Dan S

Just looked through his site-I never heard of him before, so... I don't see anything on there that looks remotely like single-needle. Fine-line, yup. Nice work. Pero, que Clique representar, Vato? No offense meant to anyone anywhere, I used to represent, myself, but unless you're str8-up out Varrio, I can't see getting any of his work.

Actual, real single-needle stuff can hold up, but it usually does get pretty indistinct over time. My personal favorite for fine-line stuff is three-needle. Gives a nice, clean, fine line, but holds up really well. I have a piece done three-needle in '84 that still looks good today.

Well, I guess my sleeve was pretty damn patchwork! I had quite a bit of homemade work on both arms, and as I got a bit older, I started to cover it up. The second pro piece I got was by Dale Grande of CTC, a pair of roses over a banner with my name and my wife's name on it. I was just shy of 21. A year or so after that, I went into CTC with a couple of my brothers, and as long as they were there, well, hell, I had to get SOMETHING! Anyhow, there was a dragon curling around a dagger that I took a liking to, so Dale used it to cover an old nickname in a banner I had poked into my right bicep. Sometime after that, I happened to stop into CTC and took a liking to a parrot on a branch with a flower and some flourishes on each side...that went onto the inside of my lower arm, directly opposite the roses and banner. And there it sat for many, many years. We had five kids, worked a bunch of different jobs, and got some work done on my left arm. Started that with a dragon rising out of a mass of swirling black clouds with a couple of lightning bolts through it. Pretty crude by today's standards, it was done at CTC by, I believe, Mark Miller, on a night that Dale chickened out and stayed home because of a blizzard. It was a coverup of a rather large piece done somewhere very secure that was causing me some trouble in keeping a job. Shortly after that, in 1984, again at CTC, Dale used a composite of a demon's head from some flash and the cover of the face on King Crimson's "In The Court of the Crimson King" to cover a homemade "Death Before Dishonor" around a sword on my lower forearm, just above a panther head he had done as one of his first pro tattoos, also a coverup. When he did the demon's head coverup, he worked it into the dragon on my upper-left arm, using clouds and a design of different sized circles. And there that sat, for many, many years. Maybe ten years ago, I decided to finish out my right arm, and went back into CTC. To my surprise, Dale wasn't tattooing much, but he turned me over to Miles Maniaci. Miles wrapped my arm in onion skin and traced all the work that was already there. I had been researching images from Odinic lore, and had five basic designs I wanted. The first was a shield device worked in gold that dated back to about 900 A.D. that was unearthed in what is now northern Germany, the second was an image of the world serpent found on the same shield, the third was actually two separate sets of Celtic knotwork found in a manuscript in an Irish temple predating christianity, and the fourth was a set of Elder Futhark runes that I felt represented the path of my life, and the fifth was a line-drawing of Wotan seated on his throne with one of his wolves at his hand and one of his ravens overhead. Miles worked on the drawings for about a month, and then called me in to look at them. It took me about a minute to say yes, and we started to knock-out four and five hour sessions shortly after. It turned out quite well, I do believe Miles is a master of his craft, as well as a true artist. And there it sat. Not for many, many years, but about ten. I had gotten divorced, and am engaged to a wonderful Lady who brought a daughter of her own to the house. This last year, we went back to CTC and had Nick Colella, whom I had met while Miles was sleeving my right arm, put a Sailor Jerry piece on each of us, and put an old Black Cat Firecracker logo on each of my knees. Nick's work is a trip. I believe he is one of, if not the, master of Traditional, yes, with a capital T, Tattooing. I went back maybe a month ago and had him put on a "seated eagle", an old piece of Cliff Raven's flash that I had wanted since I got my very first pro tattoo at his shop, along with a group of roses, surrounded by banners with the names of our six kids on them. I go in tomorrow for Nick to put on a very old piece on my ribs, and at the same time, to start planning for sleeving out my left arm. It will be a challenge to mix the Japanese elements that Dale used in his cover-ups, the traditional panther's head, and whatever we come up with. I have some ideas, but I'll just sit on those until after I have a chance to sit down with Nick and see what's possible. Whew! Mucho Typo! Anyhow, yes, a lot of what I have was researched and planned, I pulled art books by the pound out of the library and had a librarian spending damn near full-time researching images from pre-christian Europe for me. Had color plates of all of those elements with me when I went in to consult about the sleeve. But a lot of what went onto my arms was fairly random, stuff that caught my eye and my fancy when I saw it, or that was concocted on the fly by Dale with a ballpoint and a collection of snipped-up acetates. Planning is good, but letting events and your heart take charge sometimes is good too. I sometimes feel sorry for the guys I see now who go in an order up a sleeve ready made when they're like 23 or 24. I think maybe they are missing out on the chance to live their lives, record their adventures and their beliefs, and then, when they're old enough to have lived them and seen the meaning behind them, to link them all together. .02, and apologies for the length!

Funny, it's kinda the opposite around here. Prices at the shops out in the tules are typically much higher than those at the reputable shops in Chicago.

So, this is a painting by Ralph Johnstone, done for Tatts Thomas way back when they were working on south State Street in Chicago. Nick Colella is putting it on my ribs tomorrow, (without the lettering) that should be fun. I'll post up the finished work as soon as possible.

Wednesday afternoon/evening with Nick Colella at CTC. Tattooing a painting by Ralph Johnstone, who worked with Tatts Thomas on south State St. in Chicago on my ribcage. Should be a party.

Very kool rides! Those would bring you a small fortune over here. Funny, when the Bugs were first coming into the country here, it was all "gas-mileage"...yet now, a full-size car gets better mileage, and it even has a heater! I'd still get on if the price was right, tho'.

'At's a bad, low Coche, mang!

Man, that's always been one a my favorite lines..."I hadda get one too, HE was getting one, an I didn't want him to be like all freaked out!"

Trips me out how much the old VW's go for here now...even a rusty piece is worth a small fortune. I was looking at Bugs in Mexico, they just quit making the 65's a few years back down there, and you can get a real cherry one for a couple g.

The bike? Yeah, pretty much whenever I can. Been a bad summer for it tho', just had a plate put in my foot, and had my shoulder rebuild a few months back, but yeah, she's got beaucoup miles with me.

Apple cores were pretty popular in the late sixties/early seventies...with or without the words "Eat the Apple, Fuck the Corps" on it.

Old bikes? Well hell...I might have a snap or two of old scooters. Here's a few of mine, pretty old ones, I think they were taken in like 1992. The ex made off with all the picture albums, I had these layin in a desk drawer. I've had this old girl for 35 years...she's been through some changes, but this is pretty much what she looks like now. I've changed a tad, tho'. Pardon the amateur photoshopping where I removed a passenger.

So this is def one of my favorite rides. I confess, I didn't do much of the work myself, but hired it done for a friend in Deutschland. With gas at $10 a gallon there, I don't think he'll be taking delivery anytime soon, and it's just sitting in storage, getting driven a few hours a month to keep the juices flowing. If anyone is interested in a REAL expensive kool old car, hit me up!

Spotted this one in el Barrio in Milwakky last summer. Got out to snap a pic, and had to back up to a porch to get it all in. Didn't notice the Vatos were all hanging on that particular porch! Turned out all good, tho', they were digging the piece as much as I was.

Ah cain't hep mahsef! Not sure which day, but set-up 4 or 5 hours with Nick Colella for this coming week. Funny thing is, I'm not even sure what we're gonna do! I've got 4 different projects we can pick from, all of them are pretty equal in priority-'cept the backpiece, I know that's gon take more ching than I got at this point! Just hafta wait n see what he's in the mood to put on!

@TimBurke, man, that is OUTFUCKINGSTANDING!!!

If a shop-owner wants their squeeze to work there, and they aren't "into" the whole culture, then let 'em answer the phone, or run for coffee, or just sit and look pretty in the lobby and schmooze people. If they can't talk intelligently about the bidness, they're a liablility. .02

And it looks like you hit the jackpot with it! That cartoon was in the NEw yorker, wasn't it? I gotta dig, I think I've got an old book of their political cartoons from way back, and that was one of them. If I've got it, and you want it, it's yours. Absolutely heavy first tattoo!

You know, "back in the day", at least in the late sixties/early seventies when I started hanging around/getting tattooed in pro shops, there was DEFINITELY a different vibe. But I will say, at least at CTC, if you showed up buzzed, you got shown the door. I never saw anyone drinking in there, even once. Course, I do believe some guys out there may occassionally smoke one a them there left-handed cigarettes, but what do I know?!

I think you all know my story, I"ve been going to CTC for all my work for almost 40 years. Yeah, there have been loooooong breaks in betwixt tattoos whilst I raised kids and all that good shit. Anyhow. When I set an appointment to go in there, and I always do, cause it's almost a two hour drive for me, I am there early. I mean like early enough to go out and get coffee and rolls and like that. If I go in and there is a walk-in who has to get done right now or the world is gonna end, fine, they got a couch, I can wait, or hell, I can go back and watch whoever is working work, no problem. Do I consider the artists there my friends? Well, that's a tough one. To me, a friend is someone you can call at 03.00 and say "they're in the wire, get over here with a piece", and he'll be there. And vice-versa. Would I expect any of the artists there to do that for me? No. I don't live in the city anymore, so it would be pretty difficult to develop more than a friendly relationship, as opposed to a friendship. IF any of them called me and asked for a favor, hell, if it was something I could do, sure, no question, I would. I guess it's hard for me to put into words. I would say guys like Nick Colella, Miles Maniaci, Dale Grande, the ones who have worked on me, I think we have a good, solid, friendly relationship, and I wouldn't presume on it to try to get favorable treatmant or special consideration. That's not to say that if Nick wanted to do, say 4 or 5 hours worth of work on me just for grins and giggles I wouldn't take it, but I don't expect it. When I work with someone, I guess I feel you get to know them on a little deeper level than if you were just having your teeth cleaned. When I go in to get tattooed, I might pop a vicodin to chill things out if it's in a touchy area, but drinking? Hell, even when I still drank, if you were in the bag, CTC wouldn't touch you. I'd never dream of eating, or drinking alcohol, or smoking, whatever. I believe the last time Nick worked on me, he took 5 after finishing all the black, maybe a few hours in, and I chugged a sodapop. Other than that, I think it's incumbent on the tattooee to lay back and freeze. .02

Very sweet!

Ah, you'll be back!ever met anyone who went into CTC and walked out with just some script that didn't go back for more! Nick is an excellent artist and an all-around good guy-enjoy!

@appleadam...unless there is a block on new members starting threads, if you go to the front page of the Forum, in this case, Tattoo 101, on the upper left you will see a large, oblong reddish button that says "+ POST NEW THREAD". Click on that and away you go.

Just me, but no, I wouldn't. I have never used any type of wrap or bandage after the first 3 or 4 hours, ever. C'mon, a little cornstarch won't hurt. Carry your water-bottle n sluice the tattoo off now and again when it gets sweaty or funky.