spookysproul

I've been dry-healing for the last few years, but we moved to Seattle at the beginning of fall and my wife and I got tattooed in the middle of winter. The Ultra Cold (compared to the Bay Area, anyways) was a motherfucker and the scabs kept cracking open and it wouldn't heal until I started applying lotion/Aquafor two-to-three times per day.

Anyone have similar problems?

I don't know that it's ever occurred to me to ask to watch the set-up process, I've always just assumed that the reputation of the shop included cleanliness and sanitation.

Everyone, please correct me if you feel differently or have alternatives. For the short duration I lived there I felt any shop mentioned in SF is accessible. The city is pretty much 7 miles x 7 miles. I pretty much walked the span once or twice running errands. But if you're more sane, cabbing or bussing it anywhere is easy. State of Grace in SJ, is about an hour drive from SF. Typically I've driven but I guess you could take the train down too. Temple in Oakland should be an easy and quick BART trip over I believe. Spider Murphy's in San Raphael too should also be accessible but via ferry then bus I think. I'm not sure how long that takes though.

Hope this helps a wee bit.

Temple is about a 45 second walk eastward from the 19th Street BART station in downtown Oakland, and you can take a bus that goes along Van Ness in SF that will drop you off roughly 5 or 6 blocks from Spider Murphy's.

Incidentally, Diamond Club is on the aforementioned Van Ness and you will absolutely get quality work there. Blackheart is roughly four blocks from the 16th & Mission BART station in SF and everything else is easily accessible by almost any MUNI line.

I miss the City, sometimes. :(

... as far as an infection goes, thats a bit of a stretch. like another person said 9 times out of 10 an infection is usually caused by something the customer did.

When a tattoo on my ankle got infected, I was livid - I'd been going to this guy for awhile and how could he do this and yada yada yada. Then I realized after about four months of infected tattoo that I'd gone in the children's foam pit at one of those "Trampoline World" places when the tattoo had juuuust scabbed over.

So, we tattooed some hydrogen peroxide in it and it healed up in about three days.

I'm not trying to imply that you did something nearly as stupid, but just retrace your steps afterwards and see if maybe there's something you did without thinking that may have caused it before you write this guy off over it.

As far as the quality of the tattoo goes, I think it speaks for itself. If you aren't happy with it, go somewhere else. You don't owe anybody anything, pending the entrance into a binding contract.

I definitely wouldn't have gotten any "buddy tats" had I known what I know now.

I see your point!

There's noooo way I'd get ripped and pass out and let someone tattoo me ;) I like to watch

Yeah, it's strange - I definitely notice that it hurts significantly less when I can watch it happening. Why is that?

Even the suck ass pain is part of it..

I saw something once that said 'its good that tattoos hurt, if not every pussy would have them'

My artist says that's not true, lots of pussies have tattoo but only tough ppl have good tattoos, especially when/where the pain is rough.

I have to say I agree 100%

I mean, I have the back of both knees done. Even with a beer to take the edge off, that was still no picnic. I feel like after 8 toes, both feet, most of both legs, the front of my torso, the entirety of both arms, one hand, all knuckles, and smatterings on various places around my neck, I've gotten the gist of the "pain" part of it. While I do have a handful of less-than-stellar tattoos, I'd say the majority of mine are "good" at the very least.

Now, my last roommate would swallow a few Vicodin, drink some concoction of "anti-energy drinks" he'd make and go to sleep until they were done. Most of the folks at Blackheart and Temple have worked on him, so I'd say he has some decent work as well.

But, who knows? Carry on.

Is it Gordon Ramsey? He seems like as good a choice as any.

I'm really excited for September, as I'll finally be moving onto the side of my neck (I already have the back and behind my ears) with the help of Derek Noble at Lucky Devil. Getting tattooed by Noble was definitely a huge added bonus to moving to Seattle.

He'll be putting a cloaked caricature of my wife's face on the side of my neck, creeping onto the front. I'm really stoked.

If it's more than a little guy I always have a large-ish sandwich to hold me over throughout and usually accompany that with a fairly cheap beer to help take the edge off. I've had a lot of people with 1 or 2 tattoos inform me that the pain is part of the experience, but I disagree. It sucks getting tattooed sometimes.

Afterwards I always like to eat something greasy and high in carbohydrates when I can. Saint Francis Fountain in San Francisco has this great monstrosity, The Devil Burger - shreds of fried Seitan with vegan mayo on a dense bun. It really hit the spot.

Eating before and after are always a big part.

Welcome! I've been tattooed by Jeff and Nervio, too. Good dudes.

Thank you! They're both a pleasure to be tattooed by, what with their lovely light hands. Nervio has done an extensive amount on me, actually. Where did you encounter him? Diamond Club?

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:) Hi! Welcome!

Hello! And thank you!

My wife's family is from Chico (well, just outside) and every time we've gone to visit I've been talked-at by locals about their tattoos they got around there. I didn't look around at all, but if they were a decent litmus test, I wouldn't get my hopes up.

Delerium - Karma

Type O Negative - October Rust

These sound splendid to have on during tattooing.

I think the most common type of music for shops that I've attended would be more of a "stoner metal" type vibe, but obviously it varies from there. I definitely prefer less-grating music like stoner metal or - to me, at least - black metal, something that will keep me calm and contained.

Good for you!

I have nothing to add to this that hasn't already been said, but I wanted to add another underline to the existing sentiment.

It's interesting, up here in the Seattle area there are billions of tattoo shops (quality notwithstanding), so there are a lot of tattooed people up here (quality notwithstanding), which leads to different discussions than what I was used to in San Francisco/Oakland.

As mentioned earlier, there's a lot of "oh, you have a tattoo? look at this one that I got, now this one, now this one; I wanna get this, this and this, y'know?" but I also get a lot of

"hey, have you heard of/ever been to "XYZ" shop?"

"....no?"

"Oh, okay."

I honestly can't imagine what they're expecting to get out of that conversation.

edit -

I forgot to add that I also get a lot of people that are either a) upset that the tattoo they pointed out doesn't have a deep, Miami-Ink-esque meaning and a story to go with it or b) that I - somehow - don't feel like sharing the story with them, a total stranger.

Thank you!

I've got no pictures at the moment, but my favorite items thus far are my front panel (still very much 'in-progress') by Jeff Rassier at Blackheart Tattoo in San Francisco [a whale biting through a ship]; a cholo vulture on my leg from Nervio at Roses and Panthers in Hermosillo, Mexico; and my first tattoo, a zombie pin-up girl by Khalil Rintye at Tattoo City in San Francisco.

I'll be starting on my neck with Derek Noble at Lucky Devil here in Seattle next month, so I'm more than a little excited about that.

I'll post some pictures soon!

My name is Jon, I live with my wife and our two cats in Seattle. I've been drawing for as long as I can remember, hanging out at Tattoo Shops (starting with Triangle Tattoo in Ft. Bragg, CA) since I was 14, and am currently learning how to tattoo. I hope to be gainfully employed as a tattooer at a shop of decent quality within the next year.