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.
“How come on one else has to wrap their luggage?” I asked, knowing I had been singled out. “Everyone else is queuing up and getting on the plane.”
“Sorry,” said the guard, a uniformed lady in her mid-thirties.
“But I travel quite a bit and this is the first time…”
“Can’t help you,” said the official.
“I’m a reporter,” I said. “I run a tattoo magazine.
“Tattoo magazine? I have tattoos, she said.”
Next thing I know, she pulls up her pant leg and shows me her butterfly. Then she pops a couple buttons to expose the Boston Bulldog on her shoulder. “Wow,” I say and, just like that, with wrap-free luggage and no more questions, I’m through security, climbing the ramp and on the plane.

More than once I handed a copy of my magazine (with a picture of me in it) to an airport cop who stood between me and the boarding gate. It always gave me a chuckle to look back and see three or four security personnel huddled around, flipping pages, smiling and giving me the thumbs-up.

And then there’s the other side of it, like when my wife, Mary (who was wearing a sleeveless dress that revealed her Robert Atkinson and Leo Zulueta ink), and I landed in Houston. The George Bush Intercontinental, they call it. We had just gotten off the plane. As we exited the gate, it was rather sobering when the hundreds of people milling about and seated at the various gates went completely silent. Eerie is what it was. I guess they don’t have women with full sleeves in Texas. At least not at the airport.

It’s relatively unpredictable but, nowadays, walking around with tattoos is not the big deal it was a decade or so ago. You know, back in the days when people saw a tattooed person coming toward them on the sidewalk and crossed over to the other side of the street. The rule of the day back then was to wear a long-sleeved shirt and button up your collar. Otherwise, it was straight to the security pat down.

But times have changed, and tattooing is much more accepted, especially in big cities. The profiling that erroneously labeled everyone with a tattoo an escaped convict (or worse) has been replaced with people you’d never suspect flashing their ink in public. Just last month, I saw a stewardess with a rose tattooed on her ankle and a pilot with biceps ink from his days as a military flyboy. But even if they don’t have tattoos themselves, there seems to be a relatively cheerful reaction and even enthusiastic questions from onboard personnel, which is a heck of a lot more comforting than having the plane surrounded by squad cars and guys with too-short haircuts and cheap overcoats marching down the aisles and hauling me off to be interrogated.

All in all, traveling to a tattoo event or a visit to a shop is (except for the cramped seats, mediocre food and lack of legroom) pretty enjoyable. Good friends, new people to meet, maybe even a party or two. And it’s especially nice when the experience in the airport or on the plane is a pleasant one. You know, free of hassles and not being made to feel like some weirdo. But, on the other hand, that can be cool, too.

—BobBaxter

By Dana Brunson

Once in a while, collecting seems to hit a dead end. You assume the treasures of the past have all been found and you will have to be satisfied with small bits and pieces that come your way. Not this time!

I’m driving home from the Old School Convention in St. Louis in November 2008, reflecting on the big score of vintage flash that my friend Mike Skiver had just let me see. He had traded for over one hundred sheets of vintage flash by Bert Grimm and others. I’m thinking, Well, if it couldn’t be me that hit the pot of gold, I’m glad it was Mike, as he loves the vintage stuff as much as I do.

Just then my cell phone rings and it’s my friends Nancy and Norby. They are at an antique show in Ohio that I usually attend but, because of the convention, I missed it. Norby is a great friend of mine and an invaluable connection for vintage vehicles, cars and motorcycles. In fact, he is very knowledgeable regarding antiques in general. He has no tattoos, even though he has been a friend of mine for years and really knows nothing about tattoos. But he’s always said, “Someday I’m going to find some old tattoo stuff for you.” Back to the phone call: Norby is excited and tells me about a “tattooed swordfish bill” owned by one of his vendors. A tattooed what? Norby explains that it’s worth lots of money and very cool, but I’m still confused about what he’s talking about.

Norby explains that he has a gut feeling about the item. He keeps describing it and, after a few minutes, I make the decision to give him the go-ahead to purchase it for me, sight unseen. Spending a lot of money to purchase something, especially when you haven’t even seen it, can be an agonizing decision. So, during the rest of my drive home, the excitement diminishes and a knot grows in my stomach. I also have to endure teasing from my wife and son, who come up with a entire scenario about it being a souvenir from Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Restaurant. Collecting is not always successful and can often lead to buyer’s remorse, but that’s all part of the game. Definitely not for the weak of heart. The more I think about what this thing is, the creepier I feel, so I decide to stop at Norby’s on the way home and claim my prize, my family still teasing and taunting me all the way.

The last laugh is mine. This is one of the coolest tattoo collectables I have ever encountered. The prize is a 1905, hand-painted, tattooed swordfish bill with turn-of-the-century images better than my wildest dreams. Whew! I quickly track the item to an antique firearms auction in Illinois, to a dealer of Spanish American war items in Alaska. He informs me that he has no further information except to say he thinks it’s great. He is right. Now my collection has a crown jewel.

See ya in the funny papers, and keep your hat on so I’ll know ya.

―Dana

www.danatattoo.com

danatattoo@fuse.net

19. When I was hired by Larry Flynt to be Editor-in-Chief of his only tattoo magazine, Skin&Ink, he published thirty-five or so other titles, including, of course, Hustler, Barely Legal and a host of adult titles featuring various fetishes that catered to an enormous worldwide readership. Legs, derrieres, breasts; in Flynt’s empire they all had a place. But not all of Flynt’s publications were girlie magazines. Hot Boats, for example, was an excellent magazine, with lots of advertisers. It was a favorite of the power boat set. He had one called Rap Pages, Big Brother, (a skateboard magazine), Code: The Style Magazine for Men of Color, Camera & Darkroom and Maternity Fashion and Beauty. Then along came Skin&Ink. Whether true or not, I had heard that this title began as a small, insignificant feature in a motorcycle magazine, which, at the advent of tattooing’s popularity of, demanded its own presence. In any case, when I received a phone call to visit the Larry Flynt Publications office in Beverly Hills, the magazine was in trouble and it was my job to put things right. It was a phone call that, literally, changed my life.

I was, at the time, the owner of a professional writing service called Career Pro, in Glendale, California. I also wrote weekly columns to the Pasadena Weekly newspaper and had been a monthly columnist for Sing Out! and Guitar Player magazines, back in my music days. In 1997, however, it seems that the, then, current editor was doing some hanky-panky, and Flynt and his staff wanted a replacement. The popularity of the magazine, too, was not what it could be, so they began a search for someone to do a complete facelift. After a few attempts at finding the right person (including, I was told, Gill “The Drill” Montie), the LFP headhunter began calling tattoo shops, to see if they knew a logical candidate. Fortunately for me, they called Pote Seylor’s Body Electric in West Hollywood, where Joe Vegas and my son Jesse were working. Joe picked up the phone and, as the story goes, after some words with the caller, shouted across the room, “Hey, Jesse, doesn’t your father edit or something?” Next day, I was in the top-floor offices talking with three Flynt vice-presidents. I got hired, and immediately changed everything from the logo to the content. In fact, when I asked Flynt if I could meet with my copy editor, he responded with, “Why do you need one of those?” Clearly, my concept of a tattoo publication was quite different from his current manifestation.

There is a long list of anecdotes I could relate about my relationship with Larry Flynt, but suffice to say, he always responded to my numerous queries within twenty-four hours, let me have free rein in running the day-to-day activities, and, most important of all, agreed with me that we should not accept advertising from tattoo supply companies that sold “starter kits” and other related paraphernalia to non-professionals. The fact that starter kits did not include any equipment for proper sterilization hit a note with him, and he immediately removed these ads from our back page and, consequently, lost a great deal of advertising revenue, which, up until that point, was keeping the magazine afloat. I might also mention that this policy led to a major decrease in starter kit ads throughout the tattoo magazine industry. Almost every tattoo publication had starter kit ads on their back page. No more, thanks to Larry.

First issue with LFP (1997)

Whether or not you agree that Skin&Ink was a major, positive force within the tattoo community, I know for a fact that it shook things up. Before Larry worked with us, tattoo magazines, in general, had a bad reputation. Skin&Ink did a lot to change that perception. With Flynt backing up our decisions and helping us promote ourselves at conventions by giving us box-loads of free magazines to hand out, we were able to introduce our new philosophy to a public eager for a representative publication,We became a magazine that not only featured photos of art and artists, but we wrote in-depth commentary about them, too. We enlisted a staff of exceptional writers and columnists that wrote truthfully and candidly about the body art scene. We brought in world-class illustrators (Bruce Litz, The Pizz and David Nestler, for example) and published a veritable who’s who of tattooists from New York to New Zealand. After establishing ourselves, we even won the prestigious Folio Magazine Editorial Excellence Award, essentially the Oscars of the magazine business. This was the first-ever for a tattoo magazine and the first Folio Award for LFP. All because Larry Flynt supported the cause. Without his genius, his trust in me and his excellent staff of seasoned professionals, Skin&Ink would never have had the great run that it did. I have great respect for the man and I know that many, many people in the tattoo community feel the same way that I do. I am proud to include him on my list of “Most Influential People in Tattoo.”

Platinum Sponsor—Mary Jane Haake of Portland, Oregon (dermigraphics.com) was not only Bert Grimm’s final apprentice but one of tattooing’s most resourceful and clever business people. Ever involved, Mary Jane markets a line of cosmetic products (dermalsource.com), successfully owns and manages various rental properties and has tattooed everyone, from art collectors to motorcycle cops, at her posh, tattoo digs in the heart of downtown. As a liaison between the tattoo world and Portland business community, Mary Jane has operated her low-profile, second-story studio for thirty years; the longest running tattoo parlor on the west coast and, perhaps, in the nation. Specializing in tattooing folks with special requirements, such as inking logos for the local motorcycle cops, the SWAT team and FBI, Mary Jane has a national reputation for cosmetic tattooing. “Back in the day, Bert used to say, “When someone wants to get a tattoo, they expect to go to Skid Row.” Not so with Mary Jane, her second floor, down-the-hall, neat-as-a-pin studio is not conducive to walk-ins or twenty-something groupies, proving that longevity, business acumen and a solid relationship with the city in which she lives, trumps showboating, big egos and a row of shiny trophies in the window every time.

Diamond Sponsor—Wes Wood: A strong supporter of tattooroadtrop.com, from the start, Wes Wood and Unimax Supply Co. have worked many years to win the high level of respect and admiration accorded them by the tattoo community. In 1997, when New York City repealed the 1961 ban on tattooing, they looked to Wes Wood to help lay the foundation for the new health codes. As owner of Unimax Supply Company, an international provider of all things body art, Wes is well versed in mechanics, sterilization procedures and wound healing. Creativity in his blood, Wes played tenor sax with the Emeralds on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, in 1959. After earning a degree in English, a brief stint as a Merchant Marine and a few years as co-owner of a successful printing business, Wes caught tattoo fever and decided to learn for himself. After learning to tattoo, Wes realized he was quite interested in how the equipment was made. Though he had little prior experience as a machinist, he was quite comfortable making things by hand. Learning the basics of machine building, tubes and needle making from a friend, creating Unimax was a natural transition. Supplies were difficult to come by and Wes saw a great opportunity to fill this need. “We were the first that I know of to offer pre-sterilized needles and equipment,” he says. Knowledgeable in all aspects of body art, Wes is also a Gauntlet trained master piercer and even studied permanent cosmetics. It was important to him that Unimax stand out and become a leader in the supply industry.

In 1997, Wes entered his next venture with Sean Vasquez, who was working at Kaleidoscope, and opened Sacred Body Art Emporium on Broadway in SoHo. Sacred was a true emporium offering everything imaginable related to all forms of body art. Just a few months later, Sacred moved to 365 Canal Street just downstairs from Kaleidoscope. Occupying the street level, second floor and even the basement, Sacred became what might have been the largest tattoo parlor in history. It was so grand it even spawned a sister shop, Bowery Tattoo. Wes also played an important role in the organization of the first New York City Tattoo Convention. Steve Bonge, Clayton Patterson and Butch Garcia, the convention organizers, found Wes to be their perfect liaison to the Health Department. He worked with the agency to create a temporary licensing for visiting artists and guaranteed safe practices and proper sterilization. “Fortunately, Unimax matches my personality,” says Wes. “For the last 20 years, I work hard, work consistently, focus and not get fried” he says.

SPONSORSHIPS

PLATINUM SPONSOR

$10,000 annually or $2,500 per quarter.

Mary Jane Haake—DermalSource and Dermigraphics Tattoo

DIAMOND SPONSOR

$5,000 per year or $1,250 per quarter.

Unimax Supply

GOLD SPONSORS

$2,500 a year or $625 per quarter.

This time I would like to talk about what has been a taboo lately: PRICING. With many new, inexperienced tattooists entering the field during the last ten years, this is a touchy subject. It needs to be addressed. Many new artists may make $50 per hour and feel that they are “riding high on the hog,” making more than they ever did at Burger King or even doing illustrative work for an ad agency. They might think that those of us who charge the going rate of $125-$150 per hour, for the average street shop, is “gouging.” My question is, if they have never worked in a legitimate tattoo shop before, how would they know what constitutes “gouging?” Especially, if they were, until recently, on the consumer end of the stick.

We, who have been in ANY business for any length of time, know that overhead is the determining factor of pricing, like it is in any business. Maybe, if you were scratching out of your grandmother’s garage, your overhead is basically nil, but out in the big, wide, competitive world, things are quite different. Allow me to illustrate a basic monthly expense chart for the average tattoo shop.

Rent                                        $2,000

Utilities                                    $300

Phone                                     $250

Insurance                                $200

Supplies                                  $600

Advertising                               $500

Postage                                   $50

Conventions(two a year)          $350 (booth, motel, flight, car, food etc.)

Bank charges                           $300

State tax estimates                  $200

Federal tax estimates               $500

Books, flash, tools, etc             $500

Total                                       $5,750

This does not include bookkeeping or license and permit fees by your local government. This also does not include, of course, various personal expenses like house rent, car payment, car insurance, utilities, food, child care, medical insurance, etc. We won’t even discuss shop setup expenses. Every single month the shop owner has to come up with this amount, just to break even. It’s called “overhead.” They call it “overhead” because it’s hanging over your head every single month. Some months it’s higher and some it’s lower. It all depends on where and how you set up shop. Some areas are more expensive to operate than others. Paying the hired help is another subject for another time. But that is always included in the overhead expenses.

The whole idea of running a legitimate business is to make a profit. It costs five cents to fill up a large soda, but they charge you $2.00. Running a “shade tree” outfit out of your house is not going to create the documented income needed to buy a house or a car. It probably won’t be permitted by your local health department, either. So, if you want to run a real, “grown up” business, this is what you are up against. This is why we have to charge people. If you go to a transmission shop to get your car fixed, there is a manual that says the job will take, let’s say, four hours at $100 per hour. The shop will charge you for four hours, even though it only takes them two hours to do the job. This is because they have done the same job so many times, they are really proficient at it. But, the job is still worth $400, so that’s what they charge you for. I am so good at doing Sailor Jerry pinups that I can do them in about an hour, but I charge $250, even though my shop rate is $150 per hour. I am getting paid for my experience. The average beginner will take two to four hours to do the same pinup, but it’s still worth $250, regardless of the time it took. As far as the hourly rate goes, the clock starts ticking, when they sign the release form. Consultation, drawing, setup, tattooing, bandaging and tear-down are all part of the tattoo process. If you work in a lumber mill, do you get paid the minute you clock in or do you get paid when the blade hits the log? If a customer is a regular, it makes sense to give him or her a break. But why would you give a discount to a total stranger, who is just going to turn around and brag about what a deal he got to all his bargain-hunting friends?

My father used to say, “If you don’t charge people, they will never respect you.” When I was young, I used to argue that, if I charged what he expected me to, I wouldn’t get any work. Later in my life, I realized he was right. What happens is this: When you undercharge, you attract the cheap customers, who always expect a cheap price. They tell all their cheap friends how cheap you are, so, when they come in, you end up busting your balls trying to make everybody happy instead of making a healthy profit. If you charge the going rate, then you get to enjoy nice benefits, like going home at closing time and sleeping well, because you know your business is doing well, without having to sweat it out every month. You get to take a vacation or a few days off, if you want. You can actually have a savings account or a financial portfolio. Here’s the kicker: You also attract a better clientele, who are willing to pay for quality work.

The simple fact is, if you are going to be a cheap tattoo artist, then people will come to you because you are cheap NOT because you are a good tattoo artist. Literally, they won’t respect you or your work. Once you set your prices low, you will never be able to raise them back up again. Your “loyal” customers will go to the cheaper shop. Consequently, you are stuck in the viscous circle of struggling to make a living, and will probably start selling bongs or whatever to make ends meet.

The old saying goes like this: “Why should you work twice as hard for half the money when you can work half as hard for twice the money?” Truthfully, do we really want cheap customers, or, do we want customers who are willing to pay a decent price, so we can relax and concentrate on doing really bad-ass tattoos?

Shops who are cut-throating are cutting their own throats as well. The local price index gets ruined, when several inexperienced shops have to fight for the same consumer dollar. When this happens, potential new customers are drawn away from the really good artists just by the lure of a “deal.” The customer base is also ruined because they will not be exposed to the better, legitimate tattoo artists.

Back in the ’90s, I had a young friend of mine who was opening up a custom motorcycle shop. While I was tattooing him, he asked me if there was any advice I could give him. He knew I have been self-employed since 1977. I told him, “Never underestimate the power of the word NO!” I told him that knowing when to say “no” to people would keep him from being used. Of course, I gave him the speech on pricing and why it was important to keep his prices up where they belong. I saw him a year later and asked him how business was doing. He told me that he was usually at the shop from 7 a.m. till 3 a.m., working on all the people he was giving “deals” to. He said he had tons of business but couldn’t understand why he wasn’t getting ahead. He was losing weight and had trouble sleeping. Evidently, he thought the rules of business didn’t apply to him and ignored my advice. Now, it’s too late to change. He was too busy making “friends” instead of building a clientele.

Some time ago, a new (non-tattooing) shop owner came into my studio and pronounced, “I’m your new competition!” I told him, “I have no competition, dude.” He says, “You shouldn’t be so cocky.” I told him,” First of all, you don’t come into my shop and tell me how to act. Second, I don’t have any competition, because I choose not to compete. Competing means you have to lower your prices. If you want to give away your shit work for nothing, then go right ahead. I’m not interested in your penny-pinching customers.” Of course, he sold crack pipes and bongs to survive and the shop folded in about three years. Meanwhile, I made a healthy profit doing cover-ups.

As a rule of thumb, if you have too much business, you are too cheap. If you don’t have any business, either you suck or you are too expensive. If you can work all day and go home at closing time, you are charging the right amount.

In essence, pricing adjusts to whatever the market will bear. I don’t have any other answer to the glut of inexperienced artists and shop owners who are popping up everywhere, thanks to reality TV. If everybody was charging the going rate, then the shit shops would thin out rapidly. Most of the time, tattoo artists charge what they think they are worth. Your customers will let you know if your work is worth it or not.

Faithful servant to the trade,

—Uncle Tim

www.uncletimtattoo.com

uncletimtattoo@msn.com

The Tattoo Family is, I suppose, like any other family; some are like Ozzie and Harriet and David and Ricky, and others are dysfunctional and antisocial. Case in point: my initial relationships, or rather, my initial run-ins with certain members of the tattoo tribe.

Sailor Jerry Swallow

Let’s start with Sailor Jerry Swallow, the legendary old-school tattooist from Nova Scotia. Several years ago, maybe six or seven, Mike McCabe wrote a story for me about his visit to Jerry’s shop in New Glascow. It was an excellent exposé, extolling the many virtues of this time-honored artist and his graphic accomplishments over the last four-and-a-half decades.
After it was published in my magazine, I received several letters. One of them stood out from the rest. It, in a very disrespectful and accusatory way, stated that Sailor Jerry’s artwork was second-rate at best, couldn’t compete with the current crop of young artists and should be dumped, unceremoniously, in a pile, along with all the other old-timers and has-beens of the tattoo world.
Since I loved to print outlandish and often vitriolic letters in my Letters to the Editor, I earmarked this one for the very next issue. I should point out that, besides publishing colorful, often hysterical letters from readers, one feature that the readers liked most was when I answered these very letters in the magazine and didn’t pull any punches in my responses. Hey, it was my magazine and I could do bloody well what I wanted. But, because the letter criticizing Sailor Jerry’s work was so over the line and without basis, I let it get go without comment. My mistake.

When the magazine hit the newsstand and Jerry Swallow saw that terrible letter, he let me have it. “How come you didn’t print one of your cool response, like you do with everyone else?” he wrote. There were also a few other choice words about my parentage and my right to edit scribbles on public restroom walls, let alone a tattoo magazine.

I was stunned. I had completely underestimated his reaction. I figured, of course, that the letter was so hateful and stupid that everyone, including Sailor Jerry himself, would take it for what it was: a letter from a crank. Guess not. So, with somewhat trembling hands, I immediately dashed off an apologetic email to Nova Scotia extolling the virtues of Jerry Swallow and bringing the hammer down on his misdirected critic. I remember writing something like, “Everyone knows and respects the many years of hard work and legendary artwork that you have produced, and any comments to the contrary are obviously written by someone who is either insane or knows about as much about tattoo art as a ground squirrel.”

Well, it turned the trick. Not only did Sailor Jerry Swallow answer me almost immediately, he completely understood, forgave me totally and signed his email “Friends Forever.” In fact, when we met in person for the first time in Calgary a year or so later, we embraced like long-lost brothers. It turns out that he was a big Larry Flynt fan, so I’d forward him memorabilia like Flynt’s annual Christmas card or invitations to special black-tie parties at the Beverly Hills Hotel. As for Jerry, he sent me something I will never forget: his gorgeous original poster he painted for the June 2008 issue. The same poster that I have framed and hung, magnificently, on my office wall, right next to where I work, each and every day. It is signed, “With love n’ respects. To my friend Bob Baxter.”

Just recently, I received some angry emails regarding an interview I did for a West Coast newspaper. A difference of opinion. About the same time, I get this letter from an artist who, back about a year and a half ago, I had driven over a thousand miles to interview. And, when I got there, we walked out of his shop. Why? Because, when my photographer and I walked through the door with our camera equipment and lighting, his crew was sitting around in a store that was “open for business,” drinking beer like it was party time at an after-hours club. When we saw that, we turned on our heels and headed for the car. I mean, really, that’s not the appropriate way to represent the tattoo industry, especially when an international magazine has arrived to feature you on their pages for all the world to see. All that said, here’s the letter I got on Wednesday from the guy whose shop we walked out on:

“Hello Bob. I just got done reading the email interaction between yourself and xxxxx, and my feelings were spit. I felt bad for you because I could see how you may have felt being unjustly attacked… and that really hit home with me, because you have shown me how that feels. On another note, I am sorry if you were made to feel uncomfortable in my shop. That is something that I would like to prevent anyone from experiencing, if I can do anything about it. Also, I would also like to thank you for making me think about how I might do things better in the future. Good luck on your travels!”

That took guts. Instead of using the email he received from you-know-who as a springboard for telling me to go F myself, he used it as a platform for a heartfelt apology. That, my friends, is class. Just like Sailor Jerry Swallow.

—Bob Baxter
To ask questions, make comments or demand an apology, you can email Bob at baxter@tattooroadtrip.com.

www.tattoo.co.uk

Fact No. 201

201. At the 1999 Tokyo Tattooing Convention in Japan, Filip Leu told me (Paul Sayce) that he once went over to New York to pick up some tips from Spider Webb. But all Spider taught him was how to tattoo with a romper pin, which, of course, is just one of Spider’s many party tricks.

202. George Magiunas (1931-1978), the Lithuanian leader of the 1960s art movement Fluxus, produced a picture (photograph) in 1967 of a tattooed man with the words “Souvenir tattoo Flux” written across the front of it. The Fluxus movement was a group of avant-garde artists that could only be described as revolutionary, funny (humur) and bizarre, that included the likes of Yoko Ono (1933-) as a member.

203. Paris Hilton (1981-), of hotel fame, said in 2005 that tattoos were unoriginal and every girl she knows has one, including her sister Nicky (1983-). Paris, of cours,e became famous for making a dodgy porn movie and being the great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton (1887-1979) and, oh yes, heiress to a few bob, as well.

204. Debbie Currie, the daughter of former Minister Of Health for Great Britain, Edwina (Currie), once had a (small) hit with a remake of the 1970s classic pop song “You Can Do Magic.” Debbie herself sports seven tattoos, although in the hope of helping her career along, in 1997, she was having a tribal cross tattoo removed from the top of her arm. Debbie told me this when I appeared on a Central TV Show in the 1990s, where she was working as a runner at the time. And the removal, well, it didn’t seem to help, because she was never heard of again in the pop music world.

Fact No. 205

205. When Vinnie Jones, the Wimbledon and Wales Soccer player and now a Hollywood actor, was asked what were his team’s chances of beating Leicester City in English football’s Coca-Cola cup semi-finals in the late 1990s, he said he wasn’t sure about the match, but he was wondering where he was going to get his new tattoo, as it is a habit for Vinnie to get a new tattoo whenever the team he plays for wins a competition. What confidence you might think. It’s just a pity that Leicester City didn’t agree, as they want on to knock Wimbledon out of the cup.

206. In 1997, British Lottery winner Sheryl Carthew was thinking about spending £3.000 pounds of her half a million win on breast implants, in the hope (according to the tabloids) of turning herself into the new Pamela (Lee) Anderson. And later, in the same paper, Miss Carthew proudly displayed her 34B-sized breasts that she was hoping to be made into 36Cs, along with the tattoo already on her chest. Alas, nothing since has appeared in the press subsequently.

207. Regarded by many as one of the world’s top tattooing shows, Brugge, in Belgium, had it all, with some of the very best tattoo artists around, making their way over to this little seaport town every November. To work to a packed crowd in the Oberbayern Hall, strippers, both male and female, perform throughout a show that had just about anything and everything to buy in regards to tattooing equipment, piercing and body art jewelery. Rock bands and body painters were also there to entertain the masses. John Artliner, who is a very talented international tattoo artist, put it all together with a posse of volunteers, who helped to make this such a super show, which, sadly for us tattoo lovers, was no more after 2005. John felt that, after putting on a show every year, for the last ten years, its was good a time as any to go out on top.

Fact No. 208

208. In the early 1960s, in Lancashire, England, the local libraries removed all copies of Hanns Ebensten’s 1953 book “Pierced Hearts And True Love,” because of one tattoo design (among many) that was shown of the Devil standing behind a young woman, in a state of carnal pleasure. The tattoo artist who drew the design was indeed arrested and charged with pornography offences (how times change). The design, along with another of a naked woman standing on a love-heart with a snake running up her legs was shown on page seventy-five. For the record, the book had a pull-out sheet of painted designs from London’s Rich Mingins and ninety-three other tattooing designs and photographs in the nine-four-page book, which was published by Derek Verschoyle of Park Place, London.

209. “Tomb Rider” film star, three times Golden Globe and ‘Oscar’ winner Angelina Jolie has a beautiful tiger tattoo on her lower back. She had it done when she visited Bangkok in 2004, and the tattoo artist Sompong Kanphai did the work, doing so in the traditional Thai way, with hand tools. Angelina is the daughter of actor Jon Voight and won the Oscar playing “Lisa” in the 1999 feature “Girl, Interrupted.” Angelina also had a black tribal dragon with the words “Billy Bob” written above it on her left arm (since been removed), as well as the letter H on the inside of her left wrist, plus a Tennessee Williams’ quote on her left forearm, a Latin motto on her stomach, a cross on her hip and a couple of small tribal tattoos on her lower back. Of which the new Tiger tattoo now covers.

Fact No. 210

210. Contrary to popular belief, the act of tattooing Jews was not practiced in all of the Nazi Concentration Camps. Only Auschwitz and Birkenau, in South Poland, saw the Jewish people tattooed. There was primarily two reasons for the tattooing, the first being to degrade people, as tattooing is prohibited in the Jewish faith, and, secondly, tattooing was done to stop important Jewish doctors and scientists from swapping their camp uniforms with dead prisoners, to enable them to become anonymous and not have to work for the Nazis or made to experiment on their own people.

211. Auschwitz (also known as the Stammlager) was opened as a Concentration Camp in 1940 (the first was Dachau, in 1933), and, in the year 1941, the tattooing of Soviet Prisoners of war began, making them the first inmates to be tattooed.

212. Prisoners of Auschwitz were never to use their names; only their camp numbers were to be used when addressing officers. Numbers were on prisoners jackets, trousers and tattooed (usually) on the inside of the lower left arm.

Fact No. 213

213. It was thought at one time that only prisoners who were to live upon arrival at Auschwitz were tattooed, while others were not, and sent to the gas chambers. But ethnic German’s re-education and police prisoners did not receive a tattoo mark. Those who entered the camp (proper) first had all of their body hair removed, showered, then given ill-fitting clothing, caps and clogs. After which the new inmates were tattooed with their number, beginning with a letter first, A for Auschwitz, B for Birkenau or Z denoting a Gypsy, with the numbers following. The tattooing continued up until the last days of the camp.

214. The tattooing at Auschwitz was done by trusted inmates acting as tattoo artists, and “acting” would be a fair description, as the tattooing was crudely done, with a no artistic flair at all. And it must also be said that the job of tattooing the numbers was a good job to have, as prisoners sometimes managed to smuggle valuables into the camp, and gold and diamonds were used in a bartering system as prisoners exchanged goods with the tattooers, so that the tattooing would be done smaller than the recommended sizes that the Nazis specified. The guards, of course, would turn a blind eye to this, as, after the tattooing was finished, they would exchange the items collected with small pieces of sausage or other (usually) food stuffs, which never amounted to very much, in any case.

Fact No. 215

215. Tattooing in Auschwitz was not always done on the inside of the lower left forearm. Some tattooed numbers were put on people’s chests, and, in 1943, the tattooing of babies began. Although it was found that, because of a baby’s growth, tattooing numbers on their arms became unreadable very quickly. So babies were tattooed with larger numbers on their thighs.

216. Other children tattooed at Auschwitz were the twins in the care of Dr Josef

Fact No. 216

Mengele (1911-1979) (dubbed the “Angel of Death”). Mengele would have the twins tattooed with the letters ZW, meaning zwellinge (twin). Twins at the camp had the most chance of survival in Auschwitz, although terrible experiments were performed on them by Mengele, who was more a vile criminal then a doctor of medicine.

217. Tattooing was also a unique practice among the Waffen SS, for when a new recruit passed into membership, he was given a distinctive SS dagger and a signet ring, before getting his blood group tattooed under the left armpit. This was done to help in the speeding up blood supplies and medical attention, if needed on the battlefield. It is an interesting fact that when the SS was formed in 1933, the German army numbered one hundred thousand, with just one hundred twenty SS men. And, by 1944, the SS grew to nine hundred-and-ten thousand, with the German army standing at nine million, with one million reserves.

Fact No. 218

218. The act of tattooing did indeed help in the capture of Karl Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962). Mossad, the Israeli Secret Intelligence service sent a team to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1960, in the hope of capturing Josef Mengele, who they knew lived and worked in the South American City. But, in a routine surveillance operation, one of the group learned of the whereabouts of Eichmann, who in terms of war crimes was a much bigger fish then Mengele, and it was decided by the team that they would go after Eichmann instead. And it was discovered that, in 1952, after living in Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, a certain Ricardo Kelmet arrived in Argentina along with his wife and children, and worked as an administrative clerk at the Mercedes-Benz factory in San Jarosto. And on the 11th of May, 1960, it all came to an end for Eichmann as he got off a bus at the end of his street, after a day at work. He was captured by two Mossad agents. Indeed Mossad knew that they had their man when the medical records and x-rays they had with them revealed old injuries that told them that Kelmet was indeed Eichmann. It was also discovered that the blood group tattoo under his armpit had not been removed through surgery, but had been cut and ripped out by Eichmann himself. So the man responsible for organizing the mass transportation of millions of Jews to their deaths and referred to as the Chief Executioner Of The Third Reich was smuggled out of Argentina and taken to Israel, put on trial and indicted on fifteen charges, and convicted on all counts. And on June 1, 1962, a few minutes after midnight, one of mankind’s most evil  criminals was hanged at the Ramla Prison, Tel Aviv.

219. The Concentration Camp of Buchenwald, in Germany, was a place of pure evil. Prisoners were thrown into the bear pits at the camp’s zoo, to be ripped and torn apart, while others were treated cruelly at every opportunity. It was also the custom that every tattooed prisoner who entered the camp was sought out, so their tattoos could be cataloged and recorded. Afterwards, the prisoners with tattooed marks usually ended up on dissecting tables.

220. British tattoo artist Tony Cliffton did one hundred twenty complete tattoos at his Northampton tattooing studio on the 2nd of July, 1985, a feat that was later featured in ”The Book Of Alternative Records.”

Dear Matty:

Many moons ago, when I was in Catholic school, they started a soccer team. That was 1969 and most Americans said “what’s soccer? When the time came to hand out uniforms, my number was even more unexpected. I was given number was 13. I immediately kicked the dirt and cussed, because it was bad luck. After the dust settled, and since I’ve gotten a whole new appreciation for the number 13, I think it is about time to add a 13 tattoo to my back, where I wore my soccer number. Tell me more.
—Jack Octoquinto
Albuquerque, New Mexico

No sooner had I saw the numbers one and three than an outpouring of wicked and wonderful emotions washed over me. I’ve had many conversations about the good and pure evil superstitions and phobias that surrounds the digits. There is a common myth that the earliest reference to 13 being unlucky or evil is from the ancient Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (circa 1780 B.C.E.), which was created to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land. There have been many translations that have the 13th law omitted. Then and now it was believed to be unlucky. It was significantly absent in the translation by L.W. King (1910) edited by Richard Hooker.

Friday the 13th has the distinction as being the unluckiest day of the year. There are at least two and never more than three Friday the 13ths every year. However, certain cultures appreciate the number 13 or even revere it as being a symbol of life, fertility and good fortune. Judaism celebrates a young man’s coming of age, when he turns 13. In Punjabi, the word 13 is pronounced tera, which also means “yours,” evoking a devotional pronouncement to God.

Triscadecaphobia, or fear of the number 13, was first used by I.H. Coriat in Abnormal Psychology published in 1910 (Moffat, Yard and Company, New York). Fear of the number 13 affected the Vikings, who played a major part in the medieval history of Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland and the rest of Europe. It is believed that Loki in the Norse pantheon was the 13th god. More specifically, Loki was believed to have engineered the murder of Balder and was the 13th guest to arrive at the funeral. This is perhaps related to the superstition that, if 13 people gather, one of them will die in the following year.

The phobia also extends to addresses, with twenty-six percent of homebuyers saying they would not buy a property that was number 13, according to Lloyd’s TSB. That was not a discouraging factor for tattooist Sunday Dawne-Marie of Skinflower cosmic arts in the Catskill mountains of Phoenicia, New York (www.skinflower.org). Her house was the second one they looked at with the number 13 address. She affectionately describes the house as being nestled in the woods on one sweet acre with both a sunny open yard and its own tiny forest. It is wonderfully quiet at night and dark with a million stars. They call it the bumblebee ranch, where they make and appreciate art, music, books and nature. A pleasant surprise for the postman is Sunday’s colorfully decorated, tattoo-inspired number 13 mailbox.

The tarot card bearing the number 13 (Roman numerals XIII) symbolizes death. Tarot images have long inspired renderings for symbolic tattoos. The 13th floor doesn’t exist in most high-rise buildings, and having 13 dinner guests at one table is said to have fateful results. In 1881, an influential group of New Yorkers led by U.S. Civil War veteran Captain William Fowler came together to put an end to this and other superstitions. They formed a dinner cabaret club, which they called the Thirteen Club. At the first meeting, on Friday the 13th, January 1881 at 8:13 p.m., 13 people sat down to dine in room 13 of the venue. The guests walked under a ladder to enter the room and were seated among piles of spilled salt. All of the guests survived. Thirteen Clubs sprang up all over North America for the next forty years. Their activities were regularly reported in leading newspapers, and their numbers included five future U.S. presidents, from Chester A. Arthur to Theodore Roosevelt. Thirteen Clubs had various imitators, but they all gradually faded from interest as people became less superstitious.

Tattoos offered in celebration of Friday the 13th have long been an event that collectors looked forward to. The Friday the 13th tattoo tradition has added meaning to customer appreciation day at Michelle Miles’ Daredevil tattoo on New York’s Lower East Side. Today, tattoo shops worldwide are jammed by the adventurous souls in search of a permanent 13. It was always a special tattoo when inked at Freddy Corbin’s California shop, Tattoo 13. Tattooist Uncle Tim was cursed from birth. Born Friday the 13th November 1953, 13th kid born that day and born at one p.m. (the 13th hour). Folks partaking in one of his custom 13 tattoos find his cursed history to be a little something extra in the tattoo process. He tattooed 13 bands of a Hawaiian-inspired tribal pattern to celebrate a customer’s birthday at a show recently. Uncle Tim’s last shop was Studio 13 in Salinas or, en Espanola, Estudio Trece! Over the years, groups of tattooists have drawn number 13 pork chop tattoos and flash sheets and, just when you least expect it, you will find random appearances of number 13 designs popping up off to the side or buried in the bottom corner of a sheet of classic flash.

The only good 13 tattoo story that came to mind from legendary inkslinger Spider Webb takes us back about fifteen years. It was a Friday the 13th and 13 goth girls all dressed in black with all the bells and whistles filed into the shop, each wanting a tattoo of a roman numeral on the back of her neck from I to XIII. He whacked them all out in about ten minutes, then lined them up and photographed them. His prolific performance and conceptual artworks include a poster of a 13 Tattoo Vampire performance he did at Coney Island and a black-and-white clock with the little hand on roman number X and the big hand on III from his 1970’s Time Art work series.

In closing I gladly share these anonymous words of wisdom:“We embrace a lot of things that others fear, including tattoos themselves. We find beauty in what others perceive as mutilation. So, maybe it’s not such a stretch that we would also see fortune in what others see as unlucky. Or maybe we’re just all a bunch of optimists! Whether you consider it a baker’s dozen or the Devil’s dozen is up to you.

Questions or comments? Contact Matty at nuovaarte@aol.com.

Indelibly,
Matty J

In most tattooing, a quality job starts with a well-drawn stencil. Long gone are the days of acetate stencils that wipe off with one pass of a paper towel. Today, most of us rely on thermal spirit masters and a thermal copier or Hectograph paper to hand draw our designs for application to skin. When drawing stencils, it is common to use tracing paper over the original image or a light box to help see the image more clearly. When doing more detailed or realistic designs, it is difficult to see the fine details clearly through the tracing paper, so the following techniques will help put more detail into your stencil drawing.

My process is to edit the original image in Photoshop, then reverse the design, so that you get a mirror image and print it on white copy paper. (Once stenciled, it is important to print the image in the reverse of how it will face on the body.) I then take a sheet of Spirit brand Hectograph paper and tape the original image to the purple side, tracing out your design on a hard surface such as a desk or clipboard, using a pencil or ballpoint pen, making sure to use enough pressure to transfer the purple image to the backside of your original. Tracing directly on the image allows you to see those tiny details and subtleties that get lost when using tracing paper. It is helpful to hold your image up to the light, so you can see where your outline may need more work.  When you are satisfied with the outline drawing, make a photocopy of your stencil. This will give you a master that faces in the proper direction and can be run through a thermal copier as many times as needed.

While it is possible to use the Hectograph stencil to transfer the image directly to the skin, one must keep in mind that, since it was drawn in reverse, to avoid tattooing the image backwards. I typically do not use my hand-drawn originals as an actual stencil, due to the fact it is sometimes difficult to apply the stencil straight and centered every time. It may not transfer to the skin perfectly or you may even find it necessary to re-size the whole image, in order to fit the body better.

In an industry where time is money, who wants to hand draw the same stencil multiple times when you can run it through a thermal copier in seconds?

By the way, Thermal Spirit Master Paper used in Thermo Copy Machines works, too, but Hectograph paper gives you a much crisper, darker image and is the best for hand-drawn stencils.

Spirit brand Hectograph paper can be found at Eikon Tattoo Equipment and Supplies, catalogue #2067 or through National Tattoo Supply in two sizes: catalogue #HP-100-11 and #HP-100-14.