Milo "Mr Lucky" Marcer

Art that’s only skin deep Zoom Bookmark Share Print Listen Translate The world’s top tattoo artists are drawn to Cape Town. Report by Kowthar Solomons, pictures by Matthew Jordaan GETTING inked is not only for hard-core tattoo lovers – and the growing popularity of the Cape Town Tattoo Convention is definitely proof of that. The fourth annual event of its kind, on this weekend at the Pavilion Conference Centre at the V&A Waterfront, the convention has attracted some of the world’s top tattoo artists to the Mother City. BODY ART: Milo Marcer, of Mr Lucky Tattoos in Cape Town, works on Pippa Tshabalala’s left thigh. Southern Ink Xposure (SIX) is the lead organiser behind the event, and PR and marketing manager Jon Monsoon said this year’s turn-out had been fantastic. “The convention gets better every year, and we see the numbers grow to reflect that.”When they started, he admits, people mostly visited “out of curiosity, to gawk at the tattooed”. “But now we see those same...

It’s Wednesday and I need to do some writing, It’s been an eventful weekend as Nicci a good friend arrived from Johannesburg for the weekend so we could begin her partial cover-up back piece, a geisha that will use some of the previous tattoo as well as cover parts I don’t think work. We started out Saturday with a quick spin into town to Mozart for breakfast then sat shooting the breeze with Carl at Deluxe Coffee, those guys are so funny, we were in hysterics, then of to the V&A, cause I spoiled myself with a Nespresso Machine, as endorsed by Mr George Clooney I might add… whatever….   but I needed more pods, or cartridges, they only give you 16 and I was half way through on day one, needles to say I had a few anxiety issues, but hey it’s a new toy and you just got to test the damn thing right???? Took a spin in the Ferris wheel they have, and I’m just not happy at heights, and besides the coffee anxiety the swinging gondola on the wheel was making me more than a l...

After what seemed like a heat wave, which in all honesty is just summer, and after all the moaning I did about it, this morning I was greeted by my good friend the Mouille Point Lighthouse fog horn, the marine layer had come in and with it the wonderful moist drop in temperature. Those that know, know that the sound is my lullaby, and getting out of bed when all I wanted was to lie in and sleep to the cool moist breeze and the comforting sound of the foghorn. There was enough sleeping in and procrastinating so with all that it was just time to get my ass out of bed and get moving and face the day, then I got a message on my phone, it was a notification, that Maybelline is sold, the transfer has taken place and as soon as the funds are cleared into my account, she will be transported to her new owner. Bitter sweet, as it feels like a huge loss of a beautiful friend, but I do believe life is about movement. As she moves on the next project will begin and a rebirth of another vehicle...

So January has begun with a bang, and the workflow is good and I am most grateful to all my awesome clients. This month brings up two big things on both end of the spectrum for me, First is the annual SIX tattoo convention held here in Cape Town and I will be exhibiting of course, but the really awesome thing is I have great friends who are coming from upcountry and it always is a complete blast. So if you are in and around don't forget to come and visit at the BMW Pavilion the dates are 27th, 28th and 29th. The other is the second anniversary of the passing of my beloved Hymne, not a single day goes by still without thinking about her, so a very bitter sweet month. But I’m not going to leave you on that note, this is the year that is going to the end of the world, according to the Mayans. The Mayan calendar is divided into Seven Ages of Man. The fourth epoch ended in August 1987. The Mayan calendar comes to an end on Sunday, December 23, 2012. So having said that wha...

I just spent the saturday finishing up the large dragon back piece and it's always bittersweet, after one spends so much time and effort  in a tattoo like that, it always is Sunday was spent with Jarad a Kaylin, I did the demon girl piece on his fore arm, the "Dark Lady" as I refer to it and it was fun to do. They have asked me to the God farther to the baby boy "Mason" who is due in a week, it's an honor and all a little scary, guess if I'm not going to have my own, I may as well be a God Father to now my second boy. Whats more daunting is having to go to church, I haven't done that since I don't know when, perhaps that's not such a bad thing after all. This is my gorgeous friend from Poland, Doris Cash, check her out.

I just completed this tattoo yesterday on my great friend Tracey, I love tattooing her, she gets really interesting and challenging work and it looks awesome on her. So to Tracey and all those awesome clients of mine, thank you! Here are one or two more pieces I thought I would share

Quite some time ago I met someone I thought was interesting we met for a lunch, and then coffee a few more times, and you know when you meet someone, and you just need to delve a little deeper to know that this just isn’t going to work out… I left it at that, we talked every now and then, but something kept warning me, I was uneasy about this person, a few things had taken place that just didn’t sit right with me and so I lay a trap. I told her something that I knew she could use against me, and waited… sure enough she did not disappoint, before long all hell broke loose, as I had expected. Obviously this made her go to ground, and it’s been a long time since I’ve heard from her, but the other day she contacted me again, wanting to be tattooed. Now the reason I’m writing this shit becomes apparent… I run a business, and things aren’t easy in this financial climate. The question is do I take her on as a client, or just keep the snake at bay? I think I know what the right answe...