I just finished this little terror and thought I would share it with you. It is made from some trinkets I collected during my last travels. Every added extra on this sucker is from Thailand and it runs like it’s on ’sick ‘em’. It is also for sale on my eBay store if your interested, I hope it goes to a good home.
I am so proud to be a part of this website. Two amazing tattooers got together and created something great, a website that sells proper flash and prints from extraordinary artists. OK OK so maybe I’m not up on the site yet, but I WILL be, I SWEAR IT!! Anyway, if you want the best flash and prints the world has to offer then you know where to find it. Here is what they have to say about themselves:
ABOUT TATTOO ELITE INTERNATIONAL
We are an international tattoo flash and art work Distribution Company established in April of 2003 by award winning artists Henning Jørgensen from Denmark and Mike Rubendall from the USA. It was a concept recognized through years of traveling for a high demand and low availability for exclusive flash or artwork from the leading tattoo artists in the industry.
Fortunately we have had a unique opportunity to form a company consisting of artwork from some of our closest friends as well as many of the top tattooers in the world. All artists have achieved international status and are responsible for bringing tattooing to the next level. With the utmost pride and sincerity we present to you Tattoo Elite International.com
So after 2 years of sticking to my solid 3 designs I have finally decided to add a machine design I have been sitting on and adjusting for a while. It is a very strong average weight frame with a more sleek contour to the design, and it’s measured to run exactly the way I personally like to tattoo. The Shaders are fast and strong, and the liners are a slightly longer stroke and very accurate. I call it The ‘Hood-Rat’, bitches beware.
If you would like to be the owner of your own personal Hood-Rat, please refer to my eBay store:
http://stores.ebay.com/saltwatertattoo
I must be sick in the head or something, ’cause most tattooers loathe doing tattoos that you would need an eye loop for, but I seriously love them. Something about the concentration involved while using a special needle, my favorite tube, and a specific machine to bust out mini-tats just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. My Wife’s friend from Hawaii came to visit us for the weekend and during her trip I did a small rose behind the ear, now all my wife’s friends are hatin’ on her for getting tattooed before them and I just found a note in my tattoo station saying this:
It feels so good to back in my machine shop building again, I’m happier than a pervert in a vagina tree. I owe my friend Norm 2 machines for a trade we did before I left on my last travels. Norm sold 2 machines to some sad soul in Hollywood and she gave them back saying she couldn’t pay right now, my hearts aches for her(not). So I said I wanted them, Norm said, “let’s trade…”. and that is how fast it happens. Here is one of 2, enjoy.
I just got back to Cali and man it feels good to be home. There is a Tattoo Convention going on near my home base shop and so the owners of Gold Rush decided to throw a party, it’ll be groovy I’m sure. Back in the day this establishment was called Club Mesa, and from what I remember some of the greatest rock n’ roll and punk bands in Orange County played there. I don’t care what color you paint the building or re-name the Bar, this place has got rhythm, soul and rock n’ roll permanently saturated into the walls. Be there or be square.
So while we were working steady at the Milan Convention, an Italian gentleman approached my booth. He had a few questions about what to look for in buying a good machine and so I gave him a few pointers that would help him steer clear of those machine building hacks out there. After talking for a bit he showed me this wonderfully clean color piece on his leg, then he proceeded to tell us that he tattooed this on himself! I was very impressed, but that’s not all. As if he hadn’t impressed all of us enough, he went ahead and blew our minds by informing us that he has been tattooing a YEAR. That is right ladies and gentleman, ONE YEAR. His name is Stefano Prati, remember it. Do I need to work harder? Yes. If there is tattooers in this day and age doing things like that after a year then I definitely need to remind myself how lucky I am that I came into this when I did, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep up. I will go back to Costa Mesa humbled and ready to work.
I only had a small amount of time left in London before we left back to sunny California and there was one family I just had to go and see. We went to visit my friends Alex Reinke and his wife Bao, and their new beautiful baby girl Alva. What a wonderful place to visit, the positive energy in their home is sublime and they were so warm and welcoming to us. Alex is not only one of my favorite people, he’s also one of my favorite tattooers. If you have never taken notice to his work I recommend you do, he is a very gifted tattooer and also gives back to this business generously by helping those around him. Tattooing is lucky to have you Alex.
http://www.holyfoxtattoos.de/holyfox/
Ok so it’s not the most outrageous website or anything but it is about time. I have finally taken a quick moment to build a site for the Tattoo Pen. It is small, simple and very functional just like the Tattoo Pen. HA, listen to me all salesman like, but really though, if you try this pen I guarantee you’ll love it. I will soon be adding a page that will have a gallery of photos showing the step by step of tattoos from the drawing with the pen all the way to the finished tattoo, it’ll be fun.
Milan was the last stop on the map for Me and the Wife . We met up with Lindsey, Colin and Eric from Gold Rush and it was like having my home team in full effect; and with Dante, Valerie and Craig from Frith Street working right next to us I was as cozy as a pig in a blanket. We had a lot of fun talkin’ shit and cranking out tattoo after tattoo but I am tired and ready to get back to my humble house in California and my happy little machine shop.
If you don’t know about Lucky’s Tattoo Parlor in San Diego, well judging by this male ass in your face, you should! Thor, the man who made this spectacular tattoo, works at Lucky’s Tattoo Parlor in San Diego, where some of the most talented, happy, humble, and cucumber cool tattooers in SoCal work. If you don’t already know about Lucky’s, you should. Rock n’ roll Thor, you just put a teddy bear holding a heart on someone’s ass, you are my hero today.
http://www.luckystattooparlor.com/
http://www.myspace.com/luckystattoo
http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/Luckys-Tattoo-Parlor/
1. If you’re shopping learn how to spend your change, otherwise you can seriously end up with heavy pockets, the Great Britain Coin comes in amounts all the way up to two Pound. Soho has some of the best shopping in London, from vintage and au vant garde to Fred Perry and Carhartt, soak it up.
2. If you’re horny and single get laid. Soho has an incredible amount of bars, sex shops, peep shows, strip clubs, pornographic book shops and scantly clad women in freezing temperatures walking the streets every night. I dress like the kid from A Christmas Story that is so bundled up he can’t put his arms down, sexy? I think not.
3. If you’re cultural see a show. Soho has many theaters playing some of the most famous plays in the world. Personally I’d rather stick hot needles in my eye while horny hobbits violate me from the waist down… I am not a fan of plays, so sue me.
4. If you’re a junkie get high and shit in a phone booth, nah fuck it, shit on my porch!. I am not kidding people, the streets of Soho are filled with drugs and it’s easy to sniff it out(especially when you’re a recovering addict). Junkies will shit in the first place they get excited after ‘a fix’, usually a phone booth will suffice due to privacy but sometimes a phone booth is not present, and when that happens they will shit on your porch. Liz and I woke up to diarrhea steaming on our lovely porch one morning, it took the landlord 3 days to clean it up. We did a little dance every morning to step over it, doodoo-wa-diddy.
5. If you’re a tattooer make money. George Bush Jr. and this wonderful(joke) of our US government did a great job of reducing the dollar to almost nothing. The Pound is about 1.7 of what the dollar is, so needless to say I am working hard and trying make that dolla’. HEY, I got shopping to do, peep shows to see, hobbits to pay off, and above all toilet paper for my midnight phone booth poopoo parties. Yeehaw
In Central London there is a place called Soho, it is filled with rad clothing boutiques, book shops, sex shops, nudie shows, and tasty restaurants. Also in Soho is a very reputable tattoo shop called Frith Street Tattoo, it belongs to my good friend Dante and within it resides a group of great but humble tattooers. I usually do all my work at the Family Business Tattoo but this time around Dante asked me if I could do a few tattoos at Frith to help out due to a particular black and grey artists that had to leave unexpectedly. So for the last week and a half I have been helping out and also tattooing a fair share of the employees, which has been a great honor and compliment. Here are their stories… Wait! What?! Stories? This ain’t Miami Ink! Here are their TATTOOS, fuck the stories.
So I have returned from Brighton from tattooing at the Convention. I really didn’t get to see that actual convention aside from our booth, the bathroom, and a little of the booths on the walk to the bathroom. Having said that, I was quite busy. I got to do some rad tattoos and the people here were very pleasant. Aside from a few guys attempting to ‘re-tune’ my machines that I was selling right before my eyes, everything was groovy. My friend Ross from Ireland picked up one of my favorite machines of the bunch and is giving it a good home. I get attached to certain machines, what can I say I’m sensitive, but it’s nice when someone you know and like buys those particular ones.
Man I love this town, the heartbeat of this city sends a pulse I can feel 5,000 miles away. I usually take better photos but since I’ve been here I’ve just enjoyed this city with my own mental photobooth or been way to cold to stop and take my camera out to get just the right shot, I curse my thin californian blood and can’t wait ’til it adjusts to the chilly weather. In any case, I still have a few for you to enjoy. I plan on doing some tattooing at Frith Street Tattoo and The Family Business, these are two of the premier shops in London and I am honored.
