Every once and a while we hear about some scratcher being busted, but when this happens it’s typically because they went too far over the line and were caught tattooing minors or forcing a tattoo on someone or something equally messed up as that.  Today after reading this news article from Dubai, I started trying to think back to the last time when people were arrested and charged simply for being scratchers – that is for existing as scratchers, regardless of how old and willing the people they were tattooing were.  I may be completely wrong here, but I can’t remember ever hearing about someone being arrested and charged for being a scratcher.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the kind of person who thinks that as a rule we’re too soft on criminals and that the justice system needs to be stricter and all that.  I’m just the kind of person who thinks that only professionals should tattoo and that professionals should be treated as such in the eyes of  the law.  By that I mean that it’s more a sign of respect towards a tattooist than anything else to have laws in place that ensure they require a license and are doing the job that only a qualified tattooist can do.

That’s why I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but Dubai seems to have the right idea in dealing with scratchers.  Stop them rather than tolerate them and you’re making a cleaner, safer and more respected society not just for the tattooists, but for the people who wear tattoos.

‘Al Merri said, “The police raided the place and found that the four men were applying tattoos and piercing earrings and metal ornaments on different places of the body for amounts ranging from Dhs500-1,000, as per the selected paintings. This they did without having a licence from the competent authorities.”

“The police nabbed four men, TK, SB, AT, and KT all of Filipino nationality, and some customers. The apartment was found to be very dirty with needles, razors, blood-stained cotton and gauze swabs scattered everywhere. All the used instruments were found to be very dangerous and capable of easily transmitting serious infectious diseases.”’

I don’t know about you, but I cringed when I read that description of the apartment and its disgusting instruments.  But there you go, the authorities stepped in and flexed their muscles a little, sending out a strong message that unlicensed, illegal tattooing will not be permitted.  I think it’s time that we did the same over on this side of the world as well.

A few hours from the time that I write this, the female tattoo phenomenon who needs no introduction – Kat Von D – will be signing copies of her latest “book” a few blocks away from my apartment.  I’m not going for a couple of reasons, partly because I’m not willing to shell out any cash to buy Miss Von D’s “book”, but mostly because it is damn cold in Vancouver right now and I’m not about to stand in line, freezing my balls off so that Kat Von D can scribble her name in a “book” that I’ve already mentioned having no desire to buy.  In fact, given the amount of overwhelming publicity that Kat receives as a result of her terrible reality TV series LA Ink, I didn’t think it would be necessary at all to comment about her visit to my city.

Still, despite my snotty tone regarding KVD, I am after all, a compassionate person.  So when I heard that last night Kat’s LA home burned down and that her cat Valentine was killed in the blaze, I couldn’t help feel a twinge or two of sympathy.  It would certainly suck to be off working only to find out that your home burned down and your pet died as a result.  Very depressing.

Kat tweeted a message about the incident and posted a photo of herself in what remains of her home, wearing a hoodie and looking nothing short of miserably depressed.

‘R.I.P. My little Valentine,’ the tattoo artist tweeted, along with a picture of the hairless pet, thought to have died in the blaze.

‘My house burned down last night with my cat inside,’ Von D added.’

Kat’s first hairless cat Ludwig died after it was attacked by some sort of wild animal prowling around her yard.  A crappy deal all around for Kat, but at least she seems to always maintain a positive outlook on things.  That and her numerous legions of fans who will pay for her “book” and line up in the freezing cold tonight and many other nights throughout her tour, should no doubt help to put a smile on her face.

You know, I’ve never in my life been to Bolton, England.  To be completely, embarrassingly frank, I don’t really even know exactly whereabouts in England that it is, either.  Correction: I didn’t know exactly whereabouts Bolton was, but now thanks to the modern luxury that is the internet, I’ve discovered that Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, England – western England, to be specific.  And since I’m being embarrassingly frank, I might as well admit that I would most likely have continued to not know where Bolton was if I hadn’t discovered a tattooist by the name of Daniel Watson and a tattoo studio called Vida Loca.

In 2007, Watson opened the doors on Vida Loca and today, the shop is sought after, just as Watson’s work is widely recognised and praised for its overall quality.  A self taught artist, Watson has earned a living by tattooing a wide variety of tattoo genres, though the style he enjoys and performs the most is Japanese.  In fact, this year Watson won the best Oriental tattoo award at the Hull City Tattoo Convention.

Watson’s work catches the eye pretty easily.  I was just flipping through a tattoo magazine one day and there happened to be an ad for Vida Loca in the back pages.  It was Watson’s work that was on display in the ad that immediately caught my attention.  Fast forward a few seconds later and I had located Vida Loca and was looking through Watson’s impressive and gorgeously coloured tattoo portfolio.

As a matter of fact, all the work of all the artists over at Vida Loca looks pretty damn good.  The next time that I’m in England, I’m specifically going to make the effort to find my way to Bolton and drop in on the folks at Vida Loca Tattoo.  I encourage you to do the same.

I believe it was the legendary punk rock band DOA who once said “Talk minus action equals zero.”  A wise adage if ever there was one and an adage that can be meaningful in so many different situations.  Well, the particular context I’m referring to happens to be  (surprise!) tattoos and how they are perceived by others.  Yes, there are many stereotypes and negative opinions of tattoos, tattoo studios and tattoo artists, but there is only so much complaining about it that can be done before one starts to think Well, why don’t I do something to change things?

Which is precisely what Mark Walters of Living Canvas Tattoo in Tempe, Arizona has done.  When he first opened up his tattoo shop in Tempe, residents like Steve Tseffos were none too pleased.  Having zero experience with the tattoo industry, Tseffos relied on the same old outdated stereotypes of tattoo shops that never seem to die.  So concerned was Tseffos about the inevitable decline of the neighbourhood due to Walters’ presence that he even went to the city council to try to stop Walters from moving in.  Thankfully it didn’t work.

It is now 17 years since Living Canvas first opened its doors and Mark Walters has proven both himself and his business to be professional, safe and entirely reputable.  In fact, residents like Steve Tseffos have entirely changed their opinion of Walters and his tattoo lifestyle:

‘Now, Tseffos is the shop’s landlord, and he calls Living Canvas, under the leadership of Walters, one of his best tenants.

“There’s not one person in the neighborhood who would complain about Mark,” Tseffos said.’

Being one of the stars of the neighbourhood however, doesn’t change Walters’ desire to clear the air surrounding tattoo artists and educate the uneducated, so to speak.  This past Wednesday, Walters and his Living Canvas staff headed up a Diversity Community lunch, speaking to Tempe community members about the negative stereotypes attached to the tattoo industry.

‘Walters said tattoos are becoming more acceptable, particularly among young people, but for many people, the stigma attached to tattoos still remains.

“Even for me, growing up, it was like, ‘you don’t get tattoos,’ ” he said. “But now, it’s completely different. The art and the industry are completely different.”

Another recurring theme in the meeting, conducted in an informal question-and-answer format, was the difference between safe, reputable tattoo shops and unsafe, low-budget shops – often referred to as “scratchers.”

Walters said he would like to see more regulation of tattoo shops, which could not only get rid of unsafe practices but clean up the industry’s reputation.

“In Arizona, you need to have a license to cut hair, but you don’t need one to have a license to give a tattoo,” he told the audience of about 20 at the meeting conducted in City Council chambers.

They also had advice for people hoping to get tattoos.’

This is really cool.  A perfect way to get out and make a change in people’s perceptions.  If more respected artists took the time to talk to the people in their communities about tattoos and the realities involved, then things would move that much faster in a positive direction.  I’m not trying to suggest that everything rests on the shoulders of tattoo artists, but I think that ever little bit of good publicity helps in the long run.

People need tattoos.  I’m not saying that everyone needs to be tattooed, no.  What I’m suggesting is that the human race is a whole lot better off with tattoos than without them.  Natch.  Animals however, most certainly do not need tattoos.  Actually, let me rephrase that: those little tattoos that animals get in their ears that keep them registered with places like the SPCA and all that?  Those are good tattoos for animals.  Great.  But that’s about as far as we need to take the whole concept of tattooing animals.  In the past there have been rather poor examples of taste with regard to this issue, some of which have been documented here at Tattoo Blog.  Thankfully, it’s not a growing trend, this animal tattooing.

Which is exactly why I was pleased and relieved to see that a German court recently ruled against one man’s attempt to ignite the trend of tattooing animals.  The man wanted to tattoo his pony with the famous Rolling Stone’s tongue logo and had already shaved the area on the pony where he planned to have the logo tattooed.

‘The court in Muenster, northwestern Germany, found against the white pony’s owner, who wanted to tattoo the animal’s right hind thigh to make it “more uniquely beautiful.”

He had already shaved a large portion of hair from the animal and pre-tattooed the outline of the tongue, 15 square centimetres (six square inches) in area.’

The court went on to declare that tattooing an animal contravened Germany’s animal protection laws and that the animal itself would be incapable of comprehending exactly why it was being tattooed.  Makes sense to me, seeing as how I highly doubt that a German pony gives two shits about any of the Rolling Stones, let alone their music and gigantic tongue logo.  Still, something tells me that we haven’t seen the last of people trying to gain notoriety, wealth and prestige by tattooing defenceless animals…

Oh man…sigh…here we go again.

You know, maybe it’s just me, but in the last few years since wading out of the Bush administration daze, things seemed like they were a little less overtly paranoid.  Most likely I was just being foolish, but I clearly remember a time period back around 2002 and onwards where you could hardly even call the weather “balmy” without some paranoiac overhearing and speed-dialling the authorities.

Yes, lately I’ve been feeling that those days were comfortably behind us all.  Unfortunately, I don’t think they are.  Perhaps Los Angeles, California resident Adam Pearson might also feel the same after a recent incident on a Delta Airways flight from LA to Memphis.  Pearson, a “noted LA food stylist“, had just taken his seat and was readying himself for take off when a flight attendant approached him and asked that he come to the front of the plane.  After complying with this request, he was then asked to step off the plane, where he was questioned by the flight attendant and the captain about the words “Atom Bomb” that are tattooed across his knuckles.  Apparently, another passenger’s complaint about Pearson was based solely on his tattoos.

Can I get a nice, loud, resounding chorus of WTF???

“I was just shocked,” Pearson said. “All eyes were on me, I felt everyone staring at me and I was like, ‘I didn’t do anything.’ ”

‘A Delta representative told Pearson the airline would look into the incident. “A public apology would be nice,” Pearson said. “I’m not out for blood,” he added, “but why didn’t they offer to book that other person on another flight if they didn’t like my tattoos? Why was that other person more important than me?”

Later in the day, Delta spokesman Anthony Black said he did not have any knowledge of the incident but said that the pilot and flight attendant must use their judgment to handle such matters.’

I would like to say that hopefully the person who dimed out Pearson on that flight feels like a right idiot at this point for judging someone by such superficial means, but I’m going to remain doubtful that that is the case.  Furthermore, what kind of terrorist would get the words “atom bomb” tattooed on their knuckles?  It’s not like terrorists are such fans of bombs that they actually feel the need to have different bomb types tattooed on their bodies.  They just use bombs because they explode and cause damage.  They don’t have some deep fucking affinity towards them.

Sheesh…People need to relax.

Waaay back in July when the weather was good and the days were slow – ahhh summer, don’t you miss the shit out of it?  Anyway, back in the summer I posted a blog about George Reiger.  Reiger is most likely the biggest Disney fan that ever existed, with 2,200 Disney related tattoos to prove it.  There’s a Mickey Mouse on Geiger’s body over 100 times.  There was a time in Reiger’s life where nothing else gave him more joy than to get tattooed with Disney related characters and attractions and to have other people marvel at the crazy fleshy cartoon that his body had become.

Well that was then and this is now.  In less than five months since I last reported on 56-year-old George Reiger, his life has undergone a major change.  No, I’m not talking about more tattoos.  I’m talking about Love.  Yes folks, George Reiger is madly, hopelessly in love and to celebrate, he’s getting rid of his entire Disney collection, which boasts 5,000 different Disney collectables.  But wait!  There’s more.  Remember those 2,200 Disney tattoos that cover over 85% of his body?  Yep.  Those are going to be lasered away as well.  No more Disney tattoos for Mr. George Reiger.

“She makes me feel like a kid,” Reiger said Thursday while boarding a Disney cruise in Cape Canaveral, Fla., with Kathleen, whose last name he did not reveal. “I’m totally in love.”

Reiger said his Disney-themed tattoos served for a long time to alleviate his loneliness by gaining him attention at Disney theme parks and other locations. He said he now no longer needs them.

“I don’t want to see them anymore,” he said. “I found a new life; I want to start fresh.”

Hey, I sure as hell don’t envy the pain that Reiger is going to have to endure in order to get all those tattoos removed from his body.  I don’t think that anyone in their right mind would.  The thing is though, that despite all the total pain that he will go through and despite the questioning of the sanity of a person who would cover themselves in over 2,000 tattoos only to have them removed on what some might consider to be a whim, what I love about this story is that these tattoos served their purpose for George Reiger.  They gave a lonely man companionship and comfort when he needed it.  I typically think that getting tattoos removed isn’t a wise step, but in this case it all just seems so full circle that I can’t help but cheer George on.

Good luck with your lady and your new tattoo free life, George.

There are so many amazing and talented tattoo artists working out there that it’s never a problem finding one whose work I want to profile.  At the same time however, given the tremendous amount of artists whose work I want to highlight on Tattoo Blog, it’s often all too easy to stick to the same thing and not venture out toward examining different types of tattoo art.  No disrespect intended to all the tattooists whose work I’ve previously profiled – it’s all absolutely first rate stuff – but tattooing is so diverse and there are so many methods by which one can choose to tattoo as well as so many styles to be influenced by, that to not attempt to focus on everything out there is a bit of a cop out on my part.  So for that dear readers and tattooists alike, I apologize.

Which is why today I want to focus on someone doing something a little different.  Steve Herring is a London, England based tattooist whose main focus happens to be indigenous tribal art.  It might seem a little strange, an artist located in a thriving urban metropolis such as London replicating work from cultures as diverse as Polynesia, Maori, North American First Nation or Dayak.  But in the 20 years and counting that Herring has been tattooing for, much of his time has been spent abroad learning and being inspired by the people and places he channels through his work.

Beyond the indigenous tribal art, Herring also likes to work in all different sorts of tattoo styles.  However, if I may be so bold to say, it’s his tribal art that really stands out.  If you’re in London and you’re interested in what Steve Herring can do, then you can contact him 24 hours a day at 07956.967.537 or by email at herringfishbloke@hotmail.co.uk.  Beyond that, if you’re simply interesting in keeping up with Steve and his work, you can follow him on his Facebook page I Hate Tattoos (though just between you and me, I suspect that Steve doesn’t actually hate tattoos.  He’s just being cheeky. Ha.)  Check him out!

If I had a dollar for each time that I saw some story about someone getting a stupid tattoo for all the wrong reasons, I think that I could retire right now and move away to a tropical island and live off fresh seafood and bananas and beer.  Damn, that sounds nice…

Anyway, where was I…oh yeah, stupid tattoos for all the wrong reasons.  Well, just incase you aren’t tired of yet another story about some dude who went out and got a tattoo on his ass, here’s another one for you: Dustin Thut of Duncan, British Columbia wanted a pay raise at his job.  When he went to his boss, Mike Morgan and asked for one, Morgan told Thut that he’d only get one if he tattooed Morgan’s face on his ass.  Apparently Thut really needed that raise because he soon was on his way to the local tattoo shop – Bully Boy Tattoos, to get some ink done.  When Thut returned to work the next day and showed off his tattoo to his boss, the raise was delivered as promised.  Despite earning an extra two dollars an hour however, Thut was quickly laid off from his job.  What that left him with was a tattoo of his ex-boss on his ass and no job.

The stupid tattoo caught the attention of TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres though, after Thut had sent in a photo of his tattoo and his story.  Ellen featured the story on her show and called the entire incident “the most ridiculous thing I have ever, ever seen in my entire life.”

Sure, getting a tattoo of your boss on your ass for a $2 raise isn’t a very bright thing to do, but what kind of douche-sack tells his employee to get a tattoo of him on his ass if he seriously wants a raise?  How about just saying no?  And furthermore, what kind of person lays off their employee shortly after giving them a raise for getting the ass tattoo?  Pretty dickish move, if you ask me.  Then again, if you ask me, this whole thing is out-of-control dumb.  I don’t understand people.  Can I go to my tropical island now?

Every once in a while when I’m digging around for some news to post on Tattoo Blog, I come across something that makes me look at tattooing in a different light – something that reminds me of how amazing tattoos can be for certain people and how they truly have the power to change lives.  I’m not exaggerating.  A tattoo really is a powerful thing.  It can serve people on so many different levels and I think this is a big part of the reason why it angers me so much when people who don’t like tattoos or who don’t understand them are so quick to make uninformed assumptions.  Everyone has their own reason for getting a tattoo and it isn’t about being trendy or cool – it’s about an individual’s desire or an individual’s need or sometimes it can even be about an individual’s ability to grow and move on.

Syracuse tattoo artist Kim Leach was initially draw not to tattooing as a career, but to being a registered nurse.  She worked as an RN for eight years before making the decision to pursue a different career path – that of a tattoo artist.  But Leach didn’t turn her back on nursing, either.  Every Friday each month, she heads to a local hospital where she tattoos women recovering from breast cancer, women who have had reconstructive surgery on their breasts.  Leach tattoos over scars and makes the women feel better about their bodies and the situation they find themselves in.

‘”I get these girls on a good day,” Leach said. “Their cancer is gone and this is their last step to getting their body back. It’s an act with deep meaning, about reclaiming their identity as a woman. I give them that last kick of empowerment over breast cancer.”

“I help people who were ashamed of their bodies be able to take pride in their bodies,” she said. “People go from, ‘Oh, my God, what happened to you?’ to ‘Oh, my God, what an awesome tattoo!'”

All I know is that this is tattooing on another level.  It’s not a new trend, it’s not a different form of art.  What it is is tattooing that puts people into a position of power over their bodies and the difficult situations that they’ve found themselves in.  Kim Leach should indeed be commended not only for the work that she is doing for these women and the great boost of pride and happiness she supplies, but also for being someone who regularly puts her humanity, compassion and talent into the work that she does, making her a truly consummate artist and above all, a first rate human being.