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Showing posts from February, 2013

History

As a tattooer, I find that our industry has become exactly that, Industry, and that the craft and it's roots and traditions is falling by the way side. As more artists market themselves well and reality shows aggrandise many, I feel that where we come from, and who we are? is easily forgotten. I was tattooing a paratrooper, here we call them "Parabats" and what I was tattooing to his chest was the "Bats" insignia, something they in their day were not allowed to do, something not new in many armed services. As I'm sitting tattooing, the fact that I'm carrying on a very long tradition in tattooing, and Sailor Jerry Collins came to mind. Tattooing in Hawaii through the 2nd World War, Sailor Jerry and those men and women in uniform that frequented his studio before leaving for the Pacific Sector, created such iconic images. Though unaware at the time, this is a body of work that has become such a large part of the strong tradition in western tattooing. I fe

Pirouettes

I'm not playing it safe any more. I'm gonna take it right to the edge. And do pirouettes. - What are you talking about? Pirouettes, you dumb fuck. And if I fall, well, so be it. You know. Who gives a shit? "Oliver Platt in Funny Bones" and so I have, pirouettes baby, I woke from a dream, and I was shaved clean, my face that is, and there were tattoos creeping up onto my face from my neck. This is the first dream I remember in I don't know when, I never remember anything while awake let alone while asleep, a little gift left from too many hard knocks against my head. So after 25 years in this industry I got completely immersed, I have had visible tattoos for quite some time now, but my face, well I always thought I would never go that far, and you know, I just felt it was time, and the dream, though it had no real direction, had an impact. The problem was I just couldn't remember what the shapes were that crept up on my face... and while doing some