Lewd Screwed & Tattooed

First Time ever in Singapore !!

LIVE TATTOO FUSION :
Come witness, Carlston (Acid Crue) and Kugan (Immortal Tattoos), Mentor and Mentee, collaborate for the FIRST TIME ever in 5 years !!

Watch them ink the same skin at the same time with their own twist.

- BURLESQUE SHOW
- BODYMOD SHOTS
- TATTOOED WAITRESSES
- LUCKY DRAWS ( 1st prize $150 Tattoo Gift Voucher )
- PLUS MANY MORE SURPRISES !!

TICKETS : $20 ( $15 PRESALE)
Each ticket entitles you to ONE free drink + 10% off all regular priced housepours + 20% off all tattoos by Immortal Tattoos. ( Terms & Conditions Apply)

You don't want to miss this for anything else !

Tickets sold @ Immortal Tattoos, Singapore
48 SERANGOON ROAD, LITTLE INDIA ARCADE,
#01-65 S(217959)
Email : Tattoos@diamondfangs.com
Sms : 81543922

Cash Flow and Starting a free business

Cash Flow has been a very important subject that I've been going over with apprentices at the shop. Since the Tattoo Industry sees a slow period that usually runs November-March a successful Shop owner will think ahead and establish different flows of cash to keep everything at the shop happy. It's hard now a days to really find opportunities that has nothing to do with MLM's or get quick rich schemes. Most of these you have to pay a monthly fee or spend hundreds for a product that turns out to be worth ZERO!!! So how do you find an opportunity to increase your cashflow?

The opportunity needs to have a viable product. Something people need. The organization should not try selling it's network opportunity. That's an MLM scheme. So what do you know that we don't? In Illinois we've been forced to deal with Com Ed and it's monopoly for Electric. Illinois finally got smart and deregulated. I own Aberration Power Brokerage. An Affiliate of Emex Power in Texas who gives customizable qoutes to commercial customers from it's website. Everyone wants to save money on their electric bill. So customers give us their zip code and a couple of things from their bill and they get a qoute for free from Electrical Suppliers all over the Country. There is no interruption of service, no money needed to switch. Everything is free for the customer to switch over. It's a win win situation.

So by being a broker and teaming up with EMEX I'm able to sell electricity (NO Experience Needed by the way) and make .002 KWH on every account. Plus the residual money every time they renew the contract. So I have no upfront money to sign up. No money ever to buy company products. So its a perfect cash flow business. It's not a get rich scheme. It takes work and dedication. But the rewards pay off. The professional training you get, the support from the home office. Everything you need to run a brokerage is there. You can check out my site at http://www.yousaveusa.com to get more info on how to get your own free site and business that takes nothing to start. Get additional cash flow in your pockets.

Introducing...Dirtbird!

Occasionally in my wanderings, I will meet not just tattooed people, but tattoo practitioners, and often those visiting from outside of New York City.

So it was no surprise, when I approached a gentleman across the street from where I work, at 31st and 7th, to learn that I was talking to an artist.

Working out of Punkteur Tattoos & Piercing in Joplin, Missouri, Derek "Dirtbird" Wieberg estimates he has 130-150 hours of work inked on his personal canvas.

With so much to choose from, he offered up this piece, on the right side of his neck:

It seemed fitting, considering his name.

Dirtbird praised the artist, Rick Pierceall at Karma Tattoo in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who has done all of his throat work.

Considering it is Two-for-Tattoosday, I'll share this photo as well:

That's not Dirtbird, but it's his handiwork! The owner of this tattoo is Shawn, who had the good fortune to be inked by Dirtbird. They collaborated on the design together.

Thanks to Dirt Bird and Shawn for sharing their tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Tune in tomorrow to see a tattoo from Katie, aka Mrs. Dirtbird!

Baldwin Horikawa's updates from GimmeLove1 @ 40b Sago Street

Below is a coverup on an old time friend and some in progress pieces that im working on recently...Some of them are right in the beginning stages but thought i'll just share anyway. The FudoMyoo backpiece is a massive coverup in progress and the Kitsune chest to arm piece is started around 2.5 yrs ago. Will definately update more when i remember to take pics! In the meantime, stay tuned for more updates from Gabriel and Eric as they're busy working their asses off in Germany! Hope you guys are having fun on the other side of the globe! On a side note, stay tune for a new talented artist joining the GimmeLove crew soon!







-Baldwin-

Ride the Cyclone!

In college we had a game room at the Student Union.

I claimed to be a master at Arkanoid, but would occasionally play pinball. Earthshaker was fun, but there was another, carnival-themed game that would often beckon, "Ride the Cyclone!" It was, naturally, called The Cyclone.

Fast forward ten years and I would be residing in Brooklyn, home to Coney Island and the original Cyclone.

Despite having been in close proximity a number of times, I've never gone for a ride.

I was reminded of this back in September when I met Matt at the top of the escalator at the Penn Plaza Borders store.

He shared this amazing tattoo:

This is, of course, the Cyclone.

Matt is working on a Coney Island/"Carnie" theme, having lived in Brooklyn most of his adult life. Thus, the Astroland tower behind the Cyclone in the tattoo. Next up: the Wonder Wheel and the Parachute Jump, other Coney Island attractions.

He sent along a photo of the tattoo when it was initially finished:

Matt credits this tattoo to Ping at Village Rock Tattoo in Manhattan.

Thanks to Matt for sharing this great tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Important update !!!

As everyone knows Aberration Tattoo now know as Aberration Pro Custom Tattoo use to be in Belvidere Illinois on Buchanan Street. We were forced to locate the shop to South Beloit because of the neighborhood the shop was in. It has come to our attention that a guy we had hanging around the shop along with his wife are going around saying they had ownership in the shop.

This is very false. Larry and Meridith at no time had any ownership interest in the Tattoo Shop. No license or partnership agreements were ever signed with Larry and Meridith's names. Larry is not an artist or affiliated with Aberration Pro Custom Tattoo at all. In fact they still owe Shawn one of our artist a $100 bucks for a tattoo that he did on Larry. I would be aware of Larry and Meridith for the simple fact that they will tell you many stories about being owners but it isn't true at all. We would never partner with anyone without tattoo industry experience. Neither Larry or Meridith have any shop experience.

Something Girly This Way Comes

I met Nadya one afternoon in the beginning of October in Borders on Penn Plaza.

She shared this tattoo, which covered up a date she had initially inscribed on her arm:

Nadya told me that she wanted something "girly".

What I found most interesting about this tattoo is that when I asked her who the artist was, she told me it was her father. I can't imagine tattooing my own daughter. I would be too nervous!

Thanks to Nadya for sharing this tattoo with us here on Tattoosday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In honor of the holiday, I am sharing this, my newest tattoo, located above my knee on my right thigh:

This was done at Hand of Glory in Brooklyn yesterday as part of the shop's $75 Thanksgiving Tattoo Special and was sponsored by Troll Skin, produced by Skin Actives Scientific.

For those of you just tuning in, check the pre-post here, which includes all the Thanksgiving flash designed for the occasion. I asked readers to vote on which tattoo to get, and this one sneaked out a narrow victory over the traditional Native American profile.

I like this design because it combines a lot of traditional tattoo elements and delivers an image with a sociopolitical subtext. We have the traditional American flag and handshake designs, but the added element of crossed fingers serves as a reminder that, despite apparent good intentions, there was subsequently a historical betrayal of that initial good will.

But that's just one perspective, of course, and the Thanksgiving holiday focuses on the positive in our society. The mere existence of the tattoo reminds me to be thankful, which I alluded to in my original post.

I was fortunate enough to have Brian Faulk as my artist again. He had inked my Friday the 13th tattoo last August, and I appreciate that he works quickly and concisely.

Brian Faulk at Work

It was nice, also, that this design was one of his contributions to the flash sheet, as he was kind enough to embellish slightly on the original design, and it always seems better when an artist is tattooing his or her own design. As for the idea behind it, he was trying to represent graphically a broken treaty. I'm extremely pleased with the end result.

In consideration for their sponsoring this tattoo, I will be exclusively using Skin Active's product, Troll Skin Aftercare over the next two weeks as the tattoo heals. I can already say I am pleased with the aftercare cream because it is a lot less messy than the ointment I am used to using within the first 72 hours after getting a tattoo.

I'll report back then on how their product held up compared to the regiment I've followed in the past.

I want to thank all of the readers who voted for designs, and for everyone who reads and supports the site.

And thanks again to Skin Actives for helping make this tattoo possible, to Brian at Hand of Glory, and to my family, at home in Brooklyn and across the U.S., for their support

Joanna's Yin & Yang tattoo

This is a custom wrist tattoo I designed for one of my best friends, Joanna. She is such a passionate person with a heart of gold. Dolphins are her favorite animal. She loves what they represent: strength, integrity, beauty, happiness, intelligence and many more positive qualities. Her children's names are inside each dolphin of the ying and yang. Balance is the key to a happy life and that's important to her. I loved her idea for the tattoo and she loved my design. I can't wait for her to get it inked, it's going to look amazing on her! Love you JoJo ♥

Mari's Prayer, with a Twist of Math

I met Mari in front of Madison Square Garden on a sunny day in October. How could I not stop and ask her about this tattoo?

Mari explained that this is an Ananda prayer, that her friends were meditating on it for a week.

The text, which is attributed to Sri Paramhansa Yogananda, reads:

Make me thy butterfly of eternity.

I burnt my past. I ignored the foreboding seeds of sprouting destiny. I waded through the strewn ashes of past & future fears.

I am the eternal present. I tore to shreds the cocoon of ignorance with the sharpness of my will.

I am thy...butterfly of eternity, sweeping through immeasurable time. The beauty of my nature-wings I spread everywhere, to entertain everything. Suns & stardust are spread on my wings. Behold my beauty! Cut all the silken threads of thy shrouding folly: follow me in my flight to myself.

The butterfly symbolizes transformation, a phase everyone goes through at one point or another in time.

Also among her twenty-two tattoos is this formula at the top of her arm:

Mari explained she loves math and generalized that, with this equation, "you can generate anything in the universe". In theory, at least. Here, it gets a little hazy for me. Part of this tattoo contains "f(z) = z^2 + c" which is described as a complex function. Then there is the part that equates the square root of -1 to the value i. This is a formula for an imaginary number. I'm bowing out here, knowing there's no way I'll be able to explain this part of the tattoo adequately. Readers are welcome to try in the comments section, below.


Mari's work was inked by Kevin at The Tattoo Shop in Lansing, Michigan.

Thanks to Mari for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Julia's Pin-Up

I met Julia briefly in a Hudson News in Penn Station.

The flash of color on her foot caught my eye:

Julia explained that she is a visual artist that likes to do pin-up illustrations. This particular design she wanted to be transformed into a tattoo. She brought it to Morgan Reed at Electric Lotus Tattoo in Boonton, New Jersey, and he made some slight adjustments that resulted in this lovely tattoo.

Work from Electric Lotus has appeared on Tattoosday before. This link will show you what else we have featured from their shop.

Thanks to Julia for sharing her pin-up girl with us here on Tattoosday!

Latest news!

Pls take note!!! With immediate effect Shawn Horiyama will not be working with us anymore and will not be a part of GimmeLove in any other way. Thank you for your time!

-Baldwin-

What should be included in a Tattoo Apprenticeship?

Many individuals have been contacting me asking what a Tattoo Apprenticeship involves and how long it takes before they can start tattooing. Here at Aberration Pro Custom Tattoo we believe in taking a more involved approach when it comes to training compared to other Tattoo Shops. We believe the following has to be included in any training program.

1. A organized class participation outline

2. Hands on Experience

Each week the shop holds a class where the apprentices come together for a 2 hour class and learn about a variety of subjects. As an example our apprentices will be spending the next few weeks on Cash Flow. Some ask if they are here to learn how to tattoo then why should that subject be something they are learning in an apprenticeship program? The answer I would give to that is real simple.  I do not train individuals to work for me forever. I want them to go out and start their own shops one day, I want them while they are working with Aberration Pro Custom Tattoo to be able to go out there and promote themselves which in turn means they are running their own business while contracting with us for space.

Our school system does not teach financial education which is a shame. That is why you see must people in debt and trying to make ends meet paycheck by paycheck. The Tattoo Business is some kind of monster. It has it's ups and downs, it's feast or famine in the industry. Most people think that artist make tons of money. Yes that can be the case if your smart and run it as a business that depends on your abilities to achieve a set a of goals. Yes I could just put apprentices through the same program most places use. But is it helping train someone for what is really out there in the industry? No it isn't. How can someone be successful in the industry without basic financial education? They can't.

Some other things we have in our program is an extensive amount of Health and Anatomy. I must hit on Bloodborne Pathogens a hundred times a class and during the practical aspect of the Apprenticeship. This is because just like a hospital setting a tattoo shop if not maintained or staff educated can lead to some really bad stuff creeping around. A tattoo shop must be maintained better then a surgical room or doctors office. That takes training every time to drill that into someones head. Our Anatomy class is a month long program that covers everything from nerve and blood vessel location to CPR and First Aid. It is important for an artist to know the locations of important vessels or nerves on someones body before performing a tattoo or piercing.

Last but not least you have to get the hands on experience with everything you learn in class. This can be tracing 1000's of flash designs to making a business plan for your future shop. Our program takes a year to get by the educational part before putting you on an additional 1 year probationary period. In total it's a two year process. You have to be very dedicated to finishing the program or usually it's just a waste of time on both of our parts. If your interested in learning more about the apprenticeship program at Aberration Pro Custom Tattoo visit our website at http://www.aberrationink.com or stop by the shop at 611 Blackhawk Blvd in South Beloit.

David's Traditional Hands

Last month I met David when I stopped after noticing his neck tattoo. However, it was his hands he offered up to us here at Tattoosday:

David works in construction and is a contractor. He also manages the band, Drew Nugent & the Midnight Society.

He has about thirty-five (35) hours of work done on his body, and he explained that these are traditional pieces on his hands.

He was inspired to have his knuckles read "True Blue" as they speak to his belief that our country has lost its values that need to be regained. Key among these values are loyalty and honor, in the traditional, "true blue" sense of the words.

To him, the panther represents that we need to fight to regain these ideals.

And the two roses represent the ideal (the healthy, red flower on the right hand) and what he called the "diminished," (on the left) that is, where we're headed with our loss of values.

David embraced these traditional elements because he feels that "the only way to have a future is to look at the past".

He had the panther done at a tattoo convention. The roses and "TRUE BLUE" knuckles are credited to Rick Meggison at Marked 4 Life in York, Pennsylvania.

Thanks to David for sharing these very cool hand tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Two for Tattuesday Saturday: Wanderful Love Under the Cherry Blossoms

In honor of the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) , we're sharing this tattoo, which I spotted back in September:

This belongs to Rich, a musician and rap artist. He's a big Harry Potter fan, as exemplified by the magic wand. The snake at the base of the wand not only symbolizes infinity, it is a nod to Severus Snape, a character associated with the House of Slytherin, of which the serpent is the mascot.

The concept of the tattoo is exemplified by the music coming out of the wand, illustrating that sounds can be magical and that Rich is under music's spell.

The piece was inked by Chris at Lady Luck Tattoo Studio in Montville, Connecticut.

When I met Rich, he was sitting with his girlfriend in Penn Station. She introduced herself as Kytti, and asked if I wanted to see her tattoo.

But of course!

She actually has two tattoos, but lifted up her shirt to show me this beautiful design:

Kytti explained that this represents her and Rich together in Japan. They've been together for over a year and they'd both love to go there together and experience the culture. The tree is filled with cherry blossoms, a flower often associated with Japan.

Chris at Lady Luck also was the artist behind this tattoo.

Thanks to Rich and Kytti for sharing their magical and romantic tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Aberration Pro Custom Tattoo Is Illinois State Certified

Aberration Pro Custom Tattoo has received it's Illinois Department of Public Health Certification!!!! What's this all mean? Aberration Tattoo has passed a stringent process in which tattoo shops in the State of Illinois must now pass in order for the shop to remain open. All artist must be Bloodborne Pathogen Certified, the shop must meet the requirements of sanitation set forth by the Department of Public Health. Aberration Tattoo is proud of complying with the new Illinois Tattoo and Piercing Laws. It keeps the good shops open and the bad ones closed.

Lower leg tattoo mix Maori / Samoan style

Hi there,

At the moment, things are quite busy and I get a lot of requests for custom designs, sometimes up to 5 or 6 a day...! :)
Really nice ofcourse, but unfortunately my time is limited and I really want to focus on each design, so I have to pick and choose the designs that I really enjoy and fit my style.
My apology for all people I have to dissapoint...

A few days ago I received an e-mail from a customer living in the UK. He was looking for a tattoo for his lower leg, mainly the calf, but partially wrapping around his leg.
It had to be something similar to this mixed Maori / Samoan inspired tattoo design I did a few weeks ago.

These pieces are my favourites, especially in a symmetrical design, because it just looks really great and clean.

First I started with a template from the measurements of the leg and roughly sketch out the lines of the tatoo:
















The two big koru curles will wrap around the sides of the calf and the vertical row of spearheads will be centered on the back of the leg. The Samoan pattern will wrap around to the front of the leg, just below the knee.

After a few hours of adding the detailed patterns, scanning and retouching, I added the shading and gradients in Photoshop.

The final design looks like this:


















Kind regards, Mark Storm
info@storm3d.com
tribalflashtattoos.blogspot.com

The Great Thanksgiving Tattoo Event!

Loyal readers may remember this past August when I called on fans of Tattoosday to choose (and generously bankroll) Friday the 13th tattoos for Melanie and me. If not, relive it here.

Well, a recent email from the good people at Skin Actives Scientific got me thinking. They asked if I wouldn't mind receiving some samples of their Troll Skin Aftercare products and talking about them here on Tattoosday.

I thought, what better way to promote something but to actually use it? The problem was, I had no immediate plans on getting a new tattoo. But then it hit me, as the good people at Hand of Glory Tattoo, who inked our Friday the 13th tattoos, announced that, starting today, through the end of next week, they have another tattoo special, in honor of Thanksgiving!

So we connected the dots and put our heads together to announce the following:

Behold the flash for the Hand of Glory Thanksgiving specials:

Now, dear readers, what tattoo should I get?

Send your first, second and third choices to Tattoosday@gmail.com. Every email (one per person please) will enter a reader into a random drawing for Troll Skin samples. Plus you'll have the pleasure of knowing you had a hand in deciding how I will be permanently honoring this most thankful of holidays.

You have until Wednesday at 9:00 AM (EST) to vote and when you wake up on Turkey Day, you can tune into Tattoosday to see which tattoo won and who will get Troll Skin samples!

Then, in a couple of weeks, you'll hear back from me about how the tattoo healed and what I think about the product.

And before some of you start scratching your heads about why I would indiscriminately get a tattoo just for the heck of it, I would remind you it is Thanksgiving, and what better to have on the human tapestry, than a reminder that we should always be thankful for the important things in life. I have a lot to be thankful for, above and beyond my awesome wife, Melanie, my kids, and my family and friends.

I am thankful for you, the Tattoosday contributors, fans and readers, for inspiring me with your stories and supporting me with your comments and emails.

And, of course, to the good folks at Skin Actives, for agreeing to support me in this Thanksgiving adventure, a special thanks this holiday season.

Stay tuned and don't forget to vote!

Tom's Homage to His Grandmother's Scottish Ancestry

I met Tom in a drug store in my neck of the woods in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

He has four tattoos and offered to share this one with us:

This piece celebrates his lineage, honoring the family crest from his grandmother's side.

The Scottish part of him is descended from the Clan Fergusson.The clan motto Dulcius ex asperis  means "Sweeter after difficulties".

This was tattooed by Lou at Third Eye Tattoo, in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Work from Lou and Third Eye that has appeared on Tattoosday can be viewed here.

Thanks to Tom for sharing his family crest with us here on Tattoosday!

What are they Thinking?

Nancy Pelosi is set to become the Democratic Party Minority Leader. What the the Democrats thinking? They just got whooped in the last election because the people said that they didn't like what was happening to this country. The people don't like the spending these Democrats went on the past two years and they said it was enough by giving the Republicans the control of the house and almost the whole Senate.

This should show the American people just how screwed up Politicians think. They are in their own little world, power hungry and looking out for their best interest. Nancy Pelosi is the kind of person who cares nothing more then her image and how much control she can get. If elected to be the Minority Party Leader the Democrats will be looking at the defeat of the White House as well as both chambers. The American People are fed up with this non-sense in Washington. The Tea Party has proven that this election cycle. Already the Republicans are moving to kill earmarks and cut taxes. They are the ones with he wind to their back.

Obama is already looking at a crushing defeat no matter what in 2012 and this doesn't help him throwing support behind Pelosi. After all it was her used in half the Republican campaigns to defeat Democratic Runners. I believe the democratic party has been torn apart by these socialist thinking people and until the rest of the democrats stand up and say "Enough is Enough" their party will become less and less viable because the American People are just sick and tired of everything they are about.

Katie's Astrological Ink: Cancer, with Aries Rising

One of the unexpected joys in inkspotting is approaching someone about a tattoo and having them reveal one that is so much better than the piece you approached them about. It's like receiving a bonus for being curious.

Such was the case with Katie, who I spotted in Penn Station when I noticed a tattoo on her ankle.

When I asked her about it, she laughed and said it wasn't even close to being her favorite tattoo and she took off her jacket to reveal, on her upper left arm, one of her eight tattoos:

This is an astrological tattoo and features the signs for Cancer (the crab) and Aries (the ram). Katie explained that she is a Cancer, with Aries rising.

What this means, astrologically, could take pages and pages of analysis, but Katie explained that the two personalities are both strong and that they traditionally don't get along, which is why she has this relationship depicted as the two symbolic creatures battling in a stormy landscape. It is one interpretation of an astrological description that lends itself to her personality. Here's another.

Of course, as a Cancer myself, I cannot help but love this tattoo, especially my old friend the crab:

Katie credited the artist Christian Masot at Silk City Tattoo in Hawthorne, New Jersey, for this tattoo. She estimated it took about seven hours total in three sittings to create the finished product. Work from Silk City has appeared on Tattoosday several times before (see this tag), but this is the first piece we've seen by Christian.

Thanks to Katie for sharing this awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Andy's Watership Down Sleeve

I met Andy back in September in Penn Station and he shared this incredible sleeve:

 

When I asked him about the inspiration behind this incredible work, he indicated the rabbit, which is based on his pet Fiver:

I immediately recognized the name as one of the characters in Richard Adam's wonderful novel, Watership Down.

He basically wanted something that was nature-based and gave the artist, Keller at Classic Tattoos in Pinellas Park, Florida, free reign on the design, allowing him to pretty much free-form the sleeve.

 

The collage at the top of the post consists of my shots in Penn Station, but the detailed photos are based on the pictures Andy generously sent me after the fact. These detailed photos show the brilliant colors and exquisite detail that Keller put into the tattoo, which Andy estimates represents about 18-20 hours of work.

Thanks again to Andy for sharing this amazing sleeve with us here on Tattoosday!

The Past-The Present- The Future

I've been personally tattooing since 1994. Back then the stigma of tattoos and piercings was just starting to lift from the old just bikers,convicts and military just got them. The one thing that took a while was the bloodborne pathogen education to really start taking hold. Back then everyone worried about AIDS but since no documented case of the virus being transfered everyone was still dumb when it came to Hep or other types of infections such as staph. I still remember when artist would tattoo without gloves. Talk about a risky business back then.

The art and types of ink we had was way different then it is now. Just like their wasn't many places to go to get a tattoo, supply places to get inks and needles were also in short demand. Moms was the staple of the industry and back then it wasn't really all that good as it is today. Mom's ink today is some of the brightest stuff on the block. Back then tattooist use to use a jigger to make their own needles then use a autoclave to sterilize them and go straight to work.

Most of the tattooing back then was done either at the shop or someone with skill would tattoo you out of the house. Most were called scratchers because they didn't complete the apprenticeships the shops offered. Problem was without that many shops back then those apprenticeships were few far and between. Today the problem of scratching is rampant with the advent of the internet. Anyone can go and buy a kit off Ebay and just start going at it on someone. The biggest problem I see with this is that they have no training in Bloodborne Pathogens. It is the health side of the industry that most people have no clue. There is some nasty stuff out there that can be passed. Yes tattooing is an art form. Yes it is a lifelong journey to get it right. But safety has to be the most important aspect of it.

Back when I started out the Art of tattooing was still in the stone age. Our lining techniques as well as shading techniques were just basic at best. Nowadays artist are doing full color portraits on people. The inks are just out of this world. I've recently changed from Star Bright to Intense. The difference is just amazing. In the future I just can imagine what will be headed our way. Now we have the disposable tools in which to use. No more autoclaving like in the past. Personally I see no reason why if these disposables are here why any other shop in this country would go with metals any more. One time use is the norm and the risks to someones safety is greatly reduced. With the autoclavable barrels or forceps there is still a chance something can be passed. Now with disposable unless some artist is just a pig the chance of something being passed is erased.

The future of tattooing should be very exciting considering all the technology out there. Machines are being developed different from the old coil based machine. Different art techniques are being brought in by the younger generation. I'm waiting for when lasers will be used for tattooing lol. But in the meantime safety remains the biggest issue. Make sure that as a customer you are aware of the artist and the safety of the procedure. Tattooing has been around for millions of years and should be around for as long as the human race remains. Safety must always be the first thing not only on the customers mind, but also the artist.




http://www.aberrationink.com

Armband tribal tattoo with star

Hi,

I have been working on an armband tattoo for a Dutch customer. He wanted a mixed tribal style with some nice sharp edges.
The design had to be seamless and incorporate an existing star on the inside of his wrist.
I'm not really keen on working around existing tattoos, but for this time it was not very much of a problem.

The size had to be 7 cm wide and a full wrap around the wrist with a seamless fit.

Here you van see how I started on the design:











The outer sides that are in blue show how the design will make a seamless fit:








I had to adjust some koru shapes, because it looked a little bit too much like a love symbol.
This is the final sketch and the high resolution design:











I'll be back soon with another project, probably a lower leg project.

Kind regards, Mark Storm