Gloomy Inks
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Posts posted by Gloomy Inks
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Just thought I would say thanks to all that are pulling for me. As to Myles, dude, I hear you, however I like to think that people here, tattooers, collectors, all of us, have something together that people who don't wear tattoos will never have. Hey, people may look at me like I'm sick, but I just make 'em laugh. Determination can do wonders for you, and nothing can focus the mind like the thought of your own demise.
And hey, you only get the one go round, no one gets to be here for the whole time, and you gotta make the best of what time you have, use it. That's why I'm looking into starting my own machine company. Nothing pretty, but all US made, coils and all. Brass no less too!
To else, here is my abridged bucket list:
1. Marry my woman.
2. Start and finish my back piece (from an 1860s photo of a female Samurai)
3. Make machines and tattoo as long as I can.
4. Visit Norway and Germany. Norway is where my Grandfather, now 91, is from.
5. Finish my books I've been writing.
6. Make amends with those in my family and old friends who have not gotten along with.
7. Tell the rest of the mo-fos to eat cat poop.
....
Y'all get the idea.
- SeeSea, El Dolmago, Zillah and 2 others
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I was diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis type I. What does this entail? Fuck me, I dunno, as it progressive and unpredictable. I might just keep getting giant tumors, which I already have and have named for my favorite tattooers. I could get cancer, or brain tumors. My spine may curve, but my posture is pretty bad anyways.
I could get tumors that break bones, and I can get a nice amputation for that. Or it may just disfigure me.
It's what they thought the Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick had, but he had something else.
Wanna know the real shitty part? It's expensive as Hell to treat, and I may be able to get through on SSI/Medicare/Medicaid, but my tattooing will always be underground.
And right after I renewed my license too! I have the will to live, and my body is messing with me. When I make a bad joke, I laugh at myself and say, "Oh. I kill me."
Now I add, "Literally."
But am I complaining? HELL NO! Not even one little bit. Although I do find it shitty. Hence the post.
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Actually I was just out, talking to the super in the building. He can get me rats, but according to Health Dept. regs here they're fine to use in a wheel power supply, but I have to run chords from the dirty room.
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Gee, I thought my not using O rings was "old school". Can anyone give me the number and address of a hamster trainer?
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As always, I'm showing up late to this, and will probably get a supreme typed ass kicking for it. Please bear with me as I have a little more "dirt" to toss myself.
My first machine was not an S&R, but a Superior Supply "Raven", I guess that's what they're calling them now. And a liner/shader no less. ABS frame, plastic bobbins, and it even came with practice skin which has always seemed to me like a pin bender.
When I thought I was "serious" I ordered a few Wasp machines, and you throw some Ringmaster springs on one, decent armature and run a good power supply (I run a CAT I ordered from Mike Skiver, who's mouth even made me blush on the phone and I grew up in a house full of sailors) and they ain't too bad.
My point though is this, and watching Tattoo Age with DeVit made it clear; an artist, once he knows how to tattoo, can run a real pile of a machine, providing that it's set up well. I don't know too many artists who don't tweek them anyway, unless they buy Aaron Cain (which are truly works of art, and can chip up your drive way if the jack hammer goes South) or the like.
I've used Chinese castings, they buy US scrap brass, and when all is said and done you have a pretty darned good machine. I have one I use quite a bit that was built this way, short stroke and I have no problems with it.
That being said there are some trash machines floating around out there, but was said in above post, Malone used them, as did deVita for a while.
Don't get me wrong, I'm also using two Col. Todd Jim Dandy machines as daily runners, with a strange, but highly effective shader/color packer set up that I honestly didn't ask Mr. Mora (Col. Todd's son) for, but I wouldn't trade for the world now. Makes it seem like you're drawing with markers, which is about my mental level anyways.
If you look into it Huck wasn't a great tattooer when he first started, and according to Stan Moskowitz Huck ripped off a lot of the Bowery Boys' flash, later filing suit against them for stealing his! Eddie Funk stated that he jumped the price up by buying out a canal street pigment maker's stock. When Eddie said they had been friends for a long time and he didn't want to pay $30 a pound, Huck replied, "That is the price... my friend."
He was good with a contract too, and didn't go along with most supplier's vow to not sell to scratchers. (What's a scratcher? A guy you might have to deal with having a shop near yours one day.)
I know most if not all of you will not share the view I have on this, but there is a place for the wannabe tattooer. He or she is in old carny parlance, just a "Forty Miler", and will find his or her place at local fast food place when their clients dry up.
Some may keep at it (Paul Rogers, Stoney St. Clair) and move to the next level and beyond, but a lot don't. Many of the old timers picked it up and taught themselves the basics. I guess though that with the boom in tattooers many of us are waiting for the bottom to drop out. Or being as we're the only artists that make money on a daily basis, we want to hold on to, or nail down our little corner of the world.
But really, none of us are a Van Gough or Vermeer as our reputations die, and only a hand full care to remember. Only photos, flash, and machines survive. This world makes me think more of mortality then any other job I've ever done. With the exception of working roofing, 'cause beer, heights and nail guns just don't mix, you know?
We're all fiercely independent, most free thinkers, but we get caught up in so much muck slinging that I'm sort of awed that conventions happen at all. As Ernie Sutton said to Zeke Owen when the convention was almost two decades away, "Because if you put us in a room, we'd kill each other."
It's art and commerce. Spaulding just made his pile, and who can fault him for that?
Does S&R have a 24/7 order line... I got that machine buying itch now (wink)
(If you must curse at me for this post, I do have a 0 to 100% scale that I grade on, with no curve, so make 'em good.)
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I got my first apprenticeship when I was 18 and had no idea what I was doing. (Funny, now I just don't know, but I know what I'm doing) I paid $1800 to a man and his wife who shall remain nameless. I'm drawing, cutting stencils, and all that stuff. They seemed like good folks. A little sleazy, but I was sorta sleazy then too.
I never got to tattoo in that shop either. Four months in...
I got to the shop Tuesday (closed Sun/Monday), early as always and stand around for a few hours. There was a pizza place across the street and I sit down and have a few .89 cent slices, and end up walking in the AC repair company office next door. I ask if they had seen them.
It was said that there was an attempted armed robbery on Saturday night after I left at nine, and _________ had shot the guy.
Turns out to be total BS. The wife, who worked there as well, had found out her husband was getting really good "tips" from dancers and had gone to town on his gear, pulled a knife on him, and scared him right out of the state.
Not my place to speak of others infidelities, but I'd signed a contract! And with that his Harley, with the blown head gasket that was oft used by all of us as a bench to sit on while we smoked cigarettes (have to give it to them, it was still the Speed Stick days, but they had a no smoking policy in the shop) disappeared as if into thin air.
I still that bike once and while... with him NOT on it. I have no idea what happened to these people but ___________ still owes me sleeves.
- LadyGabe and TrixieFaux
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Here is a repost from LST on Coleman. Cheers!
Norfolk tattoo artist and his apprentice still inspire | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com
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Its posts like this that keep me coming back to LST. Great information and fun to read too. I'm sucker for history and machine design, so this had it all.
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Hey, I'm not knocking those who dig the chanting mind you. Just not my speed. I have a few friends who get into the more "inner" self thing. Me, I just put the bone in my nose and get to work.
Of course, I like Dos, and that's just two basses... OK, I'll go find some chanting.
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Funny you should say that. I'm bring some on an iPod on Friday to see if that helps me zone out. I think it will either work great or fail miserably.
Really? You gotta let me know how that works out. Personally, when I'm getting worked on, I kinda like my old punk. American punk.
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Here's another photo of Mildred Hull .
Now that is a new picture on me! Thanks so much.
It's really too bad about the culture back then. I would to see more of her flash. Outside of a few closeups, there isn't much. Of course there is always her husband, Tommy Lee. Yeah, no relation...
Also, when speaking of "Old Has-Beens" on her sign... do you think she was talking about Wagner?
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I usually tell them that I have one tattoo from each continent that I have visited,they ask how many I have,and I tell them 50 plus,most don't get it!
As for the price,I get very creative!
So. I got this tattoo shop in East Africa. When I'm not busy poaching... That will be $850 in inflated Liberian dollars...
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Myth? Um... isn't what we do based on myth? "You can't tattoo over moles." "Connected arm bands will mess up your Chi." "Tattoos in the palms won't hold."
While I understand that I might be a little late jumping here, one can't really expect say "Joe Four Pack" to know about what makes a good tattoo. What makes a good tattoo here in the USA does not apply in Singapore. And my idea and yours could be different. There is a fine line here, but that line separates artist and client. Anyone can tattoo, and plenty of people (myself included) have no fine arts back ground outside of sleeping through high school drawing.
But I do have an eye for tattoos.
As for shady people in tattooing. Ain't we all? I would love to see an advance in art, the tech aspect of tattooing, but stopping with education is selling people short, on both sides of needle. If one were to go there, you'd have to get into motivation on either side. Why do you tattoo? That's a tough one. It's easier to understand why people get them. And where does the happiness of the client end and happiness of the artist begin?
I don't dig doing "Hatchetman" tattoos. But I like money. The person with the Hatchetman man may not even know who Van Gough is, let alone care.
The next level and up is fine. No argument from me there. When it all comes down to it, this is the only 'mersh art that really sells. I can paint all day and still be broke. Or I can throw on a few silly ones in a day, to me anyway, and walk out with money for cigs.
We don't exist in a vacuum. Your lights are not on by grace. It because you have people come in and sit. I really see it sorta like Burger King. In a column for Skin and Ink, Zeke Owen said that he was talking with NKC, and he said that he didn't care what happened to the tattoo. If they washed in soap or jet fuel. Once they left the shop it was done. Over. And if you want a touch up and you jacked it up... well, you all do charge for that kind of mistake, yes?
Maybe deVita has it right. It's folk art, all of the art out there, as it's done by people. I know a guy who won't take a drawing and just lay it on a person. He likes to rework it. A good tattoo guy or girl can throw in that little something extra to anything. Make them smile.
"I won't," Marginalizes.
"I can't," Should really be followed with, "Yet."
"I'll do my very best," Keeps them coming in.
I'm not entitled to anything. Except my opinion. I don't get mad when someone goes to another artist. I don't care because there is a Hell of a lot of room left in the world. People are always going to get tattooed. Just how it is.
"You want that wolf facing out? OK, you got it."
Education is fine. Rules (you know except for BBP, consent forms, ETC, nach) are for sheep. You are not prepared for someone throwing up on you while you're working on them at art school. No where have I ever taken a painting class that has a unit on haggling. Most figure drawing classes do not come with a sheaf of paperwork to fill out. No license is needed to sculpt.
The myth here is that we're special. No, go back twenty five, fifty, and hundred years, and we, all of us, were lower then poo. If we all wound up murdered in 1914, the whole lot of us, it never would have even made the front page.
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Breathing life into old threads here..... Music is a constant source of conflict in our shop. At least, it would be, if boss man was inclined to give a shit what any of us think. He is a great proponent of the old school 'find out what their weaknesses are and keep attacking right where it hurts'. Therefore the music he selects becomes a weapon in his antagonistic war. I especially hate the 'Songs from Disney' days, don't really know how I survive the 'Great musicals of the 50s, 60's and 70's' days, and want to kill myself the next time he puts 'Tiptoe through the Tulips' on repeat. But showing that it is annoying me is to admit to the weakness, so I suck it up and tattoo on. He can often be swayed to put Vietnam-era playlists on spotify and likes a bit of 80s pop, so if I get to the music before he does I put that on, knowing that it will distract him for a few hours.
Still love the evil old bastard, mind.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
OK, I take what I said back. I'm with you, even if "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" is the Tiny Tim version. I gotta say though, if you can take Disney, and great musicals of any era, I would assume you are a hard man. I would have to find a large building and jump.
Great, now I have Rogers and Hammerstein stuck in my mind. All those years of riding along with my Grandmother listening to "South Pacific" come flooding back... Not at all as fond as you'd think.
Get some Wild Man Fischer. If he goes for the gut that way, go for the throat. You'll win. Trust me.
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i stopped caring about shit like this, or i'd be angry 24/7/365. either way i'm tattooing and will continue to tattoo, i don't give a shit what's going on where...
I think that was a hiku...
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I think everyone who has a tattoo gun nowadays considers themselves a "professional". The world needs more quality and less quantity.
That's a good point you have there.
But then it begs the question; "So I was looking for a shore leave tattoo and the place was booked up for eight months. What do I do?"
Whaddya think?
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I guess I shouldn't worry about it then.
As a derma... derm... Oh heck, drill the acne away!
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Jack's lady got tattooing shut down in New London. When it opened back up a shop opened between the police and fire departments. The guy who ran it, who's name escapes me in the early morning hours, sold out to the guy who trained me. Funny how these things turn out...
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OK, well this is my first shot at a thread here, so I figure I'd go for something crazy that has my OCD in overdrive.
I'm sure most of you have seen the Sailor Jerry documentary. If not, to spite the car seat covers and shirts, please do. In the out takes, Mr. Owen (I do use the "Mr." quite a bit, simply out of respect) talks about C. J. "Danny" Danzl and his laying a shader down in the gutter where the ladies of the night in the house above his old Colorado Springs shop (pre WW2) dumped their "rinse pots". He took them out after a week and retouched the black fish scales that adorned his right arm. Mr. Owen was laughing about what Danzl said to him, "You see anything wrong with me?"
He was also a heck of a cook, making food during WW2 in the Merchant Marine (my Grandfather, now 91, was MM in the war as well), as well being cook (or in other stories captain) of the tugboat Danny Pazu. Oddly my Grandfather was a tugboat skipper as well. Funny how these things go.
He also worked with ABC Hank in Seattle for a while. Owen said they were "Quite a pair."
It put the hook in me, and a year or so ago I got started on some research on Danzl. I was planning just writing a blog post, but the more I've obsessed, the more I think it may become more. Not that I'm not busy with other things, both writing, tattooing, machine building (such as my machine "building" is), and working on getting a good friend broken in as well.
I spoke with Mr. G (Triangle Tattoo & Museum), Mr. Eldridge (Tattoo Archive), Madam Vyvyn Lazonga (madame-lazonga-), who learned from Danzl personally, and as well Mr. Lyle Tuttle. (Tuttle actually gave me the lead to Madam Lazonga and is a heck of a nice guy who I'd like to buy a drink or 14 for sometime)
I have yet to contact Mr. P. A. Stevens, but that will be coming as soon as I can get around to an hour or so.
Mr. Tuttle didn't have time to help me, although he has a ton 'o Danzl ephemera, including machines and flash. He's a busy man, and I respect that.
Madam Lazonga said she didn't know too much about Danzl, however I did read that he and Sailor Jerry were good friends, respected each other, and wrote one another on occasion.
Mr. Eldridge, who is a wealth of knowledge and provided me with some sound advice that I didn't take for granted at all, told me a few things. One Danzl was forced to put up a "no spitting" sign for one. Two, Danzl had a laryngectomy due to throat cancer and used a "buzzer" (funny how it all comes down to things that buzz, huh?) to talk, but it never stopped him from talking. Also when he visited conventions, he always had great shirts, wild designs, wore colored, lacquered Panama hats, and an ascot to cover the surgery.
I also found out that when Madam Lazonga left the Seattle Tattoo Emporium the social section of the local paper put a head line: Danzl in Distress.
He also suggest that I contact the NTA, and if I wanted to write a piece with cred, I needed to contact Mr. Stevens. That was invaluable advice that a younger me probably would have scoffed at. I thank my stars I'm older, more respectful, but sadly still a dope.
Mr. G was the best out of all. Funny, no big 'tude, and we had a great conversation that somehow got around to what the "old school" really means. That was a big thing for me too and it's very simple: you give respect and get it back.
From Mr. G, who along with Madam Chinchila, visited Danzl's I got a great big hunk of facts.
Danzl had learned from Percy Waters in Detroit, MI. He was a side show tattooer for a while, as well as being "Aqua Boy", hence the fish scales. Sort of pre Weeki Watchee Springs for you all in the know. He also told Mr. G never to use the term "gun", but was a gentleman about it. He wore elaborately decorated shirts, done with an ink tube with a ball point pen tip on it, the same that Mr. G used to mark his "senior 'cords" when he was in high school.
Danzl told him never to tattoo a face, nor hands, as faces distract and hands, well, people never took proper care of them. Again, another touch of the "old school". Danny was also quite the ladies man, and would bring roses or corsages for the ladies who attended the National Convention.
He also had a tank full of red bellied piranha with a sign that read, "Tattoo Removal" over the tank. He also once met Tom Waits at the lunch counter he ate at on the Pike. To the best of Mr. G's knowledge C. J. "Danny" Danzl passed away in 1989.
So, that was rather long winded, if writing can be.
Any one have any more information? Flash? A machine? Or even a tattoo? Any thing would be most helpful, and I'd thank you in advance, not that I wouldn't do it after either, on him? Please let me know, and I hope you all have enjoyed what I've picked up along the way so far.
One last thing. I tried to get a hold of Sailor Cam Cook on the phone, but the listing for his shop was a dead end. Is he still working? If so, does anyone know how I can reach him?
Again, many thanks, and I'm sure you'll read more blather from me somewhere around the ways.
BONUS!!!
Here is Danzl outside his Colorado Springs shop in the '30s or very early '40s. Note the Waters tattooing sign, and also "beer" in the upper left hand corner. Ah, the good 'ol days.
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/b0/f3/49/b0f34935df01ee8adb5f5904cd9af024.jpg
Danzl working on his wife, possibly staged? Photo reversed. He wasn't no southpaw!
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/8f/3a/6e/8f3a6e0aae008f496a369565add3d766.jpg
Greg Irons, Danzl, and P. A. Stevens, maybe late '70s or early '80s. See why I don't work for Kodak? I can't tell you from film stock! Big thanks to Mr. Eldridge for this.
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/b1/62/3a/b1623a26115a2866923f4be1c9911fbc.jpg
A machine made by Danzl, given as a gift to Tennesse Dave James (RIP)
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/a9/3f/8a/a93f8a24b075ad7bb5947ca2169d76db.jpg
Danzl's road outfit, maybe from his carny days. Note again the Waters influence; "That's Me!" Also, there is a first aid kit in there too if you look close. Now that is weird.
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/3f/0a/20/3f0a20b2c169f7d0e13fa6226c941633.jpg
Possible Danzl flash
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/44/ae/ba/44aeba7958534e243bf73053124030ac.jpg
*For the full story on Danzl and health, here ya go, as only Mr. Zeke could tell it! From Baxter's Tattoo Blog.
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I'm so darned pedantic. I'm working on three books at once, as it's the only way I can make sure it all fits together in my tiny little bean.
The first is a tale of tattooing, murder, revenge, redemption, and loss, set in the month before WW2...
As to the rest... you'll have to wait, but I'll tell you this, all the tattoo men and women are based in fact. I say based because I don't want to offend...
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NO WAY! And I may do something weird like them to Catholic school too. I'm not kidding either. I wouldn't put it past me.
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One of the craziest people I've ever known is now a pilot. I never liked flying and am now deathly afraid that he'll see me, and start doing barrel rolls...
Actually I'm just scared to fly.
Worst I ever had when traveling was this one time I went to Lookout Mt. in Georgia. Just so happens there was a holy roller in there (not that I care what you believe, just don't mind me) while I was getting a beer.
"And the beast will come!" He yelling to a the nodding counter lady, "And they will bear the mark of the beast!"
Heads turn and look at me.
"Well," I said, "As long as the ink looks good to me, I'm game."
I gave 'em the 'ol horn hand and bopped out of the place with my 40.
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One method, which I read in a piece with Bowery Stan, was silver nitrate and Tannic acid. I have also heard of spirits of wine (?) and pigeon dung, which would be alcohol and a base.
Stoney's method, however ineffective, is very healthy. Good for your eyes too!
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My first client that I know of passed away a few months back from rectal cancer. I worked on a Strat neck coming out of his upper left arm. I asked him while I was working on him how he felt about his mortality (he was terminal). He told me that he tried to live each day to the fullest, and inspire others to do the same.
I look like a big tough tattooed guy. I had to put the machine down and go wipe the tears from eyes.
It's art to be sure, but with a shelf life. People, their lives and stories keep me from burning out. But when I got the call, my heart went up into my throat, and went and had another cry.
I'd say RIP Scott, but I know you are already.
- Delicious, Dbeatdano, Hospitelli and 1 other
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Ya never know.. Australia? I'll travel around the world for a good beer anytime! You don't still have to drink in hotels there do ya?