Ahh the video store: home to countless employees who have bigger dreams and bigger skills.  Everyone knows that writer/director Quentin Tarantino used to make ends meet by working in an LA based video store before he stormed the Hollywood scene with Reservoir Dogs. In fact, I’m willing to bet that if you ask any given video store clerk what their future goals are - a great deal of them will tell you that they’re working toward some sort of goal in film or as an artist of some sort.  Video stores just seem to be a nice creative environment for those who want something more but need to make some cash while in the process of working toward that something more. Chris Labrenz of Edmonton, Canada happens to be one of those people.  Although he works in a video store, Chris happens to be a pretty decent artist.  His drawings of characters and images from everything from popular TV shows to horror films and more adorn the walls of the Edmonton based video store Movie Studio where Chris is the assistant manager.  He sold his first piece when he was 13-years-old for $1000 and hasn’t looked back since.  He’s even sold his artwork to the dark lord of metal, Ozzy Osbourne.  Hey, when Ozzy’s got some of your artwork hanging in his home, I’d say it’s safe to say that you’re a success.  Labrenz has taken this success as an artist and moved into the realm of tattoo.  He’s currently apprenticing at Edmonton based tattoo shop Capital Tattoo. Sounds pretty cool indeed.  I’m sure there will be a time in the not so distant future where Labrenz is running his own tattoo studio and transferring that demand for his art on to flesh.  Best of luck to you, Chris.

I think that the vast majority of us can relate to wanting to purchase something in particular really badly but just not having enough cash for it.  Sometimes you have even have to sell off some of your cherished possessions in order to get the cash that you need.  It sucks, but hey, it happens.  Tattoos are no different.  Sometimes you’ve just got to have that tattoo done by that certain artist and no matter what it takes, you’re going to make it happen.

The most important thing to keep in mind when this sort of intense need for a tattoo strikes is that some things are a better way than others for getting that cash that you need.  Example: selling your bicycle, selling your guitar, selling your Xbox, etc…  These are all decent ways to quickly get the cash that you need to help get you set up with that tattoo you’ve been wishing for.

Then there’s just the really stupid way to get the money for a tattoo, like setting up an elaborate ruse through the internet in order to rob someone for cash.  That’s how Christine Lynn Damann of Coon Rapids, Minnesota went about attempting to get the cash that she needed for her tattoo:

According to the complaint, the robbery victim said he met Damann online on Livelinks and was lured to a 6424 Douglas Drive in Brooklyn Park March 3. When he arrived, he was directed to go to the Eden Park Apartments.

The man said he was then confronted by two individuals who punched him, robbed him of his pants, cell phone and other property.

Damn, they took dude’s pants?  Robbing him of his cash is one thing, but taking his pants?  Come on!  Give the poor bastard a break.  Anyway, Damann was caught and later confessed to setting up the entire thing so that she could get a tattoo.  Talk about stupid.  What happened to getting a JOB?  Oh well, at least Damann will be able to get that tattoo that she wanted so badly after all…in prison.

Among the things that I like about tattoo artist James Kern is that his portfolio has a specific section in order to showcase the hand and foot tattoos that he’s done.  Tattoos and feet are in my opinion some of the greatest spots on the human body for tattoos and the fact that Kern acknowledges this not only with his work but also with a specific spot in his portfolio is pretty refreshing.  Not to mention that the work that he does on feet and hands is pretty damn fine.  Pretty damn fine, indeed.  That’s not to say that all of Kern’s work isn’t pretty damn fine, I just thought I’d mention the feet and hands stuff first.  That okay with you?  Good.

Before James Kern started tattooing full time, he tattooed friends and made his living by colouring comic books.  A pretty cool sideline, and when you think about it, a pretty appropriate one for a tattoo artist in training.  In 1995, Kern graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, then went on to begin his career as a tattoo artist at Chicago’s Milios Salon.  It was while at Milios that Kern met and learned from numerous big names in the tattoo industry, including Guy Aitchison and Kim Saigh.  Kern stayed at Milios for three years, honing his skills and making plenty of friends along the way.  After three years, Kern moved on to the No Hope No Fear tattoo studio.  Today Kern lives in Portland Oregon, still in the No Hope No Fear family, tattooing at its Portland location.

In addition to my own personal fondness for Kern’s hand and foot tattoos, his portrait work is amazing as well (I love the Woody Allen portrait).  All of the black and grey work on display here is phenomenal and when Kern does splash in some colour, things get downright three dimensional.  A superb tattoo artist who deserves all the recognition he can get and more.  So what are you waiting for?  Go check out James Kern’s stuff!

I don’t typically pay much attention to temporary tattoos.  Why would I?  Permanent tattoos are far better, of course.  I’m also willing to bet that the majority of people who regularly visit the Tattoo Blog aren’t really interested in temporary tattoos either.  But you know what?  As it turns out, temporary tattoos are freaking huge business.  Don’t believe me?  Check this out:

Hidden away in the industrial corridor south of Aviation Highway between Palo Verde Road and Alvernon Way on the southside is a one-of-a-kind, international company that generates as much as $20 million a year by temporarily fulfilling people’s desires to adorn their bodies.

“We are the global leader in FUN” reads the sign outside Tattoo Manufacturing Incorporated where they manufacture six million temporary tattoos a day. Extrapolate that to an annual production and the numbers exceed over a billion product units per year.

KA-FRIGGING-BOOOOOM!!!!  Can you believe that?  Over a billion product units per year?  $20 million a year?  That is completely amazing to me and far beyond any of the numbers that I would have guessed that a temporary tattoo company can do.  I think that I grossly underestimated the popularity of temporary tattoos.  Which isn’t to say that I think they’re cool, but…damn, that’s a lot of temporary tattoos.  The Arizona based company is responsible for most of the temporary tattoos that flood the global marketplace each year, and they’re only getting bigger.

On the retail side, TMInternational does business with the biggies — Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Target — and other recognized retailers. They produce tattoos of Disney princesses and millions upon millions of pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness events.

“Our largest single sale was to Kellogg’s cereals a year ago when we printed 28 million temporary tattoos for a promotion in their boxes of Pop Tarts,” Tooker said. And there are other worlds yet to be conquered, he said.  “McDonald’s is on our radar for their Happy Meal. We haven’t cracked that one yet, but we’re trying.”

Apparently their demographic is between the ages of 5-18, which is cool.  I remember loving temporary tattoos when I was a kid, so it’s nice to see that still hasn’t changed.

Billy getting PornHub on face

My adventures in tattoo advertising continue with PornHub.com. This is a really great adult website. They are advertising on my right cheek, Just below my zoozle.com tattoo ad. I now have 9 tattoo ads on my head so far! I am looking for new websites to advertise on me. I think it would be cool to advertise for tattooblog.com. I can see it now Tattooblog.com right on me face, or on my nose or somewhere else.

One of the tattoo ads I did a few months ago has really paid off well for me. I did a tattoo ad for Liberty Tax service. In the deal I advertise for them on my neck and in return I get my taxes done for free for life! I went in and they did my taxes for 2008 and for 2009. If I did not get free taxes my total for doing my taxes would have been $1,400 dollars.

I am now in search of more websites to advertise on my. In the next week I will continue to email websites and companies in the hopes of adding additional advertisements to my body billboard. I made front cover of Bizzare magazine so I am pretty excited about that. They did a feature on me thats in the latest issue. Stay tuned as I become the ultimate human billboard!

A recent news report out of Copenhagen, Denmark tells of a new ban on tattoos in the work place for guards working for the Danish Prison and Probation Service.  The ban, effective as of now specifies that Danish prison guards are not permitted to have visible “biker gang type” tattoos.  What exactly “biker gang type” tattoos are is not clarified by the Danish Prison and Probation Service, leading to the deduction that “biker gang type” tattoos is just an archaic way of saying no tattoos allowed.

The new uniform regulations issued by the DPPS state that ‘the existence of visible tattoos could be found to damage the reputation that prison guards should have both outwardly and inwardly’.

The guidelines continue by stating that the ‘existence of large, visible “biker gang type” tattoos on the hands, arms, neck and head are in this way not desirable’

This is all very disappointing of course and not just because this new ban wallows in outdated stereotypes, either.  I’ve always thought of the majority of Europe as a continent that is constantly pushing the envelope in terms of sociological advancements and tolerance.  To be honest, Denmark was the last place that I expected to see this kind of old-school attitude toward tattoos surface.  Still, people like Kim Østerbye, who is the chairman of the prison worker’s union, is speaking up about and questioning the ridiculousness of this new ban:

‘What is a biker gang tattoo? What is an immigrant gang tattoo?’ he said. ‘Tattoos in Denmark are completely normal. Maybe 10-15 years ago, they would have been more about signalling your membership of the gang environment, but that’s absolutely not the case today.’

How true, how true.

The last time that I wrote about children being tattooed by their elders, I had hoped it would be the last.  I should have known better because now not only is there more recent news about a child being tattooed, but it’s the youngest child that I have ever heard of being tattooed.  This one is truly disgusting, folks and I wouldn’t keep reporting on these sorts of incidents, if only they would go away.  But they won’t.

20-year-old Louisville, Ohio resident Lee M. Deitrick currently stands accused of tattooing the letter “A” on the buttocks of a 1-year-old child.  The child was visiting Deitrick’s family home this past November when Deitrick apparently decided to apply the tattoo.  Police are uncertain as to what the “A” tattoo represents.  At present time, Deitrick is facing a child endangering charge, which is a felony.

LOUISVILLE, Ohio - A 20-year-old man who police say put a tattoo on the rear end of a 1-year-old girl is facing a felony child endangering charge.

Lee. M. Deitrick is accused of applying the tattoo in early November while the child was visiting his home.

The tattoo, which is the letter “A,” could not be removed, according to a complaint police filed with Canton Municipal Court.

The child was brought to the home by a female relative, according to Police Chief Andrew Turowski. Deitrick is not the girl’s father, the chief said.

It was not clear why the child was given a tattoo or what the “A” signifies.

“It is hard to fathom why someone would try to do that,” Turowski said. “It was at his residence. The female relative was the only one with the child, so I guess it is safe to say she was baby-sitting. I would not call her a suspect at this time.”

A woman identifying herself as Deitrick’s grandmother, with whom he lives, recalls the infant’s 16-year-old aunt being the one who was with the girl when the tattoo was applied.

“We have nothing to suggest the mother gave permission to do it (apply the tattoo),” Turowski said.

Very sick stuff, indeed.  I could never understand what would possess anyone to apply a homemade tattoo to a child, especially a toddler.  It just doesn’t make sense.  Then again, a lot of things don’t make sense in this world.  All I can really say about this is that Deitrick will surely receive an adequate punishment and that hopefully in the future, the child’s mother will be more careful about who she leaves her baby with.

It’s really awful given the current popularity of tattoos and given that this is after all, 2010, that tattoo shops are still regularly closed down due to improper hygiene.  There really is no excuse for having anything less than an absolutely perfect hygiene record.  It’s little more than pure carelessness and laziness if any tattoo artist isn’t keeping up with health standards.  Aside from being dangerous, irresponsible, stupid, lazy and just plain idiotic, a tattoo artist that doesn’t follow health regulations, is most certainly not the person you want tattooing your body.

There have been a few posts here and there at Tattoo Blog regarding the closure of tattoo shops in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Well, it seems that there’s something in the air in the Canadian province of Alberta, because now several more tattoo shops have been closed in the city of Calgary.  As of February 10th, the six (yes, SIX) tattoo shops closed down by Alberta Health Services are: Dustin Blatz Tattooing, Grave Marking Tattoo, Ill Tattoos (ill indeed), Norm’s Tattoos, Piercer Dan and Tattoo Girl.

“The home-based parlours closed by AHS did not have proper sterilization processes in place, meaning individuals who received tattoos or piercings through these operations may have been exposed to viruses such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C. and HIV,” says Dr. [Judy] MacDonald.”

I suppose there are two ways of looking at all this.  One is that health authorities in Alberta are dedicated and take an all around no-nonsense approach to the health and safety of the customers who might otherwise get tattoo work done at one of these health risk tattoo studios.  The other, and albeit less flattering perspective is that for some reason, lazy and unhygienic tattoo artists are able to open and run businesses in the first place in Alberta.

Whatever the reason for it is, the fact remains that when you are getting a tattoo, you should always, always ALWAYS do your homework first.  Alberta Health Services has provided this check list, which is a great way to help you decide what kind of place you’re thinking about getting a tattoo at:

Is the tattooing/piercing area separate from all dining, washroom, kitchen, lounge or sleeping areas?

Is the facility clean and in good repair, with smooth washable equipment and surfaces?

Does the facility have suitable equipment for sterilization, including an autoclave for reusable items?

If no, does the facility only use single use disposable equipment?

Is the tattoo equipment wrapped in plastic, and is the plastic changed after every client?

Does the facility have proper containers for the safe disposal of needles?

Are all linens etc. changed after every client?

Does staff wash hands thoroughly with soap and water at a separate dedicated hand washing sink before & after each client?

Does staff wear disposable gloves that are changed between every client?

Does staff wear clean clothing?

Does staff refrain from smoking, drinking and eating in the tattooing/piercing area?

Does the facility require you to sign a consent form prior to tattooing/piercing?

Does the facility provide pre and post-care instructions?

Does the facility require your contact information for their records?

Can the facility provide you with a copy of the most recent Health Inspection Report?

Getting a bad tattoo is one thing, but having to get a bad tattoo because you lost a bet, is the worst.  I’ve never personally had to get a bad tattoo after losing a bet, but it’s hilarious how often it does happen to other people.

Jason Mac, a DJ for a New Zealand based radio station, The Rock FM, now has a brand new tattoo of one of the most beloved/hated contemporary rock (aka Cock Rock) musicians out there, and it’s on his right ass cheek.  The tattoo is of none other than Nickleback frontman Chad Kroeger.  Kroeger is singing quite heartfelt as always, into a microphone…except that the microphone isn’t a microphone.  It’s a penis.

I don’t know what sort of bet was so important that it necessitated risking getting this horrible (but funny) tattoo.  Man-o-man.  Incidentally, in case you’re wondering where the tattoo was done and you want to see it actually being done, you can mosey on over to here and here, respectively.   I must warn you however, you might become inspired to risk the stakes of future bets with your friends and end up with something similar or worse.

And that would be horrible hilarious.

I’m not a tattoo artist, but I can understand that just like with any other job, being a tattoo artist has its fair share of idiotic customers, customers who fit perfectly into comedian Larry David’s analysis that the customer is not always right and that more often than not, the customer is an asshole.

In short, take the worst customer relations nightmare that you’ve had at your place of work (if you happen to work with customers) and hopefully you still won’t even have come as close to what went down in Monterey, California last July.

Nathan Augustine, 36, of Pacific Grove, California, is to be sentenced to 7 years in prison on March 12th after pleading no contest to two charges of arson.  It all started when Augustine entered Creative Visions tattoo in Monterey and asked for a:

tattoo of a swastika and an image of Obama overlaid with crosshairs…

The artists at Creative Visions all turned Augustine down and wouldn’t tattoo him.  Augustine later returned to throw a Molotov cocktail at the Creative Visions shop.

Wow.  That’s some crazy shit.  But I do have to say, high-fives and much respect to the staff at Creative Visions for sticking their ground.  What’s more, Nathan Augustine received his second arson charge for throwing a Molotov cocktail at a local restaurant.  Apparently they wouldn’t serve crazy redneck assholes.  But that’s just what I heard.