David Flores

I have been picking up some graveyard shifts at my side job to make some extra cash these holidays and I have to be to work at 3am that saturday. I wish you said Thursday cause I was already thinking about coming up and catching a walk in. David Flores from Soul Expressions in Temecula will be there, when do you ever get a chance to get tattooed by someone with the same name. - - - Updated - - - Gotcha, now it all makes sense.

Why would you get only a 3/4 sleeve but then get your hand tattooed? Wouldn't it make more sense to go full sleeve? - - - Updated - - - Liberty Tattoo is the place to be that week.

But why does their need to be so many styles within styles. There aren't nearly as many American style Lagers on the market as say IPA's but they have about the same amount of categories for each to enter into and the beers that do win like you said aren't even neccesarily that good. They had some hybrid category where Chainbreaker IPA won a silver, it's an Oregon Beer, not very popular or good, there are plenty of American Style Belgian Beers and also IPA's that are better, but it's the only one that fit in their category so it won. On a side note, I love the direction this thread has turned.

I think pabst won a gold medal as well. It's kind of like all those awards they give away at most tattoo conventions, you make up enough categories and everyone can win a prize.

The show will be on as long people watch it and we are talking about it. I think they will have no problem finding tattooers to fill these spots, because most middle of the road people look at what is being done and know they are capable of better. I don't know how many times i've heard that's it I'm signing up for next season. I am not sure if I dreamed this up last night or it was on discussed on social media, but having a mystery science theater style show hosted where they just watch tattoo reality television.

I see the hands and face more of something you should do as an accomplishment. I know a guy pretty heavily covered, owns his own coffee drive thru franchises, but basically said he's waiting to do his hands till he can say he's a millionaire. This isn't some sort of self imposed dress code or rule by him, as he hire whoever regardless of tattoos, but more a way to reward himself for his hard work and accomplishment and at the same time not rushing into highly visible tattoos. He is still his own boss and most nights of the week you will find him at the local tiki bar or at some live music show, he's living the life, he doesn't need anything else to prove that. Then I go into the mall to the cool kid clothing store or corporate "skate shop" and see the kid with ears the size of elephants and some graffiti style lettering across his throat and the only thing I can think is "douche" . He probably lives at home with his mom or at best with 3 other guys in an apartment living on a steady diet of top ramen and 211 and watching the same three dvd's over and over. I mean I can't judge too much, I did that too I just drank better beer so had no money for neck tattoos. But the point is at that point in our lives most of us hadn't accomplished shit, hell we could barely pay rent on time. But the tattoo is supposed to tell me you are cool or don't conform to society because you do exactly the same thing every dumb kid does. I know in a way they are sweeping generalizations and personally I am at the point in my life where dress codes about tattoos are about the dumbest things I can think of, but their is still such a thing as a right and wrong way to get tattooed, in my opinion you should live the lifestyle before you get the tattoo. Also my tattoo choices in my 30's are way better than my 20's.

I think this is the designer label version of a tattoo, it doesn't matter if the tattoo is good because it is recognizable as that dudes work so in some circles it's probably a status symbol of some kind. Getting quality tattoos from top tattooers has never been a big thing in the Hollywood A list circles (I know I go to all the parties) I feel like if you weren't into good tattoos before you had some level of celebrity it's not something you seek out neccesarily. Just because Scarlett Johansen has been in tons of movies doesn't make her any less apt to make bad decisons about tattoos as any other girl in her twenties getting her first or one of her first tattoos does.

You don't know the tattoo business. I am not saying it's rocket science, but without some experience in it there is going to be quite a learning curve. A couple quick things. 1. Two guys tattooing can probably make enough to pay their bills and keep the shop open, but there probably won't be much return on investment for awhile. I guess that depends on what money arrangement is and how busy the shop is, but generally the idea is that a shop owner is going to make money off the tattoos he does, at least for the first few years. 2. There is no guarantee that either of these people will stick around and even if you have an agreement it won't mean much if they skip town, you could go after them legally but it's a cash business and will be hard to collect. I would be weary why a good tattooer would want to work in a situation like this, my opinion is either they are not that good, aren't dependable or see this shop as something they can take advantage. I mean they make money while they work even if you shut your doors. I am not saying do it or don't just a few observations.

Just in case anyone was wondering or didn't read this. Dear readers, First of all thanks again for all the support! We can’t thank you enough! A lot of people are asking questions about the situation at the moment. The story is so complicated I can imagine it’s not really clear if you’re not in it as we are. It’s not even clear to ourselves actually… I will try to explain it as clearly as possible in this blog. Most of you probably don’t know me. I studied cultural heritage and started working at the museum 1,5 year ago, a few months before the opening. I primarily joined because I love what Henk is doing as a collector. There are not many people that have such passion for collecting as he has, these days. Henk spent a few years searching for a museum to take care of his collection. Curators and experts told him the collection had the most value if it stayed together. That’s when he started thinking about building a tattoo museum again. He met a reintegration company that was looking for working places. They had some money to invest, Henk had his collection, and so the idea of a cooperation was born. This company would pay the rent for the first 10 years and the museum offered working places to people who are fundamentally separated from the working community. Due to a lack of time and in good trust we started building the museum without putting any of these agreements in a contract. Part of the agreement was that the foundation Amsterdam Tattoo Museum was going to pay for departments like promotion, events, exhibitions, etc. But as long as there wasn’t a signed contract al the revenue went to “Partners aan het werk” (the reintegration company). And also the invoices because the museum was already up and running and you can’t have a museum without promotion, events and exhibitions. But during the short time the companies were working together it became clear there was somewhat of a cultural difference. Something simple as replacing a lightbulb became a bureaucratic process. And as you can imagine this is not really how Henk was used to work. I’m not saying the lightbulb caused the problems, but it might have something to do with it ;) Henk might have had a bad temper now and then, but I know this was always from his passion for the museum. Small discussions turned into bigger ones and the fact that there still wasn’t a solid contract didn’t help either. In the meantime board members left, some just gave up because of the nasty negotiations, personal accusations. This was not what they signed up for. The board members leaving slowed down the process and the whole negotiation thing turned in a vicious circle. In the meantime the Dutch politics changed and less money went to commercial reintegration companies, so also to “Partners aan het werk”. These changes hit the company hard, salaries were payed later every month. From the perspective what’s best for the collection the new board of the foundation Amsterdam Tattoo Museum decided to end the cooperation with Partners aan het werk. The unpleasant way the meetings went had a lot to do with this decision. There just were too many accusations and disagreements. Then everything went really fast. One day we where negotiating with “Partners aan het werk” and the landlord (the building is rented by “Partners aan het werk”) and the other day we received a letter that told us we were all banned from the building: Henk, Louise, his kids, the board and his employees. The letter also said we were given 14 days to get our collection out. We were surprised by this development and decided not just to give up. We see the design of the museum as an artwork on its own that Henk made and don’t want to just give this piece of art away. We tried to get the art we lent from Sailor Jerry out, because the owners don’t trust the art to be save in there without Henk around, but the answer was no. So much for them telling us to get our collection out… What’s happening next? I don’t know. The most important is to get our collection back. We hope we can stay at the Plantage Middenlaan but there is a chance we have to look for a new building. One thing is sure: we need money. For starting up -again- in our old building. Or to build a new museum somewhere else in Amsterdam. I know one thing for sure: we can do this. I’ve never seen something like this before, the support is overwhelming. Tattoo and art lovers got together and are ready to fight for what is ours. Even without a clear plan we already received a lot of donations. There are some events organized: auctions, tattooing, benefit events. I tried to make a complete list here, if you miss something or organizing an event to raise some money yourself email me and I’ll add it to the list. Thank you all so much for everything, all the support, donations & offered help. Hope to welcome you all soon in our museum. Tessa

Those are great. Tattooer at the shop just got back from Amsterdam and was able to get a walk in tattoo from Bill Loika, he got a Mister Lucky smoking a joint. - - - Updated - - - I have a battleship but not a clipper. I think the ships look better with color, but I think you could do some cool things in black in gray. I kind of like the stipple shaded black and grey look that people like Mike Adams are doing, gives traditional tattoos a rough tough black and gray look.

Most people on this board are traveling across country to get tattooed or dealing with tattooers that are traveling the same distance. Going into a shop is ideal and yeah if it's possible I would say do so, but at some point if you want the business of serious tattoo enthusiasts, you have to use some sort of correspondence tool to arrange appointments. Working at a shop with mostly local customers I have not been used to answering emails, but lately have had a few people traveling from out of town to get tattooed. I know it can be stressful on the customer and it's definitely stressful on the shop end not being able to sit down and have a face to face with client, and just hoping they like the drawing. But at the end of the day it feels good, especially when you know people have traveled from a city full of talented tattooers and will take the added stress any day of the week.

I don't think anyone really knows at this point and we won't until Henk breaks it down for us.

Bottom line is healing tattoos sucks, and their is no magic lotion that is going to make it any better. Winter is generally worse for drying out tattoos, but at this point in the healing stage their is very little you can do that is going to affect the tattoo, a little bit of lotion might help relieve some itching and discomfort , but ultimately until it heals it's going to suck, but as long as you don't pick scabs the tattoo should be fine, and even if it needs a touch up their is nothing any lotion regiment or magic tattoo goo cream is going to do that will make the tattoo any better.

I would say the subject matter they paint is very similar and the color palette as mentioned, but Conn's stuff has so much more going on and is looking for a much bigger effect. Cleen looks like he is trying to keep it simpler. If he was trying to rip off Conn, I think he would make his paintings a little busier, try to incorporate background elements that Conn uses. I think clearly Cleen has been influenced by Conn, but that can be said for pretty much this whole generation of tattooers. Same with Dan Higgs and even Aaron Coleman, I see a lot of these guys in the tattoos people do everyday, and I don't think people are ripping it off, they are just doing what they think looks cool.

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Since we are talking about Austin, why not Jason Brooks, I have been looking a lot at his stuff lately. Or Scott Ellis at triple crown. I also think it's important to be patient to find a good tattooer, that you like to cover your tattoo and give you a tattoo you can be proud of. On the other hand, I can also understand not wanting to wait a year to get tattooed and there are plenty of guys who do top quality work who don't have huge wait lists. Whatever path you choose i hope this thread has helped.

People who really want to get tattooed act differently when they come in. I can't explain it, but usually can tell within 30 seconds of talking to a person. I greet everyone, listen to what they say and try not to be dismissive regardless of how it's going, but sometimes I save my long winded explanations of things when I can tell things are going nowhere. As far as the drawing, the only time I think we run behind schedule with drawings is when there are a bunch of random walk ins the day or days before the appointment and even then most of the guys are good about coming in early or drawing at home to minimize the delay.

Now that's how you do it. That black is so solid even in the large patches and the perfect amount of negative space. Not my style, but I often wonder why all those people who come in and want that spiky tribal stuff don't get stuff like this instead.

Did they forget, or were they running behind schedule all week and just ran out of time. First impression is if you book an appointment three months in advance that should be plenty of time to prepare, but in reality most drawings get done a day or two ahead of time at most.

I don't remember what lead me Last Sparrow. My guess was the old time tattoo photos thread by Nick Colella. I was following his work a lot back then, waiting to go to Chicago and get tattooed by him. Btw Just booked plane tickets to go back in Jan and sent an email to Erik Gillespie today, waiting patiently to hear back. Regardless I will get tattooed, I just hope it's with him.

I saw it on Instagram, pretty damn cool.

Steve Byrne Tattoo | Facebook Someone in LA could get pretty lucky as Steve Byrne is doing walk ins at Spotlight Tattoo on Monday Nov 19. Wish I was there.

For those of you who care and don't already know, I post shop pics under the handle acmetattooco I have a personal one misterdflores, but don't use it and there is only one picture of me singing Karaoke, under a disco ball thing. Tattoos and tattoo people just seem to be the only thing that interests me on instagram. I have already started following people on here as I find them.

Clint seems to be his biggest and only fan. I'm sure I wouldn't react well if I was the one being called out, but clearly John Collins is a solid tattooer and painter, so calling him sub par just makes him look stupid.

http://www.facebook.com/TEDDYBOYGREG53 Looks like he is has way more face tats now. Rockabilly Dating Site - ROCKABILLYDATE.COM and he was on this dating site pre face tattoos, note the swallow tattoo on his neck.