I understand where you are coming from, I can't help but feel that there are more similarities than you'd think.
I am a bartender, I'm not a college kid working in a bar for some extra cash or someone who can't find any other form of employment. This is the profession that will feed my family someday, and I take my work seriously. When you go into a bar and order an Old Fashioned, your not just buying a drink, your buying a memory and an experience- you should be treated with attention, care and respect.
Tipping is a recognition that you have received that respect, if your bartender doesn't do this then you shouldn't tip him. He needs to learn. I don't think it really matters if you run food or make beautiful tattoos for a living, you tip because you appreciate the service you've received.
I always tip my tattooer and I'm super pleased to learn that some of that tip will make its way to the front desk, because a good tattoo shop, like a good bar is a rare and wonderful thing and i can imagine it takes a hell of a lot of work to get right.

@irezumi I agree. I guess each of us has to find our own method. And you're right. Many people simply wont listen. I teach english and history. I'm a professional writer. I earn my keep via teaching and writing. I spend hours trying to get my students to follow certain, basic steps, and invariably many chose to ignore me - then they wonder why they were not successful. You can lead a horse to water, right?

I tried a dry heal a couple of times and they healed up perfectly fine. Just itchy as hell for me, more so than other heals. I still prefer what I've found works best for me.

@Mark Bee I've tried about 20 ways to skin the cat; as a tattooer I should be familiar with as many methods as possible for the sake of relaying that to clients. Getting tattooed for the last 25 years has allowed me to try just about all of them. Yeah the worst of it was the itch; they healed great. The one I got from Ron Wells a bunch of years ago was the first one I tried it on and it looks just as good as any of my others. In fact I did it again a second time due to ease of traveling with a different one just a few months ago.
I've already found what works best for me a long time ago and I never tell that one to clients because most people are dumb and don't listen.

I tried a dry heal a couple of times and they healed up perfectly fine. Just itchy as hell for me, more so than other heals. I still prefer what I've found works best for me.

Yeah I probably shouldn't have mentioned that, I have started tipping since, I understand the way it works and tip everything in America or Canada depending on where I am,
It's just a big cultural thing from England, where it's more the price you see is the price you pay unless the service is excellent, and usually only in a restaurant
I do love my tattoos and this thread has changed my opinion of the matter a lot, not that I wasn't doing it on purpose before it had just never crossed my mind
And thank you I've got a healed one from Bert I should post soon

I'm sorry to hear you had a rough heal. I always use the dry heal method, to great success. I agree with @irezumi that it can get crazy itchy, but that has always been the worst of it for me. I wash my new tattoos in hot water and soap two or three times over the first two days. Then I leave it alone and forget about it, as best I can. The thinking behind the dry heal is that the human body is an amazing machine with fantastic ability to heal itself. For those of us that swear by the dry heal, we say get out of the way, and let your body do its work.
That said, each of us finds our own best way to heal, as no two bodies are the same. I encourage people to try different methods and stick with what works best for you. After your experience, I'd be tempted to avoid dry-healing. I hope you find the method that works best for you! There are threads here dedicated to this very topic.
Good luck!

I just wanna give you the heads-up that talking about specific $ amounts here is in kind of poor taste and discouraged. I mean, how much IS a tattoo worth to you? How much is that tattooers service worth to you? A tip is a sign of appreciation for the service above and beyond the agreed upon price. When you tip your artist you are also tipping the front desk as well; that person gets tipped out by the artists at the end of the day. That person has a hard and dirty job; no matter what the hourly wage is they are still in an extemely high-risk profession.
Tipping in general in the states is a bigger deal than you might think. Do you know that servers/waiters/waitresses here make WAY less than minimum wage? Employers can get away with paying one as little as $2.13 an hour. That means when you don't tip that person you really fucked up their day. I had more than a few jobs before I started tattooing and being a server was one of them for about 2 years. I know what a good tip means; that 1 person or table made all the difference that day/shift. No, your tattooer isn't in that same boat as a server but good client behavior also = good customer behavior in the outside-the-shop world as well.
I haven't read much more than 1 or 2 pages in this entire thread so if all of this was said somewhere previously then you can give me the late pass.
When a client gives me a tip of any amount these days I don't care how much it is, I'm just happy to see how stoked they are. Even broke-ass college students will make a point to do it.
I'm glad to see that you re-considered doing it from now on.
- - - Updated - - -
Also wanted to say that what you got from your Smith St visits are fucking bad-ass.

I tried a dry heal a couple of times and they healed up perfectly fine. Just itchy as hell for me, more so than other heals. I still prefer what I've found works best for me.

This isn't necessarily awful advice.
There is an aftercare school of thought that if you keep a tattoo clean and avoid picking, abrasion etc then it will heal fine. I haven't always used this method but when I have it hasn't caused any problems in the long term although heavier dryness or scabbing can be a feature.
Applying product of one kind or another can relieve a feeling of dryness / stretching and in some cases prevent heavy scabbing, but the flipside is some people invariably over-apply at first. A secondary argument is that every time you handle the tattoo and apply something there could be an issue if your hands aren't clean. Just keeping it to washing eliminated a lot of fingering.
If the tattoo really healed that badly then maybe the bigger issue is the ability of the artist versus the aftercare. If (if!) he was a complete butcher then no choice of aftercare would salvage it.
His response to you as quoted is undoubtedly poor. Vote with your feet and go elsewhere for a good cover-up.