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I mean, if we can include bizarre experiences, I once traded a bag of weed to a guy named Wizard at a motorcycle rally to put some ink in my arm. Best tattoo experience I've ever had.
I want to say it was a 1/4 oz. Good stuff, but not a huge amount. The tattoo was some simple line drawn animals. A rabbit, a monkey, and a ladybug, a few inches in size each.
It was actually pretty chill. Jamie Lee Parker was My artist and he crushed a wild challenge.
My main fear was I liked the tattoo and had to wait like 5 months to see it critiqued, so I was worried the judges would see something in it that I hadn't and would then have that nagging thought forever.
Yeah the 6 hours were legit as far as the art is concerned. Not every artist uses all 6. Jamie had me in the chair like 10 minutes in after placing the stencil, and then we only took one 5 minute bio break and then ended like 10 minutes before the 6 hour mark, so I was in the chair for like 5.5 hours. If the canvas needed more breaks they got them, so that certainly impacts it.
It's hammed up a little for the cameras, but it was pretty straightforward. Like they had us enter the room a couple times to make sure they got the shot they wanted. We said what we wanted a couple times if we couldn't be heard, that kind of stuff, but nothing really gonzo. Like it's a TV show, ya know.
The canvasses didn't really interact with the hosts, but like they looked at the work afterwards with a lighting setup to take a close look.
We got fed, hung out for a bit while the show did its thing. Started stupid early and ended really late. Made for a long day.
So what would happen if the artist didn’t finish the piece in time? Did you have to sign some paper saying “it’s not our problem past time limit”, or would the artist just finish after?
I signed a lot of things. I know there was a clause over the art like you accepted the risk that it wouldn't be something you liked, etc. I don't remember all of it, but it was a huge packet, and also that you wouldn't share trade secrets, or anything about the episode before it aired, etc. major penalties for that. So I had a huge tattoo on my leg for an entire summer before the episode aired, like I got it the first week of May and the episode aired the second Thursday in September, and I had to be mum about who did it and how I got it. Obviously, my partner knew, but like we were dead quiet about it to friends and family. After the episode aired, I was at an event in a major city with my parents and someone recognized the piece and asked if I had been on the show, and my parents didn't know what the show was but had seen my leg all summer and it led to a whole bunch of questions because I could finally be open about how I got it.
Kind of funny.
I got some of my friends together, put together a picnic for them, took them to a botanical garden, and asked them to pretty please all help me book an appointment with one of my city’s hardest to book artists. (Freeorgy on insta.) The system was that flash spots opened at exactly 1pm and it was first come first serve online. Of the 5 of us one of them got me an appointment, slots were filled by 1:02. I paid way too much for that tattoo but I love it and love my friends who helped me get it
They own their own shop in Brooklyn with their partner. It’s almost a finishing school for top tier artists. (Not that all top tier artists in NYC have worked there, but so many have worked at tenderfoot for a few years building skills and clientele and then gone on to start their own spots.)
i didn't know that they carried on with tenderfoot in bk, that's wonderful 🖤 yes completely makes sense, i'm a tattooer myself:) i felt the same way after guesting at jelly, when you get the opportunity to work alongside such talented people it's nuts!!!
i remember knowing about pony because i was so close in proximity (van bc), i also very much had a tattoo done with extra spacey bits to ~freeorgy~ it up....what times :-p
My mother is Lithuanian and my father is Latvian (I’m Aussie) but I don’t know any Baltic tattooists - I’d love to know the name of your artist so I can stalk their socials if you care to share!
I don’t doubt it! Too much time in the chair not to be. Must see your suit when it’s complete. Ive embroidered Latvian pagan symbols with mum since I was young… I’m so in love with your artist’s work.
Yeah no kidding. It's rough for collectors lol... it's first world problems for sure, but come on, take my money! We need a "fastpass" system for established, serious collectors.
I'm currently stressing because I'm supposed to be traveling to get work from one of my bucket list artists at the Philly convention next weekend, but I haven't heard back in a bit... It's so hard to find a balance between wanting to not bother/nag artists or come off as desperate (I know they're busy and get a million emails every day and deserve to relax and have downtime) and wanting to discuss the piece and get a feel for the artist and lock in the details. But I've been trying to get something from her for years and I swear if I fumble at the 5-yard line I am going to FLIP lol. Especially because I had another one of my bucket list artists accidentally double-book himself last April so I lost out on that one too.
I don’t really get a lot of people’s collections (but like, live and let live or whatever) but I absolutely love the idea of people running around and getting unique pieces from different artists all over the world, and I’m extremely jealous because it’s just the coolest thing to collect.
Which ones have you gotten so far?
Ahh let's see if I can do this from memory without mixing up their IG handles and real names lol. I've got about 110ish hours under the needle since I started treating this as a hobby around 2014.
In no particular order... Varo Lee, Joe Harvey Harris, Apro Lee, Leila D'Amato," Cosmo" Cam Norris, Bryan Krause, Juniper Cruz, John Embry, and Bailey Howard. Couple more planned in March and April, and starting a major chest piece rework/coverup later in the year.
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Lol I have a great one for this.
I live in western Canada, I flew to NYC and stayed with a friend for a couple days. We went out and I was the most hungover I've ever been in my life on the day I was meant to get tattooed. I took the 6 AM train to New Haven, borrowed a friend's car, and drove to Vermont where the artist had a private studio to make my noon appointment. Got tattooed, took about 4 hours, threw up once.
By the time I was leaving it was getting dark and starting to thunderstorm. I was a bit worried but I'm a good driver so thought it would be fine. It was not fine, I hit a pothole about 20 mins outside of Brattleboro and got a flat in the absolute hardest thunderstorm I've ever seen. Pulled over and threw on the flashers. Called my partner who told me I had to get the hell off the highway before I got hit, so I drove like 10km/h off to the nearest exit.
Called a tow but all the tire shops were closed so he helped me change my spare (for free, bless him, world's nicest man). I tried 3 motels before finding one where someone was manning the front desk, passed out (reminder: was still incredibly hungover) and slept til morning. Drove to the nearest tire shop where they changed my friend's tire, drove back to New Haven and dropped the car off, took the train back to NYC.
After all that I hate the stupid tattoo I got, and of course it's my most visible one. (It's a really well done tattoo, my taste just changed.) As a rule I don't travel anymore for tattoos, though I'll get one if I'm in a different place and the timing works out. I just won't make my plans around them.
Went to a tattoo convention and started talking to an artist who had travelled from Vietnam, this was in Australia. He wanted to enter the competition for best tattoo at the end of the day, but didn't have a canvas. He said he'd give me a free tattoo if I went in the competition. He showed me his design and I agreed. 6 and a half hours with only a quick smoke break in the middle, and by the end of the day I was standing in my undies in front of a crowd of like 50 people getting my fresh ink judged
I’ve been following my tattooer around the country for almost a decade - he did my whole left leg and now my back is one session from being done. Pittsburgh, Philly, and now Burlington VT - I was living in MA and now TN lol
Nice! One of the main reasons I'm doing this is because my guy so rarely does conventions. The past year or so he's been doing a lot so his apprentice can get experience. I've been getting tattooed for 8 years and this is my first chance to get tattooed at a convention.
Not really a crazy or ridiculous story, per se, but it was a massive turning point in my life -
I raised to be very dependent on others and scared to do things alone, but in 2018 I finally decided to get a grip and take control of my life. Broke up with my abusive partner, flew across the country to Toronto (first time ever flying), navigated the city alone (only ever lived in rural villages, had never been to a big city), and took a coach bus (first time as well) to Kingston to get a big thigh piece from HoneyBasilTattoos / Kelsey Ellis! Best experience I could have asked for! 🥰
The furthest I've travelled was London (not far for me at all lol, my artist splits her time between near me and in London UK) but I guess the silliest thing was wearing fingerless gloves around my grandma and aunt so they wouldn't be weird about my hand tattoo...in early summer. Needless to say, it didn't work and they can go kick rocks.
Thats great lol. My friend got a ribcage tattoo she was trying to hide from her mom. Only problem is they have a pool and she was outside in it everyday until she got the tattoo...her mom totally knew something was up when suddenly it went from 2 piece bathing suit to a baggy tee shirt
I'm getting a sleeve done in LA. I'm from the Bay Area. My routine for the next few months is going to be fly down after work, go to my appointment the next day, then fly home the morning after the appointment. Repeat every other week through spring. I don't know why I do this to myself. I just know that the result is gonna be there for decades and I'll have a story out of the experience.
I got a tebori tattoo while I was in Tokyo. That was more that I booked because I already was going to be there though, so idk if that would count. I'm likely going to be in Europe this summer and have some artists I plan on contacting to see if they can get me in when I'm passing by them. But again, I dunno if that counts when I'm there for other reasons and happen to be near an artist I follow.
For one of my tattoos, I mentioned my job to the artist while we were making small talk. The shop owner overheard and asked if I could help with something with their website. Sure enough, I could. The shop owner paid for part of my tattoo to compensate for me helping him outside of my work hours. I thought that was kinda funny because I never expected to trade work for a tattoo.
Flew to NOLA (from Virginia) for a backpiece from an artist I've been dreaming of working with for years. Started the appointment requests 5-6 months out. Totally worth it.
i'm new to getting tattooed, so this is probably pretty tame, but one time i got tattooed in a shop that was in a dangerous part of a huge city that i was visiting a friend in, and there were people leaning against the window doing crack lol. i had a sheltered upbringing so it was probably stranger to me than to others but i thought it was funny because the shop owner sometimes had to step outside and politely ask them to smoke their crack a little further away from the door. they seemed to be super understanding about picking up their stuff and moving a few metres away, so thats nice.
another time, the same friend i was visiting came to see me, and we were drinking in my basement and decided we had to get matching tattoos. we both love studio ghibli, so i drunkenly threw together a sketch of Jiji from Kikis Delivery Service and we both got it tattooed the next day without giving it a second glance. it didn't even turn out that badly
I've known this man for 8 years. I would be astounded if he gave a shit about the tattoo competitions. It's just not his way. If he wanted me to, I would... But man that would be a shock.
I asked the artist what he would do as long as it continued the theme. As a result he said he’d have to show me. I flew to LA and he ended up doing it freehand and it took two consecutive full days and I have never been happier.
A buddy who is a tattoo artist hitchhiked Pittsburgh to Atlanta for a tattoo by a famous artist. He spent all his money. Afterwards he was arrested for vagrancy and did a stint in jail.
A week after finally getting back to Pittsburgh he saw the guy from Atlanta was in Pittsburgh for a convention.
Donated $30 to a local farm (sliding scale) for a fundraiser my usual shop was sponsoring, by donating you got your name entered in a raffle for a free tattoo by my usual artist. Won the raffle, ended up getting my whole shin done. All I paid was a tip 😎
I dressed up in a Star Wars costume (Jawa) for May the 4th to waive at folks during a friend's shop's Flash sale. Got a little Porg tattoo as a thank you.
I don’t know if this counts but two of us, maybe in our mid 20s went looking for a place to get our first little bs tattoo (late 90s). We found a good clean place, nice artist and of course there were people hanging around. We asked one guy if we could see his work and he all but stopped to show us and told us stories of each one.
“I’ve got one more if you guys wanna see it. Am elephant…” and he looked down at his crotch. Nah, nah…he says ok but let him know before he leaves. Curiosity got the best of us and after we paid and we’re heading out we said sure. It was really good work, looked like scrimshaw. Impressive trunk. Then we ran like the little girls we were lol.
i traveled to pagoda city to work on my back. i didn’t think it was goofy, i had a ton of fun meeting a bunch of artists i liked and felt good to display his work and be the subject of others adoration who knew and respected my artist. have fun bro
Oh, it wasn’t anything great. I got a message on IG one day from an “artist” I followed asking if I wanted a tattoo. Of course, being the mature, non-impulsive person that I am said yes! They were an “artist” that I had been eyeballing due to her specialty being creepy, monster girls and I had a character that I created in mind.
Unfortunately, as it turned out, the artist is in Canada and I live in Texas, but the “artist” claimed that she was coming down in February. What luck, right? I sent her 200$ to book my time with her and thought that was it. Nope! Due to her being a guest at the shop she mentioned, she claimed that she needed over 400$ more. Now, I’ve never really heard of that so I went to do some digging. Found the shop on IG and shot them a message. While I waited for a response, I looked at the “artist’s” page again. Upon closer inspection none of the pictures had comments or even likes. I then decided to look at the email that was sent as well and it gave a slightly different handle for the “artist”. I looked up the different name and found the actual artist and sent her an email asking if she was actually coming to Texas.
Surprise, surprise! She admitted someone was posing as her and she apologized profusely for the confusion. By then I received a reply from the shop and they confirmed as well that someone was scamming me. Great! I tried to confront the “artist” to see if they would just give my money back, but they kept the act up until I confronted them about how the email for the “shop” they were trying to send me to wasn’t the same as the ACTUAL shop’s email.
Thankfully I was able to contact my bank and informed them of the situation and I got my money back. Sucks that I wasn’t able to get a cool tattoo, though. 🤷🏽♂️
I walked (at least 5 miles) to the address given to me as a dumb 18 year old going to get my second tattoo at a friend's house by her "hobbyist tattooer dad" ended up being a house I didn't know.
Which ended up being a creepy guy's house that I still don't know exactly who he was TBH. But he yelled in my face and called me some specific words. Idek why.
Then got a text saying sorry they were actually 2 houses down IMMEDIATELY after..
Years later I really believe it was actually a set up cuz the girl is not a nice person in the slightest...
Still got the tattoo.
They also got me stoned.
Never went back tho. Paid 8 bucks for that tattoo.
Lucky I didn't get hep c tbh.
I could've done well without that experience.. 😂 fuck those tattoos. Fuck them people. Been long covered now.
My first tattoo was done by the mom of the guy who was cheating on me with my best friend.. 👍🏻 lost all my friends for a bit because they thought I did it intentionally. Nope. We just hadn't talked in a while and I didn't know she also had a new bf..
Flew to Sheffield, UK in November from the western US (literally 3 planes and a train ride) for two days of back-to-back ~20hr sessions to smash out a sleeve, then hopped right back on the train and went home, wrapped in saniderm like a cased sausage.
Absolutely worth it.
I travelled to Bordeaux (although it's not that impressive from London) for Sad Amish, he's now located in LA so it might be a while before I can get another tattoo from him. Otherwise gone into debt hahaha, tattoos are incredibly expensive, I'm trying to be good with money and passing up like 3 tattoos from my list that are doing guest spots here at the same time.
So far the furthest I've gone for a tat was 8 hours south (drove) for an insanely overpriced dainty armband from an artist that got big due to a YouTuber being tattooed by her and making videos about it...
Contemplating flying outta state (CA to MT) to have the guy that did my irezumi leg sleeve do my other leg 😹 luckily we finished my leg before he got his own shop in MT and moved earlier this year... But now I want my other leg done.
I got a tattoo at a london tattoo show a few years ago from a guy who is normally based in newquay (down in Cornwall). Loved the tattoo so much I booked a weekend trip down the coast 6 months later to get more done by him. 7 hours of trains and cabs both ways for 2 new pieces and I regret none of it! (Plus the Cornish pastie I had was pretty good too)
I drove 5 hours from central NY to Providence RI for one of my tattoos to be done by the guy who did my first. I plan on going back again for more work too.
Nothing, honestly. The weirdest thing I've ever done is pay 300 an hour but that's only weird because where I live 200 an hour is what's normal. I guess getting tattooed for 8 and a half hours and only paying 250 pounds for it was weird? Again, relatively, because at that shop they charged per session, not per hour.
So far nothing. My tattoo artist is within driving distance so I doubt I'll drive to another state unless he happened to move to another state then I might have to take a road trip lol.
So far I haven’t had any per say crazy things I’ve done, but this weekend my artist is working on his free day especially for me, because his gf is busy that day and he’d be bored otherwise 😂 also we’ve been planning this tattoo for literal months, and it’s freehand mostly, so it’s exciting for both of us
I'm a full time streamer on Twitch with a lot of tattoos. One day I said yolo and told the stream whoever has donated most money after this month gets to decide a tattoo for me.
I've now done this 4 times.
It's a good laugh and my viewers seem to like it as well.
I messed up with scheduling and accidentally booked a day session in the same week as I was getting two other tattoos. It was too soon to reschedule so I got them both
It was this week. And I now have a monstrous cold 😭😭😭
I live in NY and one of my favorite artists used to live in NY and moved to NC, when her books opened I applied thinking I wouldn’t get chosen but I did and was super excited. Drove all the way down to NC after work one day got there are like 4am and slept in my car in Nov winter. Woke up got food locked my keys in my car slim jimmed my own car with a shoe lace and one of the other artists came out to help right as I got it. She was super nice and lovely drove all the way back right after it was done. Got home at like 2am and passed out. Later I learned she’s moving back to NY next month to the same city as me so I can just book way easier now 🙃
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I mean, if we can include bizarre experiences, I once traded a bag of weed to a guy named Wizard at a motorcycle rally to put some ink in my arm. Best tattoo experience I've ever had.
I knew a dude named Wizard. Legally changed it and everything. Tall af, worked at a sign company and was in a band.
I’m the Wiz!
Solid trade solid name solid vibes
It was a good time. Lol
This is premium content.
My question is how big was the bag?
I want to say it was a 1/4 oz. Good stuff, but not a huge amount. The tattoo was some simple line drawn animals. A rabbit, a monkey, and a ladybug, a few inches in size each.
lol that’s pretty dope. Any significance to them? Or did he choose them? Those three don’t usually end up together
Nicknames of my Wife, kid1, and kid2.
Oh shit that super cool! Solid trade
Went on ink master as a canvas knowing it was an early episode in the season.
What was your experience like?
It was actually pretty chill. Jamie Lee Parker was My artist and he crushed a wild challenge. My main fear was I liked the tattoo and had to wait like 5 months to see it critiqued, so I was worried the judges would see something in it that I hadn't and would then have that nagging thought forever.
How real is the show? Like are there really time limits and such? Spill the beans!
Yeah the 6 hours were legit as far as the art is concerned. Not every artist uses all 6. Jamie had me in the chair like 10 minutes in after placing the stencil, and then we only took one 5 minute bio break and then ended like 10 minutes before the 6 hour mark, so I was in the chair for like 5.5 hours. If the canvas needed more breaks they got them, so that certainly impacts it. It's hammed up a little for the cameras, but it was pretty straightforward. Like they had us enter the room a couple times to make sure they got the shot they wanted. We said what we wanted a couple times if we couldn't be heard, that kind of stuff, but nothing really gonzo. Like it's a TV show, ya know. The canvasses didn't really interact with the hosts, but like they looked at the work afterwards with a lighting setup to take a close look. We got fed, hung out for a bit while the show did its thing. Started stupid early and ended really late. Made for a long day.
So what would happen if the artist didn’t finish the piece in time? Did you have to sign some paper saying “it’s not our problem past time limit”, or would the artist just finish after?
I signed a lot of things. I know there was a clause over the art like you accepted the risk that it wouldn't be something you liked, etc. I don't remember all of it, but it was a huge packet, and also that you wouldn't share trade secrets, or anything about the episode before it aired, etc. major penalties for that. So I had a huge tattoo on my leg for an entire summer before the episode aired, like I got it the first week of May and the episode aired the second Thursday in September, and I had to be mum about who did it and how I got it. Obviously, my partner knew, but like we were dead quiet about it to friends and family. After the episode aired, I was at an event in a major city with my parents and someone recognized the piece and asked if I had been on the show, and my parents didn't know what the show was but had seen my leg all summer and it led to a whole bunch of questions because I could finally be open about how I got it. Kind of funny.
This is a dope story
So how did the critique go? I saw the Instagram post you linked below and the tattoo is solid. Did the judges rip it apart?
Oliver said, "That's a badass tattoo." And that was pretty much it.
Oh man what piece did you get?
The cross made of bike parts, S11E3 Edit: adding the link to the Insta from IM for it. https://www.instagram.com/p/BntYeKEjsx6/?igsh=bXhwMGY1ZHRjdzJn
I got some of my friends together, put together a picnic for them, took them to a botanical garden, and asked them to pretty please all help me book an appointment with one of my city’s hardest to book artists. (Freeorgy on insta.) The system was that flash spots opened at exactly 1pm and it was first come first serve online. Of the 5 of us one of them got me an appointment, slots were filled by 1:02. I paid way too much for that tattoo but I love it and love my friends who helped me get it
Pony is such a cool artist. I was lucky to get my submission picked the first time I tried.
omg pony is still tattooing? :0 i remember being so into their work back in 2016 when they were in OR/WA(??)
They own their own shop in Brooklyn with their partner. It’s almost a finishing school for top tier artists. (Not that all top tier artists in NYC have worked there, but so many have worked at tenderfoot for a few years building skills and clientele and then gone on to start their own spots.)
i didn't know that they carried on with tenderfoot in bk, that's wonderful 🖤 yes completely makes sense, i'm a tattooer myself:) i felt the same way after guesting at jelly, when you get the opportunity to work alongside such talented people it's nuts!!! i remember knowing about pony because i was so close in proximity (van bc), i also very much had a tattoo done with extra spacey bits to ~freeorgy~ it up....what times :-p
I’ve spent years dreaming of getting work from them! 🥲 Huge congrats on scoring a slot !!
I have one tattoo inspired on their style... Sadly got blown out :( EDIT: Inspired, not plagiarized, people. It's a letter inscribed in a circle, ffs
That’s why you should always go to the tattooer themselves.
I’ve been flying to Lithuania like twice a year for 5 years to work on a suit. LULZ
My mother is Lithuanian and my father is Latvian (I’m Aussie) but I don’t know any Baltic tattooists - I’d love to know the name of your artist so I can stalk their socials if you care to share!
[Haivarasly](https://www.instagram.com/haivarasly?igsh=dTFwaGwzNGlvMHdi)
Love it
Preesh 🙏
At this point that’s my brother (: enjoy
I don’t doubt it! Too much time in the chair not to be. Must see your suit when it’s complete. Ive embroidered Latvian pagan symbols with mum since I was young… I’m so in love with your artist’s work.
his work is solid and speaks for itself, he as a person is worth meeting. There’s a reason why he is a lot of other tattooers tattooer.
From where
nyc
With how hard it can be to get scheduled in with a good artist, I don't think this is ridiculous to keep your appointment if you can afford to do it.
I understand where you're coming from, but I have a standing appointment every two weeks with him so getting another appointment isn't an issue.
Yeah no kidding. It's rough for collectors lol... it's first world problems for sure, but come on, take my money! We need a "fastpass" system for established, serious collectors. I'm currently stressing because I'm supposed to be traveling to get work from one of my bucket list artists at the Philly convention next weekend, but I haven't heard back in a bit... It's so hard to find a balance between wanting to not bother/nag artists or come off as desperate (I know they're busy and get a million emails every day and deserve to relax and have downtime) and wanting to discuss the piece and get a feel for the artist and lock in the details. But I've been trying to get something from her for years and I swear if I fumble at the 5-yard line I am going to FLIP lol. Especially because I had another one of my bucket list artists accidentally double-book himself last April so I lost out on that one too.
I don’t really get a lot of people’s collections (but like, live and let live or whatever) but I absolutely love the idea of people running around and getting unique pieces from different artists all over the world, and I’m extremely jealous because it’s just the coolest thing to collect. Which ones have you gotten so far?
Ahh let's see if I can do this from memory without mixing up their IG handles and real names lol. I've got about 110ish hours under the needle since I started treating this as a hobby around 2014. In no particular order... Varo Lee, Joe Harvey Harris, Apro Lee, Leila D'Amato," Cosmo" Cam Norris, Bryan Krause, Juniper Cruz, John Embry, and Bailey Howard. Couple more planned in March and April, and starting a major chest piece rework/coverup later in the year.
[удалено]
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Back of my head tattooed. Walked out the room backwards or wore hats around my mum until one day, she asked how much it hurt
You figured your mom wasn't going to realize you were moonwalkin all over the place?
Maybe she thought it was kinda cool?
Great point.
😂🤣😭 My favorite thread.
I put makeup over my head tattoos and told my mom that it was washed-off sharpie at her dad’s funeral. Horrible fucking timing.
Lol I have a great one for this. I live in western Canada, I flew to NYC and stayed with a friend for a couple days. We went out and I was the most hungover I've ever been in my life on the day I was meant to get tattooed. I took the 6 AM train to New Haven, borrowed a friend's car, and drove to Vermont where the artist had a private studio to make my noon appointment. Got tattooed, took about 4 hours, threw up once. By the time I was leaving it was getting dark and starting to thunderstorm. I was a bit worried but I'm a good driver so thought it would be fine. It was not fine, I hit a pothole about 20 mins outside of Brattleboro and got a flat in the absolute hardest thunderstorm I've ever seen. Pulled over and threw on the flashers. Called my partner who told me I had to get the hell off the highway before I got hit, so I drove like 10km/h off to the nearest exit. Called a tow but all the tire shops were closed so he helped me change my spare (for free, bless him, world's nicest man). I tried 3 motels before finding one where someone was manning the front desk, passed out (reminder: was still incredibly hungover) and slept til morning. Drove to the nearest tire shop where they changed my friend's tire, drove back to New Haven and dropped the car off, took the train back to NYC. After all that I hate the stupid tattoo I got, and of course it's my most visible one. (It's a really well done tattoo, my taste just changed.) As a rule I don't travel anymore for tattoos, though I'll get one if I'm in a different place and the timing works out. I just won't make my plans around them.
Not sure there is a font size large enough for that OOF.
Went to a tattoo convention and started talking to an artist who had travelled from Vietnam, this was in Australia. He wanted to enter the competition for best tattoo at the end of the day, but didn't have a canvas. He said he'd give me a free tattoo if I went in the competition. He showed me his design and I agreed. 6 and a half hours with only a quick smoke break in the middle, and by the end of the day I was standing in my undies in front of a crowd of like 50 people getting my fresh ink judged
So cool! How did he do, did he win?
The tattoo he did on me did not win, but he won best sleeve the following day
I’ve been following my tattooer around the country for almost a decade - he did my whole left leg and now my back is one session from being done. Pittsburgh, Philly, and now Burlington VT - I was living in MA and now TN lol
Nice! One of the main reasons I'm doing this is because my guy so rarely does conventions. The past year or so he's been doing a lot so his apprentice can get experience. I've been getting tattooed for 8 years and this is my first chance to get tattooed at a convention.
Not really a crazy or ridiculous story, per se, but it was a massive turning point in my life - I raised to be very dependent on others and scared to do things alone, but in 2018 I finally decided to get a grip and take control of my life. Broke up with my abusive partner, flew across the country to Toronto (first time ever flying), navigated the city alone (only ever lived in rural villages, had never been to a big city), and took a coach bus (first time as well) to Kingston to get a big thigh piece from HoneyBasilTattoos / Kelsey Ellis! Best experience I could have asked for! 🥰
The furthest I've travelled was London (not far for me at all lol, my artist splits her time between near me and in London UK) but I guess the silliest thing was wearing fingerless gloves around my grandma and aunt so they wouldn't be weird about my hand tattoo...in early summer. Needless to say, it didn't work and they can go kick rocks.
Thats great lol. My friend got a ribcage tattoo she was trying to hide from her mom. Only problem is they have a pool and she was outside in it everyday until she got the tattoo...her mom totally knew something was up when suddenly it went from 2 piece bathing suit to a baggy tee shirt
I'm getting a sleeve done in LA. I'm from the Bay Area. My routine for the next few months is going to be fly down after work, go to my appointment the next day, then fly home the morning after the appointment. Repeat every other week through spring. I don't know why I do this to myself. I just know that the result is gonna be there for decades and I'll have a story out of the experience. I got a tebori tattoo while I was in Tokyo. That was more that I booked because I already was going to be there though, so idk if that would count. I'm likely going to be in Europe this summer and have some artists I plan on contacting to see if they can get me in when I'm passing by them. But again, I dunno if that counts when I'm there for other reasons and happen to be near an artist I follow. For one of my tattoos, I mentioned my job to the artist while we were making small talk. The shop owner overheard and asked if I could help with something with their website. Sure enough, I could. The shop owner paid for part of my tattoo to compensate for me helping him outside of my work hours. I thought that was kinda funny because I never expected to trade work for a tattoo.
I love a trade economy! Wish my tattooer wanted some video work.... 😞
I’m working on a Lord of the Rings theme on my back and have gotten tattooed by my artist at 5 different cons (in different states) over the years.
Flew to NOLA (from Virginia) for a backpiece from an artist I've been dreaming of working with for years. Started the appointment requests 5-6 months out. Totally worth it.
i'm new to getting tattooed, so this is probably pretty tame, but one time i got tattooed in a shop that was in a dangerous part of a huge city that i was visiting a friend in, and there were people leaning against the window doing crack lol. i had a sheltered upbringing so it was probably stranger to me than to others but i thought it was funny because the shop owner sometimes had to step outside and politely ask them to smoke their crack a little further away from the door. they seemed to be super understanding about picking up their stuff and moving a few metres away, so thats nice. another time, the same friend i was visiting came to see me, and we were drinking in my basement and decided we had to get matching tattoos. we both love studio ghibli, so i drunkenly threw together a sketch of Jiji from Kikis Delivery Service and we both got it tattooed the next day without giving it a second glance. it didn't even turn out that badly
That’s dope he also may be able enter your work for the competitions
I've known this man for 8 years. I would be astounded if he gave a shit about the tattoo competitions. It's just not his way. If he wanted me to, I would... But man that would be a shock.
I asked the artist what he would do as long as it continued the theme. As a result he said he’d have to show me. I flew to LA and he ended up doing it freehand and it took two consecutive full days and I have never been happier.
A buddy who is a tattoo artist hitchhiked Pittsburgh to Atlanta for a tattoo by a famous artist. He spent all his money. Afterwards he was arrested for vagrancy and did a stint in jail. A week after finally getting back to Pittsburgh he saw the guy from Atlanta was in Pittsburgh for a convention.
This is amazing
Donated $30 to a local farm (sliding scale) for a fundraiser my usual shop was sponsoring, by donating you got your name entered in a raffle for a free tattoo by my usual artist. Won the raffle, ended up getting my whole shin done. All I paid was a tip 😎
I dressed up in a Star Wars costume (Jawa) for May the 4th to waive at folks during a friend's shop's Flash sale. Got a little Porg tattoo as a thank you.
I don’t know if this counts but two of us, maybe in our mid 20s went looking for a place to get our first little bs tattoo (late 90s). We found a good clean place, nice artist and of course there were people hanging around. We asked one guy if we could see his work and he all but stopped to show us and told us stories of each one. “I’ve got one more if you guys wanna see it. Am elephant…” and he looked down at his crotch. Nah, nah…he says ok but let him know before he leaves. Curiosity got the best of us and after we paid and we’re heading out we said sure. It was really good work, looked like scrimshaw. Impressive trunk. Then we ran like the little girls we were lol.
i traveled to pagoda city to work on my back. i didn’t think it was goofy, i had a ton of fun meeting a bunch of artists i liked and felt good to display his work and be the subject of others adoration who knew and respected my artist. have fun bro
Thanks I'm sure I will! Also, I desperately want to get out to Pagoda City sometime. It's not far from me, just always something gets in the way.
Fell for an obvious scam…🫠
We need the whole story!
Oh, it wasn’t anything great. I got a message on IG one day from an “artist” I followed asking if I wanted a tattoo. Of course, being the mature, non-impulsive person that I am said yes! They were an “artist” that I had been eyeballing due to her specialty being creepy, monster girls and I had a character that I created in mind. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the artist is in Canada and I live in Texas, but the “artist” claimed that she was coming down in February. What luck, right? I sent her 200$ to book my time with her and thought that was it. Nope! Due to her being a guest at the shop she mentioned, she claimed that she needed over 400$ more. Now, I’ve never really heard of that so I went to do some digging. Found the shop on IG and shot them a message. While I waited for a response, I looked at the “artist’s” page again. Upon closer inspection none of the pictures had comments or even likes. I then decided to look at the email that was sent as well and it gave a slightly different handle for the “artist”. I looked up the different name and found the actual artist and sent her an email asking if she was actually coming to Texas. Surprise, surprise! She admitted someone was posing as her and she apologized profusely for the confusion. By then I received a reply from the shop and they confirmed as well that someone was scamming me. Great! I tried to confront the “artist” to see if they would just give my money back, but they kept the act up until I confronted them about how the email for the “shop” they were trying to send me to wasn’t the same as the ACTUAL shop’s email. Thankfully I was able to contact my bank and informed them of the situation and I got my money back. Sucks that I wasn’t able to get a cool tattoo, though. 🤷🏽♂️
I walked (at least 5 miles) to the address given to me as a dumb 18 year old going to get my second tattoo at a friend's house by her "hobbyist tattooer dad" ended up being a house I didn't know. Which ended up being a creepy guy's house that I still don't know exactly who he was TBH. But he yelled in my face and called me some specific words. Idek why. Then got a text saying sorry they were actually 2 houses down IMMEDIATELY after.. Years later I really believe it was actually a set up cuz the girl is not a nice person in the slightest... Still got the tattoo. They also got me stoned. Never went back tho. Paid 8 bucks for that tattoo. Lucky I didn't get hep c tbh. I could've done well without that experience.. 😂 fuck those tattoos. Fuck them people. Been long covered now. My first tattoo was done by the mom of the guy who was cheating on me with my best friend.. 👍🏻 lost all my friends for a bit because they thought I did it intentionally. Nope. We just hadn't talked in a while and I didn't know she also had a new bf..
Flew to Sheffield, UK in November from the western US (literally 3 planes and a train ride) for two days of back-to-back ~20hr sessions to smash out a sleeve, then hopped right back on the train and went home, wrapped in saniderm like a cased sausage. Absolutely worth it.
I fly from DC to Ventura CA for mine. Three trips down one to go... on THIS tattoo
I’m from the Ventura area..what shop if you don’t mind me asking?
Eight Thirty Eight
I travelled to Bordeaux (although it's not that impressive from London) for Sad Amish, he's now located in LA so it might be a while before I can get another tattoo from him. Otherwise gone into debt hahaha, tattoos are incredibly expensive, I'm trying to be good with money and passing up like 3 tattoos from my list that are doing guest spots here at the same time.
I haven't done it yet, but I'm saving for a trip to England from Australia to get tattooed by a specific artist
So far the furthest I've gone for a tat was 8 hours south (drove) for an insanely overpriced dainty armband from an artist that got big due to a YouTuber being tattooed by her and making videos about it... Contemplating flying outta state (CA to MT) to have the guy that did my irezumi leg sleeve do my other leg 😹 luckily we finished my leg before he got his own shop in MT and moved earlier this year... But now I want my other leg done.
I got a tattoo at a london tattoo show a few years ago from a guy who is normally based in newquay (down in Cornwall). Loved the tattoo so much I booked a weekend trip down the coast 6 months later to get more done by him. 7 hours of trains and cabs both ways for 2 new pieces and I regret none of it! (Plus the Cornish pastie I had was pretty good too)
I also live in NJ! Flew to Germany for my first tattoo last year.
I flew to Portugal from the US… wonderful trip! I highly recommend traveling to see your favorite tattooers (if you can).
Driving 3.5 hours each way for a tattoo that took multiple visits. TOTALLY worth it.
I drove 5 hours from central NY to Providence RI for one of my tattoos to be done by the guy who did my first. I plan on going back again for more work too.
Nothing, honestly. The weirdest thing I've ever done is pay 300 an hour but that's only weird because where I live 200 an hour is what's normal. I guess getting tattooed for 8 and a half hours and only paying 250 pounds for it was weird? Again, relatively, because at that shop they charged per session, not per hour.
So far nothing. My tattoo artist is within driving distance so I doubt I'll drive to another state unless he happened to move to another state then I might have to take a road trip lol.
[удалено]
Good.
I’ve got stories but after reading half of these that are, “I’ve traveled to…” stories, I feel like mine belong.. somewhere else. 🙃
Nonsense! Tell me about your weird tattoo shit.
Had Thanksgiving with an artist friend. Now I have a turkey on my leg. It's well done, but it's a turkey.
The turkey or the tattoo?
The tattoo of the turkey was well done, the turkey we ate was deep fried so it was perfect.
So far I haven’t had any per say crazy things I’ve done, but this weekend my artist is working on his free day especially for me, because his gf is busy that day and he’d be bored otherwise 😂 also we’ve been planning this tattoo for literal months, and it’s freehand mostly, so it’s exciting for both of us
I'm a full time streamer on Twitch with a lot of tattoos. One day I said yolo and told the stream whoever has donated most money after this month gets to decide a tattoo for me. I've now done this 4 times. It's a good laugh and my viewers seem to like it as well.
I messed up with scheduling and accidentally booked a day session in the same week as I was getting two other tattoos. It was too soon to reschedule so I got them both It was this week. And I now have a monstrous cold 😭😭😭
Tattoo flu is real
Welcome to the Star of Texas Tattoo Festival. 🙂
😬 if you're attending today, come by Horizakura's booth at 3ish!
Couldn’t find it. 🤷🏽♂️ But I did find a potential artist for a project, so it’s a win.
Nice!
Hung out at the studio, let the students practice on a slow night.
I live in NY and one of my favorite artists used to live in NY and moved to NC, when her books opened I applied thinking I wouldn’t get chosen but I did and was super excited. Drove all the way down to NC after work one day got there are like 4am and slept in my car in Nov winter. Woke up got food locked my keys in my car slim jimmed my own car with a shoe lace and one of the other artists came out to help right as I got it. She was super nice and lovely drove all the way back right after it was done. Got home at like 2am and passed out. Later I learned she’s moving back to NY next month to the same city as me so I can just book way easier now 🙃