Off to a good start.

I'm jealous every time someone gets a first tattoo that isn't an instant regret.























My first one was mantramp stamp-ish.
(hiding it from the parents)
The week I turned 18.
Terrible ideas.
Luckily, I got it covered.
(as best you can cover some scarred up solid blackness)

Anyway, point is,
this was her first tattoo.
And she did it all in one shot.
So it's either a start to a serious tattoo addiction,
or it scared her away from ever getting another one.
We'll see.

I love doing bird tattoos,
and ribbons/banners that don't have any words in them,
so this was a bunch of fun.
And as I always say,
I'm hoping to get photos of this healed.

Still Off the Map

Day two at my Off the Map Guest Spot was a good one.
I tattooed my two favorite kinds of clients,
librarians, and the colorblind.
(someday I'll meet a colorblind librarian,
and we'll be best friends)

This was Carolyn's first tattoo.
The photo is super dark,
I'm hoping to get a better one soon.























Next, Mr Bruton came up from CT to get a ram (goat?) skull tattoo,
and I used only subtle variations of earth tones that he can't even see.
And after I beat his arm into submission,
I went and did a touch up on his foot.
Nice.
(i bet that was a fun hour drive home)























Tomorrow switches gears from birds to squirrels.
Lots of drawing and tattooing going on,
and I'm hoping to get in a little painting, too.
I only have 6 days every 6 months or so out here,
so you have to pack in as much as possible.

Mapping it Out.

Maynard F'n House.

Back in it.

Warm vegan cookies when you walk in the door.

(starting the year off right)

Today was the first day of my Off the Map guest spot.

So good to see everyone again,

and to get to work after some holiday time off.

My two clients today were both badasses,

and both are celebrating birthdays this week!

Happy Birthday, kids!

Started the day with Mr Hart.

He got some hurricane side-stomach action,

and sat like a champ.

Here's a red and hurty looking photo:

Then Virginia drove up from the Bronx,

got this bird tattooed on her ribs,

and then drove all the way back home.

Day one down, five to go.

I have a few more bird tattoos to do,

a couple squirrels,

some ferns,

and a skull or two.

And that'll pretty much wrap it up.

If everyone sits like these two,

it'll be an awesome week.

No time for logic.

Adam M has been getting a bunch of work added to his cuckoo clock tattoo.
It now has a background,
but still doesn't make any sense.
Apparently this clock defies gravity.

The photo is pretty crappy,
since, thanks to DST, the sun now sets before 5pm,
so an outdoor shot was impossible.
But we're extending it all the way onto his foot,
so there's lots of opportunity for better shots later.
This is just a blog, after all, and not a portfolio,
which I have to remind myself all the time.

Tomorrow I'm doing a lighthouse tattoo for the first half of the day,
and then a baby owl tattoo till close.
Awesome.

New Orleans (part 1)

New Orleans.
Yeah.
I'm going to have to split it up into two parts,
mostly because Halloween in the Big Easy got so crazy
that we lost our camera,
and all of the holiday photos.
No kidding.
So if you were there,
send me your photos.
(or maybe our camera?)

I have some of the convention shots,
but the big action wasn't inside the hotel ballroom.
I've never seen a place get so into getting dressed up,
and I promise to bring the thunder to every Halloween to come.

Meryl was the biggest help ever,
and it was super nice to have her there.
Here's us dressed up.



I had a tail, too.
Which was forgotten about,
and since I sit down to pee,
it ended up in the toilet later on that night.
Luckily, I had another costume for when we hit the town.



I didn't have a light while tattooing,
which wasn't too bad,
but the photos came out weird in the dark.





A ton of thanks to Li for showing us around,
and bringing us to the center of all the chaos.

Thanks, also, to a bunch of super nice tattoo artists
(they do exist!)
for their hospitality and generosity.
A shout out to Eye Candy Tattoo, Mid City, and the Body Shop,
thanks for taking care of the out-of-towner without a car.

I'll hopefully have New Orleans part II up soon,
with more tattoo photos.

Los faros y la comida vegan

Healed photos of tattoos is always the goal,
but sometimes freshly done tattoos are also posted.
Half healed/half fresh tattoo photos should be avoided at any cost,
unless, of course, you haven't posted anything in 12 days.
So, here's one of those halfies,
which I hope to get a healed photo of soon:



12 days?
I don't even know.
I certainly wasn't doing anything too awesome.
That starts this week.
Saturday night I leave for Peru.
A lot of people keep asking me what I'll be doing in Peru,
and the answer is: I have no idea.
If anyone's been to Lima,
and has all the city hotspots and secrets,
do let me know.
Otherwise I'll be super happy with some lighthouse visits
and some good vegan food.

The Deadest Bird of All

If Dead Birds Are Sexy,
(and we know they are)
extinct birds must be the sexiest.
There's not even taxidermied dodos hanging out any more.
Thanks to Jak from Mutiny Tattoo for coming out
to get this dodo bird tattoo from me.
Always a little bit odd tattooing tattoo artists, you know?




Seward Cafe is our every Sunday morning brunch place,
and this Sunday at brunchtime
I found one of my stickers had been vandalized.
A little razor blade rewording isn't going to stop
dead birds from being so darn sexy,
and I'm certainly not going to stop stickering.
But I applaud the effort.

A little bit of Brooklyn.

Louderhorn Inn was full of food and laughing these last couple days.
Megan and Joan came out to Minneapolis to hang out, get tattooed, and overeat.
They were only here for 50ish hours,
so we just crammed it all in.
No kidding.
We hit Hard Times, Seward Cafe, Evergreen, Triple Rock, and Mayday.
And Meryl cooked an awesome meal somewhere in there as well.

No tour of Minneapolis is complete without a trip to Ryan and Rebecca's Garages of Oddities in NE,
where there's lots of taxidermy, bicycles, and craigslist scores.
Here's their latest find, a 1950's Exercycle.
It plugs in, and you have little control after that.
East coasters getting their laugh on:





Joan loves birds, but just didn't know she loved dead birds as well.
(now she's converted)
Here's her new (not dead) goldfinch.



Thanksgiving is right around the corner.
I'm certainly thankful that I know lots of awesome folks,
and that so many of them take the efforts to come visit us out here.
We're flattered that everyone has made Minnesota a destination
(especially in late November!)