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Rise and Shine motherfuckers. Finished about an hour ago. Tattooed by Emiliano Liberatori, Frith Street. Its on the bottom of my back.

Love the eagles by Claudia De Sabe. Amazing.

There are a ton of fantastic artists and operators out there these days, overwhelming. 30 years ago the general public didn't want to know and for the most part shunned the cultures/lifestyles of tattoos, bike builders, dumpster divers, bug exterminators, hog hunters, truckers, pawn brokers, storage container buyers, bounty hunters,and most of what "reality TV" and their marketing expertize has generated into "good TV consumer ratings" that generates BIG BUCKS logically or they wouldn't have pursued such. These things all come from evolution and these things will evolve to a degree that overpopulates these areas, because now a person who searched storage containers can't show up without being outbid buy dozens whom figured they could do the same and profit, same goes for truckers, more people taking CDL tests now than ever before, the home grown bike builders are everywhere, much of these areas have grown to insane proportions like everybody and their step nephew being "professional tattoo artists". It is much more complicated now with todays technology, the "Tattoo Directory" went the way of the phone book and if ya can't find it on the net it doesn't exist attitude is overwhelming. As to the "niche shop" from yer designated area of your home? Why not? Coney Island Freddy Grossman did better after they banned NYC tattooing and going into his gated community tattooing underground, was it legitimate? not so, did he get away with it for many years? Yep, but Freddy really didn't have a choice in his location and we do. Also in some ways with the shops popping up everywhere you can expect that tattooing's rep may get burnt by the shortcomings of the "fly by night" shops and drag us back to 1975. But the parallel I want to draw to the question posed is this; The consuming public knows that McDonalds food is garbage but there are many more Mickey D's around than the Mom & Pop restaurants that buy select cut meat and farm fresh vegetables yet the public will continue to feed on the trash while the smart seek the better meal. Both business's come and go but the truly good eateries build a more lasting clientele and reputation for good cuisine. Now to think you can sit in the front yard and attract drive by patrons for a slab of ribs off the smoke from your grill or set up a more eloquent dinning area in a large home will not lend much for any lasting legitimate business reputation. The point being is this; We have come a very long way in becoming "recognized" as an art form, "legitimized" by all forms of media and to expect that going "underground" might lend to the area that has come to be considered part of that which will burn the rep., operating costs today in tattooing is greatly increased from 30 years ago and it's difficult to compete in the consumer market against all the people who settle for lesser for cheaper but I say hang in there, keep the lights on, give the public a place to drop into and keep your work to the best of your abilities and the highest standards and you will survive. When times are at their worst you can pick up work in other ways in the way of art or a second job, I know that sounds difficult but it's what it may take and others did it before us. Take Walter Cleveland for example, went to work at a lumber yard to keep his doors open and cut cost's by sharing the same location of a surplus shop and non the less he is today still revered as "Walter Cleveland, Master Tattoo Artist, innovator and Legend" and he's been dead since the 60's, check it; The Cleveland's Whatever direction ya choose, just keep a good rep and do the rep and public justice. If ya have to take it home and State and local regulations are met and that is what it takes for you to survive then do it and have no shame in it as it's been done before in the history of the tough times in tattooing. As for myself, I am on third generations of Families that are devout and maintain steady work enough to keep me evolving as a business of over 32+ years on paper and legit and I will be there till I drop out of my chair chucking up a tube and needle. Don't mean to sound so serious but when I started I knew that I NEEDED to get legit with a shop and a shingle to start changing up the rep of tattooing as it was then, now it has come so far that a chump with a 50 dollah tattoo kit has come between me and feeding my family and I don't want to give up on the image/rep that I helped build by allowing myself to be compared in my home to the guy scratching "live laugh love" on a chick in his back bedroom as the general public won't see or distinguish the difference between the ones that do it right and professionally. Customers are going to become a harder and harder sell when there are soo many out there but reputation, word of mouth and most importantly the quality and customer treatment will be what builds a lifelong customer base, Bert Grimm knew that and he had three shops runnin at one time but Bert Grimm was "The Name" and his main shop was the legacy that cranked out many more legendary tattooers.

Seems like everyone is wondering how we will survive/adapt to what reality television and the Internet has turned tattooing In to. It's no secret that EVERYONE you meet either tattoos or want to learn how. Honestly every 3rd person I meet with a tattoo is some form of a self proclaimed tattoo artist. What people haven't realized is that the recent rush of new tattooers is putting tattooing in a dangerous state. It's simple economics...supply and demand. When 100 customers in one city want a tattoo in a day and there are 200 tattooers in that city..well half the artist are going to starve. This isn't anything new...we all know the mass media has glorified tattooing and made it accessible to every kid that can sign his name. This won't change but what can we do about it. 2 years ago I moved to a city of 15,000 people and opened the only shop in this city. I assumed lowering my bills and cutting out all the extra expenses would be the answer. It may still be but at this point I'm not sure. I enjoy not having to tattoo in a scene. I really love tattooing people that have no expectation of what their tattoo should look like. If they come in for an eagle they don't try to micromanage what the eagle looks like. The clients in small city's just truly appreciate the time and care that I put in to the tattoo. My problem is I've worked hard since 1992 and I'm still sitting on my hands most the week. It's really got me thinking if this was the right choice and if I can survive what tattooing has become. I have thought of two scenarios that may help those of us that have put in the hard work and want to survive. 1. Take tattooing underground.. (private studios..no signs and make customers find us) 2. Create power shops...( gather the top 5-6 tattooers in one area and open 1 shop) Sorry Power shop sounds cheesy as shit. Larger cities already seem do this. Let's just take a city like Reno as an example. With out mentioning names there are really good tattooers there. For the most part each shop has a decent tattooer in it and a bunch of hacks. If all the legit guys got together and rounded up all the best talent In Reno you would defiantly see some shops losing clients and closing doors. The mediocre tattooers that were left would more then likely get a majority of their work at the "power shop". It would be a force to be record with. Since there are so many people trying to do tattoos and getting I to it most of them would want to go to these big shops to be tattooed. Shop owners are hiring one good tattooer and filling the rest of the spots just to line their pockets. We can stop this. If all the good tattooers left these types of shops and banned together and took control of tattooing we could make a difference. I know too many great tattooers that are broke and bouncing from shop to shop or working for piercers. It shouldn't be this way. We honestly need to take some responsibility and take back tattooing. Strong shops can and will survive. But if we are all spread out it's going to destroy the market for tattooing. Sacramento is a great example of this. There are under 3-4 great shops in Sacramento out of almost 200. Most of these shops are dog shit. There are a handful of decent tattooers that opened their own shops and just filled 3-4 stations with hacks. Why are we doing this!?! This only promotes that more people become tattooers. I know this isn't ground breaking or a new idea. But I do think that there is a large percent of good tattooers that haven't had the opportunity to work In A shop like this. And let's be honest once shops like this are made people tend not to leave. Bottom line is we have to use the thing that has put us In this position. Take advantage of the Internet and stay united. We are the ones that have to set the standards and come to gather to take back what we love and what was once sacred. Sorry about the rant...there aren't too many people to discuss thing like this wish in mid Missouri. It does feel good to get it out though.

@jade1955 yeah but I managed to book in with Todd Noble so it wasn't a complete waste. Loving that whole back though. Need to get me some sailor jerry flash before I run out of room lol

Had some time to kill yesterday between meetings and clients though not enough to go home and relax so did the usual, "I'll go hangout at blackheart and say hello". In the back of my mind wanting to get tattooed though knew they were probably all busy but I got lucky, Cody Miller was free. So got my elbow, a long narrow open space on my arm done and some quick filler. While getting tattooed realized, I never shared some photos as was asked after my previous post in this thread.....I think I have more impromptu tattoos then actual appointment tattoos. Damn I love walk-in shops so long story short once these spots on my arm heal I'll post some pictures of my right arm as that will be easiest rather than pictures of my whole body which is mostly covered in impromptu tattoos. BTW @jade1955 do you make appointments at Frith St or just do a lot of walk-ins? Very impressed with how often you get tattooed and the quality!

I am by no means a great tattooer. I'm also not the luckiest person or the most savvy business person BUT I've been able to make a living tattooing for over 30 years now. Things keep changing and you've got to adapt.

Yeah got to hang out with the guys from elm street and Richard Stell on Wednesday night. Really great people and Dallas is a blast. I liked Norman a lot. I'm kinda excited to go back through there for sure. I'll probably try to meet up with Tony from Rock of ages in the next couple days. Such a fun trip man. I'm so glad I decided to just jump in the car and hit the road. I really had no plan... Just went for it.

Hawk... Thanks for giving something to think about. I decided to hit the road for two weeks. Kinda clear my head and see other shops. I've been very inspired on this trip and have meet some great people.

got my big green egg smoker and made this with some baked beans, cornbread, collard greens

Images are a language; in our subculture, we've adopted this language and some us understand what those images mean on a lot of different levels. I think we also understand how those images can be interpreted by people outside our subculture. I'm reminded of the scene in "Eastern Promises" where Viggo Mortensen has to address the Mafya bosses in just his boxers, so they can 'read' him. Sort of O/T, but cool bonus segment from the DVD: I could take my bus stop analogy to Japan and our western styled tattoos would mean nothing but Gaijin tourists, but a sliver of color peeking out from the cuff of well-dressed Japanese "business" man would worry them more.

@Kev, interesting point about runes. I saw a guy on the bus a while back who had very freshly tattooed runes on his knuckles, some other black and gray stuff on his hands, and a big celtic choker tattooed around his neck. My assumption was that he probably also had "1488" tattooed on him somewhere, but maybe I'm wrong.

I think, living in the southwest, we actually have a decent understanding, as the swastika is a native symbol. The college in my city used to use the swastika as its symbol. my dad's house up in denver actually has a swastika built into the brick outside on the fireplace (pre world war II construction). I think with a symbol like that you take it on a case by case basis. If someone wants to put themselves out to be judged by others, more power to them (unless they are a nazi piece of shit. then they can just go fuck themselves.... but I think those that subscribe to that kind of a doctrine of hate are pretty easy to pick out of a crowd). After all, being tattooed used to be controversial all on its own. People already assumed things about you, just because you had A tattoo.

went into frith street on saturday to see if there was any space and got this sweet Rock of Ages by emiliano. If they have space for walk ins or if you can grab a cancellation you definitely need to go get tattooed there!

lil clipper