Views on these tattooists please

[Russ]

I like Claudia's work but I am not familiar with the other 2.

Is it primarily a Female artist you looking for, If so have you considered Valerie Vargas at frith street? she is an awesome tattooer and a great person to boot! Sarah Carter also works there who is equally as good.

If it's not necicerily a Female tattooer your looking for every one else there are great too.

Valerie Vargas Tattoo

http://instagram.com/sarah_carter_tattoo

Frith Street Tattoo | World famous Frith street tattoo, custom tattoos situated in the heart of Soho, London. Walk ins welcome!

I should point out I do not in any way work for Frith Street Tattoo, I just really enjoy getting tattooed there :D

[ReDile]

Man, I don't know what it is, but there is something about Jondix work that separates him. I know there are others that do that style very well, but for me, Jondix is it.

Holy crap, I knew Xam and Claudia recently relocated and opened Seven Doors, but Jondix as well?

It's almost unfair!

[Gregor]

Jondix, Deno, Claudia de Sabe, Xam, Teide, Dani Queipo, Marco Serio, Andrea Furci.

amazing !!

[suburbanxcore]

That shop has to be absolutely wild-ass.

[Pugilist]

I beg to differ.

You're sweet. And I appreciate your world if in it "crazy cat lady" qualifies as cool. :)

And yes, Seven Doors strikes me as a pretty fucking awesome place!

[growltiger]

Thanks so much everyone :D This will keep me quiet for quite some time!

In all likelihood, it's going to be close to two years before I'm ready to get the epic tattoos. But I really do have a fancy for a little something much sooner. I've found that Frith Street often have walk-in slots and post their cancellations on Twitter so I'll keep an eye on it. Does anyone know of a good thread for ideas for one-shot small pieces (subject and/or location)? I've tried searching, but not come up with anything in particular.

[Graeme]

Thanks so much everyone :D This will keep me quiet for quite some time!

In all likelihood, it's going to be close to two years before I'm ready to get the epic tattoos. But I really do have a fancy for a little something much sooner. I've found that Frith Street often have walk-in slots and post their cancellations on Twitter so I'll keep an eye on it. Does anyone know of a good thread for ideas for one-shot small pieces (subject and/or location)? I've tried searching, but not come up with anything in particular.

I suppose it depends on the aesthetic you're going for, but in my opinion, you can't really go wrong with classic tattoo imagery...roses, birds, skulls, flowers, dragons, animal heads, daggers, lady heads, nautical and maritime designs, or any of the above in combination. I know from Instagram that the tattooers at Frith Street are always drawing and painting flash (lately I've been really digging what LM Knight has been doing) and I'm sure they have sheets and books of possible designs that you can look through and choose from if you go there. For me, a big part of the fun of getting a tattoo spontaneously is picking something that feels right at the moment and just going for it.

[beez]

Thanks so much everyone :D This will keep me quiet for quite some time!

In all likelihood, it's going to be close to two years before I'm ready to get the epic tattoos. But I really do have a fancy for a little something much sooner. I've found that Frith Street often have walk-in slots and post their cancellations on Twitter so I'll keep an eye on it. Does anyone know of a good thread for ideas for one-shot small pieces (subject and/or location)? I've tried searching, but not come up with anything in particular.

Two years is plenty of time to get on your dream tattooer's waiting list ;).

As far as one shot pieces - roses, anchors, lady heads, skulls, snakes, daggers, panthers, eagles - I guess anything can be a one shot done small enough, but apparently I immediately default to traditional, haha. But those pieces can loan themselves to one shots and still be sort of cohesive in the end, when you have a bunch of them.

- - - Updated - - -

Ahahaha @Graeme and I simul-posted!

[Graeme]

Two years is plenty of time to get on your dream tattooer's waiting list ;).

As far as one shot pieces - roses, anchors, lady heads, skulls, snakes, daggers, panthers, eagles - I guess anything can be a one shot done small enough, but apparently I immediately default to traditional, haha. But those pieces can loan themselves to one shots and still be sort of cohesive in the end, when you have a bunch of them.

- - - Updated - - -

Ahahaha @Graeme and I simul-posted!

Great minds, etc!

[growltiger]

Yeah, I fancy something simple, timeless and classic. I want something that will be cohesive with whatever I get in the future. Especially since it is a spontaneous decision. Roses/flowers seem a good choice, they go with everything right! I've been eyeing up the moon thread too. Actually, I've been eyeing up a lot of threads.

We're planning on having another baby pretty soon and I just really feel like having one last hurrah before I go back to the fog of having a newborn. "For me". I'll be sure to get it upside down, just for you guys ;)

[Pugilist]

I am totally pro last hurrah and you cannot have too many roses, so I am going to peer pressure you into going for it!

[OutOfIdeas]

I agree, roses go with literally anything, and almost anywhere. Aaaaaaand if you get lucky and pick up a rose from either Valerie (saw one she did with a reaper a few weeks ago that floored me) or Oliver at Frith Street (or anyone there actually) you will make me incredibly jealous.

[growltiger]

How do we feel about peonies? I reaaallllly like @beez's peonies. Are they considered a classic like roses? I've seen a lot of love for them here, but they don't have their own thread like roses do.

[Pugilist]

YES!!! I don't have any peonies yet but I know where I want them and from whom and the wait for all of that to line up is kind of killing me (it'll probably be a couple of years).

[Tesseracts]

I like peonies a bit better than roses, especially the Japanese kind like this. But all flowers are great.

[beez]

How do we feel about peonies? I reaaallllly like @beez's peonies. Are they considered a classic like roses? I've seen a lot of love for them here' date=' but they don't have their own thread like roses do.[/quote']

Okay, well like @Pugilist, I say DOO ITTT. I am definitely aggressively pro-tattoo. So you should just go do that. Right now!!!!!! (The peer pressure is on!)

As for peonies: obviously you know how I feel, because I have 9 of them on me so far! They are one of my favorite flowers. I also have 5 roses, so rest assured they are not mutually exclusive.

In fact, when I was last getting tattooed, my friend came to the shop with me in case someone was open to tattoo her. She didn't really know what she wanted, has tattoos already but nothing too big and also has some plans for larger tattoos.

Matt (dr claw!) was free and consulted with her - she has some beautiful roses in fall colors (I'll see if she'll send me a pic I can post for reference later) on her shoulder. I told her to get a peony bc I'm obvs pro-peony, so she suggested it to Matt. He looked at her, checked the color of her eyes, the placement of her existing tattoos and where tattoos to come could go, and they decided on a peony bud in yellow right above the roses on her shoulder between the neck and collarbone. Beautiful, quick, and seamless - it melted right in to her existing tattoos and looked incredible.

She was stoked by the care he took in the consult, even for such a small piece, which is why I took the time to write it out :p. Roses and peonies together!

My left arm and right leg are traditional so far, which is where the roses fit in for me. (Also bc sometimes you just want a tattoo and roses are ALWAYS good and look good with just about anything else you add to them later on and make for a great "I need a tattoo NOW!" motif).

My left leg, my back, and soon my right arm are done in the Japanese style, which is where the peonies fit in. Japanese work allows you to layer pieces in one at a time, if you choose, and while I was initially having trouble committing to a singular motif, I knew that no matter what I wanted a big orange peony on my flank and so that's what I started with!! Or you could outline the whole thing at once - I'm just trying to communicate that you can go either way, and if all you want (at the mo') is a peony then go for it! A peony can be big or small, is always beautiful, is always good to get.

Sooo end story: get both! :p

Traditional & Japanese tattoo are timeless, IMHO, and I think you would do well if you picked images from either canon.

@growltiger, I was heavily inspired by Ozuma Kaname's paintings of tattooed women. I believe he painted many of Horiyoshi III's clients, as well as Horiyoshi's wife!

I've attached the only 'safe' pics I have on my phone so you can see, but if you do a search you'll find a lot if beautiful tattoo+shibari themed paintings as well.

Anyway, if you like big-ass peonies (or even big ass peonies) then I think you'll find a lot to reference on those paintings.

[HaydenRose]

@beez thanks for clarifying the "big-ass peonies" and "big ass peonies" I think the latter is in my plan in the future :)

Those paintings are amazing btw I love the way the tiger sits on her back, absolutely stunning.

[growltiger]

Those paintings are so beautiful. Really inspiring. Thank you for posting. I should NOT have googled the artist on my work PC. Goodness! :eek:

[beez]

Those paintings are so beautiful. Really inspiring. Thank you for posting. I should NOT have googled the artist on my work PC. Goodness! :eek:

Ahaha the first book of his that I ordered - I *knew* there would be shibari, but I just didn't realize that it would be ALL of it, hahaha. Which I'm cool with, I was just a little surprised! (And opened it eagerly in front of a bunch of friends who saw only erotic art, and no tattoos...it was pretty funny). The next time a book came in the mail, I was prepared :p.

Hehehe I am just imagining your face after that first google and it's making me giggle >:)

[beez]

YES!!! I don't have any peonies yet but I know where I want them and from whom and the wait for all of that to line up is kind of killing me (it'll probably be a couple of years).

Who do you hope to do your peonies, @Pugilist? I can think of a couple of east coasters I'd loooove some peonies from!

[Pugilist]

Who do you hope to do your peonies, @Pugilist? I can think of a couple of east coasters I'd loooove some peonies from!

Brian Kaneko. Who is decidedly NOT on the East Coast, although I know he guests in New York regularly. Hence the need for patience!

[beez]

Brian Kaneko. Who is decidedly NOT on the East Coast, although I know he guests in New York regularly. Hence the need for patience!

Haha, I see what you mean re patience!! Love his work. I met him at the Bay Area convention when I was being tattooed by Rob Ryan. Funny because he had been looking at photos of my back the night before with Junii et al and discussing snakes vs snake + hannya etc - it was a pretty funny "Oh, that's *your* back!" and "Oh, *you're* Brian!" exchange, especially considering I was pretty much post-verbal from too many endorphins/too much tattooing in one day.

You gonna get some awesome peonies, girl.

[growltiger]

BLOODY HELL. Guess what I'm doing on Saturday...

I was browsing instagram yesterday admiring this guys work, in particular his peonies (Instagram), when he posted a cancellation spot. I slept on it, mentioned it to my husband this morning who made me go and email right there and then, and I just had my appointment confirmed. They were so lovely, they actually rearranged his appointments on the day to fit in round my childcare.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions, in particular to @Joe Shit who pointed me to this guy.

[HaydenRose]

@growltiger so exciting!!! Are you getting peonies? Those are absolutely gorgeous. I've heard great things about Rodrigo.

[growltiger]

@HaydenRose Yep, getting peonies. You, @beez and @Pugilist convinced me :D I think they'll be gorgeous to be going on with, then easyto add to at some point in the future.

I do really like the design he posted with a cheeky little kitsune peeking out (Instagram). I was thinking I'd like a peony with something, like a bee or bug, but the kitsune seems more in keeping with the theme. I like the nod to the mythology.