Deb Yarian

I hate doing parallel lines, perfect circles and upside down lettering.

Hi Henry it was nice seeing you in SF

looking forward to recieving your new set of flash

deb

Dean that tiger was done by Sofia ( formerly Deb Inksmith ) she was known for her beautiful tigers and big cats. Debbie was a popular name in the 50s and 60s and there were a bunch of us when we all started tattooing.

I wish I could say I had done it.

People often confuse us because we were both in Florida at the same time and our friendship with Paul.

I think when I sat in at Inksmith and Rogers -Eric wanted me to use a nickname so people wouldn't confuse us Ha!

Deb

I've often been out with a friend or relative who sees a work of art and says "you can do that" ---- and I point out that though I'm capable of of copying it , I wasn't inspired to do it in the first place!

You can apply it to tattooing as well.

And to use Mario's example of Mike Wilson--- I recently saw that someone had done Mike's panther woman painting as a tattoo.

Even though they gave Mike credit for the original design --- it went beyond appropriation and I couldn't see past that.

Yesterday a guy came in to my shop.

I really liked both of his sleeves. One arm was black and gray -done by a tattooist in Thailand and the other done by a tattooist in Oregon. Both arms had design and application elements that really impressed ( and moved ) me.

He was kind enough (and trusting ) to let me take photos of them.

Certainly I would never copy or trace designs from the pictures I took ---but it would be impossible ( and foolish in my opinion ) to not be influenced by them.

I will definitely rethink the way I draw certain things and refer to the photos.

Hi Tammy thanks for the welcome

Hey Nick---hope you are well also---will we see you next month?

Hi Lochlan thanks to you too.

The army brought us to Alaska. I met my husband Don when we tattooed together at a shop ( Fast Freddies ) outside of Fort Benning , Georgia in 1988-89. Don was a ranger instructor in the army then and learning to tattoo.

We were lucky that everywhere he was stationed there was a tattoo shop happy to have us.

There are 8 of us ---Don , myself and we've had 6 children---- not one of us born in the same state!

Our plans were for Don to retire and we had a job waiting for us working for Eric at Inksmith and Roger's

When we got up to Alaska though- in 2000- we loved it and knew we wanted to stay.

We were fortunate to get on at Larry Allen's Anchorage Tattoo Studio, an Alaskan staple for 35 years,

Don finished his commitment to the army while working a full shift at Larry's.

Larry was an apprentice of Cliff Raven's.

We worked happily for Larry and then 2 years ago we opened up closer to home , in Eagle River.

There are only 600,000 people in all of Alaska. 1/2 the population live pretty close to Anchorage.

A lot of military, govt. workers, fishermen and whores (just kidding) I threw that in. Anyway a lot of people have been up here---- Paul Rogers, Huck Spaulding, Don Nolan, Tom Yeoman (sp?), Lyle Tuttle and most recently Zeke Owen.

Well thanks for having me -

Deb

Hi all and thanks Chad for pointing me this way.

I'm Debra Yarian.

I've been a tattooer for 30+ years -starting in NY, working my way south and finally, winding up in Alaska for the past 10 years.

I tattoo with my husband, Don - at our shop in Eagle River - not too far from Anchorage.

I'm looking forward to participating here.