Back in March I posted about a 41-year-old Singapore man who helped tattoo his friend’s wife against her will.  The entire episode left a sick feeling in my stomach, as I’m sure it did with many of you.  Well, this week I have the unfortunate distinction of reporting a similar case.  This time it’s on the other side of the world from Singapore, in Fresno, California.

On Friday, 26-year-old Enrique Gonzalez pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated mayhem and street terrorism. (Street terrorism? Really?  They couldn’t come up with a better name for a criminal act than street terrorism?  I’m just sayin’.)  Together with his friend, 21-year-old Travis Dewayne Gorman, Gonzalez forced a gang related tattoo on his 7-year-old son back in April of this year.  Gorman did the tattooing, which – surprise! – he’s not licensed to do.

The tattoo in question is a bulldog paw, the symbol for The Bulldogs street gang.  Police later discovered a photograph of Gonzalez and his two children, both of whom have gang related tattoos.  Both Gonzalez and Gorman will be tried again on June 16th and if convicted, they could be facing life in prison sentences.

I’ve got to say, this is truly sick.  I mean, tattooing a 7-year-old?  What the hell is wrong with you?  What kind of twisted, poisoned mind do you have to own to think tattooing a 7-year-old child is cool?  Man…aside from the insanity and depravity of this, it especially bothers me to think that people who generally don’t know much about tattoos and tattooing have this sort of crap as a point of reference when they hear about the popularity of tattoos.  I know that it probably doesn’t need to be said and I know that I’m most likely preaching to the converted on this one, but this kind of stuff is so completely removed from the world of tattooing that it makes me cringe to think that people will associate this with what it means to get professional tattoo work done.  This is like tattoo rape.  Can I use that term?  Sure, why not, because that’s what this was – forcing someone (underage, I might add) to have permanent ink placed on their skin.

Let’s hope that Gonzalez and Gorman get what they deserve – both from the judicial system and within the prison system itself.  It’s one thing to raise a child in a gang environment, but forcing them at such a young age to wear the gang symbol is a horrible abuse of a child and tattooing.  Fuckers.

Ok! I have to ask. WTF is up with all of this shit that wants to cash in on the ever increasing social acceptance, and popularity of tattooing by calling themselves “tattoos”? Let me give you a breakdown, I have seen laser branding call itself a tattoo. I have seen flaying the skin to produce a big scar in a particular design call itself a tattoo. I have even seen people who will put a sticker on themselves, bake in the Sun, and call it a Sun tattoo. Now there is a new brand of women’s masochistic panties that is bragging about it’s ability to produce a temporary tattoo on her ass??

We have had several posts that have dealt with the fashion trend in clothing that is using tattoo style artwork to promote themselves, even clothing that is supposed to fake a person having full sleeve tattoos, but this has to be the first time an article of clothing is going as far as to claim it will give you a tattoo, even though it is a temporary one, and not actually a tattoo at all!

To be honest none of my examples are actually tattoos in any respect. Are they body art? Yes. Are they body modification? Yes. Are they tattoos? Fuck No! A tattoo is a design, or artwork that is created by the introduction of pigment under the skin to produce a, (more or less), permanent mark. This should be real easy; No pigment, No tattoo.

All these so-called tattoo panties really are is a set of studs, or jewels on the inside of the garment that press into the skin as the girl sets down producing the same old joke in a new place. Aka, “Have you heard about the new corduroy pillow? It’s making headlines.” The “tattoo panties” are just as lame.

Look. It is none of my beeswax how you wish to modify your body to make what you perceive as art. It’s really none of my business what you try to do to make a buck. However, as a lover of tattoos and a former artist, it is my business when you do some lame assed piece of crap like this and try to pawn it off as any form of a tattoo. That is an outright lie.

Get off the bandwagon, and get a life for Christ sake!

Lately, I’m pretty certain, if you are on any of the numerous tattoo forums you have been buried in spammers hocking their newest, and possibly most useless piece of crap to part you from your cash. Even though you will never get to see them, the comments section of Tattoo Blog has been buried with spam from Dr. Numb©. The latest cream to shout about it’s ability to numb your hide prior to getting a tattoo.

Now before the chicken shits out there get all hot and bothered over this stuff let me give you some facts. One this is not the first cream to trumpet this cause. Many wussies have attempted to use Emla Cream©, which is suppose to numb your skin up to 30 to 45 minutes, and here is what happened to them according to real tattoo artists, and people. Not some money grabbing, lying spammer.

The second it wears off the pain of the tattoo actually becomes worse! That’s right, instead of a little pain getting the initial tattoo, you get treated to big and long lasting pain later. According to tattoo artists and collectors who have actually used the product it can also interfere with the tattoo inks causing a shitty tattoo. So now you not only hurt worse, but you’ve also got a crappy colored tattoo as well.

So what does this have to do with Dr. Dumb? A careful check of the active ingredients will show you that they all have the same ingredients. Lidocaine, and/or Prilocaine. In other words, it’s all the same shit and no matter what they claim the results are going to be pretty much the same for each of them. Hell, Dr. Dumb’s FAQ won’t even tell you shit about the product. The only FAQ’s there have to do with their shipping policy….period. If that doesn’t set off your alarm system, nothing will.

So let’s break all this down. The cream has to be applied 30 minutes before you get the tattoo. It will only last for about 30 to 45 minutes, (better be a damn small tattoo). It’s going to hurt worse as soon as it wears off. It may interfere with your tattoo making for bad results that the artist can not do anything about. Then to top it all off, you will have spent an extra $54.00 on top of the price of your tattoo for something that isn’t going to help you.

Tattoos just are not that painful, folks. If you can’t take a little discomfort, then it’s a safe bet you don’t need to get a tattoo in the first place. If you do decide to use this crap, then do not blame your artist for the extra pain and shitty color you’ll probably get stuck with.

As always, the choice is yours.

Mother’s day is indeed a special day of the year, a day when we take the time to think about all the things that are associated with the person who brought us into this world.  There’s the caring and all the loving and kindness, and there’s tattoos and oh yeah, there’s also fried chicken.

Well, if fried chicken and tattoos aren’t yet synonymous with the word “mother”, corporate fried chicken juggernauts KFC are at least doing their damnedest to get the collective thought process moving in exactly that direction.

This year, starting on Friday, May 8th and running until Sunday, May 10th, KFC gave $10 gift checks to the first 200 people who uploaded photos of their “mom-themed” tattoos onto their website each day.  Not only that, but KFC was smart enough to provide downloadable, temporary, mom-themed tattoos on their site for anyone who didn’t actually have a real tattoo of their own.

The entire thing was a promotion for the new Kentucky Grilled Chicken, and was highlighted by the KFC website’s funky-ass bass lines riffing to a woman (presumably a mom), who danced around with a drumstick in each hand.  Sniff…I know…it gets me right in the old ticker too.  Oh mom, every time I smell greasy-ass fried chicken I’ll forever think of you.

But yeah, further proof of tattoos hitting the mainstream.  Make of it what you will.

Know a great tattoo artist who is good at shark tattoo pictures and designs? Leave a link to there shark tattoos in the comments and we’ll add them to Tattoo Blog!

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

Deano Cook
Psycho Tattoo
1289 Roswell Rd. Suite 400
Marietta, GA 30062

Carlos Torres
goodfellas tattoo
2345 n. tustin st.
orange, ca 92865
(714)637-8282

Chri ODonnell
Brooklyn Adorned
376 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.782.0007

Jeff Gogue
Gogueart
Grants Pass, OR US

Josh Woods

Mike Parsons
Las Vegas Tattoo Company
1829 E. 7th Ave. Tampa, Florida 33605
Phone: 813.248.3004

Petri Syrjälä
Helsinki,Finland

I know we give scratchers a hard time here on Tattoo Blog. Considering what I have observed in their attitudes from time to time, most of it is deserved. However, in the hopes that, for once, some constructive advice can be offered, I’m going to give it a shot.

If you really love the art of tattooing and want to be a tattoo artist instead of just another asshole out for themselves only, then here are some things you should do to gain that ever-elusive apprenticeship. Now, I’m not the only one to ever suggest these simple rules, and quite a lot of the inspiration for this post comes from the good people at Everytattoo.com forums. They know who they are, so a big shout out to that crazy bunch.

First and foremost, build a decent portfolio of your drawings. No! Not any of the tattoos you have done, show that you can actually draw. Be honest about this. If you cannot draw, and draw well, take some classes and learn how. Lying to yourself, or listening to the well-meaning lies of friends won’t help you here.

Just as importantly, STOP SCRATCHING! Although there may be some kindhearted soul out there, somewhere, I cannot think of a single tattoo artist who is willing to teach a scratcher. Buck up, and put that shit behind you, now! Sell that crappy equipment you bought off of E-Bay, and save the money as a step towards your apprenticeship.

Secondly, do not…. I repeat, do not just walk in cold off of the street and immediately hit the artist with, “I wanna be a tattoo artist. Ya got any openings?”, or some such shit. This is a near death sentence unless you happen to be the second coming of Michelangelo. Let’s face it, few, if any of us are. The artist has a half a million things on his mind. Things that are important to the operation of their shop. They don’t have time for trivial shit like what you want. Unless you happen to be there to get a tattoo, that is. They don’t know you from Adam, and to tell the truth couldn’t care less.

Sound harsh? Consider all the things a tattoo artist has to constantly worry about. Did the autoclave pass its spore test? When will the health inspector show up? Will he be in a pissy mood? Did that last kid hit me with a fake ID? How much am I going to have to pay in taxes this year? Will I have to move my shop because of a new zoning law? When is my next paying client coming through the door? Do I have to order more supplies soon? Should I replace the contact points on the liner? These and much more have to be considered when you own your business, and that’s on top of the normal day to day things that go into doing a good tattoo.

The best way to approach a potential mentor is to make friends with them first. Come in to get some work done. Talk about tattoo history. Talk about art. If you have a sense of humor try and give them a laugh, you’d be surprised at how much a good laugh can ease the tension of the day. Besides, as a side benefit, it’s much better being mentored by a friend than by someone who has a personality clash with you.

Once you have developed a relationship with your potential mentor, then you can casually bring up the subject of wanting to tattoo. Be prepared to show them your portfolio after they ask to see it. Be prepared to take some constructive criticism. No one is perfect, and acting all insulted from a few well meaning suggestions is only going to show the artist that you would be a pain in the ass to teach.

So, why did I call this thread good news for scratchers? Simple. If you can put that big assed ego behind you, actually be able to draw, and be willing to work at getting that apprenticeship instead of cutting corners, it is. You will be well on your way to becoming a tattoo artist.

Good luck to you, and give it a try.

A court has found former D.C. Council member Harold Brazil guilty of a misdemeanor assault and sentenced him to a 30-day suspended sentence, six months of unsupervised probation and a $100 fine.

The sentence came as a result of a night out back in October of 2008 in which Brazil went to dinner with his assistant, Elena Mirsayapova and her friend, Petra Nikolow.  As it happened, Nikolow decided during dinner that she wanted to have her first-ever tattoo done.  She proceeded to convince Mirsayapova and Brazil to accompany her.  The trio then made their way to Jinx Proof, a local Georgetown tattoo shop.

To make a long(ish) story short, Nikolow went into the back to have her tattoo done.  The sound of the needle buzzing apparently spooked Mirsayapova and Brazil, who were sitting at the front of the shop.  When Mirsayapova got up to go take a look at her friend in the back room, she was prevented by a shop employee and told that it was only customers who were allowed beyond that point.  An argument ensued,at which point councilman Brazil stepped up and proceeded to take on the staff of Jinx Proof.  Yes, you read that last sentence correctly: a councilman got in a fight with three tattoo artists.  Damn!

Well, when all was said and done, despite Harold Brazil’s claims that he was called a “nigger”, by Jinx Proof’s counterman Francis “Tad” Peyton (which Peyton denies), D.C. Superior Court Judge Jennifer Anderson found Brazil guilty of initiating the fight.  After the court verdict was announced, Brazil requested that he not be sentenced to prison (which he won’t be) and then made some weird comment about ham sandwiches.

Speaking as someone who has taken a lot of flights and flown with a lot of different airlines, I was particularly surprised to find out that some guy named Joel Madden, who plays in some band called Good Charlotte and who dates some girl named Nicole Richie, was recently given an ultimatum by British Airways: either cover up the tattoos or don’t bother boarding the plane.

I mean, airlines are typically freaked about people boarding flights with bottles of water or lethal weapons. Sure, there’s nothing new about that.  I once had a pair of scissors taken from me before I could board my flight and dammit, I loved those freaking scissors,  but tattoos?  Since when is it a problem for a paying customer to sport tattoos?

Well, since last Saturday, apparently.

The row started when Joel Madden was attempting to catch a flight from London to Lisbon, Portugal.  An employee for BA told Madden that he would have to cover up his tattoos or remain in London.  There was no compromising with the little BA Nazi, so wanting to make his flight to Portugal, Madden obeyed the command and covered up.  Madden later logged on to his twitter account and complained about the entire incident.  In response to the horrible way in which they treated a customer, a BA representative had this to say:

“British Airways has no policy against tattoos at all.  The only dress policy is that people dress appropriately. There’s absolutely no prohibition of tattoos.”

Right.  Considering what happened, I would venture to guess that tattoos are not part of what BA considers an “appropriate” wardrobe choice.  Otherwise there wouldn’t have been any problems, right?  Sure, they claim that they have no policy against them, but I’m willing to bet that they don’t exactly have a policy for them, either.  Telling someone to cover up their tattoos before they can board a flight constitutes a pretty big problem in my book. 

Interestingly enough, BA lost 23 bags for every 1,000 passengers in 2006, making its baggage losses greater than any other European airline.  In fact, the last time that I flew BA, they lost my luggage too.  So I’m thinking that maybe if BA spent more time worrying about their customer’s belongings and less time worrying about how their customers looked…well, then just maybe their service could be vastly improved.  Until then, British Airways gets a BOO and also a particularly menacing HISS from me. 

One thing you can safely say about tattoo artists, when the chips are down they will step in to help out.

Recently in PA a local racecar driver, Cody Keller was injured and hospitalized. Enter Laura Grissinger (Office Manager), and Russ Kinslow (Tattoo Artist), of Machine Heads Tattoo Parlor, Shamokin Dam, PA. Once they heard of Cody’s injury they immediately brainstormed a 24 hour “Tattoo-a-thon” to help raise the money needed to offset his medical bills.

According to Kinslow, “The day we heard he got hurt, we wanted decided to help out. I remember Cody racing at Lil’ Greenwood Speedway and the Kellers are wonderful people.”

“I remember the support my family received when our house burned down in 1993,” Grissinger said. “I’m in a position where I can make a difference in somebody else’s life. We want to show the community we have heart as well, and that we are here to help the community in times of need.”

Machine Heads has received donations from more than a dozen local businesses as well as tattoo suppliers from as far away as Canada, and is donating 50 percent of all tattoo proceeds to the Kellers along with money collected from the raffle and food donations.

Keller, of Selinsgrove, Pa is recuperating at home from injuries he sustained in an April 18 racing accident at Selinsgrove Speedway. Keller, 18, was released from the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville on Monday afternoon. Cards and well wishes can reach Cody at Keller’s Auto Body, PO Box 4, Selinsgrove, PA 17870.

We have brought up many cases of tattoo artists and tattoo enthusiasts helping out with the big picture here at Tattoo Blog. It’s nice to see that we also help out with individuals as well.

All the best to you Cody, and get well soon. All the best to the crew at Machine Heads as well. Thanks for showing us your heart, Guys.