Larry Brogan: Developing a Style
By Larry Brogan
Courtesy of Tattoo Road Trip: Every artist wants to be recognized for their art and they want it to stand out among all others as distinctively their own. In the world of tattooing, you will find many artists whose work is as recognizable as their names, such as Guy Aitchison, Paul Booth and Joe Capobianco. People like this may have been born to be artists but the skills they posses did not come easy. They were developed over decades of constant study and practice with a pencil and paper… (more…)
Just Eat It: Sausage Gravy on Toast
By Stiff
My inspiration for cooking can come from a variety of things. Sometimes I get inspired by having a dish from a restaurant that I’ve never had before and try to replicate it at home. Sometimes inspiration comes from recipes I may see on television. I mostly get inspired by the certain items I see in the grocery store or farmer’s market.
Sometimes I fail at the outcome of what I’m making and sometimes I succeed. I just like to try new things and expand my horizons when it comes to testing new ingredients or cooking methods.
James, my fiancé is a great guinea pig. He will generally eat whatever I make and is honest about how the food tastes. Unlike James, I myself am much more critical about how my food turns out.
Posts on this blog will comprise of old and new recipes and of course all those recipes that my friends have asked me for… (more…)
Larry Brogan: Detailed Hand Drawn Stencils
By Larry Brogan
Courtesy of Tattoo Road Trip: In most tattooing, a quality job starts with a well-drawn stencil. Long gone are the days of acetate stencils that wipe off with one pass of a paper towel. Today, most of us rely on thermal spirit masters and a thermal copier or Hectograph paper to hand draw our designs for application to skin. When drawing stencils, it is common to use tracing paper over the original image or a light box to help see the image more clearly. When doing more detailed or realistic designs, it is difficult to see the fine details clearly through the tracing paper, so the following techniques will help put more detail into your stencil drawing… (more…)
The First World Wide Traveling Tattoo Conference: Free Ticket Giveaway
By Gabe Ripley
Guy Aitchison Seminar: “The Extra Mile Is Never Crowded- A Few Extra Things You Can Do To Make Your Work Stand Out” Included as part of the Worldwide Tattoo Conference educational program, $800 for 6 2-hour classes (see event description for more information). Free ticket giveaway: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dENTeUV2QTJfdE1VMXBOMWo0S1JOclE6MQ (more…)
Jeremy Justice: How To Build Your Own Record Player
By Jeremy Justice
So you’ve got a few records and you want to delve into the vinyl hobby a little further. One place to start would be your turntable. There are an endless amount of options when choosing record players from $10-dollar yard sale finds to $250,000 ultra high-end reference turntables. Stashed somewhere in the middle, there is the DIY turntable. A DIY turntable is exactly what it sounds like; a turntable you build yourself. There are many options when building your own turntable, in fact you are only limited buy your own creativity. I will layout a couple of different approaches to give you with some basic knowledge of turntable design. Armed with this seed of information and Google you can build your own turntable and have a lot of fun doing it… (more…)
Guen Douglas: How To Avoid Tattoo Plagiarism
By Guen Douglas
It’s been so long since I’ve last written. so much has been going on in my life; a move from Amsterdam’s Salon Serpent to Brighton’s Magnum Opus and a couple of conventions back to back after the move (Brighton and Milan) have kept me busy. But I’m back with a few ideas for upcoming TAM Blogs, so keep posted.
This month’s TAM Blog was inspired by one of my client’s tattoos that keeps being copied… (more…)
Larry Brogan: How To Make Stencils with a Thermofax Machine
By Larry Brogan
Courtesy of Tattoo Road Trip: If your shop does not have a quality Thermofax copier, preferably a 3M, the old, super-heavy-duty kind, you are living in the dark ages and making life difficult for yourself. The best models to buy are 3M45, 3M4500 or 3M4550. If you are still hand-drawing stencils each and every time, you are wasting your time, and time is money. 3M no longer makes Thermofax machines, but they can still be found on the Internet, on sites like eBay. Expect to pay about $1,000 for a good, working, used machine, but believe me, it will be money well spent… (more…)
The First World Wide Traveling Tattoo Conference Giveaway
By Gabe Ripley
To have a chance to win a free ticket to the World Wide Tattoo Conference, please click the link below and fill out form. Winners will be chosen at the start of next week: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dENTeUV2QTJfdE1VMXBOMWo0S1JOclE6MQ
Six of the world’s most famous tattoo artists will gather together in the Chicago area to share their expertise and experiences. Two days of full immersion into the secrets that made Guy Aitchison, Jeff Gogue, Nick Baxter, Boris, Bob Tyrrell and Alex De Pase very popular and successful. The program includes a series of highly integrated core seminars and lectures that provide attendees with a great opportunity to learn more about the technical skills, tips and tricks and suggestions that can make you a better tattooist. Every artist will explain his unique artistic approach to body art and show his own peculiar vision on the tattoo world. (more…)
Larry Brogan: Mapping Out Large Scale Tattoo Projects
By Larry Brogan
Courtesy of Tattoo Road Trip: Clear contact paper or shelf liner can be purchased at most home improvement centers, kitchen and bath shops and even many grocery stores. Just ask where the shelf liner/contact paper is. It is nothing more than a clear, thin, flexible sheet of plastic with a sticky side to it, and comes in a roll like wrapping paper…
Larry Brogan: A Lightbox Makes Tracing Easy
By Larry Brogan
Courtesy of Tattoo Road Trip: Most tattoo artists are already familiar with the idea of tracing stencil images, where you lay a piece of tracing paper over the original image and sketch out a line drawing. Many times the image you are tracing is very detailed or quite dark, making it difficult to render an accurate image because of the semi-translucent nature of the tracing paper or velum that you are using. This is where a light table or lightbox comes in very handy. (more…)
Gunnar Gaylord: How to Create an Individual Tattoo Style
By Gunnar Gaylord
I decided to write a blog a bit different from the earlier ones. I thought maybe I would touch on a topic that may help aspiring tattoo artists. I am often asked in interviews and by individuals, how I created a unique style. So here is a concise breakdown.
As a disclaimer I will inform you that the information I am going to share is based not on what may be deemed “correct,” it is however the way in which I formed my style. I hasten to say that at times I fall short on artistic academic knowledge. However, as an artist, I know that the style I created is unique and hence feel that this is something I have the knowledge to discuss…
Phil Kyle: Operation Education
By Phil Kyle
I am going to touch base on the subject. All you folks out there allowing your “friends” to “tattoo” you with dodgy equipment and NO EXPERIENCE or PROPER TRAINING need to wake up… along with the folks that are scarring you up! You think they are doing you a favor because they are giving you a shitty tattoo or hepatitis? You think they have an autoclave? Or spray down the area and materials after tattoo with Trigene? Or pay (like I do) for biohazard pick-up every week? Fuck no… They probably have four needles that came with the kit they bought online… What a treat…
BJ Betts: The Complex Guide To Tattoo Lettering
By Nick Schonberger
Courtesy of Complex: Few tattoos are as classic as “Mom” emblazoned in a banner with heart. Or, as ridiculed as a mistaken ode to a now former girlfriend.
Regardless of inspiration, letter based tattoos are as common as they are easy to screw up.
We know you don’t want to end up on LOLtatz or a year-end ”fails” list. So, Complex enlisted BJ Betts, type titan and author of several acclaimed tattoo industry lettering guides to ensure readers get it right. Follow these simple steps and you’ll be well on your way to the text-based tattoo of your dreams. Check out The Complex Guide to Tattoo Lettering... (more…)
Guen Douglas: The Process of Getting a Custom Tattoo
By Guen Douglas
A fantastic time at the Montreal tattoo convention and a week and a half guest spot Ottawa’s 5-Cents tattoo have inspired me to write about this months topic: Custom Tattoos: The Process…
I had a no-show during my guest spot at 5-Cents. This client had been asking to get tattooed by me for a whole year (since last year’s convention). We emailed back and forth. discussed her idea and she sent me photos of where she wanted it placed. We also both expressed excitement. The last time I heard from her was a week before the appointment. She sent me one final “can’t wait ’til next week” e-mail. The day of the appointment rolled around and there was no sign of her, no email and she did not answer her phone or call me back to ease my worry about her being in a ditch on the highway. Not even for a moment did I think that this client wouldn’t come to her appointment…
Mike Riina: How to Recognize Aseptic Technique in a Tattoo Shop
By Mike Riina
Aseptic technique… Sounds fancy… It’s not.
Let me first start by saying, I am in no way an OSHA instructor, nor am I qualified to teach anything about blood borne pathogens, or principles of infection control. That being said, I’ve had these classes every year for 10 years. The stuff taught in these classes is smart, easy to remember, and can save your life. I wonder why then, so many tattoo artists continue to do inappropriate things like let their clients wander the studio un-bandaged, bumping into shit, or preparing their set up without gloves…
Guen Douglas: How to Properly Examine a Tattoo Portfolio
By Guen Douglas
A tattoo artist’s portfolio should play a vital role in how you choose your artist. A portfolio is the way we showcase our work. It is not the end-all-be-all… I have met plenty of fantastic tattooers that rely on publications and word of mouth too, and they don’t update their portfolios as methodically as others. There are many factors that should go into choosing your artist and all of them are important, but for today I’m going to explain how a customer should look through a tattoo portfolio…
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