ChrisM

Been a while since I last posted, but yesterday I finally, finally, finally got to start my ROA backpiece.
First session finished and the main part of the outline is done! I meant to get started on this tattoo at the 1st of April, but got sidelined with some back and hip issues.
It's a crappy cellphone pic and I wasn't exactly standing up straight, but you can get the general jest of it.
The ribs and lower back portion hurt like Hell, but it was well worth it. I'm pretty stoked about it.
Tattooed by Paul Pearson at Tried & True Tattoo in Smyrna Tn.

(and there's a cover-up of an old 101st Airborne tattoo going on in there too).

Over the years plenty of people come in to the tattoo shop and friendships are bound to develop. I feel like a lot of friends I have started out as customers in the tattoo shop, or me patronizing their business, which is great. We all seem to be able to still do business with one another, with no real issues, because everyone respects the friendship and each others business enough for the two to co exist.
On the other hand a person doesn't have to be my best friend to be a good customer. There are plenty of people that come in get tattooed, we have a nice conversation and we never see each other outside of the shop. They show up on time, sometimes even take your design advice. Some people don't say two words and just want to get tattooed, that's cool too.
I guess what I am getting at, is there is a group in between that seems to give me the most trouble. People who maybe have a couple tattoos, they really like their tattoos and or the vibe of the shop, and they think because they spent a little money they have achieved VIP status. They will call about coming in on a certain day and not show up, then call the next day and ask if there is any walk in time and not show up again. I won't make appointments over the phone, it's always first come first served, but still it's annoying when people flake.
In certain cases I have allowed a person (a friend) to drink a couple beers (2 maybe 3 at most) while getting tattooed, I don't advertise it but if someone asks I am usually okay with it as long as they are of age and take their empties with them. Unfortunately a few people have interpreted this as show up drunk and drink a whole six pack during your tattoo and not be able to sit still and have to pee every five minutes. I am not their mom or their bartender and it's hard to tell a person who is drunk that they are cut off especially mid tattoo. Recently a guy who was tattooed by my boss who pulled the get drunk thing, and a 3 hour tattoo took just under 5 hours to complete. There were a couple spots in the black that needed to be touched up and honestly he didn't get to blend all the colors' in the tiger as he would like to and the guy came in for a touch up, after calling three different times saying he was going to show up, finally showed up three hours later and was really not very pleasant, he expressed he wasn't happy with his tattoo. So my boss took him to the side and explained that he would be happy to sit down and finish the tattoo free of charge, but explained to him that he just became really hard to tattoo while he is drinking and he would need him to not do so in the future while getting tattooed. The guy seemed to understand but then was kind of pissed off because he had to come back in an hour to get it fixed because my boss was in the middle of a walk in tattoo on a friend who didn't keep him waiting for 3 hours. A half hour later he shouted some stuff from the door way about customer service and stormed off in his car with his girlfriend. My boss stopped him in the parking lot and had another talk with him, but he just wanted to talk about how much money he spent and that he deserved to be treated better.
I don't know, I think the guy got treated fairly. I am interested in people's thoughts on this. I really everyone to feel at home at the shop, but it seems to me like some ass holes just ruin it for the others.

Took a trip to San Francisco and decided to get a piece by Jeff Rassier to fill some empty space. I asked him to do whatever weirdo tattoo he wanted, as long as it wasn't too vulgar... ended up with this Fu Manchu head with a serpent body that fits perfectly. Needless to say, I couldn't be happier!

Please can we have a thread, area, whatever, to move the increasing number of posts asking for free advice from people who are bored, scared to visit a real-world tattoo shop, attention seeking, lonely, stupid or whatever?
I'm not adverse to giving free advice, hell, I can even be nice to people sometimes but it's getting a little cluttered in here. The signal/noise ratio is getting harder and harder to manage or respond to without sarcasm.
Reading 'Tattoo 101' is getting more and more like hangin' out on the wrong side of the reception desk on a busy saturday afternoon and less like an interesting or stimulating discussion between people who love tattoos and tattooing.
Sorry if I'm pissing on anyone's parade.

Where does he work when he comes to Philly Capt? Cool to see some Philly love in this thread with Sailor Eddie, Jr. Had never heard of him until now. Speaking of Philly, what about Gus at Olde City? He does some really wacky stuff.

Not sure if Matt Rinks is on here but I have also been tattooed by him. Not only is he super talented but also one of the nicest guys I've ever been tattooed by. If you haven't been to his shop either, you should check it out. Pretty neat/worth the trip.

My latest from Cody at black heart.

Had a good time gettin tattooed by him. Good conversation and light hand. And fast.

Yes the color combination is total alchemy
Btw its a shapeshifting Reptilian

Had a great day with matt bivetto today

Went in for outlines. Came out happy.
You get more than a tattoo from Robert Ryan, that's for sure.

From when Tim Lehi was sitting in at Kings Ave.

This Timothy Hoyer piece always gave me chills...

That seems like a loaded question. Names that pop into my head are Mike Schweigert, Murray Sell, Bailey Hunter Robinson, Ron Henry Wells, Chad Koeplinger, Bart Bingham, but there are way too many to list. Of course there is also the issue of what one person considers traditional.

This one was done by Aaron Coleman at Immaculate Tattoo. It is a Richard Stell design.

Here's a few of Richards that I am fond of...

Thank fuck @Jennifer Stell chipped in. She saved me a shit load of time and typing and said it more succinctly that I could.
It is getting boring reading the same questions we all took time to answer less than 6 months ago.
In the shop it's our job to take the time to answer and be patient multiple times per day.
On the internet? No thanks.

The world needs more people like YOU... That do your footwork, and headwork, then make a good decision, and follow thru with it...
The WORLD needs more Tattoo Admiration from "Professional Collectors"... People that have impeccable taste in tattoos, and tattoo art in general, that love it soo much to leave it the fuck alone, and just get tattooed, because they respect it enough to let it be...

I'm going to hop on my soap box for a second and give everyone a little rant:
Who cares? Really?
When I first got into this I looked at it like a business mostly... Capitlaism, blah, blah, blah.... Fuck that noise now.
Over 12 years now, I look at it like this, as my husband always said even when I first came into his shop...
"You never really see rats jumping on a sinking ship... Why in the Fuck would any smart and skilled person want to do this for a living? It's not easy, it's not cool, and it's not a life easily lived, why?"
BUT, in this case, yeah... It's much too cool, to not WANT to do it... You can blame TV, you can say it's more accepted, but it's not really... If there are still small towns in the middle of nowhere, and you needed to stop and get some help, they would look at you sideways, say sorry, can't help ya, move along stranger...
Deal with that bullshit for a good few years, you might change your mind about how accepted it is...
But while all us are busy bitching about it online, the real heros, and pros are busy, working... Tattooing and painting and putting their stuff out there. Putting the real work in. So in an effort to save time, and typing do us all a favor, just get tattooed, don't get attracted to it, between the hours, the people, the drugs, the bullshit, it's not something you can just do, it's something that does you.
OK, end rant.
Tattooing and this life inevitably chose me, like it does with anyone that partakes it, NOT FOR THE MONEY, but purely out of LOVE for the craft, that love is the drive that keeps us rolling around doing what we do....That's my take.
PS... all the new kids and folks hopping on this site need to go back into the older parts of the forum, and read everything there that they might be thinking about, cause all this stuff has already been brought up before, while I am happy the site is gaining members, I am tired of re-reading old stuff, that's not really relevant to life, and tattooing right now.
Ok, end of second ps rant.

Here it is....

Getting tattooed by Steve Boltz in less than 2 hours. Images imminent.

Stell tiger

Oliver Peck panther head.
I heard on Thursday that he was in Dublin (in Tommy's Classic Ink) for one day only, and taking walk-ins. Took a half-day's leave from work and... Bob's your uncle...
This morning it's not that swollen, but it does appear to be weeping a fair bit - to do with the location, I guess?
While I was in the shop I met Ross Nagle and Jordan from Frith Street very briefly.

I also visited Smith Street during our trip to New York and got this from Steve Boltz.

Check out Eric Perfect on facebook. Kadillac Deuce in Philly. He paints a ton of patriotic stuff. I'd post a link but i'm on my phone and its a pain.

from bryan burk yesterday
3.5 hours