Non-tattooers opening shops

[MGblues]

Need more proof:

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/34741_111339078917857_100001252962641_85096_6572535_n.jpg

This just opened up a few weeks ago in my area.

Beautiful shop...

just take a look at the portfolios...

Just sayin'

Bishop Ink - Wall | Facebook

sorry for the double post but this is the link...

[tmagee23]

Interesting. THanks for the insight.

[purple haze]

HI my experience here in the burbs is not so much galleries n tea shop/ coffee shops wanting artists to work there its people that have tyre shops n salvage yards that have got a spare shop front n cash that open up tattoo shops with not little but no idea of the the art or creative side and what goes into running a good customer driven shop. just to earn some extra cash as a side line. that fxxxs me right off.

[hgiles]

Ahh. I'm in Richmond, VA. A CNBC "poll" listed us as being the #rd "most tattooed city" due to our shop/population ratio. And as of about a week ago, two strippers (sad but true) are opening a shop here. And to top it off, it's only two doors down from the shop Jessie Smith works at. I think our total number now is around 55-60 shops. And that's not counting the kitchen magicians and trailer tradesmen.

Sounds like a good city to get a nice tattoo for a fair price!

[Hogrider]

And as of about a week ago, two strippers (sad but true) are opening a shop here.

So you can get a tattoo and a lap dance at the same time and you're complaining?????

[posterboy7596]

I saw some stuff on instagram today about this place. I don't have a sufficient word to express what I feel about it. They call it "luxury" tattooing. Inkaholiks Luxury Tattoos, LLC.

[CultExciter]

I have plenty of words, they just would be very profane.

[Dan S]

I'm not a tattooist. I have done many, many hand-tattoos, back in the day, everything from simple lettering to some pretty intricate stuff, and most of it wasn't too bad for the equipment-sometimes sharpened shoenails-that we had. But I have never used a "professional" machine.

I am, I guess, what some would call "heavily tattoed". I don't think I am, but let's just say when people ask how many tattoos I have, I say "one".

Shop owner, shop manager, tattooist. One can be all, all can be one, or each can do their own thing, as long as they know how. I know artists who couldn't manage a goldfish bowl, and managers who couldn't tattoo, so...

As long as someone who owns a shop respects the art, the artists and the customers, doesn't rip anyone off, and is straight on taking care of business, they should be all good. On the other hand, if someone buys a shop, or inherits a shop, or whatever, and is in is strictly for the money, I don't think they'll last long.

You know, I have ultimate respect for a good tattooist. I've watched and/or been worked on by the best, and to me, it is endlessly fascinating. I've also seen the scratchers, and warned people away from them. That said, an important part of the equation of who owns a shop, and how/why is it successful, is the customer.

Location isn't always everything.

Chicago Tattooing Co. is in what is now a fairly trendy neighborhood. You can still get your skull split right down to the pink-meat there, you just have to work at it a little harder. Back in the day, that same area was stone, hardcore ghetto. You took your life in your hands whenever you walked through, if you weren't a native. Just goes to show, it don't have to be in a great location, you just have to have great artists...and great customers who are willing to make the trip.

A tattooist can make it with $100 pieces of flash, especially if he is near a Naval Base, or a school, but to really get over, I would think you have to get past that and into the real art. That's where the good customers come in. You know, the ones that will sit still for 4, 5, 6 hours getting inked, often at multiple sittings, and not complain, not flinch, and not worry about the money.

Art for art's sake...but Art is usually a customer.

.02

[Hunter Morrow]

This to me just seems like the bastardization and pussification of an art form.

All commercial, very safe, don't do anything that threatens Tabitha and Brice, do the tattoo fast so Marsha can drop them off at the soccer practice in time. Yuck.

Inkaholics has a parlor. A fuckin' parlor fer chrissakes! A GODDAMNED PARLOR. Who wants a parlor for a tattoo?

Man, nothing means anything anymore, does it?

That website turned me into a cranky old man. I feel this guy now...

[ThaliaCamille]

I saw some stuff on instagram today about this place. I don't have a sufficient word to express what I feel about it. They call it "luxury" tattooing. Inkaholiks Luxury Tattoos, LLC.

Hair colouring salon? WTF?

[irezumi]

getting inked

you're right, you are DEFINITELY not a tattooer.

[Dan S]

you're right, you are DEFINITELY not a tattooer.

Oh, man, did I violate some uber-hip protocol by saying "inked"? Hey-I'm SO sorry to use what is a common slang term in my area to denote the Art Of Tattooing.

And no, I'm definitely not a tattooist, but I've been around enough blocks enough times to have a pretty good idea of what's what.

[eisen777]

Ohh Dan....we know your old school, im sure you can take some ball busting. irezumi is a great contributor to this forum/site so relax lets not push away the people here who make this place interesting as it keeps thinning out more and more and we keep getting "tell me what tattoo to get,tattooer to get it by and city to get it ins posts"(not from you, dont worry). That said, I like your posts and your loyalty and history you bring as a long time tattoo "collector" for lack of a better word. No need to have a chip on your shoulder.

[Abellve]

I've only ever known one guy who owned a shop and didn't tattoo that was cool. Tattooing was his family and he took care of it. But for that one exception, the old code was how he ran things and this thing we do was better having had him in it.

On the other, vastly more full hand...I've seen so many awful shops run by outsiders who think the only thing their business needs to really take off is one more gimmick -- because in today's mall mentality the more marketing and gimmicks you have the less people are going to pick up on the low grade crap you're pushing. They want to run them like some kind of mashup between a strip club and a Spencer's Gifts so they can sell that cutting edge, mallternative vibe while the actual work takes a back seat. After all, it's just a product and we're used to buying cheap, low-quality products, right?

They have no place in our business. They can make bad calls, run the business down, force bad legislation because they can't self-police something they don't understand, flood the market with garbage and then...walk away...because they didn't invest their lives into it, just their money. They see it as an investment so who cares what happens to it after they've had their go at it?

[Dan S]

I know of one shop near me that is owned by a guy who has never tattooed, and it seems to do alright. I've looked at their work-there are usually two tattooists working there at any given time, and it doesn't seem bad, but the tattooists are definitely not putting their hearts and soul into it. Guess I can't blame them since it isn't their shop. The owner, at least the times I've been in there, seems to be trying to make sure everyone gets what they want, how they want.

There is another shop near me, I shit you not, I couldn't make this up. Guy was working in the gas station his daddy ran as a wrench, decides to go to "tattoo school". This is maybe 15 years ago, don't know which school he went to, or if he took a correspondence course as some have said. Anyhow, he opens a shop in a nearby city, and pretty soon, dad sells the gas station and goes to work for him...as a tattooist.

Now, it's been maybe 15 years, but this "shop" is still open. The guy that owns it, the son, has been in and out of the joint 3 or 4 times, and in rehab as often. The work I've seen come out of there, well, I've done better with hand-needles and India ink.

But it's still there. Unreal. Which shop is better, the one run by the non-tattooist, or the one run by the tattooist???

[Abellve]

Comparing an okay shop owned by someone who doesn't tattoo and a bad shop owned by someone who does is hardly reasonable. A bad shop is a bad shop whether the owner tattoos or not so that's moot. There are a million things going on that are hurting this industry.

The trend of outsiders buying a piece of our trade is the issue and frankly I think client/collectors should just support shops and artists they like, starve the ones they don't...and maybe leave weighing in on the fate of the industry to the ones whose livelihoods depend on it.

[Dan S]

Comparing an okay shop owned by someone who doesn't tattoo and a bad shop owned by someone who does is hardly reasonable. A bad shop is a bad shop whether the owner tattoos or not so that's moot. There are a million things going on that are hurting this industry.

The trend of outsiders buying a piece of our trade is the issue and frankly I think client/collectors should just support shops and artists they like, starve the ones they don't...and maybe leave weighing in on the fate of the industry to the ones whose livelihoods depend on it.

I wasn't so much comparing them as offering a "can you believe this shit" about the second shop.

I would never patronize a shop that didn't have love of the craft at it's core.

And while I'm not a "collector", just a person who happens to have tattoos, I would think the livelihoods of tattooists everywhere depends not on who opens a jive-ass wannabe shop, but on the customers. I don't think too many people who are truly into being tattooed are taken in by the glitz of the "television shops", and seek out real, honest, reputable parlors, no matter who owns them.

As an afterthought, on my way home from Chicago Tattooing the other day, I spotted a small parlor on the Nort Side of the city, and they had a big banner out front proclaiming it to be the "HOME OF THE $20 TATTOO!!!". I resisted the temptaion to stop and get one.

Now, if I'm wrong to be speaking here on this, the admin can pull my posts. Wouldn't want to offend anyone, but I don't see a huge divide betwixt tattooists and the people who are getting tattooed. I don't mean the ones walking in and getting a zit-on-a-stick, I mean the people who invest huge amounts of time, thought, love, and yes, money, into decorating themselves with the finest work they can get. My tattooist tells me, "I'll tell you anything you want to know about the craft, show you whatever you want to know, just ask". But I'm not going to ask him to break out his trade secrets, show me how to tattoo, I respect his skills and his level of artistry. While I might ask a question about how he uses a certain technique, it's not to copy it, but to understand how it will affect the art he is blessing me with.

[Abellve]

@Dan S: Cool, no problems from me. Just when you asked which shop is better...it almost begged an answer. I see where you're coming from. I also don't want to come off like, "a customer should know his place". The wearers of these tattoos we do are what it's all about. You'll see prior posts from me stating just that. It's not about tattooers' names and egos but what they're sending out the door and what it does for the wearer. We're all invested in this thing, just from different ends. I just think there are a few too many opinions about tattooing from outside of the industry and not enough tattooers protecting our trade from the inside, if you will...but I'm just a crabby tattooer who's heard a long line of customers chiming in on how the business should run.

This is an open forum and I'm not trying to police it. Some of the best stuff comes up just from the back and forth of it all. Sure, some people need to be put in their place and it's hard to tell who's who but I wasn't putting that on you. It was just a general statement. You'd know better than I if it applies to you.

Alright, I'm off to look for a bitchin $20 tattoo.

[irezumi]

ease up buddy. it's ball busting, and everyone i know does it to each other. especially when a client uses a slang term that makes us cringe.

also, there isn't anything wrong with $100 pieces of flash, and anyone who looks down their nose at someone who walks in and picks something off the wall gets less respect from me than someone who thinks less of that person.

[CultExciter]

gimme a sick titty tat-blaster. in old english. but in white ink. is 1 corinthians 13 too long of a verse to get?

[Hunter Morrow]

Well, seeing as how that would be the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, which would clock in at about 200 or 300 words, um...

I think you could pull it off if you leave out the verse numbers and punctuation marks.

[Dan S]

ease up buddy. it's ball busting, and everyone i know does it to each other. especially when a client uses a slang term that makes us cringe.

also, there isn't anything wrong with $100 pieces of flash, and anyone who looks down their nose at someone who walks in and picks something off the wall gets less respect from me than someone who thinks less of that person.

ah, so desu ka!

Well, buddy, I'm all eased, not to worry, but let me just point out that what makes you cringe may not make others cringe. That term is fairly common in this area. Truthfully, it isn't one I use much, but whatever, in honor of your feelings, I think I'm gonna head over to that $20 shop and get a "31" put on.

As for the second part of your post, about the $100 flash, I don't recall ever posting anything derogatory about it, or the people who get it. If you're going to get in my face, at least get in my face about something I wrote.

[CultExciter]

well, seeing as how that would be the entire chapter of 1 corinthians 13, which would clock in at about 200 or 300 words, um...

I think you could pull it off if you leave out the verse numbers and punctuation marks.

but i want it all!!!!

[irezumi]

A tattooist can make it with $100 pieces of flash, especially if he is near a Naval Base, or a school, but to really get over, I would think you have to get past that and into the real art. That's where the good customers come in. You know, the ones that will sit still for 4, 5, 6 hours getting inked, often at multiple sittings, and not complain, not flinch, and not worry about the money.

don't see a huge divide betwixt tattooists and the people who are getting tattooed. I don't mean the ones walking in and getting a zit-on-a-stick, I mean the people who invest huge amounts of time, thought, love, and yes, money, into decorating themselves with the finest work they can get.

lets not get into a pissing contest. these quote reads as someone who thinks walk-in flash pickers and getting names are somehow less important and of a lower stature than someone who comes in as a regular to sit for a few hours on a sleeve. if you didnt mean it that way, fine, no big deal, move on. this back & forth shit is tiring.

[CultExciter]