Getting back into it.

Hey everyone here is my story *(short form)

I started out in 1995 scratching in my garage for my punk/skater friends. I used a needle and thread and did it old school. I went into the Navy later that year and started collecting my tats. I met Sailor Joe up in Waukegan Ill (where my A school was). He took me under his wing and started teaching me the basics. I did that for about 6 months then was shipped overseas.

I still had the bug while in the navy but had little cash. In those days all I could find was Huck Spaulding books and kits. I remember the kits cost like $500 in those days and was way outside my E4 income. So I built my own machines out of rotary motors and used pens as tubes. I fell back to my scratching ways and did probably 300 or so tats this way. Got pretty good at the jailhouse style. I then got out of the navy and had govt jobs for many years. Went into Nursing and got my Bach degree. I never forgot my tattooing and never had problems with using needles on patients.

Due to an injury I can no longer do any nursing, so I went back to art school and started mulling over tattooing again. I have been an artist one way or another since I was a kid.

Here are some of my sketches: http://golgofrinchian.deviantart.com/gallery/25435547

I also met an old navy buddy on Facebook that I taught how to scratch back in the day. He went on to apprentice and is now running a very successful studio.

He has agreed to have me be his apprentice and we are going to do this online via Skype video chat so he can watch me and give me tips. Looking forward I see a time where video conferencing with a teacher will be just as accepted as being right there. Most tattooists came from scratching and very few if any admit it. Its refreshing to read that others have the same background.

Thats about it. I did my first pigskin this morning. Ill attach it to this post.

Some notes:
1. Even with a cheapo machine I was more productive than I ever was with the home made machines I made in the past. It was like drawing with a marker vs drawing with a vibrating torture device.
2. The outlining was super easy and the tat looked great when I was done with that part. After shading it didn’t look as good for some reason
3. It was really hard to get right up to the line.
4. Ink splattered every time I dipped it in and gathered more ink
5. Pig skin is super cool to work with. It really does feel like flesh (like my old scratching days). Of course it IS flesh ;)