Abellve

Comparing an okay shop owned by someone who doesn't tattoo and a bad shop owned by someone who does is hardly reasonable. A bad shop is a bad shop whether the owner tattoos or not so that's moot. There are a million things going on that are hurting this industry. The trend of outsiders buying a piece of our trade is the issue and frankly I think client/collectors should just support shops and artists they like, starve the ones they don't...and maybe leave weighing in on the fate of the industry to the ones whose livelihoods depend on it.

I've only ever known one guy who owned a shop and didn't tattoo that was cool. Tattooing was his family and he took care of it. But for that one exception, the old code was how he ran things and this thing we do was better having had him in it. On the other, vastly more full hand...I've seen so many awful shops run by outsiders who think the only thing their business needs to really take off is one more gimmick -- because in today's mall mentality the more marketing and gimmicks you have the less people are going to pick up on the low grade crap you're pushing. They want to run them like some kind of mashup between a strip club and a Spencer's Gifts so they can sell that cutting edge, mallternative vibe while the actual work takes a back seat. After all, it's just a product and we're used to buying cheap, low-quality products, right? They have no place in our business. They can make bad calls, run the business down, force bad legislation because they can't self-police something they don't understand, flood the market with garbage and then...walk away...because they didn't invest their lives into it, just their money. They see it as an investment so who cares what happens to it after they've had their go at it?

Welcome. Congratulations on nearly twenty years tattooing. That humility you have goes a long way, it sounds like you have a great attitude toward tattooing. I'm sure you'll find this to be a great forum...and don't worry too much about your English. I'm sure you'll get by just fine.

That's awesome. Not just "good for a hardcore guy" but straight up good stuff.

Right and as I understand it, the forum with good reason, doesn't want trade information on the boards. (Tattoo Newbie Guidelines) Not the forum police, just trying to help out. "Do not start threads asking about specific tattooing equipment or techniques, LST is not here to teach anyone how to tattoo...Do not start threads regarding closely guarded trade secrets - this will keep LST a much more welcoming place for everyone, tattooers and enthusiasts alike. "

Keith Caputo put out a good song/video, Got Monsters (it was credited to Keith when I saw it anyway). While we're on the topic of singers and musicians that cross gender lines, anybody here listen to Antony and the Johnsons? He's got a...unique singing style, not to everybody's liking but I play the hell out of the album I Am a Bird Now. It deals a lot with his gender(s)...and has all kinds of guest vocals. Also, elsewhere, he does an amazing version of Leonard Cohen's If It Be Your Will.

What's a poll have to do with it? look back in history, public opinion would have (and has) said that owning other humans like livestock is fine, withholding women's right to vote is fine, killing people for their land is fine. Numbers are bullshit and mob rule doesn't make anything right. If embracing differences and backing people bold enough to be themselves in a world full of people that would rather see them dead than happy is dangerous nonsense, then watch out. I'm a world class threat...and I will press the issue.

Totally understand. I have a tendency to miss someone's tone in type.

@smiling.politely -- I see now. I misunderstood. Yeah, after the fact I thought someone might think I was only highlighting the (perceived) bad. Really I was just saying that one thing was odd, clearly the rest wasn't. My mistake. As to your post, right on. It can't be an easy decision to reach, much less to make publicly and with a wife. You really find out who's behind you when you choose a path that polarizing -- whether it should be or not.

Somehow that strikes me as an odd thing to say on a tattoo forum.

@Hunter Morrow...First, I think a person's ability to approach and speak of others with dignity and respect is a lot more telling than their gender (chosen/changed or otherwise) and given the choice, I'd much prefer to grab a drink with someone who makes their choices and faces the unkind world as they've chosen to live than someone spewing judgement, ridicule and hate. Second, how people identify themselves isn't an act against another person. He didn't do this *to* his wife. Third, fetishes are about sex not gender -- sex is something you do, gender is something you are. Or, more succinctly, "People care too much about other people's dicks/cunts." ( @Ursula)

I'm w @irezumi here, no to the first, yes to the second. They're charging piles of money to give eager suckers just enough "information" to make a mess, harm people and pump up their egos as "qualified tattoo artists". Add to that misinforming eventual clients about the value of a piece of paper handed out after a few weeks playing "tattooist" vs a hard earned apprenticeship under a qualified mentor who is vetting people for the good of the industry. There is a tradition and a method in place because it works. These types of establishments do not serve tattooing and they do not serve the "student"...they do however tend to $erve the people running them.

If my television has taught me anything about tattooing, Kat Von D is the hallmark of professional tattooing and an inspiration to "tattooists" everywhere.

Not to make your welcome too hostile, I swear this is a really nice place to be, but you call yourself "tattooist"...and it's my understanding that you don't tattoo? That's not cool. In fact it's the exact opposite of cool. You may find that a lot of us who take our industry seriously feel strongly about our hard-earned place in it. Words mean things.

True. Context is everything and you either have to disambiguate or prepare for people to not "get it".

Right, certainly people get St. peter's cross on occasion for St. Peter and inverted crosses for its anti Christian or metal sentiments...but the op is talking specifically about people that get it "facing them"...in their heads it's not inverted at all. Usually. It seems to be girls, not unlike script words on the wrist or forearm...the difference is, when you see "faith" written upside-down, you know it says "faith" and that it's upside-down. It strikes me as odd that people getting crosses in places that are visible and readable to the public get them in such an easily misinterpreted way though.

I'm all for visible tattoos...for some people. They're as healthy as the state of the mind of the person getting them -- no more and no less. You just have to know what you're getting into and why. For what it's worth, I have my arms, knuckles and neck tattooed -- not for people's reactions but despite them.

Great stuff on here, lots of classics and future classics for sure. I'm surprised, as flash goes, that no one mentioned the Martin LaCasse sheet from a few years back. One full body, four heads, all awesome.

Certainly a tattooer's ability is separate from their appearance. My qualm with non-tattooed tattooers isn't about the work, it's about principle. This is an industry best served and preserved by people who are truly invested. How important can tattoos be to someone if they wouldn't have them on their own precious bodies or choose to openly identify with this thing we're part of? I used to work with a girl who tattooed for a few years without tattoos til she finally heard enough about it and got tattooed...conservatively, where they can be hidden. She was a competent tattooer but she spoke of it as if it were just a medium. She might just as easily have been doing anything a "creative" is know to do. She demonstrated time and time again that it was just an extension of her hardcore-kid/scene-points persona (her words) File Under: Shop owners who don't tattoo (There are very few exceptions)

I haven't had that, but their LaSanta in the sherry cask is amazing. So much whisky, so little time.

There it is, man. All the difference in the world.

I've done DEAD BOYS, SICK and SANE. Two of my friends let me decide on theirs.. One was on tour with his band, just off another tour talking about how worn out he was from it all. One night at the bar, I told him he should get ROAD WORN. He said he wasn't getting his knuckles done...then he got them as soon as he returned. The other had a few ideas and...has a history with the ladies. He was about to get GIVE and TAKE and as he was walking out for a cigarette, I suggested WALK AWAY -- as a warning to the girls he meets. He came back from his smoking/thinking beak and we did it. I have STAY TRUE on mine. Nothing original, I know. The night before I got them it was down to that, DARK DAYS or REST EASY and while I didn't get the coolest one, it's where my head was at and needed to be. I ride an old Triumph and my buddy's a goldsmith. I had him make me a huge silver ring with the T patterned after my tank badge. I wear it on my right ring finger so it still says STAY TRUE.

Ha. Yeah. Before it was all cool kids, it was outsiders, guys on the fringe.

...and Norman Keith "Sailor Jerry" Collins. Originally it was a way to separate yourself from your family name because of tattooing's shady or carny connotations. Not these idiots though. They sure as hell aren't doing it to spare their families or give a nod to their tattoo roots. They sound like bad pornstar names.

Right? Draw poorly, shade competently and whammo -- dwarf. I don't remember that being part of the input for that tattoo. No one told these kids pinups are long and lean? I freely admit to watching Inkmasters and my wife wanted to watch this one but after that last episode even she agreed it was unwatchable -- even ironically. I can't believe they get their egos pumped up by being called ten of the best tattoo artists and they don't even know the basics. Do your homework, kids. Leave tv to the washed up celebrities and housewives.