Ahh, the life of a scratcher: buy some stuff you don’t know how to use off the internet, make some local kids think you’re a rad tattoo artist who works exclusively out of his crib, tattoo a whole bunch of them without sterilizing your equipment, then subsequently have the police and parents after you while you desperately flee.

At least, that’s more or less what’s been going on with Idaho’s Andrew Walthall, after he tattooed two 15 year-olds and a 13-year-old at his home last October.  I don’t know why all this is just coming to light now, but at any rate, the cops in Boise would like to have a chat with Mr Walthall, who is nowhere to be found.  Where could he be?  Maybe he was taken under the wing of some secret scratcher society that lives underground, a rogue band of fake tattoo artists who only come out when someone is in need of a shitty tattoo in a dingy basement somewhere.

Still, I’m actually glad to see that a story like this makes the news.  The more that people are educated about scratchers and how they are likely to misuse or not sterilize equipment, the smaller the amount of people there will be who actually get tattooed by scratchers.

So kids, to recap: Don’t get a tattoo from someone who isn’t really a tattoo artist!

I think that my favourite Steve-O tattoo is the one that he has of himself on his back, giving the thumbs up.  Then again, I’m not sure.  There’s just so many to choose from.  I mean, there’s the tattoo on his ass that plainly reads “Your name”, enabling Steve-O to confidently bet anyone that he has “your name tattooed on my ass”.  And of course, there’s the baby portrait of himself.  All of these are most certainly classics of a certain regard.  Steve-O it seems, has made a career out of tattooing things on his body that most people would never consider.  It’s as though he’s intended his body to be as hilarious and as head shakingly disturbing as the stunts he regularly performs both on his own and as a member of the Jackass crew.  To put it bluntly in his own words:

“I never get a tattoo unless I know it will make somebody smile.”

But Steve-O has had a difficult past year.  There have been arrests and substance abuse issues that shed light on a very dark side to the world in which he inhabits.  Hopefully however, those days are behind Steve-O and he can continue making people smile and enjoying life to its fullest.  His initiative to stay clean in both body and mind has found its way to his tattoos, as he’s recently decided to get rid of some of what he has in preparation of an image change.  Cool.  Whatever works.  So what does that mean exactly?  Well, he’s covering up two tattoos in particular: the pot leaf on his wrist and the dribbling dick on his arm.  I’m never one to judge people on their tattoos (at least not good tattoos), but I’d have to say that it’s a pretty good idea for Steve-O to decide that it’s time to cover up the dick and the leaf.  I’m not really going to elaborate on that.  Yeah.

What this means for all the big Steve-O/Jackass fans out there with some artistic ability is that Steve-O is accepting submissions for what his cover up tattoos should be.  I’m thinking that the dick should be turned into an elephant’s trunk and that the trunk should wrap around his forearm into his palm where there are three peanuts about to be sucked up. But that’s just me.  If you however, are the type who can actually come up with a good suggestion, then submit your stuff and on March 23rd, you just might be the owner of a new T-shirt and the personal satisfaction of Steve-O wearing your tattoo idea.

D-A-M-N!

It never ceases to amaze me how something so trivial as a doll can stir up so much controversy in the good old U.S. of A. I’m, of course speaking of the shit stir started by Mattel’s newest Barbie; “Totally Stylin’ Tattoos Barbie.”

The newest model of the classic toy has been released with decal tattoos that the little ones can apply to Barbie’s unrealistic figure, and some temp-toos that they can, of course attach to themselves. Well hold on to your hats, because although the doll is selling like hot cakes at a starving logger’s camp, it seems that it has made more than a few sphincters pucker up in outrage.

Apparently the stamp applicator, (although I don’t think so), looks a little too close to a real tattoo machine for some Moral Oral’s tastes. As far as they are concerned the Barbie and it’s temp stamp applicator will be promoting nudity, loose behavior, and a uncontrollable desire to get a real tattoo in innocent young minds.

Democratic Delegate Jeff Eldridge of West Virginia is trying to have the doll, and others like her banned in the state saying:

“The dolls influence girls to place too much importance on physical beauty, at the expense of their intellectual and emotional development.”

I suppose he would want to ban Stretch Armstrong for the same reason should the pliable muscleman suddenly show up with fake tats as well.

Now since I agree with the late Lenny Bruce, I have to ask one question. Why would a doll that has tattoos be considered a threat to the moral and emotional determent to our children when those bastions of development, video games, are not? I mean look at all the realistic values such games as Grand Theft Auto teaches; drug dealing, murder, hopping in the back seat with a hooker to regain life points. Hell, that has to be better for the kids than a doll with tattoos.

(Yes, I’m being sarcastic as I can here.)

Why, I even had a set of cowboy cap guns to play with when I was a kid, and I grew up to be a old time gun slinger who would just as soon shoot your eyeball out in the local saloon as look at ya. Didn’t I?

Too be honest, I’m beginning to believe it’s not the kids who need to grow up; it’s the parents. Perhaps to be more accurate, maybe its time to cut the kid a little slack, stop letting the TV and video games to raise the child, and develop a personal relationship with your kid.

Then you won’t have to worry about how dangerous the toy is because your actually doing your job as a parent and the child will trust you more than they do some hype filled toy maker.

We are starting a new angel tattoo pictures section on the site feel free to link to your favorite tattoo pictures in the section this page is dedicated to angel tattoos.

John Fitzgerald
Slave to the Needle Tattoo & Body Piercing
508 NW 65th Street ¦ Seattle, WA 98117
Phone: 206.789.2618

Monte
Skin Designs in Indianapolis @317-244-8282

Pavel Angel
Angel Wings

Tom Renshaw
Eternal Tattoos
1004 W. 14 Mile Rd.
Clawson, MI 48017

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Ink. If you stop to think about it, ink is the stock and trade of tattooing. Without the ink the machine is just a fancy hand-held sewing machine without the thread. It might be good for scarification, but that’s about it.

As you know, the ‘ol Doc is all about the safety and health of our beloved art. It’s the only illustrative art form where the canvas is alive, so it stands to reason the artist should care about the collector’s health and safety. If your artist isn’t concerned about your health and safety, run! Odds are you are either dealing with a scratcher, or someone who is more concerned with his pocket than the art, or you.

Back to inks. The market is literally flooded with inks. Some of which I personally wouldn’t touch with a twenty foot pole. There are Black light inks, Chromatic inks, Primary inks, and there are a few out there who are so dissatisfied with common color that they are seeking to do everything from Radio Tracking inks to Photochromatic inks.

Now, knowing how much the tattoo community likes to push the envelope it’s not hard to envision several strange types of inks hitting the market that could have questionable risks associated with them. Remember this shit is literally being injected into your hide and if your going to be a guinea pig, at least hook up with a science lab and get paid for it.

As such here are a few things you should consider before getting all hot and bothered about a new type of ink.

How long has the ink been on the market?
How long has your artist been using the particular brand of ink?
Has there been any health risk notices about the ink?
Have any of the artist’s customers had an allergic reaction to a kind of ink?
Is the ink made by a trusted manufacturer?
Has there been any recalls on the ink due to adverse reactions?

I know, all of this sounds like common sense, but as a wise man once said; “The problem with common sense is it isn’t so common.”

For myself, I always used Pelican for black and I still think it’s the best choice. For color I used Spaulding and Rogers. I never had a bad reaction from any tattoo that I did. Maybe I was just lucky, but I don’t think so.

This isn’t to say that these are the only good inks out there, but it pays to be cautious when dealing with an ink that is either brand new to the market, or questionable in it’s applications.

It’s your body. It’s your tattoo. Know what your getting.

Ahh these frightfully uncertain economic times.  No money, no jobs, no fun.  This may be the case for many people, but while the lives of others go down the proverbial crapper, the life of one tattoo artist in particular seems to be going just fine.

Louisiana tattoo artist John Smith, or “Rock” as he’s professionally known, has seen such an increase in business recently that he plans on opening two more tattoo shops within the next month.  That really is impressive, considering that US stocks recently plummeted to a 12-year low. Tattooing it seems, can still be a very lucrative business.  While “Rock” attributes his financial success to “the grace of God” – his shop “Scaredy Tatts” cleared $7,000 in profits last week – I personally find it hard to believe that God used his magic to bring heaps of profits to a Louisiana based tattoo shop.  I think the real reason for the success is simpler than all that.  People want to feel good, art makes people feel good, the comraderie at a tattoo shop makes people feel good.  That’s it.  Maybe I’m over-simplifying things, but I don’t think so.

Another way of looking at all this is maybe things aren’t as bad as we all think they are?  Or am I just being too upbeat in the face of a bad situation?  Whatever the reason may be, I’m glad that more people are getting tattooed during these uncertain economic times.  Even if we all end up out of work and tattooed, at the very least we’ll all be looking good.

Interestingly enough the current trend in 3D tattooing is not as new as many would seem to think, and yet it is.

As many of you have probably guessed I’m an old fart, so I remember when Spider Web created the first 3D tattoo. The difference being that Spider’s had no resemblance to what is today called a 3D tattoo. What the Web man did was to create a back piece tattoo that had the same qualities as the 3D posters of that time. Some may remember the 3D posters of the seventies; the ones that you had to wear those goofy red and blue lens glasses to create the illusion of 3D? Spider did the same thing with the back piece, and viewed through a set of 3D glasses the effect was startling, to say the least.

If your interested there is a pic of Spider, the tattoo, and the model in the classic photo book “The Sign Upon Cain”.

However, this type of 3D tattooing isn’t what the buzz is about today. For the most part the 3D tattoo of today is a highly photo realistic tattoo that is so well executed that to looks as if it is either floating on the body, or breaking out of the body. These are then enhanced by injecting a small amount of hyaluronic acid (sugar) under the skin to raise certain areas of the tattoo for a contoured look to the design. Check it out.

Personally, I think the sugar injections detract from the absolute beauty of the 3D illusion created by an artist skilled enough to make such mind numbing designs. Not to mention that causing raised points on the tattoo just doesn’t look so hot. More often than not it makes the tattoo look like it has something wrong with it and therefore detracts from some really killer work that from a distance could stand on it’s own.

On the whole it takes an average of 40+ hours to create one of these masterpieces of optical deception, so the cost is quite high. There have also been some issues with the overall safety of injecting sugar under the skin. For example I don’t think the idea would be very practical for someone who might be borderline diabetic.

Another factor that anyone considering a 3D tattoo may want to consider is removal, or cover-up. While a laser may be able to fade out the design, I’m not at all certain it would do much to remove the dimensional elements of the design. Abrasion, while not the most practical way to rid one’s self of an unwanted tat, would seem to be out of the question here because of the raised skin. It would also seem that the contoured areas of the original tattoo would not be very useful, if not down right detrimental to any other design being laid over it.

As I said, considering the absolutely fantastic detail in the images used for 3D tattooing, I don’t think I would bother with the injections. Just having such a killer piece would be more than enough for me, but to each his own. Just remember in the case of 3D tattoos, this is a place where, “Think before you ink.” isn’t just a good suggestion. It’s a down right necessity.

This week I’m short on patience.  Most likely it’s due to the energy-sucking cold that is currently ravaging my body, but when I saw that certain rich Russians are using their spare cash to have their cats tattooed, I wanted to break something.  Fortunately, there isn’t much in my apartment to break, so instead I’ll just settle for a nice rant.

Anyone who gets their cat tattooed is a first class dick.  Not to bring this down to the level of childish name calling and mud-slinging, but let’s just be straight forward here.  There’s really no polite name for anyone who would take a defenceless animal, knock it out with drugs and then proceed to force a painful vanity procedure on it.  If you do that sort of thing, you’re not fashionable, you’re not original and you’re not enviable.  What you are is a dick.

I’m not saying that all the blame rests with the cat’s owner either.  No self respecting tattoo artist should ever be in the business of tattooing animals.  I highly doubt that this sort of procedure is going to catch on in the west, as the article goes on to mention.  But if it does, know that the people who have to be responsible for the trend are the tattoo artists.  I can’t see tattoo artists booking cats and dogs over people.  Call me crazy, but it just doesn’t seem likely.  Mostly because it’s cruel and tacky but also because there would be an outright PETA riot and who the hell wants to deal with those guys?

Okay.  When the day comes that a cat walks into a tattoo shop and asks for Tutankhamun’s likeness on its neck, I’m all for cats getting inked.  Until that day comes however, let’s just stick to people.  Deal?

We are starting a new clown tattoo pictures section on the site feel free to link to your favorite clown tattoo pictures in the comment section this page is dedicated to clown tattoos.

Brandon Bond
All or Nothing Tattoo
2569 S. Cobb Dr., Smyrna, Ga. 30080 – Phone: 770.435.9966

Dave Fox
Studio One Tattoo
234 Chester Pike, Norwood, PA US
(610)586-4640

Josh Carlton
Slip Knot Clown
The Great American Tattoo Co.
Indianapolis, Indiana US

Mike DeVries
Insane Clown Posse
MD Tattoo Studio
Northridge, CA US