William Burgess

Normally I like to use quotes so its clear what I am talking about...but there are so many gems in this thread and I don't know how to save drafts:( Being highly skilled in another medium seems to be a rare quality of a prospective apprentice. I have worked at three shops now and have seen many people come in and inquire about apprenticeships. Only one person, and I repeat one person only came in with a nice, presentable portfolio filled with well drawn and colored tattooable designs. The amount he had was not even that much...like less than half of a full(10 sheets 11x14) set. I was still very impressed. I someone were to come in and show me a full set of flash, completed and comparable in quality to the better stuff out there, I might be compelled to teach that person. It may never happen! 99.9% have some pretty poorly organized amatuerish drawing if that. Its like art was just an afterthought or something. Then of course some fuck up their chances by showing some of the scratches they inflicted on friends and family.

Seen some pretty awesome stuff from former State and Federal inmates. In general better quality than jail style done on the outside stuff.

This seems to be a pet peeve amongst many tattooers...god damned cherry creek. I don't get it. Not terribly interested in the style myself, but I think they are well designed drawings. Is it the fact that there are sooooo many poor renderings of the stuff? In the nineties that was the selling ploy of many substandard tattooers...wallpaper the place with cherry creek and hope the customers don't notice how shitty they came out. On the other hand, a well applied tattoo that looks just as clean and solid as the picture...is this really a bad thing?

I want to see a picture of the inside of the shop. The way the high ceilings were utilized with the double scale(or greater) flash sheets hanging up there were simply stunning.

Rice eyes is a MUCH better artist...difference is like night and day...worth seeking out even if you gotta wait for a while.

Actually from my views on spirituality that phrase jives with me...any person can always hurt you...but there is not need to "fear" God because he loves all his children?

That's exactly how I do mine and tell my customers as well. I have never had issues with infection due to "bacteria death trap" I like to change the wrap once or twice during the first 12-15 hours. Makes it a little less nasty and also the washing will physically remove some of the bacteria. I wouldn't leave the wrap on for more than 24 hours at the max. After that, just wash it good and let it dry. I like to put a little lotion if it gets dry(usually won't need any for 3 or more days)

Gonna check out Pym and Jesse tomorrow. If you around I would like to meet you. Got a small shop in Kamuela.

Was 17 and had just got out of the hospital in Honolulu after getting some surgery. I am from the Big Island of Hawaii and there were no tattoo shops there at the time(1989). I had pretty much been fascinated with tattoos since about the 5th grade, when I got a copy of Donald Ritchie's book "the Japanese Tattoo" from the Hilo Library. Did a bunch of homemade crap on myself in the ensuing tattoo fever. We were getting a bite to eat in Chinatown, must have been on Smith Street because I remember seeing the sign for a tattoo shop down the street. This turned out to be China Sea Tattoo. Went in nervous as fuck and consulted with Scott Sterling and made an appointment for the next day. Come the next day it was Rollo that ended up doing a coverup of my homemade stuff with a panther(traditional position like the original) and a rose. I had no idea that he was so legendary until later. The only negative aspect of the whole experience was my mistaken impression that all tattoo shops were badass like that one. After all, I just stumbled into one of the most highly regarded tattoo shops of all time.

China Sea Tattoo?

Tiny tribals drawn by the customer...who after making me go through the tedious process of shrinking it to the right size, placing withing a millimeter of accuracy so it matches the other side, then decides he needs to redraw one section slightly larger, make the loops bigger ect. I told him go home and draw it however he wants it, then I can do it. Can't spend all day tweaking out what should be a 15 minute tattoo. What do you guys do in this case? Make them pay something or no? I didn't charge anything because I did not set up yet, but still wasted a lot of time.

What really pisses me of is googling "Worst Tattoos" and seeing the most horrid scratcher work alongside with some amazing work. For instance one of them has this amazing color portrait, but its done in blue and the kid has a strange expression, somehow that makes the work "horrible".

Everlasting Tattoo was(is?) located in a not so good area of town, out of the way and not really visible to street traffic and without much foot traffic either. I guess being top caliber makes up for that.

I am a little skeptical of this phrase. Its true, good work is never dirt cheap, but I have seen quite a few good pieces for a fairly reasonable price and quite a few total crap pieces for outrageous prices. When I used to get tattooed by Rollo at China Sea, the prices were considerably lower than the shops in Waikiki. Can't really say his stuff was lesser quality because of that.

Look at my thread about chemical compisition of tattoo pigments. Nobody want to reveal them, insisting its a "trade secret', yet probably a lot of these guys want to go to government agencies in a vain attempt to protect the trade. Can't have it both ways unfortunately. I think trying to get the government involved is just plain playing with fire. They will regulate and tax this thing to death. Look what happened in Oregon, apprenticeships are actually illegal, "tattoo school" is the only way to go there. Can't people understand that the authorities can never appreciate the informal teaching methods that is involved in any true apprenticeship? Gotta be "official", which includes unwarranted fees and ludicrous rules written by people that have absolutely no interest in tattooing whatsoever. Keep them out of it, educate the customer on what standards to insist on. True professionals have done a pretty good job of this on their own, because they care about the trade and have ethics. Quti trying to protect people from there own lack of judgement.

Well don't hold us in suspense...I wan't to see the pic of this dudes work. If a shop doesn't want to take apprentices, it seems a sure fire way to weed out about 99.9% of folks out there is to say...you will have to do a lot of drawing...you have to have a portfolio af at least ten sheets of flash. That scares people off a lot more than 5 or 10 grand it seems. Its pretty obvious to me that you gotta be able to draw to get in this game, but not to a lot of people.

Nice. I guess they are the standard reproductions with coloring done by someone else. The "colors by" part was not signed on either sheet. Being that his flash sets were one of the most commercial oriented of the time, sold worldwide and all, do you all feel its a good or bad thing that these reproductions are collecters item status, as opposed to readily available?

Thanks a lot! Those brought back some memories. Plus a lot even fit my late 70's to early 90's criteria. Pretty sure I have seen the originals of a lot of those just on the walls at China Sea. Awesome.

Well thats just my humble opinion! Partially biased, got my very first professional tattoos by him. As far as his influence on me as an artist...I feel destiny had a reason for me, in my total tatoo obliviousness, on my very first attempt to find a shop, just stumble in to one of the most legendary shops of all time and get tattooed by one of historys best. His shop wasn't the only one I have seen full hand painted, but like you said the effeciency and layout of the designs made China Sea the ultimate street shop in my opinion.

Yup, that sure looks like a gem. What I would like to see is all the designs that were just standard shop fare at China Sea Tattoo, circa 1989-91. When pretty much everything on the walls and some in the poster rack were...all Rollo..all the time. Save for a few sheets at most, 100% hand drawn and painted. Were they sold like the old S&R flash, lined and possibly black shaded, printed on a sheet that was suitable for watercoloring? Used to see a lot of that back in the day...designed by xxxx, inked by xxxx.