cltattooing

I'll throw my hat in again this month with this piece, all healed and new :)

I just meant that your best bet is to get tattooed a whole lot by one person, pay your respects with a lot of time and money and maybe they will sell you one? Who knows, it's a gamble.

I have no idea if you will find a tattooer willing to let you buy a broken machine but I do know that if you want to get into the dirty of tattooing, the internet isn't the place to look.

@Alexandr Melnik Hey man, so not to be rude but this thread is meant to showcase member artwork, not pictures of tattoos. There are plenty of other threads those tattoos would be suited to. Nothing against the pictures, just that they are probably better off elsewhere. Cheers

@chrisnoluck That's how my apprenticeship went and I actually think I'm a lot better for it. There is really nothing out there that responds to the machine like human skin does and in my opinion, a major part of pulling good lines has to do with the reverberations in the skin. I do think it's good to tattoo yourself though, you learn a lot of crucial technique from being on the giving and receiving end simultaneously. I was never told to tattoo myself actually, I just did cause I wanted to haha. My apprenticeship wasn't much by the books.

No, it was on a felon with Hep C. Not even joking. :cool:

I have actually never tattooed a grapefruit o____o

Tattoos are definitely more popular and mainstream than they have ever been, but remember that people have been getting tattooed since the dawn of homo sapien. My parents used to say similar things, but then you realize that when people pass judgement or ridicule upon your appearance, it's usually because you are making them confront their conditioned opinions and they don't know how to deal with that internally so they project it into you instead because you have become a symbol for that. Also when you understand that, it makes that sort of bullshit a lot easier to deal with because it's not actually about you. If it really does bother you that he's saying that stuff, hopefully you can ask him to be more respectful about it because even if he is right it still sucks to hear and doesn't contribute anything positive to your relationship, especially when it is a parent! Good luck :)

I'll answer your questions, I think they're important questions and not outside the realm of reasonable inquiry. While I do think that a veil of secrecy is important to the artistic and technical aspects of tattooing, this is stuff that the customer should know about especially if you are concerned about your health and safety. In my opinion, the quality and transparency of your sanitation practices should be comparable to that of a physician. The information I am about to give anyone reading this right now IS NOT LICENSE TO GO INTO YOUR TATTOO SHOP AND SARCASTICALLY GRILL THE TATTOOERS ABOUT SANITATION PRACTICES IN A KNOW IT ALL MANNER. BE POLITE AND RESPECTFUL OR SHUT THE FUCK UP. Also don't take my word or anything you read on the internet in blind faith. This is how I keep my customers safe: Saran wrap, drape sheets, and dental bibs covering every surface of my workplace including station, armrests, and massage tables. Anything that I touch during the tattoo will have saran wrap, barrier film, or tape covering the surface. I use stainless steel tubes which are scrubbed with a detergent and then autoclaved for 60 minutes inside of sterile pouches which have steam indicators on them to let you know that they have reached the appropriate sterility temperature. I use single-use stainless steel needles which have been ethelyne oxide gas sterilized by my supply company, also with an indicator strip. Every part of my setup is single-use and disposable except the tubes which are autoclaved, the soap bottle which is autoclaved, and my machines which are wiped down with a hospital-grade antimicrobial chemical. We perform weekly spore tests on the autoclave to ensure that it is sufficiently killing all of the nasties. Once my supplies are disposed of, I also spray and wipe down my entire workspace with hospital grade antimicrobial chemicals according to cross contamination practices I have learned and am tested on according to my Blood Borne Pathogens certification that I am required to update yearly. I have been vaccinated for Hepatitis A and B, although no vaccine for C exists as of yet. I am also licensed to tattoo by the Alameda County Department of Environmental Health and will gladly show you my paperwork for both my license and BBP certification. I have been asked by customers in the past to explain and demonstrate all of this information and to me it is never a hassle because I am doing my part to keep myself and my clients safe, and I do not want to tattoo someone if they are uncomfortable getting tattooed by me.

lookin clean! :) keep on truckin, your head's in the right place. Hope your living situation works out soon.

Also dealing with a lot of back issues from work and trying to combat them before they get really bad. As of right now, I am seeing a massage therapist weekly (probably the best thing you can do), bought a foam roller for home, and will start seeing a network chiropractor once my muscles are sufficiently loose. Acupuncture and yoga will also help you tremendously. I know that all of this holistic stuff sounds like new age hippy crap, and if you think that then it's your loss, but it really does help and is essentially meant to work with the way that your body is naturally built and moves to help heal with internal facilities as opposed to external ones. I hope you feel better asap!! And also just know that this is something that you will have to deal with continuously, but if you do then it should be really mild and end up as just routine maintenance instead of "oh fuck this is a problem that I need to fix."

new lil dude from Hector Fong at Tattoo 13 in Oakland :)

Perhaps a campfire with a rising sun? But I also really like the idea above

I've definitely had tattoos that behave like that and I think it's because of how the tattoo was applied. Mostly with really dense pieces with little negative space to breathe. I let the hot water run over it for as long as I can stand to loosen everything up, go at it with soap until everything is visibly gone and then call it quits. Another soak with witch hazel afterward to seal it up as much as possible and then back to my preferred aftercare routine.

-shrug- fuck em

Ah no way! My appointment is at 3, stop by if ya feel like it!

Getting a little monster filler from Hector Fong tomorrow, weeeee! :)

@Dumpleton I'm just glad I've been able to help, thanks is payment enough. Plus that set of prints you sent me is outta control, I don't remember if I properly thanked you for that, but it was very sweet of you and an awesome surprise to find in the mail

Glad to hear that! A shining example of someone who has done this and progressed miles is our own @Dumpleton. There is a lot of his work posted up in the How About an Art Show? thread, if you go through the thread you can see how far he's come, it's really impressive. You will have a lot of fun with this I think!

Just my observation, but it looks like you are still learning how to draw and paint. Which is fine! But I think in order to properly execute these designs, you should study more and work on your technique. The best way to go about that is to trace and re-paint 100 sheets of flash. Don't take any artistic liberties, copy them exactly as they are so that you can gain insight into the craft and process of those who have a good handle on what they're doing. You will be amazed at what you learn! Start with the basics and the old masters, and work your way forward. Not only will you learn a ton, but you'll have an awesome volume of work to show people.

Tattooing 5 years and you own a shop? :(

Cheers :)

things that look good in that space: flowers spiderwebs girl head compass tudor rose mace on a chain going over the shoulders and through the neck butterfly spider scorpion snake beetle

Yeah you definitely need to leave and pursue other options. The idea of undertaking a tattoo apprenticeship from someone who doesn't tattoo is... nonsensical. By the sounds of it, you have too much potential for this clown and he doesn't deserve to have you around. It kinda just sounds like he wants a shop bitch who will make him easy money, and that's not what tattooing is about. I know it's hard to have the confidence at this level to put your foot down and say "hey fuck you man! I'm leaving!" (you don't literally have to say fuck you ;)) BUT YOU SHOULD! Even if you have to keep learning and studying on your own time, it will still be time saved not learning bad habits and bad business practices. And yeah what Kevin said, go hang out at other shops, be polite and respectful, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. Get tattooed! It will work out :)

Take ibuprofen and drink a lot of water throughout your day, you'll be fine. It's going to suck but you can definitely work and it won't affect your tattoo.