I am back in town after a week in the lovely fall decorated Massachusetts. Hoping to have pictures and updates here shortly.
Learned a lot, had a great time. Spent some time with old friends and made some new ones… and even painted a little bit!
On the Road… and Back again!
•October 17, 2010 • Leave a CommentI’m still here
•August 13, 2010 • 1 CommentIt has not escaped my attention that I have been not been regularly posting here as of late. Have a lot going on in the non-internet portion of my life and haven’t had a burning desire to share much.
I’ll try and come up with something cool for you soon or at least try to post some of the great projects that I am working on at the moment.
On a side note. Silverback Ink who makes the grey washes that I use in my work, have recently come up with tinted greys. Slight color casts to add some depth, interest and neat effects to black and grey work. I have been working with the “Mold” and “Fresh” varieties for a little while now (Green and Reddish respectively) and love them!!! The Fresh leaves the healed tattoo looking like it was very first done. A lot of ink suppliers have attempted this over the years – but Silverback is the first to have pulled it off.
This week Randy sent me a sample set of the new purple tint. I have done a little bit of work with it and of course love it as well.
Now I am looking for a project where I can use all three tints (in addition to the original grey set). My first thought was roses…. one red, one purple, green in the leaves and the greys in the background… decided that was too boring and I should be able to do better than that. Then I thought maybe deadish looking gypsy head (all the cool tattooers are doing them these days) or a zombie bride with a purple face and green veil…. so if you have a great suggestion let me know and maybe I will squeeze you in some place real soon to put it on you.
Let me know.
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I was able to get a healed photo of one of the earlier pieces that I did when I got the colored greys. I think that the fresh works really well to help separate the make-up from the rest of the skull texture. Hope to post more examples as I see people to get healed photos.
Unsolicited Advice – Memorial Tattoos
•July 6, 2010 • 1 CommentThere is a recent trend in tattoos to get memorial tattoos done immediately upon someone’s death. I have attended too many funerals over the last couple of years that involved mourners showing one another their memorial tattoos while at the service.
This seems to occur much more frequently when the death was sudden and unexpected.
I will give you the same piece of advice that I give everyone on memorial tattoos.
Wait.
Plain and simple. It is very normal in the grieving process (especially in the case of a violent death) to want to do something. To be able to somehow respond to the wild torrent of feelings that you are experiencing.
What happens if you get that tattoo now is that instead of celebrating your friend’s life and tattooing a beautiful memory of him or her – you forever remind yourself of how you are feeling right now. It becomes a memorial of their death instead of their life. Give yourself time. Wait. Wait until when you think of them – you think of the beauty and the times that you shared. I usually suggest waiting at least a year. Then, if the tattoo still has the same appeal to you – go ahead and get it tattooed. So that you can forever remember the bond that you had and the time that you shared together…. not the pain and loss that you are going through right now.
And when you get that tattoo… again, get something that reminds you of the person and their life. Something that they loved. Something that you shared together. Something that always makes you think of them. It doesn’t matter if that is a chocolate chip cookie, a blue jay or a game controller. The tattoo is for you. Put the name on there if you would like. Put the dates if you think you need some help remembering them. Otherwise they really aren’t necessary. Don’t get a cross with “In Loving Memory” if the person only went to church for weddings and funerals. Do get a cross (or a rosary) if it means something to you (or meant a lot to them).
Do not ask your tattoo artist to decide for you what represents this person to you. (See previous post)
Memorial and tribute tattoos should be just that. A tribute to the person, their life and their impact on you. Don’t worry about it if other people don’t “get it”. Make sure that the person you are memorializing would have.
Just Because I am Sick….
•July 5, 2010 • 1 CommentDoesn’t mean that I have to act like I am sick. So there Doc. Up yours. Screw you. I don’t care what you diagnose me with I refuse to give up and take it easy. I am going to continue to do what I can do until I can’t do anymore.
I just got back from the most amazing trip/vacation with my husband to and from South Carolina with many visits and stops along the way. None of which would have been possible if I would have allowed myself to act the way that I feel.
Maybe someday one of the doctors will come up with a useful bit of advice, but odds are pretty good that I won’t know. I really have no desire to go back again.
Between RedBull and my family and friends I continue to be able to accomplish the impossible and work on fulfilling my dreams. Thank you so much to all of you who made this trip possible and who love and support me on my good AND bad days. I am very blessed and try never to forget that.
Hopefully I will be able to post pictures that I took on the trip soon. In the meantime, here are some of the ones from Paul’s phone.
Unsolicited Advice – Leaving Messages
•June 24, 2010 • 5 CommentsAnd now for some more advice that you didn’t ask for.
If you are leaving a message, please leave your name and your number if you would like us to call you back. I am figuring that due to the proliferation of cell phones and caller ID that some folks tend to take for granted that the person they are calling automatically will have the number that they are calling from.
So at least once a week I receive a phone message from someone asking me to call them back who does not leave a name and/or a number. The names aren’t a big deal – I will call back and say “I’m returning a call from someone who left this number, but not their name” and we take it from there. The numbers are more difficult. That really leaves me with no choice but to wait until they call us back.
Now I have mentioned this to some other folks who don’t understand why it bothers me. They figure if the client doesn’t know enough to leave contact info I shouldn’t waste a thought on it. And I would completely agree if the client KNEW that they didn’t leave contact info. So instead I have a situation where there is a client (or potential client) at the other end who thinks that we just blew them off or couldn’t be bothered to call them back. They often are indignant and irritated and I can’t say that I blame them for that.
So if you have reached out to us (or anyone else for that matter) and they have not responded in a timely manner. Please try to give us/them the benefit of the doubt…. and if you know the person who left this note tell them I didn’t call back, because I don’t have a phone number.
Unsolicited Advice – What Should I Get Tattooed?
•June 2, 2010 • 4 CommentsI regularly receive emails both directly to me and through a website that essentially ask the same question:
What Should I Get Tattooed?
Here are a couple of excerpts:
i want a tattoo but i dont know what i like what are some creative ideas?
i dont want what everyone else has.. and i dont really have anything i have liked my whole life so its hard to figure something out… i dont really want a butterfly or flower or the typical stuff
i know that i want a quote but cant find any decent ones or ones i can relate too
Ide like to get a tatoo of a really amazing life saying, when someone reads it or when I see it every day it reminds me why I should live life and enjoy everything.
I’m getting my first tattoo, and i am just wondering what’s a good starter tattoo location, and object.
Ladies, What would be a good looking tattoo?
What are some ideas for a meaningful tattoo? Im a 19 yr old guy that is looking to get a tattoo. nothing popular, and i want it to be something that is meaningful. Something that causes thought, even deep thought. Im pretty picky when it comes to stuff like this and am going to get the tattoo on the inside of my right bicep. Right now i am leaning towards something composed of just one word, or a small phrase. Any ideas?
I want to get a memorial tattoo for my friend who died. What would be a good one to get?
As a business owner I try to respond as tactfully as I possibly can to these inquiries. It is of course my “business” to sell tattoos. But more importantly than taking someone’s money and giving them what they think that they want is the responsibility of it. As a business owner it is also my responsibility to try to ensure that my clients are happy with the product that they receive and unfortunately to some degree this involves trying to help think for them. If you don’t know what it is that you would like tattooed on you – then there is a very good chance that you are not ready to get one.
Sometimes tattoos aren’t about the image – they are about immortalizing a moment or a transition. Symbolizing something that is happening or has recently happened to change the person’s life. I understand that. If the client can’t articulate that (or even know it themselves) than there is no way that I think a tattooist should be given the choice to try and pick someone’s tattoo out for them. Especially via email or forum post. In person, there can be a back and forth dialogue and sometimes we can help coax out an idea which was there all along… but (there’s always a but) if you really have no idea what it is that you would like tattooed on you…. don’t get one. Wait. Please do not count on your friends or some stranger online to decide for you what you should have permanently placed on your body. Would you come on the internet to ask what you should wear today or where you should go to eat without more background? How can I make that decision for you?
I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I do want you to think for yourself. If you get a tattoo, I want it to be something that you can be comfortable with for a lifetime. So if the choice is mine, I will hurt your feelings rather than try and take your money and make a decision for you. That’s a decision that I can live with.
Hell City 2010
•May 25, 2010 • Leave a CommentIt 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!!!
No More Appointments
•May 14, 2010 • 1 CommentFor the time being and for the foreseeable future I am not taking on any new appointments. I will continue to book and work with clients who have work that is started. I will honor all current appointments and will book appointments with those who already have consultation appointments booked.
Beyond that I need to back off on any new scheduling and focus on the projects that I have already started and the ones that I am committed to starting.
I hope to be caught up by the end of the this year (2010).
If you have any questions at all, please feel free to call the shop or email me directly with questions.
I am sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause anyone. I have an amazingly talented group of artists that I work with and I am sure that we can still meet any tattoo requests that you have.
Stamps and Marks on Money (Chop Marks)
•May 11, 2010 • 121 CommentsI have been fascinated with symbols for most of my life. Between tattooing and doing artwork I am regularly exposed to symbols that I am curious about and want to find out the meaning of. I have been wondering about these for a long time. Recently it became my trivia question to ask people if they had seen them and if they knew what they were.
It turns out that most people have never noticed them.
I have my theory. I have heard some other people’s theories. If anyone out there has any idea what they are really…. please let me know. Internet searches have not turned up anything – but this is possibly because the keywords for stamps and currency (and everything else that I could think of) pointed to other more obvious places.
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I had always figured they were a drug thing. I thought that some dealers stamped their product with logos and they were probably stamping their money as well just for giggles or maybe for tracking purposes… I don’t know.
One of my friends thinks that they are used by law enforcement to track money that they are giving to criminals to see where it winds up.
Someone suggested that they might be part of the Where’s George thing. I tried testing this theory by entering some of the bills into wheresgeorge.com and they were not listed as being in there.
So here are some of the ones that I have found recently. I am planning on scanning and adding more as I come across them. If you have any – please scan them and send them to me and I will add them here.
a couple more than I found this week:
a couple from June 2010:
this one also has a few:
a couple of more (July 2010)
and one that Jonas found in his travels:
New one July 2010…. a little piggie!!
July 27th, 2010 – the first kanji one that I have seen
This week I asked the folks at my bank about these – thinking they might be able to offer some insight. Every single one of them said that they had never seen them. I pointed out that the money they had just given me had one in it. Nope, none of them had ever noticed them before. They said that they would start to look for them and ask around to see if anyone else knew anything about them. Interestingly enough all of them did point out that it is illegal to mark money in any way (wasn’t clear on whether that was because they thought I might be contributing to the stamping).
I also spoke with a woman who collects currency and taught me a whole lot of other things to watch for on bills, but did not have any insight on the marks. I will keep looking and posting them here when I can.
Dylan found this one today (August 17th,2010) The first duplicate that we have come across:
Found this one at the tattoo convention this weekend: (ROC City)
A few more (Thank you Gretchen!!!)
and today (August 30th, 2010) : a very well marked $50 
a fish (on the other end of the same $50) : 
and another duplicate. Personally I think this makes the foreign currency exchange mark less believable…. but as I have said before that may just be me. 
Another one that Jonas found in his travles (Jonas has a particular affinity for Two dollar bills)
weird how some bills have so many – and so many bills have none. This one was found in November 2010
These two bills are not sequential but have apparently been traveling together. So did these bills both go all these places to get stamped? Or were all of the stamps applied in the same place? (Found by me on October 12, 2011)
Emailed by Brittanie:
Nipple-ized Thom!!!
•April 21, 2010 • 10 CommentsI tend to assume that people know about the medical tattooing that I do. I know that not everyone does – but for some reason it is one of those things that I just don’t always talk about… but still figure that people magically know somehow.
Anyhow, for anyone who doesn’t know. I make areola and nipple reconstructions for mastectomy patients. Usually these are tattooed over a reconstructed or pronounced skin area made medically to approximate the protrusion of a natural nipple. Sometimes (usually on bilateral reconstructions) the patient will opt not to have the nipple reconstruction done. In these cases I will try to optically convince the eye that the nipple is there with what we usually refer to as 3-D tattooing. There are not a lot of tattooists that do this type of work and I get inquiries from all over the country from medical practitioners with specific questions about how it is done. I am in the process of putting together a booklet to send out that covers some of the hows and whys. To accompany the text I wanted some step by step photos to help illustrate the process.
Enter Thom. I wanted to photograph and document this process without putting an actual cancer patient through the additional time and hassle. Thom volunteered to let me put a random nipple and areola on him so that I could document the process.
So here is Thom with his brand new nipple. We are going to add onto it later to make it more fun for him. Votes are still being cast – so if you have suggestions, please do pass them along!
If you know someone who is looking for more information on this type of tattooing – there is a section on the shop web page that explains a little more about it. It can be found by clicking on the pink breast cancer ribbon on the second page or by using this direct url http://www.whitetigertattoo.com/medical.html
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