Uncomfortable/disempowering tattoo experiences

[DJDeepFried]

You're a trailblazer.

Most of the negative comments about tattoos I see are on Facebook cos no one's brave enough to say that sh*t to my face.

[Bunny Switchblade]

You're a trailblazer.

Most of the negative comments about tattoos I see are on Facebook cos no one's brave enough to say that sh*t to my face.

Oh....they are never said to your face....only on the sidelines behind your back and you don't say anything because of the politics involved! Why? Because if you've ever seen the US play soccer you know that they never field the best possible team they could! If they did they would dominate the world with the talent pool they have to draw from!

Most of the real talent drops out because of the cost.....or the elitist politics involved in it all!

Trust me.....if said to my face where my kids would have had nothing to loose.....I would have knocked some of their teeth out and broken a few of those nicely constructed noses!

Sorry to go off topic there......

[polliwog]

Gotta love how many snotty comments about tattoos come from people who easily spend as much time/effort/money on other forms of "body modification."

[Colored Guy]

Off color jokes and discussions are one thing, harassment is another. Personally, I've finished a girl's half sleeve that was started by another guy in town, because he kept making very obvious references to trading his services for intimacy, while trying to pass it off as a joke. And I've heard a lot of people say they quit going various places for similar reasons.

Over the past 30 odd years I've seen the trade become a lot more professional from how the shops are run to how the artist carries him or herself and deals with the customers. There is really no room for anyone to be harassed or made uncomfortable. Word does get around these days a lot faster though.

Rob

[smiling.politely]

@Colored Guy Growing up with my parents getting tattooed a lot, I feel fortunate as a younger person in this world that can remember that time a bit. I remember mostly white supremacists and bikers, cops showing up to pick up clients and tattooers mid-tattoo, and of course tattooers yelling racial slurs at black cops. Drugs and guns hidden in the back, violating several individuals' paroles, etc. Rattlesnakes in cages in the front, boa constrictors in the lobby, and people making bets on how long it would take them to eat the various animals they were fed.

It was a different time, of course... but I'm glad for a decent amount of the changes that have happened in tattooing.

[MadeIndelible]

I was over at this dude's house today, hanging out and listening to music. He was showing me some of his tattoos. There was a Viking skull that seems like it's decent from a distance, but up close has flaws. It was done by a dude who I'm sure went through a half assed apprenticeship if he went through one at all. Biker shop kinda guy. Anyway, I think the tattooer was a Hell's Angel, because he had a support your local red and white flash sheet in his shop (I saw a photo of him in it today). But, the dude whose house I was at said that he saw the guy hit a dude with a baseball bat in the back of the head while he was tattooing him. Dragged the guy out back in the middle of the session apparently.

I got invited to the shop in Redding today. Apparently their going up there this weekend, but I am definitely declining. I'd rather not get mixed up with Hell's Angels and assault, trafficking, etc. Made me grateful, as @smilingpolitely said, for the changes. I probably wouldn't have been acquaintances with half the people I have met if they hadn't changed and gotten at least a little straightened out. I was a straight letter kinda kid, and I think it's influenced my tastes. I got into some trouble, but no jail time or parole or anything.

[Colored Guy]

Lots of crazy shit used to go down in shops years back. Drug deals, dog fighting, you name it. I've been at shops that were closed to the public for the night while they inked up a chapter of the 81 or Pagans. And nobody leaves until everyone gets their tattoo, especially the artist who was expected to pull an all-nighter.

Some shops, you'd pull up for your appointment and no artist.. the shop was closed up tight, go back the next day, same thing. I've seen shops closed, reopen the next week, new name, all new people, new flash and they sure as hell wouldn't honor anything that I had in progress even if it was paid up.

Rob

[irezumi]

@Colored Guy Growing up with my parents getting tattooed a lot, I feel fortunate as a younger person in this world that can remember that time a bit. I remember mostly white supremacists and bikers, cops showing up to pick up clients and tattooers mid-tattoo, and of course tattooers yelling racial slurs at black cops. Drugs and guns hidden in the back, violating several individuals' paroles, etc. Rattlesnakes in cages in the front, boa constrictors in the lobby, and people making bets on how long it would take them to eat the various animals they were fed.

It was a different time, of course... but I'm glad for a decent amount of the changes that have happened in tattooing.

Add some tigers in the basement & it sounds like Roy Boy's shop hah

[Bunny Switchblade]

Add some tigers in the basement & it sounds like Roy Boy's shop hah

@irezumi......I am sure you have seen this before???

[Chicago Slices raw: Gary Tattoo Parlor]

I don't know.....but to me....that is a tattoo shop! <3

[irezumi]

He also did a lot of roids and beat up his shop help, and the animals in the cages in the basement were not exactly well kept. I mean, what kind of a decent human being locks up wild cats and animals in the basement?

The reality of the sentiment and the nostalgia is that some of these people were just lousy human beings.

[smiling.politely]

The reality of the sentiment and the nostalgia is that some of these people were just lousy human beings.

Exactly. As I said, I'm glad I had first hand experience with some of the people around this world in the early '90s. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was shattering any possible rose-colored glasses that might get stuck on my face, like so many people that didn't experience it seem to have.

It wasn't 100% across the board, of course, but knowing of arson getting called in after a convention faux pas and drywall work/bribes to keep neighboring businesses from reporting bullet holes snaps reality back into place.

[MadeIndelible]

Hector from Tattoo 13 once posted a roasted dog that he saw in Asia at some open market. Of course, if you know anything about Hector, even from Instagram, he is a dog lover to the end. He was just traveling there, but that shit hit home hard for me. Show's what's changed. People like Roy Boy. To people like Hector. If you say tattoo magic is gone, I don't know where your head is.