deaddreamnation

Got this today. Tattooed by Jimmie Skuse, Les Skuses' grandson. Had a nice chat afterwards and Jimmie showed me a load of flash thats been submitted for a book he's working on. Great day.

Talk to the kid. Be stand up. Maybe the "learning opportunity" comes from you speaking to him directly and possibly getting any misunderstandings resolved, and reestablishing the good relationship you seemed to have had. It's easy to imagine all the probable wrongs that someone has directed personally at you (and I am using the royal you), when usually that's not the case. Just ask what happened, express your concern and go from there. Or walk away and do nothing. Otherwise you kill a relationship by being a dick. The world has enough dicks.

New signature.

Popped into The Pearl this morning to catch a session with Tim Pausinger before he left for the Xmas holidays. He basically finished my chest piece. In January we'll link the shoulders and arms to it. He is also going to do some spider webbing between the tattoo and the bottom of my pecs.
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In progress by Tomo at Yellow Blaze.
Painful to say the least, but it's taking shape after 4 sessions.
Home tomorrow!
From his Instagram.

Got something from Scott Sylvia yesterday. I'll post a picture in a few.

picked this up yesterday from Danielle Rose, so happy with it

Operation Double Dobleman Thighs is now complete:

Between this and my Pharaoh's Horses, I couldn't be happier. (No jokes about what's actually between this and the horses, please.)

With all the recent Pharaoh's Horses talk I thought I'd share mine. Done by Grez at the Bay Area Tattoo Convention.

First session done!
By Stewart Robson @ Frith Street Tattoo

started this yesterday!
by Marius Meyer
4,5 h

my sylvia liner has never failed me. bought other machines, but always come back to it.

a buddy of mine came up for the afternoon one day so we were trying to throw something together real quick and he and his family were throwing out ideas and we can up with a cholo hot dog throwing a thumbs up and a mustard bottle in the other hand with some script that said "eat me". he son told me to add "a weiner" on it...which we did and then erased. it's pretty rad, but he baile don the idea but i still have the drawing waiting...

Can't make this shit up. Two recent conversations from the bar.
Number One!
Me: What're you up to tonight?
Girl: Well I supposed to get tattooed but my tattoo artists rejected me!
Me: What?! What happened?
Girl: (Pulls out a piece of paper with a crazy long math/physics equation and begins to unfold to show me.) Well, I was supposed to get this on my finger, but--
Me: (Bursts out laughing) Yeah, that ain't going on your finger...
Girl: He laughed at me, too!
Me: Yeah. Sorry to laugh, it's just so long you won't be able to get it that small and still see what it is. What about on your arm, or wrapping around your wrist?
Girl: Yeah, that's what he suggested, too. Especially because it's my only tattoo or whatever. But I'm a programmer and I want to look at it while I'm working at the keyboard. He also suggested that I shouldn't get it in white.
Me: White.. ink?
Girl: Yeah. Because it's for me. And I don't want anyone else to just be able to see it like that.
Me: Sounds like maybe you should think about it some more..
After that initial talk we had a pretty cool conversation about the equation and the dual reality somethingorother it pertains to. She was a super smart person in that realm for sure. I left her with the suggestion of getting a cat in a box as a much cooler design (part of this theory about a cat being in a box with the lid closed and there being two realities..) but she was pretty set on the equation.
Number Two!
The set up here.. it was late, this chick was at the bar for a while so obviously a little drunk.
Girl: Hey, you get your tattoos here?
Me: Yeah, mostly, at this point kind of all over.
Girl: Where should I go?
Me: Hard to go wrong in this neighborhood, Three kings, Eight of Swords, Adorned, Saved...
Girl: Are they open?
Me: When...?
Girl: Now.
Me: It's almost two in the morning -- no shops are open right now.
Girl: Really? None??
Me: You could go into the city and check out West 4th St. but I really encourage you to not do that.
Girl: So.. there are no tattoo shops open in Brooklyn right now is what you're telling me.
Me: That's what I'm telling you.
Girl: (Takes her drinks that I made her and begins to walk away.) Fuck this borough.
And I thought that would be the end of it! She came back and wanted to talk some more.
Girl: So, it says XXSHOPXX is right off of XXSTREETXX -- is that close by?
Me: It's not far but I'm telling you it's not open. Why don't you just wait?
Girl: YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. My friend over there is only in town tonight and we won't be in the same city again for like maybe a couple years.
Me: Well that might work better, you can both get great tattoos in your respective cities and they'll probably be way better than trying to get it in at like 2 AM. You could get something awesome!
Girl: Nope, you don't get what I'm saying.
Me: (Past the point of patience and I can't walk away because I'm making them another round of drinks.) It sounds like you probably shouldn't get tattooed. It sounds like a bad idea is what I think you're saying.
Girl: Well aren't they all?
Me: I'm sorry..?
Girl: All of this (pointing to my arms) -- you can't tell me any of this is actually a good idea.
Me: Did you really just say that?
Girl: Well, I mean, come on.. when you're 90. They're going to look like shit.
Me: No, they're going to look awesome and I'm going to be an awesome 90 yr old with tattoos that I didn't get at fucking two in the morning. This is going to be your last round, I'll have the server bring your check over and you can still make it over to West 4th, the cab ride shouldn't be much more than $20!
Girl: Whatever.
Me: Have a good night! Good luck!
Hope I'm not sounding like too much of an asshole.. My bar persona is always ten thousand times nicer than my real life demeanor but this second girl really pushed it. I'll put up with a lot of idiots and I know how to handle plenty of bullshit but when you outright insult me in my own bar..? You're done. I hope she went and got tattooed.. everyone gets the tattoo they deserve!

im going to be the grumpy old curmudgeon who offers nothing to the thread on topic save for mentioning my absolute hatred of the term plainskin. My friend Shannon tried to start that as a phrase years ago, not sure if this is the ripple from that, but its like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
Sorry for interrupting.

I usually think of kids as children below high school age. I usually say is it safe to bring one extra person along with you, but leave the entourage at home, but again there are times when Mom and Dad and Uncle, and Grandma, all stroll in with someone on their 18th birthday video camera in tow, and we don't kick them out, we just make fun of them later after they leave.

Mr. Flores, you are a huge asset to this community. Every one of your posts in this thread is real solid advice and commentary on tattoos and its culture. New people, listen to this guy! You can't get this insight anywhere else on the internet!

The Letter of the Law: Laws for Lettering and Tattoos | Occult Vibrations
Not judging, just some useful information.

Some of my earlier tattoos are rather simplistic and/or lack creativity. They don't follow the trends named in this thread and I actually still think they look kind of cool--but I also didn't know what was possible back then. I didn't do a ton of research, there was no internet when I got my first one 22 years ago...so I just thought I had to bring in what I wanted and get it. I know better now. I think most people just don't know better. They need LST. Or LSD. Maybe both.

i'm just hoping that impulsive tattoos will one day equate to impulsive one night stands. the scale is tipped heavy on one side, and y'all know which way.

I'm an apprentice...
I started to learn from Richard in 2002, then we all got a long so much I bought his partner Stace out of his partnership, which was Skin & Bones, a completely different business in the same building... As a business minded person I had to set down the apprenticeship, and focus on the piercing business, but knew I would get to be around and maybe get to have time enough to pick up a few things... It never happened, we maintained a partner relationship from then on...
In 2009, we were reunited somewhat... after about 6 months, I was his apprentice again, and still am...
What I have gathered from my 13 plus years in the body art profession is this, Tattooers or some of them, are a lot like teenage couples that don't think about the big picture, they get all hot and heavy and forget to take that pill or wear a condom, and oops a baby is born, and they themselves are still children... Babies having Babies is not an ideal situation in population or profession control.... Especially if you care about people and people getting good work.
And Richard has always ALWAYS said... Taking an apprentice is like getting married and someone taking your last name as theirs.... And there is no divorce, that's forever. Hence even too risky for him to teach or just trust even a friend to tattoo... They are bound to you for the rest of their career, and you want to teach good tattooing, and it's hard to teach something that we should constantly be learning about... especially if you love it.

Well,I've already voiced my opinion on this subject- but.... One thing nobody has mentioned is that there are still shops out there willing to take on an apprentice- for payment.
In the 70s I knew of a few people that were charging thousands of dollars for the opportunity to learn and work at an established shop. ( Set up equipment usually went w the deal.)Today it would not be unrealistic to be asked to pay tens of thousands of dollars. Think of the money you would pay to attend a trade school or university.
If a person is serious and committed, a financial obligation along with an agreed upon length of time/work commitment- isn't unreasonable.
So find a shop that you love, get tattooed there and ask if they would be willing to take you on as an apprentice for 2-3 years, if you would be willing to pay them ( what ever amt) you agree upon, $10-$15,000 a year, let's say.
Unless you just want them to give it to you, which seems to be what everybody wants.

@Kahlan No lecture here, everyone else seems to have done a great job of that. Just some straight up info:
At the shop I work in (Which may or may not have a reputation on being harsh to 'wannabes') we get at least one person each week asking for an apprenticeship. In the summer months we get AT LEAST two per week, often more.
Aside from the fact than none of them can draw and most haven't been tattooed at our shop, - I'm not even sure if any of them know what kind of work we do (hint: almost everything) they certainly don't look through any of our folios while they are in the shop. - There is no way that our city can support 52 to 104 new tattooers each year. I've been there since 2007. That would be over 800 new tattooers.
But really, shitty tattooers should stop taking apprentices and helping them become shitty tattooers. If a good tattooer won't teach you, tough shit. If a good tattooer does teach you, I hate you because I never got that chance and I did a whole bunch of shitty tattoos while I was 'learning'.

That letter was amazing.
- - - Updated - - -
This thread reminds me of when I occasionally eavesdrop on my kids from the next room. Sometimes if I don't get involved in their arguments, they figure out how to work it out themselves without me running in and yelling at everyone. I'm not saying that you're like children, I'm saying that I'm so proud of how LST has grown. You guys are awesome.

I think the girl been booted in the ass about enough. She said she gets it, so leave us all lighten up a tad.