Baxter's Blog

SPECIAL PREVIEW

To celebrate ABT Tattoo, in McDonough, Georgia,  joining our Tattoo Shop Directory, we will be featuring an extensive gallery of paintings, drawings and tattoo art from the phenomenal tattoo artist Todo Brennan, on Monday the 21st! Stay tuned!

By Bob Baxter

Tattoo people like to travel. Artists, especially, realize, the moment they land on foreign soil, that tattooed folks are friendly, helpful and extremely accommodating. There seems to be a blood bond that is, perhaps, the best part of having body art. Case in point: Canada. Whenever I travel from the U.S. to Calgary, Edmonton or Vancouver, we are treated with an uncommon degree of thoughtfulness and an innate feeling of being a member of an extended family. For the most part, it is subtle—being picked up from the airport rather than told to “catch a shuttle,” finding flowers on the nightstand when a visit coincides with a wedding anniversary, that kind of thing.

Maybe it’s the tattoo mana, that mystical, magical, supernatural force and power that exudes from our pores when we arrive at a new port of call or, for that matter, when we pass through any busy airport. Sure, there are horror stories of having tattoo equipment confiscated or being hailed off to some bare-walled interrogation room because of a teenage DUI or an accusation from an angry girlfriend that got on your police rap sheet back in the ’70s, but there are plenty of positive experiences to balance the negative ones.

Take for example, the time I was stalled at the Miami airport by a security guard that took one look at me and demanded my luggage be wrapped in Saran Wrap. At a cost of thirty-five dollars, I might add. …read more

RULES AND REGS

Here are twenty-two photos of bird tattoos for you to ponder. Which is your favorite? Scroll down for the Voting Booth and let us know. Voting ends Friday, May 25th. The system is calibrated so that you can only vote once, so vote wisely. The artist with the most votes receives a kool, kustom tattoo foot switch from Birch Avenue Tattoo‘s Jeff Arnett.

Note: Click images to expand and click again to enlarge.

FINALISTS

Abe  Krasko, Tinta Cantina, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Adam Romano, Vivid Tattoo, San Diego, California

Brent Severson, Skin Gallery, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin

Cameron Springer

Douglas, Lamb, Tattoo 42, Beaverton, Oregon

Eddie Molina, Hand of Fate, Ithaca, New York

Eric Johnson, No Guts No Glory, Lincoln City, Oregon

Joe Nillo

Scott McCauley, Ventura Boulevard Tattoo, Nepean, Ontario, Canada

Zachary Berrios, Sacred Art, Tucson, Arizona

VOTE TODAY!

Let us know your favorite bird tattoo. Artist with the most votes wins a kool, kustom Jeff Arnett foot switch. Polling booth closes Friday, May 25th.

Tattoos by Eric Johnson

ROAD TRIP PROJECT CONTINUES!

We’re about to begin the next leg of our “Tattoo Road Trip-Best of Oregon” book project. We’ve visited and photographed Bend, Medford, Grants Pass, Roseburg, Springfield, Euguene and up to Astoria, Seaside, Lincoln City and Yachats. All of the video interviews with the shop owners are posted on Vimeo, including the latest with Eric Johnson of No Guts No Glory. All the shops in the Oregon book can be found on our Directory.

Click HERE for Eric’s video interview and 30 other videos, too.

In a week or two, we’re on the road to interview and photograph the best shops in Albany, Salem. Tigard, Beaverton and McMinnville. After that, it’s Portland, The Dalles and La Grande.

YOU DECIDE THE WINNER

Enter your bird tattoo and win a Kustom Jeff Arnett footswitch. You have until Sunday night to enter. The Voting Booth opens for reader voting on Monday. Here’s how to enter:

(1) Send a hi-rez digital image of a tattoo featuring a bird (or birds) to baxter@tattooroadtrip.com.

(2) You may send as many images of as many tattoos with birds as you wish.

(3) Include the name of the tattoo artist who did the tattoo, including the shop name, address and phone number.

(4) The contest entries close on Sunday, May 13th.

(5) The best entries will be posted and Road Trip readers will vote to determine the winner.

(6) Although anyone may enter, the first prize (a Jeff “Jefe” Arnett foot switch) will only be sent to a legitimate tattoo artist working at a legitimate tattoo shop.

Jeff Arnett is preparing a special, one-of-a-kind foot switch prize for the winner. The one pictured at the left is not the actual prize, just an example of his kool creations.

Howdy, folks!

It’s Mark from Epic Ink. I wanted to drop a line to follow up on our prior conversation about our hopeful trip to possibly meet Lyle Tuttle, while making a trip to Triangle Tattoo Museum, and to bring you up to date on a few things happening in our neck of the woods. We briefly chatted about Lyle’s email, so we could write him, and we would be honored to have the opportunity to send him a letter to see if he would be open to the idea of a visit. Kory and Korynn have never been to Triangle and are really looking forward to it. Kory, is over the moon with the possibility to “talk shop” with Lyle about machine building, as he has officially turned out a small handful of custom hand-built machines. I have to admit my eyes welled up just a little, when I held Kory’s first completely handmade machine numbered #1 with “KFI” (Kidd Family Irons) hand-stamped on it this past week. (As a proud big brother, Kory reminds me so much of our dad, a wielder who passed away a few years ago.)

We also have had a few guest artists over the past few weeks. First is “Randall,” who is from Minnesota and has been working with us for the past several weeks. He has over fifteen years experience and is an outstanding realism and custom artist. I’ve attached a few of his tattoos.

We also had the very talented Aaron Borden, from Monolith Tattoo, in Bend, Oregon, visit. Aaron is a well-rounded artist specializing in all styles and prefers big color work and color portraits.

Kory took a First Place award at Oregon Ink this past month, for Small Traditional with a tattoo he did on Korynn (picture attached).

We continue to be busy, busy, busy. Our immediate goals for the year are to make a few more conventions and to visit Triangle and Tattoo Archive on the east coast, to pay homage to those that went before us.

Well, I better get back to work. Melinda is sick with possible food poisoning… yuck… sorry to call it short but, I am being summoned to help…. Catch ya soon.

—The Epic crew / Mark Kidd owner

Epic Ink Tattoo & Piercing, Medford, Oregon