My first polynesian

So last night Noah came in and we're almost done reworking his tribal piece. All we have left are the two small triangles on his chest.

 It was interesting to see how differently his skin reacted this time around. We were out late the night before drinking and I could notice the difference in how much he bled and how much harder it was to pack the black in solid. This is why we don't get wasted the night before you get tattooed!

Now everything lines up nicely and is sharp again. I'll post finished pics in a few weeks once this is all healed.

Dustin came in last night and showed me the tiki we did during my last trip. Mike Brown added the poly stuff onto his fingers and the stuff on the top of his hand he had already when we did the tiki. So last night's mission was to connect the two pieces with some polynesian designs, then we're going to fill up the inside of his forearm on a day when we have more time.

First he let me draw on him.

 So this is what we came up with... they came in later on in the evening since Pro Bowl was going on and no one was coming in to get work done.

We continued the poly around his kids' name on the other side of the tiki, and we plan on continuing the patterns around his arm the next time.

 This was challenging and fun at the same time. After doing this for the first time I definitely have a better game plan for the next time. Watching Anna and Mony work for the past 3.5 years helped me figure out how to line it. I am pseudo-happy with this tattoo. Looking at it after the fact there are a few things that I want to/need to do differently.

 First off I definitely plan on using two different pens to sketch on the skin... one for the rough sketch and a darker color for the finalized lines. It's difficult to put a small line over a fat/sketchy line.

This was alot of fun and kudos to Dustin for giving me the chance to practice poly on him. In a week or two we're going to work on his inner forearm and give me another chance to draw on the skin.

I'm working on the floor today, hopefully some walk-ins come in. Keone (with the island tattoo) is coming in at 6 today after my shift to start a huge owl on his outter arm. So stoked! I'll be sure to post pics when I'm done or tmrw.

ALOHA

Last day in Philly, and back to Hawaii again

 This was done on my last day working the floor in Philly before I had to leave for Hawaii again.

Small diamond....

 more small stuff....

 The small number tattoos went on a couple... not sure what these numbers meant, but they were super cool people.

 these next three went on one of our regular clients Benjamin... who collects work from alot of our artists at No Ka Oi. This went on his arm, the star on the opposite arm, and the greek letters on the same arm as the star. All really fun to do and the star/letters were a challenge!

 This one went on an au pair from france. she was super sweet and got this outline behind her ear. I definitely need to work on my linework in this area, its SO tricky to tattoo. I asked her to come back when this heals so I can touch it up as i know some of these lines will heal super light.

 Did this one on my coworker/friend Andrew. this was all his idea and we had joked about doing this for a few months, so i was happy to finally get to do it.

these should be words for everyone to live by....

 First day on the floor in Hawaii - tiny plumeria on a tiny japanese girl...

 yeaaaaah so this tattoo was on an older woman from california who came to Skin Deep maybe 15 years ago and had a Taz done on the opposite leg... so now she's back for a "bad ass Tweety". This is what we came up with....

 These two are by-far my favorites so far. These were done on a mother/daughter from Australia and they were so awesome! Really open to me drawing everything up for them and were really happy with what we did so far...

This went on the daughter... we changed it up just slightly, added a second butterfly and put different shading in the flower. So stoked on this one. I think feet are my new favorite thing to tattoo!

I am working sales until friday, then off to Sailor Jerry's grave with Stolfi and Shanghai Kate. Will post more then. I also have a few things lined up for Sunday so I will keep you all posted on my progress.

ALOHA

Slowly as she goes....

So its been a few weeks since I've been on here. I've only been tattooing once a week and since business is slow this time of year I'm working sales to make some money.

This little skull was done on my good friend Parker, we left the skull and teeth open so that we can decide that later. this was super fun to do and challenging as it was on the side of his knee/inner thigh area. SO weird stretching here.

 This walked in a week or so ago, simple lettering. I want to get better at lettering, hook it up with shading and more fun stuff.

 This one came in the same day at the lettering, its outlined in black and colored with a super dark blue that he picked out. It's kind of hard to tell the color difference with his skin tone. This was fun and I'm finally getting the hang of the wrist/arm area.

 Super challenging here. This was the first back of the neck tattoo I have done, and I'm glad Bill was there to help me through it. Once I got the hang of stretching in this area it went by much easier.

 Also a walkin on South Street on Christmas Eve. Of course since Rhianna has one like this, this girl had to have the same thing, because it's so original and everything. This was challenging as well, and difficult to stretch. I want to work here more so I can get better at it.

This was a walkin when I was working at No Ka Oi. This guy was super nice and it was a breeze to do. Sweet dollar sign yo!

 This was done on my good friend/boss Sandy O, who I've worked for since college doing airbrush work. This was her first tattoo and we did it in a mendhi style with only brown ink. Usually we try and shy away from all color-lined work, but for her, i'll do anything she wants. I'll post healed pics of this as soon as I can. Here are a few views. We put her daughters' names in the heart as well.

This is all for now, I have some more pics to post but I can't seem to locate them. I leave for Hawaii in ten days, and hope to get many more tattoos under my belt before I come back to Philly in March.

More to come...