Nothing Is Written Here

I don't typically enjoy doing script but this was cute and the girl was very sweet. About an hour of work including stenciling and set up. It apparently says "nothing is written here"

and you die..

Four hours later- here it is finished and colored. The grey is old so it looks a little out of place.. Looking back on it I wish I could have retouched that but we were running behind as it was and he was squealing in pain.OK... maybe not squealing.. but definitely in pain.

sugar skulls everywhere

So I did about a million iterations of this before it was right. Easily 20 hours of conceptional work and playing with different sugar skull designs.. I'll dig them up and upload them later and you will see that I'm not exaggerating. But this is what the client picked and there it is on her ankle -about 2 hours of tattooing. To be colored (i think)

Navy dudes are pretty metal

Did a sweet navy tattoo. About 5 hours of work- 7 round needle and no time for shading because he had to go save the world. Super bummed I didn't get to finish it. He made the most metal remark to me when I asked how the pain was and he replied "not as bad as tear gas." yes, I bet not Mr.Navyman.

Jewish Sistas

The other day this really adorable group came into the shop and wanted matching tattoos. We get this all the time, and they wanted script which is also nothing new. I did the ink and they told me this amazing story about how they had just met each other (they're both in their 40s) and discovered they're sisters. Apparently they had a  very promiscuous father who recently passed away and they met each other at his funeral. I thought it was sort of beautiful that on a day that they lose someone they find someone new..

Leg Progresssss

holy crap- this is taking forever to finish... Another 5 hours and this is all I have to show for it. I must have a huge thigh for this to be taking so long.. I had to stop because my body putzes out after that much time!

I really enjoy doing the roses and I wish I had been tough enough to stick thru more color because the red was just the start and makes for a pretty boring piece..

Slowly but surely.

Shortstop From Tokyo Finished!

SO here it is! About 4 more hours of effort and it's all nice and colored. Unfortunately this series of photos was taken under a light so there's an annoying glare. My bad. Also, the white hasn't set in yet so there's some blood turning it pink.. I swear it looks pretty good in person!

Sugar Skull Dagger

Today I spent a total of about 6 hours tattooing this on the side of my boyfriends leg. He designed it and I was really worried about this big long straight lines but I think it's coming along really well and he seems to like it :) This is just at the end of our first session and hopefully we can get it all colored in about three weeks when it heals.

And Then You Die

My friend Jan has come seeking more ink! Hoorah! He brought me an amazing design idea, which unfortunately this picture doesn't really do justice to because 1) it's a skewed image he took himself 2) it's a cell phone picture 3) it's not finished!

The stenciling, the preparation, and the inking has thus far taken about 6 hours. We have one more session left and when that happens I will definitely remember to take a good picture! Still kicking myself for having forgotten to take one at the end of this first session...

Practice Makes... Paintings

Recently one of the tattooists at my shop was asked to leave and we have since hired someone new and he is quite the artist! His preferred medium is acrylic paint and I found this interesting.

 I talked with him about what he uses and how he does his paintings and he seems to have inspired everyone at the shop to give it a try. Including me! He told me that if you can paint well, you can tattoo well. I figured this is a great way to practice my color theory so I went out and bought a tiny 6"x8" canvas to do my first practice piece on.

The first image is of the sketch I did on the canvas and that took about an hour to complete. I then proceeded to paint and it was a very frustrating experience. Turns out painting is actually kind of difficult. The painting took about 10 hours to complete (how embarrassing.) So as is obvious, the proportions got skewed, compromises were made, but I'll chalk it up to a good first try. Hopefully my next attempt will be on a larger canvas but I already think it was very helpful because it made me REALLY think about my colors. It was fun to try a new medium and I hope it improves my tattooing.