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I got this hourglass done by Stewart Robson about a month ago. The black/grey badly done stuff was done by a guy in Manchester but I don't believe in cover ups, but I've learnt me lesson now :P

This nice nice little scorpion. Tattooed by Frank Carter, who is guesting at Frith Street ATM. Quite an awkward place to tattoo (and photograph) as it wraps around the wrist.

They're not Paris Hilton or a Kardashian, nobody has a net worth of 15 million dollars, so why are you surprised when a tattooer asks you not to take photos of their shit? Any publicity is not good publicity in an industry that prides itself on not being a bunch of vacuous fucking nincompoops. Also, I find it incredibly insulting when people assume they can take photos of tattooed folks simply because they have tattoos. $0.02.

Oh I also got this on my foot from Frank Carter two weeks before the hourglass from Stewart. Not that recent I know but the latest ones I got. Next is a back piece from Stewart as well :)

the morning of the tattoo, i'll go to the market and buy a nice steak (preferably a porterhouse) and some good beer, a chocolate or energy bar and mints, and a bottle of water or gatorade. dry marinade the steak and throw it in the fridge, have a balanced lunch a hour or two before the appointment, and roll up a couple of J's. then i'll drive to the tattoo shop and have this overwhelming weird restless/excitement/nervous feeling the whole ride there. mints, chocolate, and gatorade during. afterwards, go home and throw the steak on the charcoal grill and have a ice cold beer. followed by a J or two. take it easy the rest of the day and wash off the tattoo before i go to sleep.

Picturing sex with those two is mind boggling.

This is a map of every pizza place in Manhattan

There's nothing worse than having to be identified period.

I hate having my picture taken anyway but if I say 'no' it could be because: a) the photographer is a dick/creep. b) the magazine they work for is a shitty magazine and I don't want my work in shitty magazines. c) maybe i'm having a rare day where I'm sick of people trying to make money from tattooers/tattooing. In tattooing the maxim 'All publicity is good publicity' doesn't hold much water. Try 'Good tattoos are good publicity'. That's how most of us get new clients and retain current ones. At a convention I rarely refuse photographs of me working. Sometimes if people are polite enough to ask (which is rare) I'll ask for them to not use flash. Outside of conventions, the answer is rarely 'yes'. If I'm not working the answer is never 'yes'. Luckily I usually work conventions next to Valerie, photographers love taking photos of women, not hairy dudes, so I'm mostly left alone.

I have a tattoo by Juan Puente, that was published in a magazine. This tattoo was inspired from an old line drawing Dan had. But Juan and I changed the design added a few things made it my own. I was totally thrilled to see it in a magazine. Then, I saw it again and agin in other magazines, only this time it was not my tattoo. Just a ripped off version of what I have. At first I was horrified and upset, why can't people think of their own ideas? But then I remembered something that Aristotle said, "there is no such thing as an original idea." Then one day while Dan and were traveling in New Mexico, we stopped in at a local tattoo shop. I picked up a portfolio to look at and low and behold, the artist had done my tattoo. It wasn't the same of course and I think mine is better, of course but I had to smile. All the way from West Hollywood California, my tattoo had made into a Japanese tattoo magazine, and on countless other people. It still is one of my favorites and still brings me joy when I see it. So if it can do the same for others, who am I to say it's mine and mine alone? Besides it was flattering to see that my Juan Puente tattoo was the inspiration for so many others.

I served a table of 4 juggaloes the other night. They were the stinkiest, messiest, cheapest (no tip and shared unlimited refill sodas), and most disgusting customers all week. Seriously- who needs ten refills of ranch dressing and then mixes a whole plate of ketchup, mayo, and ranch together? Fuck em. They also had some of the worst tattoos I've seen all week. One dude had an anarchy symbol next to one eye and a peace symbol next to the other eye.

I was flipping through some old photo albums today and found a Cliff Raven card for his California shops. Pretty basic card, but awesome none the less!

Cool, I'll have a look for them in my post tattoo haze come october. I'm sure a few beers will make the train ride home more interesting as well

A dude I know has an elvis tattoo that kinda looks like that. Its pretty bad ass.

I normally get the train to London before hand, eat something on the train and then run like mad across London because my train always arrives late even if I get the earlier one. During I normally have a sugary drink and try not to laugh or move to much. Afterwards it's back on the train for another 2-3hours whilst I eat a big chocolate bar and then home, shower and more food. The only part of London I know is the route from the tube station to frith street lol :P

I've got a book on Maori tattooing called 'Mau Moko', written by a group of Maori academics (most of them tattooed) who interviewed Maori artists and people with a lot of moko. The book is a fairly academic survey of the past, present, future etc. One of the chapters is a fairly robust presentation of all the different strong feelings about moko and kirituhi. It might provide some of the perspectives you're after? Amazon.com: Mau Moko: The World of Maori Tatoo (9780824832537): Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Becky Nunes, Linda Waimarie Nikora, Mohi Rua, Rolinda Karapu: Books YouTube interview with the authors

I don't usually drink beer when I get tattooed, but when I do it's not Dos Equis! I always thought it was funny when tattooers told people they couldn't tattoo you if you were drunk, because when your drunk reasonable explanations don't seem to apply.

I got this tattoo a couple weeks ago by Graham Chaffee at Purple Panther in LA.

Happy to report that all of the videos have now been converted to single files for your viewing pleasure. enjoy.

i've been asked to have my picture taken at conventions a couple of times, mostly when i've been darting between the booth and the bathroom but ive said no, because i hate having my picture taken, i just hate it, if it's of me doing my job then that's fine since thats what i'm at convention for. my customers are free to do get pictures taken of their tattoo but i would prefer it if it was part finished if they politely declined and waited till it was completed. There's a magazine i'm not happy with in particular and when a customer asked for my permission to have his tattoo snapped (he thought it was the decent thing to ask me anyway) by either that mag or a different one i quite like, i said he could do what he wanted but that i really wasnt keen on the first one and i explained why, he went for second one which was cool of him to trust me.

Like most of you I always make sure I have eaten and am well hydrated before getting tattooed. I got tattooed once at a convention without eating first and had to spend the rest of the day in my hotel room wanting to die. I almost always try to take a half a loritab or something similar unless it's a really short tattoo in an easy spot. I also find for about a week leading up to my appointment I tell myself over and over and over that's it's going to be horrible and hurt really bad and that I will hate it. I find this puts your brain and body into this mode where you're just expecting it to be the worst thing you've ever felt, and then when it's not you're like sweet this doesn't hurt half as bad as I thought! Durring the tattoo I focus on my breathing, in and out, in and out, smooth, even and deep breaths. Think of it as the same breathing techniques used in meditation or yoga. I find it helps you focus less on the pain and more on being calm and still. Afterwards it depends on the severity of the tattoo session. If it's a small 20 minute banger I just go about my regular day like normal. If it's a large or shitty spot I usually take a nap and then eat a good meal. For me I find it's more about the pre-tattoo than the post-tattoo. I once walked 30 minutes in the Florida heat to work after getting about 2 hours on my back and it was the single worst post-tattoo decision I've ever made. I ended up having to leave work about an hour later because I felt like I was going to barf/pass out or maybe do both.

Hey Stitch, true traditional Maori tattooing is tribe specific and the tattoo tells a story relevant to that area and its history .The Kirituhi has been developed for europeans or non-maori descendents who want a tattoo to have the look of ta moko or traditional design .Your idea of incorporating a Hawaiian band is pretty close to the mark as the Maori people originated from the Islands of Hawaii and sailed to New Zealand by canoe .

Once a tattoo you did or have on you is printed, you run the chance of it not being yours anymore. Every tattoo shop gets people bringing in magazines with images they want copied on them. I find this practice tacky and frustrating. I try to get them to let me redraw the image. Customers are usually pretty cool with getting something custom. I know there are plenty of shops that will just try to copy the tattoo verbatim. The copied tattoo usually turns out to be some watered down bootleg lookin crap. And that's why people dint want their stuff in magazines. If they really want it in a magazine, they'll just send a package of photos out. Nice of you to ask your subjects before snapping away

been meaning to get a healed pic of this up. scott sylvia started this one on me (outline + shading) last fall SFO convention...finished a few weeks ago. craaaaazy fast and scott was a real gent - got me in for an additional session 2nd day to finish up. totally stoked with how it turned out and the overall experience in general...

We prefer to call her my "child girlfriend" due to the age difference. I think she just got me time with Ryan because she likes his beard.

Eric Inksmith's wife just posted this on Facebook Paul Rogers on Eric Inksmith 6/8/1982

its been a few years....2005 I believe as Energon was the last line I picked up. I made a decent profit on my G1/Japanese collection and took a bath on the rest to the tune of a couple grand, ouch I've been thinking about it and the only collection I have these days is artist business cards

woah, someone's had a bit too much haterade today ;)

I just breath in, and then out :) Or as mister A. P. Shrewsbury beautifully painted But yeah, it can suck fucking balls ;)

My last tattoo involved the ditch, and the first night was awful, especially since I was still all wrapped up in plastic. But I have had some hardcore training in sleeping in absurd positions as a mom. Even though I never have meant to share a bed with either of my offspring, still they end up in there, and moving/readjusting comes with the huge risk of them waking up and all hell breaking loose. We've just kind of learned to sleep in these crazy positions, hoping that we don't end up with permanent nerve damage due to lack of bloodflow to the area. But yeah, I can now sleep without moving around too much. For the nap, I usually drink a lot of coffee, but I made sure to only have a half cup that day to keep the headache away. After a very long, hot shower, I massaged in a tablespoon or two of good organic olive oil while my skin was still a little wet, (sometimes blotting it with a towel if I got a little crazy) put on a loose, soft long sleeve cotton shirt, and sacked out. Yes, I know, olive oil may sound weird, but it worked out great for me. Besides being natural and hypoallergenic, it has no weird additives, and has the antioxidants A and E which help stimulate the cells to repair the skin. It also lasts for a long time, once or twice a day is plenty. Just wondering, has anyone else had good results with Maxiline?

Nice meal beforehand, breath mints before and during (common courtesy, ya know), lots of deep breaths during, hot soak/shower afterwards, and an ice cold beer immediately after the shower. I maintain that nothing tastes as good as a post-tattoo beer. Even when I wasn't really drinking at all, I'd still have one beer after a tattoo. Some things are sacred.