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)