Thursday, July 9, 2015

In Valkyrie we trust...

As usual, I mean to write more often but I just don't make the time for it. I really do enjoy writing and it is nice to put pieces together for this blog but I also do keep journals, to let the thoughts flow from my mind and I do prefer writing with a pen on paper. Old school. I am definetly a low tech personality. That is what drew me to tattooing in the first place. An art form that is executed with raw materials- my hands and a live body. Doesn't get any more natural than that. With that being said, it leads me to what I think is a shift that is happening in the tattoo industry. I think the demand for tattooing is higher than what it has been in the past, there is no mistake about that but I am noticing that there are people that are being drawn to tattooing that are not "meant" to be tattooed. I know I have mentioned this before but what that means is the types of people that think they want one, get one after thinking about it for a certain amount of time whether it be short or long term, get the tattoo and then pick it to death and are unhappy by the way it turned out- the lines are not clean enough, the coloring/shading is not good enough, etc. I often explain to people that art on the skin changes over time, normally. That's part of the commitment. Not knowing what it may look like in the future. Even when you go to the best tattoo guy! I recently had someone come in and get a tattoo by one of us here and she was happy with how it healed, so I offered to go over it again and touch it up for her since she was comfortable working with me. So I made her an appointment which she never showed up for and then called a month later to do it again. I had her come in and consult about it, I set her another appointment to do the tattoo and what do you know, she doesn't show up to the second appointment! I do touch ups for free, no charge but this is a perfect example of standing by your work and being available and the client turns it, into something else...Oh well, you can only do so much and then let go...


Some of you may know our lovely manager, Anabell. Here is an action shot I took of her. She is English and has some cool lingo, but most importantly, we love and adore her so much and would be so lost with out her. She works as hard as the rest of us her and totally honors the world of tattooing and knows how to keep it Sacred. We love you Anabell!


We got some new shirts in stock, they are the Valkyrie head below with the epic, Icelandic Vegvisir symbol on helmet.
 Here is a piece of flash I did recently on my pal Tom. He is one of my oldest clients and is a dear friend of mine at this point. He sits like a rock and never complains and always compliments me on the work that we do together. I love being supported this way and I feel like my true artist self can come out unobstructed when I am so encouraged. Thank you Tom, it is always my pleasure.

My apron get's a lot of action and I think it looks like the cosmos!

Thank you everyone who trusts us at this shop and really supports us!