dicky

Tim was fully booked at the London convention recently. Also he took appointments at Frith Street. Obviously he got booked solid fairly quickly, but the moral to the story is not to presume.
Whoever you want to get tattooed by, it's often better to ask or to call whatever shop you want to get tattooed at.
It's surprising how quickly you can get an accurate answer that way. Weeks of speculation on the internet doesn't help anyone, it just passes the time...

While it's probably a total bummer for clients, it's often necessary to be flexible when getting tattooed by traveling tattooers or at conventions. Things can get pretty crazy for us.
"Private studio in Brooklyn" doesn't sound sketchy to me. I've been tattooed like that, in Brooklyn too. It was awesome and I got one of my favourite tattoos that way.
It seems fairly common for New York tattooers to have a private space.
It may seem obvious, but make sure any email correspondence is from the same address. It's confusing as hell to get emails from different addresses or particularly addresses of family members.

This thread has great potential.

What about non-tattooers selling all of us tattoo equipment? Some will speak strongly against those who don't tattoo owning shops and swear off ever giving them money, but then will make an order with a non-tattooer owned supplier and unknowingly act hypocritical. I think in tattooing these days, in my opinion, we need good people who care about the business and who bring something positive to the table of tattooing, tattooer or not(although tattooer preferred). I just came back from working at Frith Street Tattoo in London, I watched a bunch of very well known and respected tattooers work there in the last two weeks, not to mention the incredibly talented crew that are residents their. The owner, Dante, is not a tattooer, but he is a good human being and cares for his employees as if they were family. I am proud to say I worked there and as far as Dante(the owner) goes, I would take a bullet for him.

ahhh! @Stewart Robson, i get it now, sweet! about the tattoos in the thread, i'm not a fan either, as soon as i see them in a mag i'm most likely to barely glance at them, dont like them on stickers/tshirts certainly dont like them on skin, forEVER!

i'll be at rock of ages in austin soon, and namebrand in ann arbor soon too! i usually "announce" my guest spots about a month beforehand, then again a week before, and again once i'm at the shop.