Alice Snape, Author at Things&Ink

October 30, 2014October 30, 2014

Interview with Niki Sparkle, piercer and our online fitness muse

We caught up with Niki Sparkle, from Wrexham North Wales, she is owner/piercer aat Crystal Point Piercing. We chat about piercing, tattoos, health, fitness and her perfect day…

Check out her Instagram account @nikisparkle for daily health inspiration and piercing goodness.

We have been following your Instagram account and you often post fitness / motivational pictures, have you always tried to lead a healthy, active lifestyle? I was an elite basket ball player when I was a teen and very fit. Then life happened! Though I have never been seriously overweight my life style certainly hasn’t been always the healthiest by far. I have been going to the gym for years but doing it all wrong so didn’t see much benefit. I have only recently taken fitness serious over the past year. More intensively over the past six months. I post on Instagram so that I actually do the workouts…

I post before and after pics regularly to encourage myself. Hearing that others are getting inspiration from my posts is amazing and a mega plus. I have gotten to the point now where I want to push it and I will be working towards my first bikini competition (May 2015), which is super eek and not something I thought I would ever consider even a few months ago.

How do you motivate yourself to exercise? It’s a great mood enhancer and I enjoy the structure the gym gives my morning/start of the day. I go because I feel great when I go and it’s “me -time” although I do work and answer emails on the treadmill. Now with the impending bikini comp I am under the watchful eye of my trainer so I get up and go.

What are your favourites forms of exercise? I love core workouts, HIIT (high-intensity interval training), a good sprint, jump squats… any form of jumping about and really getting a good sweat on, followed by long stretch/yoga/Pilates time

As a tattoo collector, how do you cope with not exercising when you have a healing tattoo? I usually find a way depending on how sore I am. Or I just have a break until I feel the area can handle it. I have started to take time away from the gym when I have extensive work done as my immune system works stronger when I am not asking my body to do too many things at once. Lesson learnt on that one.

Describe your perfect day. Hmm I try to make every day count as quality. A beautiful sunrise, good music to kickstart the day, a HIIT workout and good nutritious food to fuel the day. A busy day making people gorgeously shiny using beautiful high-end jewellery. Meeting up with friends. Unwinding/story sharing/general larking/dancing…

Niki and Grace — Niki with our modification issue cover star Grace Neutral

How did you get into piercing? Completely by chance. I wore a fake lip ring and this guy (Jack Rubini, Gorlubb Piercing) called me out and offered to pierce it properly in his new studio in Copenhagen. I became his first receptionist (I think it was in the late 90s) while I was at business college and have worked in piercing/tattoo studios ever since. It took me years to get the courage to learn how to pierce. I was a piercing counter person for many many years before finally picking up a needle.

What is your favourite thing about the job? I love it all so much, but mastering techniques is up there. Always learning new things. Of course the best feeling is seeing healed work look divine on someone.

Niki's head by Deryn Twelve — Niki’s head by Deryn Twelve

Any advice for our readers thinking about getting tattooed and pierced? Ask many questions, get to know your piercer and above all be safe in your choices. I’m a big fan of the Association of Professional Piercers approach to piercing. There is great information out there for piercing clients who want to research what to look for in order to get the professional procedure they deserve.

Any advice for those thinking about taking up exercise? It’s one of the best things I have done for myself, and I can only speak from my own experience, but it’s cured so many rough old habits. And the fact my body is in better shape now than it was when I was 20 is mind blowing and really fun. Little is better than nothing and small progress is still progress, so be kind to yourself and one day you will notice the benefits! I highly encourage anyone thinking of it to start. The Internet is full of help and advice and things you can do at home so there is something for everyone.

Don’t know about you, but we feel pretty motivated. See you at the gym?

October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

Part two – tattooed vegan travel diary

Our guest blogger is Giselle, creator of Mindful Wanderlust – a travel blog about responsible travel, tattoos, and following a vegan lifestyle. This is the second of many posts to appear on th-ink, telling of her and her husband Cody’s travelling tales. (read first post here)

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with travel and tattoos.

My first travel experience was when I was about five years old, and I received my first tattoo when I was just 15.

Driving on the open road for hours at a time gives me a sense of freedom; receiving a tattoo and not worrying about any consequence can also be very freeing.

Luckily, my husband and I have elected freedom as our life of choice and have been travelling the world for the past two and a half years.

The acceptance of tattoos has come a long way. Tattooing has evolved into a fine art, and this is partly what attracts us to it. They can mean so much to so many, but they also don’t have to mean a thing.

All of our pieces don’t have deep meaning. Many of them are permanently etched into our skin, simply because we love the design, or we were informed of a tattoo convention in Kathmandu and decided on spontaneity. But just getting a tattoo in the moment turns that piece into something of meaning – at least to me.

We have travelled everywhere from Tanzania, to Madagascar, Nepal, to Grenada, Venezuela to Thailand, Indonesia to Bhutan, and the response from the majority of people has been very positive.

In countries such as Burma and Thailand, tattooing has been steeped into their culture for thousands of years. The locals were always curious about our work, and it presented us with a great way to connect with people. We would be stopped on the streets and asked to see our work, often times getting photos taken with complete strangers.

As exciting as travelling the world is, it becomes even more exciting to imagine what kind of work we might get while visiting a country. It adds to our experience, making it richer, and more memorable.

My first tattoo while travelling was at the Nepal Tattoo Convention in Kathmandu. I hadn’t planned on ever getting my hand tattooed, but I was travelling the world, doing exactly what I wanted, and had noticed a heavily tattooed man with both his hands beautifully done. I decided right there that I was going to get a traditional rose.

Funny how things can change so quickly. At the time it was a tattoo that meant nothing. It was just an impulsive decision, but now it means so much. It was the moment I had decided that I was going to live my life exactly how I wanted to live it. My personal happiness and how I choose to live my own life, far outweighs the expectations of others.

A few months later we had arrived in Thailand, and lived at an elephant sanctuary for six months. We became close friends with the local elephant expert and tattoo artist on the grounds, Jodi Thomas. She tattooed us in her bamboo hut in the middle of the jungle while watching elephants stroll by. It was unreal.

Travelling to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan this summer gave us another opportunity to collect some art from our good friend Jason Dopko. It’s a different experience being close friends with the person who is tattooing you. There is an understanding, and it can be a real bonding experience. You become involved with the ins and outs of the art, and business, and learn to really appreciate what goes into the process.

This week I travel to Toronto to get tattooed by Franz Stefanik, and our next big stop is Japan in January of 2015. We would love to get some work done by Shige or Ichibay.

Only time will tell.

Next entry… January when we visit Japan to get tattooed.

October 19, 2014October 20, 2014

MORE PHOTOS in MARK LEAVER’S FACIAL TATTOO PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT

Mark Leaver‘s photography project has been created to show the beauty of facial tattoos and dispel some of the myths surrounding them. We featured some of his photos in The Identity Issue, and have continually followed this stunning facial tattoo project on our blog. Check out previous posts here: MARK LEAVER’S FACIAL TATTOO PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT and EXCLUSIVE NEW IMAGES IN MARK LEAVER’S FACIAL TATTOO PROJECT.

He recently contacted us to share more unpublished images with us, and I am delighted to share them with you in this blog post.

Kirsty Wood – 23 – Tattoo artist

Trevin Goodbush – 36 – Works at Lush!

Deefa De’ville – 43 – retired body piercer and healing specialist

Michael Kench – 21 – Tattoo artist

Robert Williamson – 29 – tattoo artist

Emma Gerrard – 27 – Tattoo artist and in a band

We also caught up with photographer Mark to find out how he feels about the project…

How you found your latest subjects? I recently graduated from Bournemouth and have now moved back to London. Before I left the south coast I wanted to make sure that I managed to take a few more portraits while I was still local. This particular group of people are all Dorset based, and are all people who I have either met over the course of my three years in the area or have been put in contact with through friends.

Dorset, has a massive and tight knit tattoo community. I’ve met and got to know most of the people in Dorset with facial tattooing through doing this project, there’s still a couple though I can think of though who I’d like to go back and photograph for the project.

How is the project progressing? The project’s coming on really nicely Thanks. It seems weird that it started off as a self-set university brief but now is something that I do in my spare time for leisure. I have a full time job at the moment, un-related to photography, so it’s nice on days off to be able to go and meet interesting new people and carry on with my own creative work. Just last week I met and photographed Grace Neutral, then a few days later Curly Moore! (photographs have not been released yet) Both big well-known names in the industry, both of whom are really great additions to the project for their own reasons.

Are you near finishing or is it a never-ending project? Because of the way that I’m photographing, the project doesn’t really have an obvious finish point. It’s not a traditionally shot documentary story but rather a typographic series showing people with facial tattooing. So the project finishes either when I’ve photographed every one with facial tattooing (not possible) or when I feel I’ve made a representative and differential sample of people with facial tattoos. This includes, people of all ages, genders and ethnicities. For the subject of facial tattooing you also look into the different types of facial tattoos, this includes cosmetic tattooing, aesthetic tattooing and many more which are explored through the project.

Saying that, the project has come a long way and is becoming a substantial body of work. There’s still a few more people I will be looking to photograph for this chapter. Then in the next few years I’ll be looking to make a book of the portraits with text on each sitter.

We look forward to the book, and applaud Mark for his positive contribution to the tattoo world. His work can be viewed at, mdleaver.com

October 15, 2014October 15, 2014

Charity Disney Flash Day at Bold As Brass

We caught up with tattooist (and love issue cover star) Rachel Baldwin to find out more about her Disney themed charity tattoo day, which was held back in September to raise money for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and celebrate her shop’s first birthday…

What made you decide to do a Disney Flash charity day? I wanted to do something super special for our shops first birthday (Bold As Brass). I’m a bit of a Disney fanatic and I thought this would be the perfect excuse to do cute Disney themed tattoos, dress up in silly costumes and have a fun party with my friends.

Yana AKA Tinkerbell who helped out on the day

How did you pick the charity Alder Hey Children’s Hospital? I wanted to do something nice for the local community. I am so grateful that Liverpool has been a welcoming place for us to set up our shop, so this is just a little back from us. As my family are all from Liverpool I have always been aware of Alder Hey, I know a lot of children from all over the country go there for treatment.

Did you enjoy the day? And will you do more charity flash days? I always try to keep my expectations low (so I’m not disappointed!) but I had no idea we would have such a great turn out and such a lovely time. It seriously felt like my birthday! It couldn’t have gone any better. I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who came and tattooed, got tattooed or bought something.

I want to say an even bigger thank you to all artists who joined us working on the day. I am super lucky to have such talented generous friends! Everyone worked super hard all day and into the night and partied hard afterwards!

Rachel getting her nails did by the lovely Nancy Mc

Special thanks to Alex Strangler, Vicky Morgan, Matt Craven, James Kiley, Toni Moore, Anrijis Straume and Jody Dawber. As well as Nick (Baldwin) for his help and support and my super organised desk girlies Sandra, Yana and my sister Michelle.

Well done to Rachel and everyone involved in the day, who managed to raise an amazing £8,024 for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

Of course, Team Things&Ink showed up to show our support and some team members couldn’t resist the Disney flash…

Leila's kewpie Princess Jasmine by Jody Dawber — Leila’s kewpie Princess Jasmine by Jody Dawber

October 7, 2014

Alice’s Pig – crazy is normal

Inspired by vintage style and Alice in Wonderland, Alice’s Pig is a fashion brand from Brixton in South London. Founded in May 2013 by sibling duo Amanda and Nicolai, the clothes are designed around their love for Alice in Wonderland, where crazy is normal. The name is a reminder that colliding styles and cultures can produce something interesting and that there can be beauty and surprise in anything – even in a pig.

View their entire collection on their website, alicespig.com. And take advantage of this exclusive discount code for Things&Ink readers: thingsandink10