Scott Sylvia

i dont use it primarily because i use machines i build for people mostly, as for aaron and the spade it was his first tattoo done by pote it was the pushead one i believe.haha ill put up the pumas next one is at my warehouse and the other is in my drawer i use it alot. glad you guys like this ill try to keep up on it lord knows i have enough of them.

I don't know how many of you know me or my history of growing up in tattooing so i will start in the beginning with my first machine. I started tattooing in late 1989 with Aaron Cane he was responsible for me getting my fist job in tattooing. We had gone to school with each other since the 6th grade and he had done my first tattoo on his couch when i was 14?. my second when i was 16. My first job tattooing was working for a guy named miller cotton who didn't know much in the way of art but knew how to hustle people which is half the game in tattooing back then. when i started at the shop i tattooed grapefruits for one day. my self the next and the guy they fired for me to have a job. the fourth day i was released on the public and told to tell them i had been tattooing for four years?...which i did till i had been for five. in that shop everything was Spaulding and Rodgers which was not really uncommon at the time and place. monterey was not the tattoo meka. When i started i was not allowed to have my own equipment as a way to keep reliant on him. but when i got my first personal machines they were a Spaulding supreme and puma for a shader. By this time Aaron had been fired for going to the record store......in santa cruz? with my car ha-ha. If you know him you will understand. Anyways he started hanging out with the only person in the county who knew anything he worked at a place called gold coast and i cant for the life of me remember his name but he had Polynesian tattoos and back then that was fucking cool i remember thinking it was tire tread. So this man with a name i have no idea what it was had been showing aaron about machines he taught him how to make a cut back mad bee. and he made me one. It is the second machine he ever made and my first liner. Check out the sweet engraving i think it rules especially how crazy that shit he does now is. Yes the wrap on the coils is a brown paper bag pretty classy and the upside down capacitor is real nice as well.

So i am going to start doing a couple of things that I want to invite people to do as well. First I am going to start writing post about when I travel, having two kids and two jobs, tattoos, and machines I don't travel much but when I do it always involves working. Conventions, guest spots , etc., so I am going to write mini articles to sort promote and celebrate the good times we get to have in this business. Secondly I am going to start to post pictures of my machine collection. I have so many fucking machines its retarded I mean really in the couple hundred status, dumb hobby I started 20 years ago. I am blessed by my time in tattooing for many reasons but one is that I have been collecting machines long enough that I got a pair of Rogers for $500 that does not happen now. Jesus people will kill each other over a waters frame for the love of christ. oh and don't think i don't have some steaming piles of shit as well. so i think ill start this week not sure what the first one will be?....how about my first one. second machine Aaron cain ever built...mad bee cut back. ill post it up when i get it out of the display case. your gonna shit. many thanks to all of you on this site Scott

good paper!!!!!!!!!for me the more rag the better, hot press will puddle and show ripples almost because the paper is too slick. the problem is the rougher the paper the harder to line. so if your using speed ball nib it gets tricky, brush and markers are no problem. i pretty much only use nibs when it flash. if im doing a painting i will line with a brush for eveything but pike lettering. brushes are super important as well like said above series seven are amazing, not cheap but find the size brush you like in a cheaper synthetic then buy the good one son line for cheap. you need a couple of sizes or atleast i do i cant do big fades with little brushes. i also am not an amazing painter but i do work with what i think is one of the best and if rassier says try this hes usaully right. as for paint i use all kinds of shit from fw to liquidtex to water color tubes all of which are amazing when i drop the brush in the middle of the board.... rad. practice thats all it is just ike tattooing your first ones suck and your real proud of them at first and then soon you will be ashamed haha. i have to paint some stuff soon ill try to post the step by step shit and show off all my fuck ups. i outlined a sheet of flash the other day and dripped on it two minutes into it. fuck it i finished it and will worry about it when im done. good luck oh also try cresent water color board its rad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTrYSgds88s

In case you missed the first 2 parts: Bryan Burk Tattoo Interview: Part 1 of 4 Bryan Burk Tattoo Interview: Part 2 of 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8myq4ngvot8

all i can say is thank you....for reminding me how awesome this job is..and for bringin your a-game with these videos, the cholo don knotts cracked me up. then came the knit tie stage....wow.

In case you missed the first part, Bryan Burk Tattoo Interview: Part 1 of 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pKoknHIBU0

Bryan Burk is not your average tattooer by any stretch of the word. He has been blessed by having one of tattooing greats as a teacher. Bryan has a very impressive and relaxed style. His sense of layout is unmatched, I truly love and respect his sort of Japanese/American style. Not to mention his great fashion sense, the man has his own hatter, custom hand made for his head only. I have thought for a long time that Bryan Burk was the greatest kept secret in tattooing in LA, a town full of not very talented people clambering for both fame and famous friends. None of this has ever struck me about Bryan, he takes the job very serious and has a deep respect for the roots and responsibility of it. The secret is now out, he's got quite a faithful following of local and international collectors. The first time I met him, I was working at Spotlight and he was quietly working in the side room. I still remember the tattoo he was doing, it was an amazing raven. I thought to myself, "how long has this dick been tattooing? He just did a better raven then I ever have." I still remember it to this day, and I don't remember much. We next traveled a bit together because of our mutual friend, Juan Puente. This is when I got to know him a bit, traveling from Amsterdam to Paris, and then on to London. Two weeks of hanging out with Bryan every day lead to the discovery that he was more than just another idiot with a tattoo machine. His knowledge of Japanese tattooing and art was impressive, I personally consider myself seriously lacking in this department. Bryan later asked me to do his back, which I was, and still am, flattered to have done it. In the process of his finishing his back, he scored me some of the best reference books in my library. My book shelves are now way cooler thanks to knowing him. (It seems I have more books on cars and motorcycles that tattooing.) In this interview, you kinda get a glimpse at his strange old man type of relaxed character that I find hilarious. If you are planning on being in LA, arrange your trip around an appointment with this man and you will not regret it. Bryan's shop, Dark Horse, is at 4630 Hollywood Blvd., call them at 323-401-9950. I hope you all enjoy the interview, it took place in the back of our shop, Blackheart, quite a while ago. Due to some technical difficulty it was delayed until now, but Bryan Burk was actually one of the first tattooers I set out to interview right from the gate. Sincere thanks to all of you for reading this, and many thanks to Bryan for doing this and being a part of LST. And a special thanks to you, Bryan, for all the amazing drawings of me you have done, Scott Part 1 of 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWzaI2qycI For the other parts of the Bryan Burk Interview: Bryan Burk Interview: Part 2 of 4 Bryan Burk Interview: Part 3 of 4

christ i owned it.i also lived up stairs was a hell of a comute. was one of the craziest and best times of my life, one that could never be duplicated. that shop had a bathroom where the ceiling was 6 foot so if you were tall you had to bend over to piss, the whole shop was like 6 foot 7 maybe..what a shit hole. rent was 400$ cant beat that with a big stick. my first tattoo shop was when aaron cain worked at miller cottons in monterey when we were still in highschool, i went to get my first tattoo touched up from him.the place was pure shit. he had stollen the pipe and drape from some convention hall and used that to seperate the waiting room from the work area. he worked off of desks from a motel that he got for free. class act.

that philip body suit dragon is on richard pinch who is the guy that makes philips tubes. anyway that thing has some rediculous amount of cover ups in it,i have seen it in person and im not jocking when i say they go completely un noticed. it explains that there is no skin in the dragon body but god damn.

there is a boxing gym adrian spit boy told me about that was cheap as fuck, i thought uot by fruitvale/diamomd district that wasn't suppose to be full of yuppies and the kind. i knd try to find out what it was called. well next time i see her at berkeley bowl.

just for the recored devo crack that wip BETTER be played at mine..dare you not to laugh.. at our shop i work with 5 other assholes who think they are the only one with good musical taste and your just a dick for playing anything, so lets say it gets tricky..we listen to an ass load of sabath which i use to love. a bunch of shit like tom petty, zep,van halen,high on fire, sleep, waylon, if it was up to me i would listen to a combo of sleep and country that would be the perfect mix. i agree leatherface is amazing. i love oi and older punk/hard core not the shit when everyone heard slayer for the first time that can blow me. all of the crap about music at our shop and how some people take what you want to hear as a personal attack has led to" music free mondays"..where im the only boss that works and you, meaning the co workers can play what ever the fuck they want. smiths, dance hall, rap, whatever it rules..when customers complain, if its not black metal playing cuz i dont know why any one would want to get tattooed to that unless your trying to find a spine to sit good? if its not that i tell them they get a pick when they pay the rent, or i give them "oh you didnt pick this? wierd?" they usually get it. i do however think that customers should NEVER be offended as in nigger or faggot crap, they are paying me for god sake they shoildnt be miss treated by there suroundings,oh and yes i like the smiths just hate the fans....so sensitive.haha

32 fucking years wow...too bad you cant remember the name you could get that shit tattooed on you. congrats we are all better for people like you doing this shit right. thanks for being you and doing tattoos.

beppe works in verona which isn't far from venice he has a shop called ink addiction he rules on many levels and is a great tattooer and has the craziest looking tattoo shop you will ever see. worth the trip.

So i'm going to the philly convention this week . I am super stoked to be on the east coast and to see some friends from out there and do some tattoos. I am gonna bring my new set of flash, and some machines to sell, and my two hands to make some tattoos. i will be working at olde city tattoo for a couple of days after. if anyone wants to get tattooed let me know i would be super stoked to do it. as long as it's not a celtic thing on your neck, thats where i draw the line. neck tattoos and celtic just not together. Well, that said i'm hoping to get a couple of interviews done while i'm there, I am going to interview Tim Hendricks when i get back. I have the Brian Burk one that my wife has to edit for me and that will be up soon. I have a few book reviews i'm working on one is the Danish tattoo book the other is the Ben Corday one that Hardy put out. Both are awesome and very useful tools. We all know about the Jef Whitehead thing i just want to say that i have been friends with this man for twenty years he is one of my favorite tattooers and all around one of the most talented fuck ups i have ever seen. So i will ask that you hope for the best and keep the bullshit aside, We don't need to perpetuate gossip and drama, if you don't know him, don't talk about him. Please.

i worked at inksmith and rodgers and those fucks watch tv...mike said thats how he knew how long it took by how many shows were on. i however kept looking at the tv while i tattooed. not the greatest idea, im sure its good for the customers but i think my full attention is more important for them.i have the big butt book in my station which i fully recomend to any one and i meeeen anyone this should be considered religous text. anyways when my customers look at it i cant stop looking over their shoulders. we listen to music which we all fight about cuz honestly we are assholes with voices. has any one watched that movie bronson? fucking awsome sort clock work orange meets fight club. awesome

I was 14 and my mom chased me through the house trying to stab me with a pair of scissors. Ha-ha lets say it didn't go well.

perfect julio.