David Flores

I had a hard time believing that was true, but no facts to prove one way or another. I figured if a couple hundred bucks was enough to deter someone from getting tattooed by Conn, they probably weren't that serious about getting tattooed by him anyway. I figured he put that out there because that;s what he wanted people to think he charges. Anyhow thanks for clearing that up.

That shop makes me want to go back to SF. I never thought I would have a man crush on a tattoo shop I didn't work at. But sadly I don't think I could survive another trip to San Fran with my two year old, so I just have to hope for him to get a little older for next time.

I guess my point is who determines who or what the industry is? Their is nothing industrial about tattooing, and the term itself kind of has connotations to Hollywood. To some degree it's like you said it's measured upon talent and respect from a global community, but part of it is a popularity contest and a who knows who game. Bottom line not everyone can be one of the cool kids, but I think your statement has a lot of truth to it, I read an article somewhere about someone breaking down why they didn't go on the show and they mentioned (i'm paraphrasing at best) that you basically now have to deal with people who are more interested in TV than tattoos, among other reasons, I think there is a link to it somewhere in this thread. There were clearly people on the first season that sucked, B Tat, Al Fliction have no business tattooing people, Shane, James, Josh, Tommy at least showed they can put on a good tattoo, maybe not the best tattoo but still, when people forget about the show at least they can rely on their work. I guess the only thing I try to remember is that as big as tattooing has become it's still a pretty small tight nit community among tattooers especially within regions and while these contestants might not be the best tattooers, that doesn't mean they aren't respected or friends for that matter who would be considered top tattooers.

He just had two spots open on Saturday here in Portland, but you had to describe your tattoo in two words or less. The got swooped up quick, but should be fun to see what he is working on this weekend.

I think you got a good list going. Would be cool if we could come up with tattooers in all 50 states. I will start poking around seeing what i can find. First thing that comes to mind is Alaska is Deb and Don at Eagle River.

well I guess I can't really talk, I'm going to a convention this weekend where the headliner is Wee Man from Jack Ass again. I worked another convention this guy put on this summer. If it wasn't for the hope of getting tattooed by Zach Nelligan or Tron I would probably sit this one out, oh and I have free tickets.

I guess it depends on who you consider "the industry". Winning Inkmasters or Best Ink probably won't get you invited to State Of Grace or Ink N Iron, but could definitely get you a gig as token tattooer celebrity in a lesser known show or traveling convention and stay pretty busy and make some good money. The problem is the shelf life for a reality tv star is pretty short, and when people forget who you are and you can't just be the dude from the tattoo show, then it comes down to if you put on good tattoos.

Raptors vs T Rex vs Pterodactyl battle?

That's the thing that some don't realize that hourly rates were lower to give people getting large scale work a little break and walk in tattoos were just done like a mechanics flat rate, it didn't matter how long it took.

Unrelated to topic of thread, but other day put a temporary tattoo of a skull and snake on my son's forearm and he flipped out and made me remove it with nailpolish remover. He was literally trying to scrub it off in the bath.

What about Temporary Tattoos for little LSTers

Prices increase plain and simple. When a tattooer gets better they can charge more. When the price of groceries, gas, insurance, you name it goes up so do the price of tattoos, but probably not quite so drastically. $100/hr seems like a fair price for sure, but just to put it in perspective 20 years ago my boss was working on his ribs at tattoo city and was paying $120 per hour and that's not with Ed that was with Freddy.

If I were you I would seperate California into three sections, Bay Area/North, LA Region, and San Diego. Similar things could be done for states with one big city list those shops first together and then list stuff in smaller towns at the end, also listing people who work at same shop together. I get that you have it alphabetical for whole state, but that only works out if you know the name of the tattooer you are looking for, in which case you wouldn't need this list.

Electric Cobra shut down a couple years ago, Jesse Bob works at Historic Tattoo Society and Thomas Morgan has a shop in Huntington Beach CA. Seth doesn't really work at Atlas and Dan owns Atlas but is mostly tattooing out of Blackheart and Tattoo 13 in SF. People I would add Jason Kundell- Artwork Rebels Mike Volkakis-Oddball Tattooery Eli Falconette-Blacklist Tattoo Ashley Howell-Acme Tattoo Co. Jerry Ware-Atlas Tattoo Cheyenne Sawyer-Atlas Tattoo Jacob Redmond-Atlas Tattoo Lewis Hess-Atlas Tattoo Ross Carlson-Artwork Rebels Craig Brown-Historic Tattoo Society Josh Mcnair- Handsome and Smart Tattoo -Roseburg, Oregon Luis Keys-Sacred Art Tattoo- Corvallis Oregon Washington Marco Hernandez- Lit Fuse Tattoo - Olympia Chuco Garcia - Old Gold Tattoo - Bellingham Derek Noble- Lucky Devil- Seattle Jeremy Maurstad- Vancouver

All your points are totally valid to people like us who will put in the time and travel and do what we need to do to get tattoos, but majority of people don't like tattoos, they just want to have a tattoo. They just want people to be able to see the tattoo so they know they didn't chicken out, and are usually not as concerned with how the tattoo looks or if the idea is sound. Is that for me, not at all , but if that's how people party, then so be it. They have to live with it not me. I got a little pissy with a client who came in with a new tattoo yesterday, I could tell was done in someone's kitchen. But I mean she knew it was shit and she paid 10 dollars because she is broke and wanted a tatto and the only thing you can get in the shop for 10 dollars is a t shirt so it's not like their was any business really being taken from anyone and she now has a shitty tattoo on her forearm.

Just tell him to go to Frith Street, they have someone for every style. I mean you really won't know what would work best until you can look the area and existing tattoo, which is hard to do in a picture, but with the talent they have there I don't see any reason to go anywhere else. PS tattoo looks fine, sounds like he just wants an excuse to get more tattoos.

Around that same time I had a friend who was visiting San Diego and sent her to Avalon and she got two killer tattoos, I remember thinking if he would have just listened.

All the bull shit and my soft spots for liberal policies and civil rights aside, the biggest concern for me if Mitt Romney were elected would be his "tax cuts". I might get a slightly lower tax rate but not by much, but It has been implied that the mortgage interest tax write off is the first on the chopping block of "loopholes" to close. The only reason it makes sense for me financially to buy a house would be because the tax credits help make up the extra cost of owning and up keeping your own property. I don't think closing this incentive will help the housing market for buyers or sellers or the economy for that matter. But honestly I don't know if any of this is true because he won't talk about it. I guess I am not convinced that his tax cuts aren't really just going to benefit the rich.

Yeah I don't like the style, but yeah I wouldn't consider them the worst I have seen, not even the worst I have seen today and I have only been up an hour.

It was only a matter of time, especially in an election year.

The only place where I thought I could go to not talk politics. I am not opposed to it necessarily, I just assumed their was something implied that we just didn't talk about it, cause up to this point we haven't.

Welcome Mike, I have a few friends who have been living in Germany for work and from what they have conveyed it has allowed them many opportunities to travel all around Europe easily and fairly inexpensive. With a little planning you could build up a nice little collection..

Funny if I want to find source material for a tattoo the last thing I would look at is some bullshit flash web site. Most of the stuff is drawn on the computer and isn't even tattooable, not to mention the designs are horrible. I usually find non tattoo related reference if I am looking to get a tattoo drawn for me. If I want a particular bird or flower tattooed on me, I would find a book that has some good illustrations or photographs of them, or maybe just run the idea by the tattooer see if they already have the necessary reference material or even need it. Paying for a tattoo design on the internet is about as stupid as paying for porn on the internet.

I know exactly what you are saying. I shyed away from this thread for a long time and that other one about whether the two realism tattoos were the sam, until I felt like I had to throw my two cents in, or I just like to hear myself talk (not sure which one). Shitty tattoos happen everyday, they happen at shops all around us and pretty much you just have to ignore it or try to look at stuff that is uplifting or motivating. Some people talk of breaking hands and burning down shops, but talk is all it is. I have to remember why I joined this forum, the amazing interviews, discussions, and seeing work by really talented tattooers, not to inadvertently promote bad tattoos or tattooers which leads to less exposure for good stuff in tattooing.

I did some poking around but haven't seen much that looks ever near as good as her work, but I have never been to Boise, maybe @Joe Shit knows?