Hell City 2010
It was a blast. Definitely had fun. I have never been to a better run show.
Other than that, right now everything is all kind of jumbled up as to what happened when and all that good stuff. So this time I’m going to start with the photos and add notes as I remember them.
Like all road trips – getting there is part of the adventure. Although Columbus is only 6-1/2 hours away from us, there is still stuff to see along the way… First stop was in Buffalo. Home of the Garden Palace. I don’t know how the locals feel about this place – but it has fascinated me ever since I was in it for a Wedding Reception years ago. If you think the outside is busy and gaudy…. you should see what they have going on inside! 
As you may or may not know, I collect angry bunnies. We encountered this little guy in a truck stop at the Lodi exit. He looked to me like he qualifies. 
He stood guard for the rest of the trip. Watching over us and the booth. Jessie made sure that he successfully made the trip to and from the room each day.
Friday was extra special for me. I got to meet a nice lady from COMI (CheckOutMyInk). She and another lady from COMI were getting together at Hell City as well. It brought me back to the days of usenet and RecArts.BodyArts. There were a group of “Rabbits” and I met some fantastic people both online and at the munches that we had in the real world. It’s been a long time and most of you will have no idea what I am talking about – but meeting Sam in person brought back the idea that maybe we can still use the internet to get closer to one another instead of using it as a substitute for visiting.
Anyhow, Sam got this little ladybug done on her foot first thing Friday – starting the show off nicely for me. 
After Sam and I said our goodbyes and she went off to check out the rest of the show – I sat down with Jessica (not my Jess, another one). Jessica had one small tattoo on her hip that she wanted to cover up. We drew this on her and started up. About three hours into it she told me that she needed a break. When she didn’t return for an hour and a half I thought for sure that she was done and there was no way that we were going to finish…. but Jessica amazed me! She not only came back and sat down, she let me finish the rest of the tattoo with not so much as a whimper. Way to go Jessica!!!
A visit from the Hellions: 
Here is a shot of Orrin working on an armpit. I wish I would have taken a finished photo of this because it was really beautiful… (not something often said about armpits!)
Saturday I didn’t have an appointment until 3 – I thought about picking up something else – but really enjoyed the time to wander around and check out the show and visit. Some conventions I wind up with my head down working in the booth the whole time and don’t get to see what else is going on. This time I got a chance to check out the floor and see what was going on (and get extra hugs from friends). Also peeked over the rail to see what was going on downstairs (we were on the balcony) and saw this going on….
The guy getting the Koi done was apparently started on Thursday before the show opened and they were still working on him Sunday night when people had started to pull down their booths.
Allie arrived on time and we finished the central part of his half sleeve. This was done with Silverback’s new “fresh” greywash inks – so it will retain the warm reddish cast of a fresh tattoo (thus the name). Regrettably, my photography skills are still horrible. This was the best photo that I was able to get.
Allie (who is also a tattooist) is a direct descendent of Chief Cornplanter and I am directly descended from Joseph Brant – wonder what the ancestors would have thought of this.
There is more that I would like to add to this piece in the future and I am hoping that Allie can get me some better photos (I think a small child with a cheap camera could get better pictures than I seem to be able to get some days). After Allie, there were some butterflies that went on a nice lady’s foot. I will spare you those pictures.
Jessie and I played with the cut-outs on the way back to the room Saturday night.
Sunday brought several smaller pieces (again, I will not humiliate myself further with my picture quality) and some time to wander around a bit more before the floor closed up.
I found out that my camera takes panoramic shots… 
Here’s that guy… still getting worked on 
Some of the ArtFusion participants:
Not sure what’s going on here. Maybe one of the contests?
Sunday it was a little difficult to locate snacks – but we did mange to find a tolerable dinner with some truly wonderful people before everyone parted ways.
I did miss most of the after convention stuff each evening- very disappointed that I wasn’t able to make it to the Proton opening and I was greatly harassed for not spending any time in the bar visiting. I am really freaked out by large crowds and don’t know how to handle myself in them unless I am working (or drunk). So I tend to avoid that sort of thing. Most people think that I am just being rude – but the truth is that in addition to being socially inept, I am painfully shy. Apologies to any that I may have offended.
After everything was said and done, we had a great night sleep (another unusual thing about this convention was that the floors were quiet -even though our next door neighbors were partying into the wee hours – they never woke us up)…. woke up in time for breakfast of waffles and fresh fruit and headed back down the road.
Saw this rolling down the road 
the bunny kept an ever watchful eye 
and I failed again to get a decent photo of the huge guy watching over the Thruway at the Cattaraugus Reservation. 
It was a great weekend. I came home inspired and excited. New inks, new tube tips, some new books and a whole lot of wonderful memories. Durb puts on the best run tattoo convention that I have ever attended. (Having the food court with access to tasty vegetarian food all weekend was also a HUGE plus)Can’t wait to make it back to Columbus next year and maybe see if I can make it to Phoenix next year as well.
If you have ever thought about making the trek to one of the Hell City Conventions – I would highly recommend that you do so.
Time to get back to my homework!!!
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