How Important is the Experience?

[AverageJer]

Hi all-

I thought I'd start a little discussion about something I sometimes think about. Essentially this question boils down to the question of the extent to which a spending money on a tattoo equates to spending money on a thing or an experience? 

I'll frame it this way- to what extent is the experience of getting a tattoo important to the overall product? Would you rather get a tattoo that is perfect in everyway from an artist that is no fun to spend a few hours with (maybe even actively an asshole) or are you willing to wear a tattoo that is a little lesser in quality from an artist that you have a great time enjoying your time with? 

Obviously the idea is to get great quality AND have a great time- and I have been fortunate to hit this ideal many times. I guess I'm just more curious how others here think about this issue- if you do at all. Getting a tattoo is an intimate experience in a lot of ways but it also produces a piece of art that we carry with us for the rest of our lives. 

What do you think? 

 

Bonus topics: 1) Have you discovered any new music lately? 2) Who do you like in the NBA playoffs? 

[AtomicMagpye]

I absolutely love the atmosphere in the shop I go to - they are a fine and marvellous bunch of people and it really does make a difference.  The experience is always filled with laughter, positivity and a sprint of adventure - It's fantastic to see how genuinely enthusiastic they all are about their art and they have created a place that is truly inspiring.  I have a fair amount of work done now and I would not be interested in adding to it in a place that was not in some way magical and inspirational - but that's just me. 🙂

New music -see below for a new video of a folk band I play guitar in (that's allowed right?) 

I am from the UK and have no idea what an NBA is or why it is being played off.

 

[AverageJer]

16 hours ago, AtomicMagpye said:

I absolutely love the atmosphere in the shop I go to - they are a fine and marvellous bunch of people and it really does make a difference.  The experience is always filled with laughter, positivity and a sprint of adventure - It's fantastic to see how genuinely enthusiastic they all are about their art and they have created a place that is truly inspiring.  I have a fair amount of work done now and I would not be interested in adding to it in a place that was not in some way magical and inspirational - but that's just me. 🙂

New music -see below for a new video of a folk band I play guitar in (that's allowed right?) 

I am from the UK and have no idea what an NBA is or why it is being played off.

 

Sounds like a fun shop and thanks for sharing the music- I like the sound of it. 

[Michaelshane]

17 hours ago, AtomicMagpye said:

I absolutely love the atmosphere in the shop I go to - they are a fine and marvellous bunch of people and it really does make a difference.  The experience is always filled with laughter, positivity and a sprint of adventure - It's fantastic to see how genuinely enthusiastic they all are about their art and they have created a place that is truly inspiring.  I have a fair amount of work done now and I would not be interested in adding to it in a place that was not in some way magical and inspirational - but that's just me. 🙂

New music -see below for a new video of a folk band I play guitar in (that's allowed right?) 

I am from the UK and have no idea what an NBA is or why it is being played off.

 

I love this.Where can I hear more.

[JAC1961]

Great subject.  I really enjoy a talkative, friendly artist.  I really enjoying talking to the artist while they work, it really helps keep my mind off the pain and makes the time fly by.  I also like getting to know someone with completely different skills and abilities than I could ever hope to have.  That being said, I guess if I had that choice, I'd take the quality work.  The artist that did my japanese half sleeve told me during the consultation that he doesn't like to chat while he works, preferring to concentrate on what he's doing.  At first I was a little put off, but he was friendly and chatted while putting on the stencil and sketching.  I appreciated his committed attitude and his work is the best that I've gotten so far.

Music. I've been listening to indie folk and bluegrass on Spotify lately... Dead South, Trampled by Turtles, Colter Wall, The Devil makes Three, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, The Bridge City Sinners, etc.  When I'm feeling especially neanderthalic I listen to Heilung.

[AverageJer]

40 minutes ago, JAC1961 said:

Great subject.  I really enjoy a talkative, friendly artist.  I really enjoying talking to the artist while they work, it really helps keep my mind off the pain and makes the time fly by.  I also like getting to know someone with completely different skills and abilities than I could ever hope to have.  That being said, I guess if I had that choice, I'd take the quality work.  The artist that did my japanese half sleeve told me during the consultation that he doesn't like to chat while he works, preferring to concentrate on what he's doing.  At first I was a little put off, but he was friendly and chatted while putting on the stencil and sketching.  I appreciated his committed attitude and his work is the best that I've gotten so far.

Music. I've been listening to indie folk and bluegrass on Spotify lately... Dead South, Trampled by Turtles, Colter Wall, The Devil makes Three, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, The Bridge City Sinners, etc.  When I'm feeling especially neanderthalic I listen to Heilung.

Good comments. It's interesting to me that Trampled by Turtles has gotten big outside of Minnesota. I think they really have gotten better over the last few years. 

[AtomicMagpye]

MichealShane....  thanks - we've released a load of stuff over the last few years - there's an Album called The Golden Section on iTunes/amazon etc...  but you can listen to a bunch of free stuff on Jo's soundcloud page (Jo is the singer) - theres some of her solo stuff on there but if you scroll down there's some Kodiak Island tunes also....

https://soundcloud.com/jobartlett

 

[bongsau]

The experience is EVERYTHING in tattoo, at least to me.

[ShenanigansFL]

I feel lucky because I think I found the best of both. HOWEVER, I would much rather spend several hours with a f**ktard and get a perfect tattoo than the opposite.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hands On]

i must say, this is the first "different" topic i've seen LST for a while. thanks!

We can all agree that getting tattooed results in both a product and an experience. For me, the experience edges out the product, just slightly. I guess this is because I'm picking a tattooer whose product I've already vetted by viewing their portfolio of prior work... I'm going to them coz I know they do work I dig. This way, even if the experience is bad, the tattoo should be good. But if you don't already know the artist and didn't meet with them beforehand, you have no idea what their personality is like or how the experience will be.

Tattooing involves a lot of exchange of energy. If you get a good piece of art that was put on with bad energy, you feel that more than skin deep and it sticks with you. Granted, if you didn't do your homework and you got a bad looking tattoo from a good person, looking at that bad tattoo could potentially bring you down. But that's more of a self reflection on you for choosing a bad artist and not due to the artist being a bad person. I feel like i'm rambling, but hopefully you get my point.

1) I've recently gotten into searching random cultural instrumentals to listen to while i work. This came after a conversation with a Jewish friend of mine... I mentioned that I listen to traditional Filipino tribal percussion and he said it's like my klezmer. I had no idea what that was, so I looked it up and BOOM... my new genre... traditional cultural instrumentals. I like having background noise that doesn't have lyrics that tend to distract me. So far, I've looked up music from Peru, Thailand, Japan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iceland, Hawaii, and Tibet. More to come!

2) I've been living in the Bay Area for almost 20yrs and have become a fan of the Warriors... but I feel like the Bay has been spoiled and didn't deserve this title.

- I appreciated how the Raptors played and think Kawhi deserved it after the Zaza foul a couple yrs back.

- Canada deserved it too, with all their fans sitting out the in cold! Good for them.

- I'm a fan of the game.

Some super interesting trades so far this off season!

- I wouldn't mind Kawhi repeating with the Clips - LA vs LA is going to be MADNESS.

- I hate Chris Paul and I'm glad he got traded to OKC to hopefully wither away.

[zetroc]

Interesting topic. I'd rather get a bad or OK tattoo from a great person than an incredible tattoo from an unpleasant or shitty person. That's just me though. 

(agree on the Warriors, the Bay is spoiled now and they really seem to just be cashing out) 

also I visited Scotland for the first time and was on a boat that played Scottish accordion music, and now it's my favorite genre. Sandy Brechin is a great example.

[soraya]

This is a really interesting topic! It was touched on from a bit of a different perspective here. 

For me, it is not an either/or thing: I’m buying both product and experience.
When decided to get my first tattoo I thought I was buying a thing, and it never occurred to me that it might be an experience, except that I was going to experience pain. But after the first one, I realized that I could take the pain, and was actually glad that it was painful, and I had defeated the pain. I liked being in this weird shop where everybody there had, or was getting artwork on their body, and I liked being in the middle of that, and becoming part of that. It made me feel very alive. And even though healing was annoying, I actually liked that I had to take care of it, to be careful with it, go through the itching. I viewed it as part of the process of accepting the tattoo into my body.

As I got more, I began to see it more as an experience rather than a thing. I came to like the planning, the anticipation, the preparation. Every time I decided to get a tattoo it was like deciding to run a marathon, where you make a commitment months in advance to prepare and train for the event. You go through the process, culminating in the event, and even have a aftercare process. Like a marathon, a tattoo is really a total body and mind experience for me, and I love all of it. 

I also think that the tattoo experience goes beyond the event. There is also the experience of being a tattooed person. I got tattooed later in life, and I am otherwise pretty mainstream, so I’m something of an oddity in my world. I’m different, people notice me. But I like that experience of living just a little differently. I feel like that is part of what I bought too: a different daily experience of living with tattoos.

So I would give the nod to the experience part, but only by a hair. But fortunately we are in a world filled with really fantastic tattoo artists, and we really don’t have to chose between good tattoos and good experiences. I think we can get both.
 

Edited July 19, 2019 by soraya

[Hogrider]

On 5/3/2019 at 9:54 PM, AverageJer said:

Would you rather get a tattoo that is perfect in everyway ...

No such thing as a perfect tattoo. 😉

[AverageJer]

On 7/17/2019 at 6:33 PM, Hands On said:

- I hate Chris Paul and I'm glad he got traded to OKC to hopefully wither away.

Best post I've seen on LST yet. 

[pidjones]

Well, playoffs and finals are over. I was kind of hoping Cousins would have a chance to redeem himself for a good contract next year, but that didn't happen. Then all the trades changed the leaque without even considering in the new recruits. I prefer college ball, anyway.

I doubt you will get a great tattoo from an artist or atmosphere you don't like. Even if it were to turn out as great art, the experience would be so hard to wipe out. I had one bad piece and the artist was either rude, talking to others (a friend of his came in and talked with him for 15 minutes while he was working on me), yelling at an apprentice, or silent. The shop was clean, but the receptionist only spoke to me once and went back to her magazine (even though I had complimented a recent piece she had on a shoulder). The apprentice did seem friendly when i took a break to pee. He was copying flash in the hallway. I ended up getting a tattoo there that I disliked soo much that I had it lasered down to where another artist could do it right. Even if the ink had been perfect, the experience tainted it in my mind.

[Oiocha]

A lot of my experiences have been with people who are heads down and quiet.  I can take the lacking conversation in exchange for wearing a better piece of art for the rest of my life time. Kiku is the only person I had a good time with and got a good tattoo from, we took a lot longer to do the tattoo but came away having much more fun.  I always book with the end product in mind, I can't form an interesting conversation during the experience anyways, I'm concentrating on not dying.

[AverageJer]

45 minutes ago, Oiocha said:

I'm concentrating on not dying.

lol

[Dan]

[JAC1961]

😂

Edited August 2, 2019 by JAC1961

[Boiled Dove]

The experience is a part of the process. I've been thinking about my chest and belly for years. I finally had it boiled down in my head to about 5 people. One, while I love his work, I've not been tattooed by him and I didn't want to go into this big a project with someone I didn't know. Another. I've not been tattooed by but have met and finally decided I did not want to hang out with that person that much. the other two were eliminated by speed and location and that left me whit who was supposed to do it all along. 

[Hands On]

23 hours ago, Boiled Dove said:

"eliminated by speed"

this is definitely a problem chad will never have. i'm gonna venture a guess that the outline of your entire front took less than an hour?!

[Boiled Dove]

Yep, about that. 

[Hands On]

The tattooer's bedside manner might be something worth mentioning. Tattooing fast and clean is good for everyone. It might hurt like cuss as they're ripping through your skin, but at least it's not long and drawn out! I appreciate when the artist is sympathetic (or empathetic) towards the client and works quickly, makes you laugh or feel comfortable to ease the pain, checks in to ask how you're doing, wipes gently, etc. This is all part of the experience that can make it bearable if done right or horrible if done wrong.

I had one artist who paid great attention to detail, but so much so that he wiped and checked his work after every tiny line. By the end of it, it felt like he was dry wiping with sandpaper! This also added to the duration of the pain. Even writing about it now makes me cringe.

Edited August 28, 2019 by Hands On