Valerie Vargas

i read that earlier today and yup, here's the shape of things to come.

your post mentioned a lot of tweaking @Stewart Robson

everyone's different, if i'm busy with custom work i would probably turn that down to concentrate on the stuff i have to draw up, but it also depends on the painting itself and whether the tattooer likes it and thinks can work as a tattoo

depends on the tattoo. ive seen black and grey tattoos on hands heal in under a week with almost no swelling and then ive seen traditional color ones stay swollen for days.

if i were you i would get the hand tattooed on the very last day and even better last thing on the last day.

my partner, when he got his tattooed, kept them super clean and put some bounty paper (sturdy kitchen paper towels over in the UK) between the tattoos and the gloves to absorb sweat and plasma. this meant he had to wash them between tattoos and reapply clean tissue. this helped a lot and they healed in no time.

I had to actually take time off to heal mine, they are bright red traditional roses on both hands and i suffered during the days after, everyone is different.

ps. i'd also take anti inflammatories if possible to help with the swelling.

I think a lot of this also stems from new artists not having a proper apprenticeship. Where drawing is a huge part of it. I have a friend that is an apprentice and one day they were told by the end of the week (had the full week to do it plus all the other duties they had) to draw and complete 200 completely different Koi designs to be inspected upon completion. This sort of training makes the apprentice know how to draw an image or alter one that a client brings in so that they can make it their own and not a direct copy.

i remember during the full length of my apprenticeship i had to draw pretty much all designs for the shop i was at, so that got me up to speed on the basics of initials, tribal, traditional and japanese style stuff, none of it awesome by any stretch of the imagination but it helped me understand reference and how to use it

haha, that woman also has the butterfly i did on El Wood's arm. i remember seeing this a while ago, think a customer pointed me to it over twitter. i dont really know what to say on the matter other than i think the biggest shame is for the owner of the original tattoo, they put their trust and money on that piece to have someone else get a nastier cheaper version.

ive had a couple of customers bring up this point after seeing a bad copy of their own tattoo online and the only thing to say on this matter is that at least you got the original and best.

i havent crossed words with customers that pass through frith st who wear bad copies of my work, i stay away from it and leave them to get tattooed by the other guys. i assume that when i open up my book at some point the people who wish to get work by me will, and the ones that keep getting cheap copies wont.

a while a go i finished a black and grey girl/tiger head backpiece and i remember stumbling across another artists website with a tshirt they designed and selling with a near enough tracing of the original design i did for my customers back with a tweak or two. ive since had the fortune to speak to said artist face to face and tell them how unhappy i was about it but they didnt apologise and instead chose to lie about it. but whatever, i told the owner of the backpiece and he was at first upset then kinda laughed about it thankfully.

I def post less and less work online, not purely through these type of happenings but they certainly do not help. my newest funnest work is now printed in photograph form and added to my physical portfolio at work/conventions. it is sadly a very much double edged sword, i just try to toe the line and not disappear entirely.

the whole 'do what you want' fills me with dread, mostly cos every time it crops up bar once they never really mean it. it usually involves me having to think about ideas, since they arent giving me anything to go on and taking time to develop them into a design.

the few times it's been requested of me, ive mentioned skulls or animals and i could see them shrug ever so slightly and then the words come out, 'i'm not really a fan of skulls...' or 'i was thinking more of a girl with a pocketwatch/magpie/victorian artefact...'

my thing is, that if you just want something, ask for it, dont tell me to go crazy then say youre not into what i just said, specially when im not even pushing the boat out.

it's not doing me a favour letting me do what i want, its giving me a headache, i much prefer some direction or a seed of an idea. the combination is much better than starting out cold. also, one week i might really wanna do a blood thirsty warrior and maybe i wanna do a 2 headed medieval dragon the next, my reference and influences change from week to week, i dont keep a list of things i wanna do, maybe some tattooers do but i dont.

my conclusion on this is, only ask your tattooer for whatever they wanna tattoo if you are 100% sure you can live with yourself wearing whatever they come up with on your skin forever, and if you can't, then give them a couple of ideas or ask if theres something theyve been thinking theyd like to do recently and keep it open.

huh, thats interesting. you hear a lot about 'adults' tattooing underagers in their houses but i guess we're moving into newspapers mentioning kids themselves tattooing other kids....

can the young scratchers get punished? will they go unpunished? man, i'd be so pissed if that was my kid.

very nice!

Roryq. Hawksmoor is daaaaamn good. Say hello to the guys at the shop if you get a chance to pop by

I can't check it out cos I don't have a Facebook but since my name got used I'm assuming it's the same guy some people hve already messaged me about.

I really loved Christian Bale in "The Fighter" and I recently saw "The Help" and really liked it.

tried to watch the flghter but lost my way and got bored of the overacting. the help however looks like a great feel good movie, would like to see it

SACSIS.org.za » News » The World » Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not

i read and this and i felt pride for iceland and it's people. such strentgh, it's really inspiring. makes me feel bad for not giving enough of a crap about what's going on around me....

we will @Jake, we barely got a look in at the japanese tea garden last time, doh!

ps, i'll make sure my iphone is safely tucked into my zipped jacket pocket!

roses, girls, demons, skulls, big cats, eagles, daggers, reapers, warriors, witches, usually the most basic traditional subjects in general

wow iwar, you must not have a bad tattoo on you, these are killer. hope you had a great time!

it's twee but i enjoyed alcatraz so much last time i visited. me and stewart spent a few hrs exploring the island and took about a million photos. i'm making notes of what to do this time that we didnt get time for last time already, the buffalo are in the top 5!

i try to do as little business over the internet as possible mostly due to misunderstandings etc. but when i travel its so important to keep in touch with customers, even then i will make notes (laptop and notepad) of deposits paid and appt times. it's not 100% fool proof but it helps. shame about this time, maybe next time slayer, ask friends who have been tattooed by them how they were, organisation wise. some tattooers are naturally forgetful or disorganised when it comes to their travels!

shige does that stuff better

*shakes head*

ps. i should really expand on my reaction as in i have nothing to say about his tattooing and his persona that could really describe how it all makes me feel. dispair is one of them. the less publicity that shit gets the better

has anyone seen hard candy? i let the guy i work with borrow it and he hated it. never did explain why but i thought it was pretty fucked up. now it didn't mess with me as much as requiem for a dream but still fucked up.

i was made to watch it cos my friend LOVED it and i absolutely hated it, the main reason was the main lead, hellen paige or something like that. she spoils every film she does, cant stand her style of precocious acting.

tips are good as a show of gratitude. i think refusing them is a bit strange. each to their own though. i tip my tattooer(s) with cash.

stewart can come across as intimidating regardless of his tattoos haha!

cool concept but i would never do it or let a customer do it while i tattooed them, my patience doesnt extend that much haha!

thats real nice of you to say tim, thank you. the shop i worked at before Frith st was owned by a non tattooer and at the time, i left with a real sour taste in my mouth. i wasnt sure about dante since i didnt know him but all i heard was good things from well respected tattooers and really, i was stoked to work at frith st, even for the one day a week i was started on. immediately i realised that this man knew and cared about tattooing more than i did then and probably even now.

He has been part of the tattooing 'scene' for many years now and well respected pillars of the scene call him friend. i'm proud to work there, to call him my boss and to be his friend. there's always an exception to the rule and as a shop i do feel we are one.

I've been long trying to buy my tattoo supplies from either people i know care about tattooing and from tattooers themselves. everyday is an ethical matter in tattooing, every choice you make affects tattooing and i have learnt to pick my battles carefully so to speak