David Flores

I can only speculate, but I imagine yours wasn't the only appointment that got screwed up because of him switching shops. He was probably scrambling to get his stuff together in the hopes of making money on the trip so in that respect that sucks for him. On the other hand I think you everything you could expect out of a customer, and beyond that in my opinion. I imagine if the shoe was on the other foot, and you were the one flaking on him and changing times last minute and or not communicating with him, he would have no issue keeping your deposit. I think it's cool that you are sticking with the shop and it hasn't soured you on this kind of tattoo experience. I think the least the guy could do is give you at least half your deposit as a measure of good faith or the shop for that matter if they took your money and booked the appointment. But honestly if it was this hard to get the first sitting done, I can only imagine what the next appointment could entail so for $100 bucks you don't have to deal with it again.

I went yesterday, ended up working at friends t shirt booth, he was screen printing event tees on sight and selling some custom shirts he had made for some tattooers at the show. He doesn't live that close and he is real busy so it was nice to see him. My friend Ross Carlson won tattoo of the day on Saturday (Russ Abbot won that honor on Friday). Talked with Myke Chambers about getting tattooed but he was booked solid but possibly doing a guest spot in the near future so hopefully that works out. Artwork Rebels $150 flash special has some great designs, most of them portland related and Blacklist Gallery put together a pretty good sheet with designs going for $100. As far as people trying to walk up and get a tattoo those seem to be the best bet IMO.

Have you tried calling Love and Hate Tattoo and see who is there taking appointments or who is going to be in town guest spotting there in the near future? Federico Ferroni Gallery page 30 This guy can put on a good tattoo and I know Ken Cameron is a legit guy in the tattoo world. Also I think Federico also works at Love Hate, but maybe it would be easier to catch up with him here. But to be honest I don't know much about Miami, I wish I could be more help.

I love wandering around Portland and driving to neighborhoods I don't usually hang out in. As I talked about in the hipster thread I hung out on Alberta last thursday for last thursday art show, saw a bunch of cool stuff and was able to visit my friend at his tattoo shop. Got a burger with two grilled cheese sandwiches as the bun (aka the Cheesus) and then stopped by Atlas Tattoo on my way home to say hi and look around and present the idea of getting my ribs done there. The only downfall to Portland and it's hardly that is that there are so many breweries everywhere it is easy for me to get sidetracked. I guess tattoo shops do that for me too and there are about as many tattoo shops as breweries.

Okay today I found a new favorite tattoo on myself. I forgot even getting this because it was just some little thing I got while I was getting a larger tattoo. On my leg it looks like the eagle and a panther shark are about to pounce on the little guy but he remains defiant till the last minute.

Full List of Stuff White People Like « Stuff White People Like Never read the whole list, it's pretty funny and I would say I am pretty damn white.

On the flip side, if you hang out in hipsterville neighborhoods in Portland, nobody asks you stupid questions about tattoos, like how much they cost and what they mean so not all bad.

The first couple episodes of that show were so spot on, I haven't watched it since. All I have to do is go down to Hawthorne or Alberta and I can get the reality version. All would be well if they would just stop riding their stupid hipster bikes on the sidewalk.

They can keep the PBR, especially since the price has doubled in the last five years or so. Might as well drink something good, its the same price. But don't mind me, I'm just a beer snob. Although I did have a beer at Delilah's in Chicago a couple years ago, I think it was called simply "American" maybe with an eagle on the can. It was buck beer monday and that monday they tasted as good as any beer.

I drove by Atlas Tattoo today and couldn't resist stopping to look at some Dan Gilsdorf tattoos and poke around the shop. I know this shop has been given a lot of credit but I have not heard much about Jacob Redmond. I looked through his complete portfolio today at the shop. There is so much stuff in there that isn't on his blog or the shop website and it all looks so much cleaner. Honestly everytime I go in that shop it really gets me excited about tattoos (but what doesn't) Jacob Redmond - Atlas

Like Shannon said there are exceptions to every rule. Ultimately I would imagine if you hire the right tattooers take a hands off approach and let them do their thing, a shop would run fine and it does because it is run like a tattoo shop and it would be hard to tell whether it was run by a tattooer or not. I know one shop that used to be pretty talked about shop in the area and was in fact owned by a tattooer and still is. But his idea was to hire a shop manager who was basically a guy who graduated business school and he had put a few tattoos on. He interpreted his job to be to tell the tattooers how to conduct business and somehow had the impression he was their boss and could dictate when they came to work and how they conduct business. It really didn't go over well with anyone and he has basically in 6 years went from having the best shop in town to hiring kids right out of tattoo school. Everyone else moved on and either opened up their own shops or founds shops more than willing to hire them even though he got rid of his manager and runs the shop himself at this point. In some ways I have a similar position, but don't consider myself anyone's boss and I guess understand my role . I am there to make tattooers jobs easier and to talk to people and help them get the best tattoo out of their idea. Our shop isn't the busiest or the most popular but it's a tattoo shop first and foremost and that it something that everyone here takes pride in.

Hot stuff on my foot by Manee Friday in Portland.

This sounds nice in theory but I think many of the things traditional business people bring to the table don't work in tattooing. For example Running specials, Coupons, and Groupons are fine if you are selling sandwiches because you just put some more bread in the oven and bust open some more meat and cheese and hire a couple of minimum wage workers and you can probably still make money on half price sandwiches, you aren't turning away customers and people might actually come back for a full price sandwich because even then you are talking less than $10 bucks. But in a tattoo shop all you did was cut the money you made in the day in half and that customer is most likely only going to come back the next special you have or get tattooed by the guy down the street when he has a special. Plus how many people did you turn away that day that would have been willing to pay full price. I know this is just one example, but it seems to be what the business world thinks is going to increase business in a tattoo shop and no joke I have this conversation with some representative at least once a week.

Got a hot stuff devil on my foot today and it sucked. I will post pics when I take off the bandage and wash it up, but that was no joke.

Was Just informed that Rose City Steel (Seth Ciferri's supply company) will have a booth at the Portland Expo, with Alyson Leigh Bennett (Scapegoat & Mr Tattoo), Manee Friday (Imperial Tattoo) and Matt Moreno (Mr Tattoo) doing flash inspired by one the sponsors Sizzle Pie which is a Vegan Pizza chain in Portland. Manee is supposed to email me a preview of the flash in the next couple of days but sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

Yeah Robin it was for awhile, but I hate to say it but having my son has really helped me work through it and forget it ever happened. I am focused on him and let the past be the past.

Funny, kids are more permanent than tattoos and you can't remove them with a laser and they are way more expensive. Yeah I think my new advice to people will be don't have more kids get more tattoos and I think I will take my own advice in this case.

I wear a ring and probably wouldn't get a wedding band tattoo, but I have a heart with a key hole and my wife has a skeleton key tattooed on her so that's our "marriage tattoo" so to speak. I know a couple people that have anchors tattooed on their ring fingers and that looks okay, but still thinks its a bad idea in general. I have my son's name tattooed on me (above a baby skull) and that's about it and that's funny because I have what I thought was my first sons name tattooed in a banner below a traditional crying baby. I tried to get custody of him when he was six months old and did a paternity test and found out he wasn't mine and of course when she couldn't get any money out of me she stopped letting me see him. But the tattoo is in such a place that i am pretty much stuck with it forever.

Got this a couple days ago via Mario Desa.

Sometimes I think people just don't know what to say to me, so they try to talk about tattoos and since they don't know anything about them they seem to use all the typical cliche comments that drive me nuts. Some girl asked me this question sitting next to me on the plane and I just kind of told her that most of my tattoos don't have meaning and I get them because I like the look of traditional tattoos and the history that goes behind it. Granted I probably showed some restraint because we were at the beginning of a four hour flight and telling her to fuck off would have been awkward to say the least, plus she really didn't want to talk about tattoos she was just bored and wanted someone to talk to, so I changed the subject let her talk about her and all was good. Usually people don't really engage me in conversation, the just mumble "nice tats" as I walk by.

I like the Coffee pot and the pot belly stove. Brilliant.

I think @Ursula wins this round.

I would concur Stewart always seems to shed light on a subject in an effective, yet concise way, plus he know what he is talking about so that helps.

Whenever someone comes in for a sleeve I have been instructed to try to get them to just do the main image first and add the filler later. because then if it's a couple months between your appointments you have a finished tiger instead of an outline with some shading in different spots, Just not having people walking around with unfinished tattoos if possible. I know some people do this the opposite way, for whatever reason, but I feel like it works out for both sides in our case and I think it might work out better for you. Once you get all the stuff you want you will see the spaces you have left and could develop a plan to tie it all together and I think as long as all that stuff is consistent it will look like the stuff was planned all along. As far as suggestions for Artists I would say there are plenty on here, some good threads about Japanese tattooing and a thread called who deserves recognition that has some good names too. For me I would go to New York or San Fran. There are a lot of great tattooers in both places and if you had the money could make some good progress.

I think it could is pretty closely related and could be tied together fairly easily. You know what you want so that is half the battle. I would go with single consultations and just try to tie together as I go, But worrying more about putting emphasis on the big tattoos vs. the filler stuff. I think once you get going every tattooer is going to want to add a little something extra to outdo the guy before and give the next guy something to beat so it might just all tie itself together. Who do you plan to get tattooed by?