Since Edgar Hoill has been the Editor of Lowrider Arte this magazine has stepped it up a notch. This magazine has been, and always will be, a big part of my childhood and teen years. I wonder if my Mom has any remnants of my belongings left over from when I tattooed all the neighborhood kids in the garage, I’m sure you could find an old Lowrider Arte or two in that pile of stuff. I remember when a new issue would come out and my friends and I would sit on the porch pointing out our favorite drawings of the month, and how I would say something like, “I could tattoo that on you…”. I am very honored this month to actually be a part of something that I grew up with rolled up in my back pocket as I walked home from Mr. Bobs liquor store. To me, being in Lowrider Arte is a personal accomplishment that I was very excited to fulfill. A very special thanks to Edgar Hoill.
One of my weaknesses is when I come across vintage or historical tattoo items I jump at the chance to add them to my collection. This time I really feel I scored ‘a find’ and do not have the buyers remorse, even though my budget doesn’t allow me to buy anything nice for myself ’til 2020! I am very grateful that I was taught to appreciate memorabilia such as this (thanks Dan), Owen Jensen was a legend in this business and to find an unmolested set-up like this just sets my heart on fire. If you have the interest and 5 minutes of your time, read about Owen’s life from this link http://www.tattooarchive.com/, it’s worth your time.
Owen Jensen (1891–1976)
I am proud to announce that I now have a small selection of tattoo needles to offer other tattooers. Eventually I will have every configuration available, but for now this limited selection will due. I have spent 6 months attaining many opinions from many tattooers on which configuration and what taper tattooers seem to like the best. I have added that and also what I personally like to tattoo with and come up with what you see before you. I really hope if you try them you will enjoy using them, and I will be adding many more styles, sizes, and configurations very soon. If you would like to try some out just head to my eBay store at http://stores.ebay.com/saltwatertattoo
I proudly work at a place named Gold Rush Tattoo in Costa Mesa. One of the two owners, Colin Dowling, has been working on a proper power source specifically for tattooing for a little while, and what he has come up with is wonderful(in my opinion). It’s an ultra pure DC power source producing 10,000+uf, that means it puts out the smoothest currents available, I looked it up. At a convention recently I tried The General out, I finished a massive tattoo in such a short amount of time and my machines ran better than ever; I was convinced. The best part about this power unit is that it is made BY tattooers FOR tattooers, that means every time you use it you take back a little bit of OUR business and take away from all the NON-tattooers getting fat off of us, It feels good. Or you can just go on using your inconsistent Eikon device, more power to you(yes, that was a pun).
If you are long time black and grey tattooer or a fan of comic art such as Conan The Barbarian and Tarzan, or just a lover of fantasy art then you are appreciative of Frank Frazetta’s work. I grew up reading books like The Lords Of The Rings Trilogy and watching epic films like Conan The Barbarian, which told tales of one rogue warrior adventuring his way across perilous lands armed with only a sword and an ability to randomly run across scantily voluptuous women(I loved that!). It was a wonderful escape for a young man and it was all illustrated by Frank, later in my teens I would end up tattooing Frank’s designs and using them for artistic reference in many of my drawings. Frazetta’s art is timeless and I wanted to take a moment and appreciate it, below are a few pics of his most famous works and a couple of my personal favorites – enjoy
If you would like to see more of Frank’s work please check this site out www.frankfrazetta.org
Yes, this is actually true. Those who know me know that I threw my appointment book in the trash(extremely freeing) about 6 years ago, and since then I have only been tattooing walk-ins at my home base Gold Rush Tattoo or walk-ups at conventions. There are the rare occasions that I work at my old home bases and take appointments, or rather they take them for me, and this is one of those times. Love Hate(formerly Miami Ink) will be taking appointments for me on the dates of july 17th – 21st, 2010. If you would like an appointment call them at 305-531-4556 or for more info www.lovehatetattoos.com
Here are a few pics from the ol’ Fresno Tattoo Convention. It was a good show, put on by great guys who actually give back to tattooing, very rare these days. I will definitely be attending the 2011 Fresno Convention, you can count on it.
May 1st and 2nd I will be attending the Fresno Tattoo Convention. I will have lots of goodies to sell, like Tattoo Machines, The Original Tattoo Pens, T-Shirts, Pin-Up Books and many others nick-nacks that I have to offer. I will also be offering a Black and Gray Portrait Seminar on Sunday morning. During this seminar I will be tattooing an actual portrait live for those attending, there will be a video and TV projecting the tattoo for a alternative angle and view of the procedure. I will also be offering a small pamphlet consisting of my take on portraits and how to tattoo them properly. I will not be selling ‘tattoo secrets’, just simply giving tattooers a better understanding of thy own self’s capabilities and how to use the skills they have at the level they are to make a better tattoo/portrait. There will also be a seminar with Dan Dringenberg on machine building and general maintenance that should be very useful as well. I hope to see a lot of familiar faces there and meet some new people.
If you would like to attend the seminar contact Jason at jason@sugarhillshop.com
If you would like to find out more about the fresno convention click here http://www.centralvalleytattoo.com/news.html
My friend Chente is a prodigy to say the least, the drawing above these words speaks for itself. His tattoos are flawless and his drawings would make any artist want to throw in the towel. He has been doing some federal time and while he has been locked up he has been drawing on small pieces of paper with a bic pen. The drawings he has created are magnificent and a joy to look at. His friend and partner Peter sent me the designs to make flash out of, I have taken Chente’s drawings and made them into flash for him to sell. I am so honored to have been a part of this project to help my friend and to make drawings this beautiful available to the public. It is a large set of ten 11 x 17 sheets with line drawings and a forward included written by me. You can find them at my eBay store at http://stores.ebay.com/saltwatertattoo
An iconic tattoo that always seems to give me comfort when I see it would have to be the Rock Of Ages. Any which way it’s depicted, small or large, color or gray, anywhere on the body, I just love this design. I was rifling through some old photos in a folder I call ‘purgatory’ that sits on my desktop and came across this photo. I made this tattoo on my friend Stash a few years back at Temple Tattoo in Oakland. I added the letters above later, as you can see. I am very glad I found this and I’m hoping that it will motivate me to go through the ‘purgatory’ folder and consolidate some more build up of digital crud… not likely.
I added a few new Custom One-Offs today on my eBay store. They are some of the machines that didn’t sell at the Dallas Convention so I thought I would post ‘em up for ya. I hope you enjoy them.
http://stores.ebay.com/saltwatertattoo
Man what a trip, it’s like a blur. Right of the plane Rory(my apprentice) and I checked in to our hotel and then went to a ‘wig party’ presented by Oliver Peck who also was hosting the convention. It was really fun to see what people you know look like with crazy hair, Oliver actually looked kinda handsome with long flowing blonde hair… ok maybe not, but Monkey Bird did. There was also some bad ass motorbikes parked out front that I enviously admired for a good ten minutes. Besides the wig extravaganza, the fun karaoke party and Tom Mosier’s birthday consisting of him making people put their cigarettes out on his chest, the convention was really slow. Oh well, there are good ones and bad ones, all I care about is that I had a great time and got to hang out with my friends sharing positive vibes and talking story.
Russell Collins is one of my best friends, the other day while filling in one of his last spots on his upper body I realized that I have done a lot of work on this man, so I decided to take photos. Most of these tattoos are some of my personal favorites, I hope you enjoy – Tim
This Thursday at Gallery 1927 I will be very honored to be part of a wonderful art show happening in Downtown Los Angeles. I will post the new painting I finished that will be contributed to the show later, it is one of my personal favorites and I am considering making a limited amount of prints with it. If you would like to view the press release with a bio about each artist involved click here ~ PRESS RELEASE ~
If you have ever tattooed your wife or girlfriend then you know how nerve-racking it can be. The morning started out with my wife getting a tattoo on the back of her arm and ending up with her hating me by the time I was finished. That’s what husbands are for, putting their wives through pain and suffering. Liz sat like a stone and made it easy to shake off the anxiety of tattooing a loved one.
