Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to wish everyone happy holidays! I cant believe how fast this year has gone by. Also don't forget we have some strange hours over the next week due to renovations to the shop. The holiday schedule will be as follows:
Friday Dec 24th, Open 12-4
Saturday Dec 25th, CLOSED
Sunday Dec 26th, CLOSED
Monday Dec 27th, CLOSED
Tuesday Dec 28th, CLOSED
Wednesday Dec 29th, CLOSED
Thursday Dec 30th, Open 12-8
Friday Dec 31st, CLOSED
Saturday Jan 1st, CLOSED
Sunday Jan 2nd, reopen 12-8
Please be safe everyone!

Crows

I'm sure all those who get tattooed by me have noticed my crow obsession, They are all over my room here at mandrake. Keeping this in mind, I wanted to post this cool tribalized crow piece. It was difficult to photograph because it wrapped around the forearm but I captured the majority of the piece in this shot.

Baby feet

I think a great way to signify the birth of a child is to get his or her birth certificate foot prints tattooed on you. They are classic and will never go out of style. Many parents ask about these because they have seen foot prints done which were black and poorly done, and thus have swayed away from the idea of getting them. The prints should be treated as a portrait would be treated including all the imperfections and grey variations in the print...after all this is what makes it unique to YOUR child. Some parents will try to "fix" imperfections in the print as it might be smudged...or maybe a toe didn't come out etc......BUT this is a bad idea. The print marks a precious moment in time and should not be tampered with. These are two examples of this where the parent left the prints as is even though it had imperfections in it, But he will proudly wear the exact replica of the original hospital print.

More Owls

 Yup! As promised some more owls...as you can see there is a huge divertity in the styles depending on what the client is interested in.

Crazy Holiday hours:

A few of you that have been into the shop recently have heard the rumors of the possibility of renovations. Well I am here to let you know the rumors are true! We will be closed both for the holidays AND for renovations from Saturday, December 25^th until Wednesday, December 29^th. We will be open Thursday, Closed Friday and Saturday then Reopen on Sunday, January 2nd with a whole new look for the new year! So get to booking your 2011 tattoo!

Owls

Everywhere you go all you see are owls these days! They are hugely popular. The first thing anyone thinks of when they think of owl tattoos is wisdom. Owls, however, are also associated with psychic energy and spirituality.

Military experience

 I absolutely love this piece because it is a unique portrayal of this clients unique experience in the military. We have been working on this one since the fall and we were finally able to complete it.

Another Beautiful fan!

As promised, here is another picture of an Asian inspired fan piece! This client sat like a champ even though this piece is on a difficult area!

The symbolism of the fan

I have recently done some beautiful asian fan tattoos. I thought after discussing the meaning with one of my clients that I wouls post a brief description of the fan in asian culture as well as the link where I found it. This picture is one of my favorites, I just completed another this weekend that I will post asap!

Significance

1. The Chinese calligraphy character for the word "fan" has the same sound as the character for "kindness" or "good." Thus, fans are viewed as good luck charms and expressions of generosity.

Types

2. Flat Chinese fans are round and made of silk stretched over a frame. Folded fans are made of silk, paper, feathers or leaves. The handles can be bamboo, sandalwood, bone, tortoise shell or ivory.

Symbolism

3. The round fans symbolize union or reunion and are often inscribed with romantic poems, Chinese characters or floral designs representing wealth and longevity. The folding fans have a history of symbolizing scholarship.

Function

4. In the past, Chinese fans were used to signify a high social status. Today they are used to display grace in dances and personality traits of characters in theatrical plays or storytelling. In connection with the annual Dragon Boat Festival, Chinese fans have also been used as memorials of people who have died.

Fun Fact

5. Traditionally, men and women use different folding fans, based on the number of "ribs" between folds. Women's fans must have at least 30 ribs, but men's fans can have nine, 16, 20 or 24.

Read more: What Is the Meaning of the Chinese Fans? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/facts_5647816_meaning-chinese-fans_.html#ixzz17HuSQ6cb

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5647816_meaning-chinese-fans_.html

This is one of our 6 for 6 sessions. Although I have many more hours to go I am happy with how this back piece is coming along. ALSO This client takes bright color really well which I am thrilled about! I am looking forward to our next session!

The claim

This drawing was created for a local function. It had been hanging on my wall when a good customer of mine claimed it for his own! I was so happy I finally got to do this one as a tattoo with little modifications!

Lineless

This piece was completely created with no lines. I would love to do much more work like this in the future!

Frumpy and frazzled

Hello everyone!

I’m in the middle of our crazy summer push. I will be working two weeks straight and I have had some really tough projects to work on. I took one of my days off this week to draw as I have some HUGE projects coming up in the next two weeks, and I have 8 six hour sessions all starting large scale projects. This is exciting and exhausting all wrapped up in a neat package.

I had a special circumstance day this Thursday. Those who know me know how against tattoo parties outside the shop I am on so many levels. Well this week I broke my cardinal rule of tattoos outside the shop! A friend of a customer who lives in Connecticut is terminally ill with brain cancer, and is in her last days. One of her wishes was to get tattooed before she passes, and I was truly honored to be the person chosen for the job! So…I packed up my equipment and made a pilgrimage to Connecticut where I met her and her family who are all fantastic people trying to deal as best they can with a difficult time. The woman got the symbol of the brain cancer ribbon made into a butterfly on her back shoulder. I did not photograph this out of respect for her and her family. My heart goes out to you all and you will be in my thoughts.

The leaf piece above has been a project Ive been working on for a while and was happy to finally finish! We had a color revision after the first round and now I think it looks real sharp!

Both the panda and moon pieces were done on sisters who came in for their first tattoos. The panda picture originally had no ears so I added them in. I love how this piece stands out from across the room! The moon piece is the exact drawing the customer came in with. I tried a few different design revisions, but she was set on the original drawing so we worked with that.

Finally the bird piece is an oldie but goodie that came in for a minor touch up and I couldn’t help but include it!

So in short I’m feeling a little frumpy and frazzled these days! I’m rocking my best “mom jeans” with a loose t-shirt, messy hair, poorly done makeup! But…as long as the tattoos look good I guess that’s all that matters isn’t it?

Switching it up!

Hello folks! I have to switch up how Ive been working with this blog. I haven't meant to disappoint you all by not regularly posting. I will continue to post as frequently as possible but I have to make some changes......Usually I come home from work and post... BUT there have been days where I have been getting home late, and have been WAY too exhausted to even think of posting! Also I have been having some house guests staying with me which has made it a little hard to camp out in front of the computer to write!

My plan of action is to post the highlights of the previous day in the morning...after coffee and after my mind has cleared a bit. Thank you all for being so patient!

That being said...The line art piece above I need to tell you the specifics of this piece. This was a drawing the customer brought in to me and wanted the piece EXACTLY as she had drawn it.....soooo........that's exactly what she got! enough said!

The second piece tribal with scorpion was done for a customer who I haven't seen in a couple of years and chose this piece online to be done on his forearm. His wife will be coming in a few days to get a Scorpio piece as well. Both of them share the same astrological sign and decided to get pieces to symbolize their union as well as their collective signs.

Tattoos I did today

We finally finished! The black and grey sugar skull piece is finished and I'm really siked about it! Although I will miss my customer coming in too see me so often!

The cancer ribbon butterfly was done on a woman who is a breast cancer survivor and went through a double mastectomy. She is writing a book about her experience with cancer and I am really looking forward to reading it when its complete.

We spoke of how... after battling cancer, survivors are so quick to run out and "mark" their bodies with tattoos about the cancer. My thoughts to this are, the act of getting the cancer tattoo is something positive a survivor can do to their bodies which is completely within their control. This is so unlike the multiple procedures endured by the patient which are completely out of their control for so long. I believe the tattoo is so significant because it is the act of being able to finally take back this much needed control or their body!

Tattoos I did today

The cross piece Was actually a coverup of an old Aerosmith tattoo which had been done in all purple ink. This made it a super easy coverup because not only did she choose an image which had a lot of detail, but the lack of any black in the original made for an easy disguise!

The black and grey piece was the son of a friend of my husband. Yup... you heard me right...the SON of a friend of my husband! Sigh.....when people in my age group have children who are old enough to get tattooed its always a little shocking to me that its even possible that could even happen...aren't I still 25?

Tattoos I did today

Happy fathers day to all the dads out there!

Today we had a group of 10 in. we split them up between all the artists and the ones above are the ones I did for the group. The black and grey cross and the roman numerals with the flowers were both first timers to the tattoo experience. Hopefully I didn’t traumatize them forever not so much with my tattooing but my bad humor!

The piece above was a small addition to some text she already had. She intends to add some lettering to her other shoulder, and add a bunch of flowers to the entire top of her back similar to the ones I did today. An ambitious project but she will be working on it little by little.

Tattoos I did today

Today we are minus one piece for the day. I worked late tonight and we were unable to finish the piece we had started so I opted to wait until we were finished to take the picture. Also the customer was unhappy with the fact we were unable to finish sooo I though asking for a photo was asking too much!

The Disney winter piece was a fun piece on a mandrake frequent flyer who likes to get these pieces for her grandkids (actually she is a HUGE disney fan as well). This was a fun piece I hope we are able to add to someday…im my head im picturing snowflakes EVERYWHERE!

The fairy piece is TINY. Not many people know that Really small pieces with a lot of detail take a long time and are extremely difficult to execute. I tried to put as much detail into this piece as possible despite its tiny size.

Tattoos I did today

I apologise….I know Ive been gone a couple of days. Usually this time of year I suffer from burnout/malaise and I need to recharge so please try to bear with me!

The first two pieces with the cancer ribbon and the double “L” pieces were on two ladies who lost a friend to leukemia this past fall and wanted to memorialize her as she was a treasured friend to the two of them.

The rose piece was a recolor of an older piece (which I didn't photograph). The Piece was too dark and lacked depth that fortunately the color was able to bring out again!

The carrot/skull piece belongs to our very own shop manager Laura…Not this had been done a while ago and I did not take a picture of the piece and forgot about it until today…..Because the temperature hit 90, and she was wearing shorts and it was peeking out so I was like “whoa, I forgot all about that one” and HAD to take a picture!

Finally the fairy was artwork created by the customer on her computer and she wanted to have it tattooed on her.

Tattoos I did today

An eventful day. Yes we see her again...the sugar skull piece is almost done! Only the inside of the arm is left to complete and I am so excited. My customer soon will be leaving for photography school and I will be so sad to see her go!

The USMC piece was the first piece on a young man who enlisted in the marines. He tell me the new guidelines for the marines is no more than 4 tattoos to be accepted in to the marine corps. I have to say I FULLY support our soldiers and thanked him for protecting my freedom...which allows me to keep tattooing in this incredible country!

I also tried to catch up on drawings for the week and after being goaded a little by Tom...finally booked some time for myself to have my back piece worked on.

Tattoos I did today

No you eyes do not deceive you….and I did not make a mistake and upload three of the same pictures. Today I did three of the same tattoos on three brothers to memorialize their father. The patriots piece was done on a friend of the family who had come with them. I was deeply honored that they chose me to do this piece for them as they had been looking for the right person to do the piece for a while. Their father had many tattoos and was in the navy so they thought it was appropriate to memorialize him in this manner. It was a fun group to work on and we shared many laughs.

Tattoos I did today

Today was A fun day. I know all of you have been watching the progression of this koi piece… today we finally finished! I know this customer intends to build up his arm to create a full sleeve and I am super excited to work on the rest of it!

The fairy was done for a customer who has been waiting 10 years to get this piece. She wanted the fairy created in the likeness of her daughter and had given me a portrait to work from. I had a lot of fun working on this one as well and was super complimented this customer chose me to do the piece! I will also be looking forward to doing more work on her!