Quite a few blogs happening this month...Perhaps I have a lot on my mind or something, or maybe June is an active month this time around...It is Friday night, I have had some beers and there is a nice tempting country band happening across the street, but I am gonna pass on that since I have already had a guilty pleasure tonight- a lot of beer. And besides I think I have had enough of people. What I mean by that is at the shop we have had quite a bit of flake outs. I personally have had a nasty patch of people not showing to their appointments which I find utterly annoying. And I was hoping it would not be contagious to the guys here, but oh my, I am afraid to say- maybe it has! Oh, Goddess forbid! Ya, I speculate people are price haggling to go for a cheap tattoo, but you remember that saying from Sailor Jerry- cheap tattoos aren't good and good tattoos aren't cheap? If not refer to the blog I wrote about that, it is in the archives. Now remember I absolutely love this business of tattooing, I live for it, but once again on behalf of all the tattooers out there, some of the annoying occurrences IE: flaking, people not knowing what they really want, price haggling, etc, totally lame! FYI.
I am going to leave it at that for now. I think my cats need to be fed or something, or I need or wash my hair. No but seriously, I am going to hear that band outside the window like I am window shopping and let it take my worries away about people not taking us seriously. We are standing by to do Epic Tattoos, by the Goddess' will!

Valkyrie turns 3!

Well this month is the 3rd anniversary of Valkyrie. I was pretty determined to make it three years, but it is pretty exciting for me and kinda crazy at the same time. I have always wanted my own shop for a variety of reasons, mainly cause other shops sucked. I do have a more eloquent way of putting it, but that is just my cynical side coming out. But anyway I really would like to give profuse thanks to all the people that have supported the shop and the people that work here for the last three years. Our friends and family and the new and old clients, I can not thank you enough. We get so many referrals by all of you and that really supports us here. That's what keeps this place going. I would like to libate you all! Blessed be!

Summer Solstice merry meet!

The Keeper of the mead
Came carrying out the carved flasks, 
And poured that bright sweetness.  A poet
Sang, from time to time, in a clear
Pure voice.
   BEOWULF: 493-497

Sketch work up

        I still have not caught that stupid gopher. He is a smart F'er! The garden looks good anyway. I will post pics of it  soon. I have been growing hops which is new for me, and they are growing ok for now. Growing plants is a hobby of mine that I am really passionate about. I actually am going for a certificate in garden design. It plays a role somewhere in the background of my life and it will take years to achieve, but perhaps later into the future it could be more at the forefront of my life. Another thing that is new that I am enjoying on my days off from the shop is studying martial arts. I am taking a karate class at a friends studio that is actually in Penngrove. I can not say enough good things about this instructor. I will add a link to his information.

      So about shop stuff. I am working on a sketch right now for a big piece to cover a clients stomach. We did a traditional eagle on his chest and the next part is to get a snake on his front. These are the two preliminary sketches I have been working on. The first one on the left was the the beginning and I ran out of paper for the top of the snakes head. I also could not figure out which angle I want the tail to land at but as you can see form the second sketch I figured that out. I still need to show my client these sketches! I am posting them on this blog first. ha.

         Here is the second sketch. I already tattooed a eagle on his chest so you can see were I marked off the tail feathers. The next step is to have him in here to see how it actually fits his body.
        I will most likely do two more drawings of this before I start to tattoo it. See how much effort goes into this! There is so much time that goes into the drawing before it even gets tattooed! I think a lot of people don't realize what  it takes to get a tattoo set up. I recently heard an artist friend say fro every hour of tattoo there is three hours of draw time- behind the scenes stuff. And people think we get paid so well!
        On another note it is only 12:30 and it is already 81 degrees in the shop. That's gonna suck for me and my 4o'clock!
Well, enjoy the hot weather and Happy Summer Solstice!
and don't forget to tip your tattooist! :)

Medusa!

Here' one I have been working on for the past few months. It will be a 3/4 sleeve when we are done. We only have a few sittings left. I will post the finished pics when I finally finish it. There is another woman in a frame in the inside of the arm. I really enjoy working on a design like this!

Man, if one more person pulls a no show on me!!!
That's like a pet peeve of mine- it's one of the worse things that happen to me at the shop. I think I can deal with drunks that come in better than a flake. Seriously. I find it easy to tell a drunk 50 something year old man to scram easier than dealing with how I feel when somebody flakes.Yes, I charge people $50. for not giving me proper notice, but that still does not cover the time that I set aside for that person. I set up my station for them. I did the artwork for their piece...and they flake out! Totally lame. It says to me that they don't care about their piece as much as I do. Anyway don't flake out on me, cause it obviously pisses me off. Ok, I just had to complain.

Finally, it is sunny around here! It's like we have had a six month winter... Things are the same ole same ole around here. Everyone is hearin' about the gopher that keeps destroying my gardens... I 've been in this battle with gophers for months now, and I'm a second away from sittin' in the dark all night with beer and a pellet gun. I know, the redneck in me is coming out but it is maddening! Ok, so anyway here is a restoration project I did today.

 This was done on my friend who told me she wanted to get the same tattoo as her Dad got way back when. We think it was done in the 30's or 40's. So Dad has the original skunk. and I had to make out and trace the lines from his arm and then transfer it into a design that is readable!
 Her Dads name is Jim. We made it as close to the original as possible. I put the green in on the bottom like the original has. I think it's like grass or something. I think he is holding something like a stick in his hand, but I just couldn't make that part out, so I left it out. It is the exact same size as Dad's piece too. This is a really sweet Dad/Daughter tattoo.
It is my favorite piece I have done this week!














                                                                     

Lettering

Lettering has become increasingly popular, it seems...This is a love letter that his gal's grandparents wrote between each other. I felt that this size was appropriate for this piece. But in most cases people want or think they can get lettering- paragraphs- phrases- poems, stories! small! Doing small lettering is the worse!