guitguy

I have to agree with you guys. There is some excellent work coming out of the Okey Doke. Franz Stefanik's work is top-notch. I know what you mean, Shaun, about his style compared to Tim's. I think anyone would be proud to sport his work on their skin.

Thanks @Shaun1105. I just checked out the Okey Doke website and yeah, there is some pretty stellar work coming out of there. Do you find that Tim and Franz have similiar styles? I was really impressed with the work of Alex Snelgrove, especially the hand poked stuff. Wow! I had seen her name here on LST but had no idea she worked in Toronto. Very cool.

Well, for better or worse, here's a brand new pic of my first tatoo. I still love it despite its obvious short comings, although, it has looked better to me in the mirror than it does in the pic. Ugh! LOL! It is now between 29 and 26 years old.
I metioned a few deatails about it the "Dropping the bomb..." thread.
The original design and tattoo was done by Carol Nightingale.
Carol "Smokey" Nightingale
I was recently flabergasted to find out that the old guy is still around after hearing stories to the contrary.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=442403932478914&set=pb.158616314191012.-2207520000.1370246089.&type=3&theater
Kinda cool. Any way, in terms of the tattoo......
Origanally done in the winter of '83, it was re-done and had birds and filagree added by George Lewis in Kitchener, Ontario around '86 or so. At this point I don't know who to blame for what LOL.....but I still love this. It's mine and I meant it at the time and I still do.
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Feel free to imagine wher the red used to be LOL

They both do quality traditional work, but I wouldn't otherwise call their style similar. The stuff Franz does is 'simpler' - but not in a bad way. If you compare the bird/rose tattoo that Tim did of mine with the lantern that Franz did you may note the difference. The way Tim blended the colors on the bird isn't something that Franz would do (not saying he couldn't, just doesn't that I've seen).

THIS
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dlozeau/5531302786/
My love of Freddy Mercury and skeletons combined!

@ Erica....."Ahhhhh.....'Tish......" :)
That's so cool. Congrats.

I just Googled Tom of Finland sitting here at work. I think I'm flagged by IT now. Thanks.

Matt Arriola , Liberty Tattoo

I'm in Southern Ontario as well. I was also tattooed by Tim Pausinger, he does indeed do great work. I echo the sentiments of others that staying on top of when The Pearl has guest artists come through means that you will be able to be tattooed by some of the world's finest without ever having to travel. I don't know if the shop publicizes them, but I have been made aware of guests coming either by this site (probably from @Mark_Bee) or through the guests websites. I am keeping my eye out for the next time Nick Colella comes through.
I have also been tattooed by a young tattooer named Franz Stefanik, who was in Burlington at the time but has recently moved to the Okey Doke in Toronto. His style of traditional is a bit different, but I really like it. From what I've seen of the portfolios of the other guys at that shop they do good work also. Tim mentioned that shop in a positive way while he was tattooing me, actually.

Hi everyone,
Another former lurker/ new member. I have been checking out this forum for about a year now and have become a much more frequent visitor in the last few months and decided I might as well join. Seems like a great thing is going on here. A wealth of info and a lot of interesting people.
At the age of 44 I am still what might be considered a novice with 5 tattoos (not counting a few little hand poked things I did myself at age 14...haha....I still love them). And my tattoo experiences have been rather few and far between. First one at 16, second one at 17, then a huge lull until my 30s. My 5th and largest piece was done just short of my birthday last year. I have had a fascination with tattooing since childhood that has never left me. Even through said lull, I stayed interested and was a big fan of tattoo publications throughout the 90s. I remember quite clearly reading the Freddy Corbin "Mr. Niceguy" article among others and now wonder if I still have those mags in storage somewhere. Nowadays I am hooked on "Tattoo Age" and "The Gypsy Gentleman". IMHO, they can't make enough of those and I've had to watch them all a number of times.
My first tattoos were not terrible, but not great either. But, they are mine and I still dig them. I have become quite fussy however, in terms of who puts needle to my skin. The turning point was getting a piece from Tim Hendricks some years back as a walk in in Miami. It is just a small, very simple traditional piece but, the quality of it turned my head. I then knew what flawless line work and shading looked like and it ruined me, in a good way. I had no idea who Tim was at the time but, I sure found out and have followed his work ever since and have made it a goal to have him work on me again. Flight from Toronto to Cali are a bitch on many levels though lol!
I have the itch almost constantly and am always thinking about where and what my next piece will be. I am foremost a fan of American Traditional and have become a fan of Steve Byrne, Valerie Vargas, the crew of Smith Street and countless others. I also love traditional japanese. I also have a serious fascination with the work of Thomas Hooper right now. I am rather jealous of folks who live in near proximity to these great artists but also know there is a lot of talent right in my backyard. My last pice was done by Tim Pausinger at The Pearl Harbor Gift Shop in Toronto. Great shop and Tim is a fine young man and talented tattooer with many great years ahead of him.
I would love to hear from people about artists in this neck of the woods that they have experience with and would reccomend. I do quite a bit of research but, sometimes it gets kinda mind boggling with so much info out there. Sometimes my eyes begin to cross and all the shit looks the same ;)
Anyways, thanks for reading. I look forward to becoming an active member of this community. Cheers!
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Oh, I would be remiss if I did not mention Scott Sylvia's interviews as an obsession of mine along with the Tattoo Age and Gypsy Gentleman docs. The interviews are awesome and educational. My fave has to be the Oliver Peck one. Fucking hilarious! What a character!

Well, for better or worse, here's a brand new pic of my first tatoo. I still love it despite its obvious short comings, although, it has looked better to me in the mirror than it does in the pic. Ugh! LOL! It is now between 29 and 26 years old.
I metioned a few deatails about it the "Dropping the bomb..." thread.
The original design and tattoo was done by Carol Nightingale.
Carol "Smokey" Nightingale
I was recently flabergasted to find out that the old guy is still around after hearing stories to the contrary.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=442403932478914&set=pb.158616314191012.-2207520000.1370246089.&type=3&theater
Kinda cool. Any way, in terms of the tattoo......
Origanally done in the winter of '83, it was re-done and had birds and filagree added by George Lewis in Kitchener, Ontario around '86 or so. At this point I don't know who to blame for what LOL.....but I still love this. It's mine and I meant it at the time and I still do.
- - - Updated - - -
Feel free to imagine wher the red used to be LOL

i really enjoyed this interview too. i knew that bill baker had left eikon a while ago and could see they were adding products just to make money. the metered power supply is probably one of the greatest things that has happened to tattooing and it's a shame that buying one supports the people who forced him out.

I do have to say I did show this to people at my BBQ today. I really like it. (Yea they did call me a tattoo nerd for sitting on my phone on LST).

Done by Darcy Nutt while she was guesting at Providence Tattoo :)

Got this Rock of Ages from Joe Ellis while he was guesting at Lab Monkey Tattoo:

I personally can't stand when people try and crowbar deep and pretentious meanings and symbolism into tattoos, simply because it often compromises the design in the first place. If there's a meaning, keep it simple and obvious! I look at how awesome the tattoo is, and never read the meanings behind it.

No matter what "deeper meaning" or statement I was trying to make with my earlier tattoos, they have come to simply represent my state of being at the moment I got the tattoo - the script on my arms says one thing, but the "meaning" has much more to do with the people and places surrounding me than a literal definition. The rose and dagger on my leg pretty much just means "I like good tattoos."

I found this pretty fascinating. I have been very curious about Bill's story and haven't really come up with much info in my research other than his being a tattooer of 30 years and some people singing his praises. He has no portfolio to speak of (for reasons mentioned in this interview). It seems pretty rare to have someone still in the game after 30 years. It's largely for that reason I have wanted to get tattooed by him and if this interview gets around, that may become harder than it already is, but I share this anyway ;) I have been tattooed at The Pearl Harbor Gift Shop by Tim Pausinger and I can say that the shop and crew is nothing short of awesome. Enjoy....
Swallows&Daggers | Interviews | Bill Baker Interview (Part 1)

All of my tattoos have really deep meaning and symbolism behind them... it just so happens that the deep meaning is that I think they look fucking cool and are symbols of things that I think look fucking cool.

Hey man, well thanks for asking about it! I'm definitely with you, tattoos with deeper meaning are really fascinating to me and I'd like to keep working more with deliberate imagery. I think it adds more of a talisman effect to the tattoo when you can pinpoint exactly what the image means and why it has an impact on your life. I guess it really comes down to symbolism, and pretty much all tattoos in of themselves are essentially symbols. I could talk ad nauseum about symbolism and tattoos, but I'll save that for the right conversation. :)

Wow, that's quite a lot of interesting stuff in there. I knew there was something in that image, just had no idea what.
That's actually one thing that disappoints me about a lot of posts showing people's tattoos. There's rarely enough explanation to go with it, leaving me with unsatisfied curiosity.
Yeah, I thought it was weird and cool and just had to ask. I only have boring tattoos. But I'm working on it.

This is the walk in piece that I got from Tim Hendricks in Miami in 2006. As stated in my intro post, it is simple, traditional and, imho, f**king awesome ;)
This pic was taken earlier this evening, June 2, 2013 by my patient room mate. It resides on my left pec. We took a few shots and then the hairy beast that I am decided to do a bit of shaving to do it justice. I'm itchy already lol!!! I have some pics of the session that I hope to reclaim from a broken computer.
This tattoo means a lot me on many levels. And, it may give me the distinction of being one of very few people to have their mother-in-law's name tattooed over their heart :)

This was also the first of my tattoos that I didn't pick off the wall....I had an idea, among many others that I didn't bother to pursue because time was too precious.Keep in mind, I had no idea who was working on me. Just a super cool nice dude with obvious skill. While we waied, we watched him complete a b&g army helicopter scene on a gentleman's back that was amazing.
It was the first time I had an tattoer interperet an idea for me. Without detailing the whole experience, when he came back with the drawing I had to take some time with it because, although it contained the elements I was after, it was different compositionally than what I had in my minds eye at the time. Perfect lesson in "Trust Your Artist -101". It was a great lesson for me, again, on many levels. Thanks Tim. I look at his every day and love as much if not more than the day I got it :)

“So, before I left, I had said to people, I really wanna become a better tattooer technically and mechanically. I really want to understand what the fuck I’m doing. Cause I felt bad. The same way I felt like I was a jerk cause I never even had my grade 10, I felt like I’m a jerk cause I’m making a lot of money and people think I’m doing real good, and I am just flailing away. I got no fucking idea what I’m doing, you know? And I thought I really owed it to everything that came before me and I owed it to myself to try and master the craft, and that was part of it for me. For most people, there were other reasons. They were doing their best, or whatever. But for me, it wasn’t enough to be successful and have money – that stuff didn’t matter to me. I didn’t understand why certain needles were doing certain things. I couldn’t even wrap my mind around it.”
This pretty much is the reason why I look up to Bill. Pursuing the craft of tattooing in its entirety is what I signed up for and I just really admire his drive to understand every aspect of the craft simply as a trade. It's a very honest and humble approach, and I think you can really tell when people do what they do because it just makes their soul happy. This rules.

Thanks very much for posting this. What a great interview! Makes me really want to get back to The Pearl and get something new.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh thank you so much for posting this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean seriously, thank you!!! I got my hands on every copy of Machinegun Magazine not long ago, and I am OBSESSED with this man's life work. He is a truly remarkable individual, and I would genuinely say that I owe him a huge debt of gratitude. I'm gonna read the rest of this when I get home and contribute a little more to this discussion than fangirl-ism, haha. But yeah, cheers!