Fingers and Toes? C'mon.....

My homeboys lead hazardous lives.
Rollerblading and phone answering have left two of the best crippled and complaining this past week.

By all means, send them some condolences and well wishes,
but save the high fives and trophies for my little brother.
He's been doing his share of pig-kissing at the University of Maryland,
and came down with a gluttonous case of Avian Swine Flu.

I do feel bad for him, and hope it doesn't leave any permanent changes, like feathers or a curly tail.
And I guess it's being passed around campus, and all the Terps are coughing.
So here's a sketch I did for a temporary logo/mascot change.




So keep on fighting, don't give in!
M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D
Maryland is vomiting!

Don't try this at home, kids.

I'm pretty good at the internet.

It's true.
I've been threatening to make stickers or buttons that say just that,
and I know you want one.

But I've got nothing on Molly, Meryl's fellow MFA'er.

Molly also just aquired a letterpress, and with grand visions of setting type for mail art and sexy promotional pieces, I plunged headfirst into a very scary project.
A full poem, cut-and-pasted into a readable image.
Normally, I'd say 'no way'.
A stenciling nightmare, and Linework Hell.
But for Meryl, Molly, and all of the people on the mail art list, I accepted.
Ha.

I Go Back to May 1937
by Sharon Olds

Re-arranged, stenciled and tattooed in the shape of two wings.
6+ hours of tattooing time alone, 1 sitting.

Molly did make one part super easy for me though.
She sat perfect for the whole time.
No kidding.

And no, don't even think about it.
I'll never do anything else like it ever again.



(click on the image to see it full-sized)

Fett et Fête

My official work week is over.
Of course, I'm working tomorrow on my day off, but I always seem to be doing that.
What an a-hole.

Ever meet anyone who raced an Ironman competition?
Ben and Todd had their hands full with two female Ironmen each today.
And while dotted M's were the only item on the menu for rooms I and II,
I was happily black and graying it up on some Boba Fett action.
I'm not so sure about that weird lamp post he always has sticking to the side of his helmet, but this was an awesome end to my week.




After work, Todd, Kyle Mack, Meryl and I went to 'Indelible', the art show made up of tattoo artists being put on by MPLS Deth Crew.
I have to hand it to them, they did an awesome job.
It'll be up for a month at the 33Design Gallery if you want to check it out.

Meryl documented the night for me.

The walls looked good.



So did Todd and Kyle in their matching 'Never Quiet, Never Soft' shirts.



Todd telling me who was who.



Meryl and I, in front of the pig piece.



And, the pig piece.
(The hippo was on the other side of the room, and we forgot about the camera by the time we got over there)



There was some super hot work showing, and I'm glad I was a part of it.
Thanks to Todd and Kyle for coming into Minneapolis and hanging out.

(Todd just posted a sneak peak of his IWYS submission that he finished today. Check it out here, cause it's dope)

New seasons.

Happy First Day of Fall!

Did you feel it?
So nice.

We were feeling pretty good over at the shop today,
our first day back to work after the convention.
Instead of a ego boost from winning "tattoo of the day", though, I'm feeling lots of pressure to up my game.
The convention felt like a formal introduction to the Minnesota tattoo community after a very insular two years of working in Maple Grove.
This perceived sense of entering some new spotlight has me intent on raising the bar.

I'm looking forward to the Off the Map Tattoo guest spot that will be here in little over a month.
There's a few really exciting tattoos that I'll be doing there on a lot of my (ir)regulars.
I need to do 100 drawings this week, but I'm alright with that.

Today I had some open time and was very lucky to get such a creative walk-in idea given to me.
A camel in a lotus, marking the first day on the road to recovery.
What a lovely day to start.
I hope everyone enjoys the new season.

Lemonade

These were the Minneapolis Tattoo Convention shirts that I made and gave out to my clients/friends/supporters this weekend.

I always make some limited edition shirts for conventions and guest spots.
I had big plans for this convention since it was held on our home turf, but I failed miserably burning a screen.
Twice.

So, with very little to work with and only one day to make 30 shirts in, this is what I ended up doing.

I taped up an acorn-shaped metal cut out (that a customer had made for me a few months back) and placed it somewhere near front and center of the shirt.



I then sprayed bleach water at the metal acorn, let it sit for a full minute, and watched the bleach eat into the shirt.



The shirts get rinsed out, and hung up to dry.



I hand painted the messed up screen with screen filler, since even our drawing fluid was too old and chunky to use.
The antlers and the XI were then screened separately once the shirts were dry.
I did all the woman's shirts at Identity Tattoo, but had to do all the guys shirts in my basement a few hours before the convention started.

That's how you do things right the wrong way.

There's still a few left over.
I'll make a tally when I get to the shop tomorrow.
Stop by or email me if you're interested in picking one up.

Minneapolis Tattoo Convention, all wrapped up.

I had two tattoos that I had wanted to finish today at the convention,
but apparently not enough time.
I didn't even mess around at all.




I had Jeff the Chef first thing,
he sat like a champ, and let me do whatever I wanted.
He didn't even get nervous when I took a break and told Ben that I had no idea how I was going to finish it.
I scared off some onlookers when I jokingly asked for color advice for the sky.
No kidding, this one kid looked so upset and took off.

But we got it figured out, mostly.
It went on to win the "Tattoo of the Day", which was super flattering.
I'll get a better photo soon.



Spending so much time working on Jeff's tattoo meant that Rachel's got pushed back, and we didn't get to finish it.
Sorry Rachel, and thanks for being such a good sport!
I took a quick photo at our stopping point because I liked it so much.
We'll finish it in two weeks, and I'll post the real picture then.



Ann came with Rachel for most of the day, and brought along an awesome present.
What's better than a case of Dr Pepper?
A bag of antlers!

MPLS Convention, Day 2.

Is this thing over yet?
Who's idea was this?



I started the day off with a very excited Mr Shoemaker.
We did this black and gray owl (with white highlights) sitting in a dead tree hole.
He sat great for four hours, and I was super happy with it.
I'm hoping that it stops being so red and hurty looking someday, and I'll take a new photo then.



I also tattooed a panda and lantern thingy on Chef Ryan that I kept getting ahead of myself on, and added extra parts as I went.
Which was cool, but it meant we didn't get to finish it today.
Ryan's entire posse came down for the event, rocked the convention shirts I did up, and egged me on.
My best behavior started wearing off right about then, but luckily Meryl showed up with a bag full of vegan Chinese food to put me into an MSG coma.
So I never got too out of line.

Actually,
East Coast Convention attendees,
the Bird Flu Crew shirt wearing kids,
and anyone who might have ever witnessed the Turnpike times would be shocked at how quiet and good I'm being out here.
Minnesota Nice is the M.O. out here.
I'm just trying to not pee in my own pool.
Or something.

It is a different story in the midwest.
Folks in Boston grabbing handfuls of stickers when they hear that word "free".
Throws them into a greed-fest frenzy.
Out here, when people are told all the stickers are free, they politely ask if they can take two, because their friend who's back home with the flu would really appreciate one as well.
What? Yeah. Take a few. Really.
I've been here 2+ years, but it still feels weird.

So tomorrow we go and do it all again.
I have two more pieces left:
a lighthouse-treehouse and an antler/egg/rose combo.
We'll be a man short, but he is the short man.
Oh! Oh!
(don't worry Todd, we'll make you proud)
(ish)

*the first two photos were blatantly stolen from Mr Shoemaker's facebook page. thanks to him for documenting the day so well!

Day 1 of the Minneapolis Tattoo Convention

Rebecca was my first tattoo, and she rocked out so hard.
She got this slow loris on her forearm and sat well for about 4 hours.
She made funny faces the entire time, but her arm stayed still.
After we finished, she went home, took a nap, felt dizzy, and puked.
No kidding.
I doubt she wanted that info on my blog,
but it's an important part to the story.
The "conflict", if you will.
Even after puking and being dizzy, she got a ride from her neighbor back to the convention to enter the "Tattoo of the Day" competition.
What?
I know.
Out of all the contestants, the judges ended in a tie, so they called two people back up.
Who?
Rebecca (#13), and Ben's client, Eric (#1).
So it was an Identity Tattoo face off.
A big congrats to Ben for taking home the trophy.
And an even bigger thank you to Rebecca for coming back to the convention all beat up just to show off your swollen and hurting arm.
(and for bringing me homemade vegan lasagna!!!)



Matt was my second tattoo of the day.
We drew this "the one that got away...a couple times"
tattoo on in Sharpie, and then beat him up till the show ended for the night.
He also was a seriously good sport and missed his ride home just to enter his tattoo in the competition as well.
What was his prize?
A ride home from Kyle Mack!
Yay!
(we can only hope he made it home in one piece)
Matt cracks me up, and I appreciate the bottomless amount of freedom he gives me with every tattoo.
About halfway through I realized I was biting so hard from the colors of Bex's fat bird that I did not too long ago.
Hmmmm....






Anyway, thanks to everyone for helping to make it a very successful first day.
Two more to go....

He gets salt water animals in a fresh water state.

I didn't do many big ticket tattoos last week.
I didn't do many small ticket ones, either.

Luckily, Adam came to the rescue by coming to Minneapolis,
and getting an octopus squeezed into a skinny shin space.
I told him I was going to do it in purples and yellows,
but of course I did it in the muted earth toned palette that I always do when not under strict customer orders.
(if you look close, it IS only purples and yellows, they're just mixed together.)

And then, to further celebrate my appreciation of umber, ochre, and sienna, we went out for Ethiopian food.
So good...



Now I'm pretty much focused on the tattoo convention happening this week in Minneapolis.
It starts Friday, kids.
I got six people getting big tattoos.*
Antlers, lighthouses, trees, fish, owls, eggs.
Shirts, stickers, buttons, magnets, and Dr Pepper.



* I do have one person who might have to cancel, though,
so if you feel like you missed the party and want in, let me know asap.
(lance chance)

My kind of gift, my kind of folks.

Adam arrived yesterday for his monthly stay at Louderhorn Inn.

He's helping us piece together the Japan trip that Meryl and I are taking in January.
We buy the plane tickets tonight, and then get to figure out our staying arrangements over the next couple months.
Have any good ideas for us (two vegans who don't speak Japanese) ?
We could use some advice.

I was going to start my day with the New York Times and my morning can of Dr Pepper,
and when I went outside to grab it,
I found this epic shoulder blade leaning up against the porch.
This wasn't a special treat from the paperboy.
Or a Blair Witch Project style wake up gift.

Ryan was at my house bright and early, picking up Adam to take him to a dirtmobiling competition.
(we have joint custody when Adam is in town, and Saturday is Ryan's day).
And he dropped off this large mammal scapula that he found somewhere on his trip out to LA.
Thanks, dude.



I think we need a new service in this post-milkman age.
There's stories on NPR about niche dairy farmers trying to resurrect the delivery of a cold bottle of cow stuff every morning.
But how great would it be if for a few bucks someone dropped off things we wanted every morning?
I want a tin box full of awesome every morning.
Berries, bones, pinecones, asparagus,
screenprints, paper dolls.
I'd subscribe to that.

niner, niner, niner

09.09.09

Did you have a numerically fantastic day?

I know where I was right when the triple nines clicked into place at the stroke of midnight...
...about 10 feet away from the very naked lead singer of the Knotwells.
Full frontal male nudity, kids.
(for at least 5 songs)

I had two tattoos planned for the day,
the first of which was doing a "background" for a tribal outline.
We got through as much rib hating action as he could possibly stand, and we'll save the rest for another day.
No point in using up all of the fun at once.
Better to spread it out.
I mean, the tribal outline (done by someone else) has already been there a year.
Anyway, I liked this skull, and decided to share.



Next, Arielle just turned 18 this week, and got her first tattoo to celebrate.
She sat like a champ, and we had lots of time to talk about naked punk rock singers and framed boob skin.

I guess ten years ago I was 18 and got my first tattoo.
She just has much better tastes in subject matter (and tattoo artists. haha)



Also, this art show is happening Saturday, September 26th.
I'll be there from 8:30-midnight.
Come stop by.

I didn't RSVP to the invite in time to make the flyer, but I will have two (previously seen) pieces showing.
That's a nice collection of MPLS tattoo artists, and I'm happy to have been asked to participate.

Labor Pains.

A lot people get Labor Day off from work.
I always have Mondays off, so it was going to be work-free anyway.
That's double reason to stay away from the shop and do whatever I wanted,
but of course I couldn't resist.

I headed to Identity around noon to give Mr. Kyle Mack a birthday/breakup tattoo.
He wanted a play off of the wolf in sheep's clothing.
Instead of sheep's clothing, he went with a penguin suit.
What?
I'm not sure.
Something about how girls lure you in with cuteness, but they aren't as they seem.
Call up the shop and ask him, it's really detailed and has multiple levels of absurdity.

Dear Kyle Mack,
Stay away from penguins (both real and metaphorical).
And maybe girls, too.
Happy Birthday anyway...




The rest of my weekend was great,
We did Seward Cafe, the farmer's market, and a poet's party (with fire) down in Red Wing, Minnesota.
Thanks to the Queen of the Internet and her lovely husband for having us all, and the nicest vegan spread.
Sorry I drank everybody's share of lemonade.
It was so good.

I hope all of you who rocked out for three days straight without having to punch the clock filled the days well.
Back to work, tomorrow, for all of us.

(Except Albie)

Mounts and Moons.

A full moon last night, folks.
I took this picture from my upstairs porch a few minutes before midnight.
I love how there's just enough contrast to tell the neighbor's tree apart from the sky.




Once Ryan and Rebecca arrive home from their road trip, Ryan will be taking down his installation at the Slim Whitman Gallery in NE MPLS.
So, after going out for dinner tonight, Meryl and I headed over there to take a few photos before it was too late.
It looks so much better at night, all lit up.





There are stranger things to collect than old mounted heads, I'm sure.
If you have some in your garage that you don't want, let me know.
(we'd love to put them in our garage)