Grant

That was where I got my last tattoo

That was where I got my last tattoo

Just an update, my business launched and we're going strong. I won't be mentioning the name of my business because i don't feel its a good idea to use LST to advertise, so if you wan't details. Let me know!

Just an update, my business launched and we're going strong. I won't be mentioning the name of my business because i don't feel its a good idea to use LST to advertise, so if you wan't details. Let me know!

current things i am doing that i consider awesome;
Broadening my programming capabilities
Starting up my own company (Something i believe is awesome because i have the commitment to do it at a young age)
Thats about it really...

Hello, I'm Grant, I've been a stalker of your forums for quite some time. However i now feel i am eligible to join the forums due to the fact i recently got my first tattoo. Props goes to Joe Ellis from Lab Monkey at Stirling, Scotland.

All in favor say aye.
Aye!

Hello all, another lurker who has finally signed up!
I've been following the forum for a while now and love watching the artist interview videos.
I'm Colin from Aberdeen in the North of Scotland. So far in my short life of getting tattooed I have work from Richard Pinch, Paul Slifer, Jason Corbett, Sarah Schor, Andrea Furci and Kerry-Anne Richardson and I am booked in for my next tattoo with Marcus McGuire in January which will be a change from my other somewhat traditional tattoos.
Thanks for looking!

Definitely hear that!
I travel a lot for bidness, and try to check out the local shops wherever I go. I usually just take a look at the portfolios that are on display, maybe watch some work being done, if I can do that without getting up in anyone's space. If anyone asks, I tell them I'm just sightseeing, and unless I'm in full long-sleeves and suitcoat mode, which is rare, I've got ink sticking out. Typically, when they see that, things are a bit freindlier, but I have gone into some places where a bad attitude seems to be a job requirement!
I was in downtown Seattle, I don't remember the name of the place, and a young-ish (to me) guy was standing in the doorway of a tattoo parlor waiting for customers and having a smoke. I stopped in, took a look around, and wasn't terribly impressed. The proprietor was Brazilian, quite hip, and since I was in a tee-shirt, proceeded to tell me how he could tattoo my right arm white, three sessions, and "cover-up all that mess" (about 30 hours of Miles Maniaci tying up older pieces by Dale Grande) and replace it with HIS work which would be far superior.
Couldn't believe it, but he was actually serious. Somehow, I resisted the temptaion.

I agree. Also, if I could afford (or when I can) to make it to California, booking an appointment with Chris Conn would be at the top of the agenda.
To get back on the topic of pet peeves...for me, the only big one I've encountered from a customer's perspective is having to listen to stupid, offensive shit. I realize that a lot of people would consider me to be overly PC, which is fine (I disagree to a large extent with what most people consider to be "political correctness" and see it more as "not being an asshole", but whatever), but it definitely turns me off to hear racist or homophobic shit when I'm getting tattooed. On one trip to a pretty well-known shop, my buddy that I was staying with (who is gay) decided that he wanted a tattoo too and came with and got tattooed. He was super stoked on it and really liked the dude that we both got tattooed by, but during his tattoo a couple of the other tattooers hanging out made a few gay jokes (unrelated to my friend), and it was pretty awkward and uncomfortable for both of us for a minute. Consequently, I probably won't ever get tattooed by those dudes, despite them making rad tattoos. With a finite amount of skin and a Want list longer than I'll ever be able to get through, I want to enjoy my tattoo experience as much as possible, so I'm gonna go with the tattooer I don't worry about having to endure hearing go off on some "faggot" shit during my session.

Agreed. Wasn't the purpose of the thread at all.

I don't remember what lead me Last Sparrow. My guess was the old time tattoo photos thread by Nick Colella. I was following his work a lot back then, waiting to go to Chicago and get tattooed by him. Btw Just booked plane tickets to go back in Jan and sent an email to Erik Gillespie today, waiting patiently to hear back. Regardless I will get tattooed, I just hope it's with him.

I will definitely be checking that out! Any new material i can use to broaden my knowledge of tattooing as a whole is good material to me. Thanks for the stuff dude.
So you are the famous Valerie Vargas, Pleasure to meet you.
I think you just got put onto my, "Must get tattooed by" List :)

I will definitely be checking that out! Any new material i can use to broaden my knowledge of tattooing as a whole is good material to me. Thanks for the stuff dude.
So you are the famous Valerie Vargas, Pleasure to meet you.
I think you just got put onto my, "Must get tattooed by" List :)

current things i am doing that i consider awesome;
Broadening my programming capabilities
Starting up my own company (Something i believe is awesome because i have the commitment to do it at a young age)
Thats about it really...

current things i am doing that i consider awesome;
Broadening my programming capabilities
Starting up my own company (Something i believe is awesome because i have the commitment to do it at a young age)
Thats about it really...

Keep Tattoo forums for Tattooing and Piercing forums for piercings.
Personally i love both,
But as a rule of thumb, i get pierced by a Body Piercer and tattooed by a tattoo artist.
I wouldn't mix the two together, they're individual.

I will definitely be checking that out! Any new material i can use to broaden my knowledge of tattooing as a whole is good material to me. Thanks for the stuff dude.
So you are the famous Valerie Vargas, Pleasure to meet you.
I think you just got put onto my, "Must get tattooed by" List :)

All of those links will make a very pleasant read :) Cheers for the links :D

I will definitely be checking that out! Any new material i can use to broaden my knowledge of tattooing as a whole is good material to me. Thanks for the stuff dude.
So you are the famous Valerie Vargas, Pleasure to meet you.
I think you just got put onto my, "Must get tattooed by" List :)

current things i am doing that i consider awesome;
Broadening my programming capabilities
Starting up my own company (Something i believe is awesome because i have the commitment to do it at a young age)
Thats about it really...

All of those links will make a very pleasant read :) Cheers for the links :D

Good for you, but, wow. Last Sparrow Piercing.
This feels like usenet in 1997. Sorry.
There are plenty of places online for this stuff, but nowhere else other than Last Sparrow for serious tattoo talk.
Yeah, I'm a dick.

gougetheeyes & hogg, both of you are posters on this forum that I've enjoyed reading for awhile, feel quite honored that you took the time to reply and said a welcome, thanks guys :)

While I can relate to being pissed off about general rudeness, I feel some things tattooists need to lighten up on. Basically being unknowledgable about tattoos in general, asking questions we have heard a million times before, bringing references on phones, wanting stuff that is too detailed or won't work. A gentle approach goes a long way.
The way I look at it, I patronize a lot of business where I don't know jack, and I don't appreciate being treated like an idiot for not being in the know. A good example is when I went back to my local print shop. I was asking why I couldn't open a certain file which was a flash sheet I had scanned to a tiff file. The print shop guy snapped at me "ITS A MULTI PAGE TIFF FILE!! YOU CAN'T OPEN IT UNLESS YOU HAVE PHOTOSHOP!!" I am like ok, can you change it to a file that I can open? Again snappage "I CAN'T DO THAT! YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE ORIGINAL IMAGE!" I am like "ok, I have that, could you please scan it again?". I also had them saved as PDFs for easy printing. So he was like "I am just going to change these PDFs into JPEGS". I said I would prefer to have both, as the PDFs print original size and all. Even more snappage " UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO PRINT THEM OUT, THERE IS NO USE". I calmly explain to him that they are commercial art, of course I am going to print them out. Then I ask if I have the jpegs and alter them, they can be saved into PDFs again, right? More snappage "ONLY IF YOU HAVE PHOTOSHOP!" The guy was literally yelling at me. Needless to say, I won't be doing business there again.
Think about that the next time a customer says asks about things that seem readily apparent to you. A lot of times people are not trying to be difficult. You are the expert, not them. Try and take this into consideration.