Rosalie Hurr, Author at Things&Ink

May 3, 2016May 6, 2016

Tattooed Mama: Hannah Daisy

We chatted to full time mama 22-year-old Hannah Daisy from London about becoming a mum, how she sees her body differently now and her tattoos…

Pregnancy is such an enlightening journey, there’s no way you can come out the other side and look at yourself in the same way. It was so uplifting for me, my body worked HARD, and I’ve come to respect it so much more. I’ve struggled with self esteem, I still do from time to time, but I try not to worry about the small things any more and just appreciate it as a whole. If I wanted to look like I hadn’t had a baby then I wouldn’t have had had one.

Honestly, my tattoos haven’t changed much at all since I was pregnant. I have got a stretch mark that’s gone straight through the bottom of the dagger, but it’s not noticeable, it all comes with the territory and I had anticipated some change, so no biggy!

Every aspect of life has changed. I’m still trying to find that balance between being a mum and being my own person. Having a career and keeping up with hobbies have both been on hold since being pregnant and having Reuben, which has been the most frustrating thing, but I’m finally starting to weave them back into the mum schedule, we’ll get there eventually. The kid makes the rules right now!

Instagram was never meant to be more than a place to share photos for family and friends. My pregnancy started off a bit rocky and I wasn’t really sure how to cope. I’m normally one of those people who bottles everything up, but I started to talk about my experiences and converse with other women and it really helped, it became more of an outlet and played a huge part in me healing.

I started @two.plus.roo so I didn’t end up bombarding everyone on my main account (@hannah.daisy) with endless bump updates intended for family and friends. I felt this huge urge to capture everything, I’m glad I did because it’s been such a magical journey so far. Finding this little corner of the internet where women really pull together as a community was a huge eye opener and I can only try to add to that.

I don’t think anyone is really qualified to give advise on pregnancy/motherhood, everyone has their own ways and it can get quite patronising, so I’d say have faith in your own instincts and don’t feel bad if you need to politely ask someone to back off. Keep a positive head on your shoulders, make some mama friends and enjoy every second!

I miss being pregnant so much, I loved being pregnant. It’s a such a surreal feeling to be carrying a little human, when you think about it it’s almost alien isn’t it?! I’m really selfish and enjoyed being the closest one to him! I certainly don’t miss waking up every 20 minutes through the night though, that I could have done without.

Tattooing was something I took interest in quite early on in life, a lot of my other interests at that time were easily interwoven with tattooing so it was something I was bound to bump into at some point. My partner George tattoos, we both paint together and get tattooed, so it’s something that would be hard for me to avoid. My tattoos don’t have any great personal meanings or anything fancy like that, they’re just a collection of designs I like by people I’ve wanted to get tattooed by. George and I tend to spend the year saving and then travel to different parts of the world to get tattooed by some awesome artists. It’s allowed me to meet people I otherwise wouldn’t of crossed paths with, and it’s a great reason to travel. We have plans to travel and get tattooed a lot more this year, this time with Reuben in tow, I’m excited to show him the world this time round!

April 27, 2016April 27, 2016

Alex Garant Art

Alex Garant aka. Queen of Double Eyes is a French Canadian artist known for her double-exposed oil paintings featuring beautifully haunting women.

On her website Alex Garant paintings are described as:

[…] not far from a perfect optical illusion: her protagonists trying to escape themselves, almost possessed by a distinct version of their own individuality, an exorcism of the soul. The viewers shall try to unearth the main figure by focusing on making those multiples into one.

alex

Way Down

thelongestwinter

The Longest Winter

MakeBelieve

Make Believe

fragment

Fragments of her Mind

April 24, 2016April 24, 2016

Toy Tattoo Machines

Emily Rose is a 31-year-old stay at home mom who was a tattooer in Lewisville, North Carolina in the United States who runs an Etsy business from home selling toy tattoo machines that she makes. We chatted to Emily about how she makes the toys and what inspired her to do so…

My health and lack of child care after having our daughter meant that I was forced to stop tattooing for the time being but I found a way to still contribute to my family and stay somewhat relevant in the tattoo industry when I started my Etsy adventure so I just found another way to work.

I have a solid background in art, I’ve been in art classes my whole life and have my bachelor’s degree in fine arts from a university here in North Carolina. I started my apprenticeship straight out of college and never looked back; I was 21 and now my husband and I run our own shop in our little rural town. He now tattoos there by himself while I’m home with our daughter making toys. It’s tough but I like to think we’re making the best of some difficult situations we’ve been handed.

I created my toy tattoo machines out of necessity really, our daughter just needed one, and there wasn’t one out there for her, so I made one. She stayed at the shop with us for the first year of her life, we opened the shop when she was a month old. I had to take her with me to breastfeed and tattoo, it was a mess really, but the one thing that made it all worth it was seeing how much she really loved to be at the shop as she grew. The bigger she got the easier it was to have her there with us, so she’s just been a little shop girl from day one.

It was too hard for me to say “no you can’t handle that machine, or that ink” because she couldn’t understand why, so I tried to find ways to make her feel like a part of what we were doing at the shop. But it really inspired me to start making her things that she could use to mimic what she saw us doing at work. I thought they make those little doctor kits why not a tattoo kit? And it worked!

She had her own little machine and didn’t need to mess with mine, she had something that made her feel like a part of the work day and I decided to start selling them locally before I eventually opened up an Etsy shop. The first ones I made were just scraps of wood and bits of stuff I had laying around, I was able to make them better! I save enough here and there for a new tool or some fancy new paints and I get the most rewarding feedback from moms out there! I could tell my own little one was dying for a way to connect with us over work, she sees us so dedicated and in love with our work I think it’s only natural for her to want to be a part of that too.
I’m beyond excited to see how many people are ordering for little girls, the toys avaliable for girls are still geared towards shopping and domestic duties so I’m happy to see how often the pinks sell out! People are excited to give their kids something other than what they see at the store, and they’re excited to be getting it from me! It’s amazing!

Emily’s art work

I grew up around the art world but it wasn’t until I started getting tattooed that I really felt like I’d found where I was meant to be. I just felt an instant sense of belonging in the tattoo industry as soon as I was old enough to start collecting my own. I was drawn to tattooing because for me I can make such an impact on someone’s life just by giving them the fruits of my labor. I can tattoo anyone, normal people, cancer patients or victims with scars and they always feel so much better afterwards. I liked the idea of sitting with someone and helping them make a monument on their bodies to some internal struggle or painful event, I loved the idea of helping people feel more beautiful.
When I get tattooed it’s almost like I’m becoming more of who I was meant to be, like this colored and decorated version is the real me and I’m just revealing it as I get tattooed, I wanted to help people feel that way too. I also really enjoyed being friends with artists, feeling really connected to them as the people I’d chosen to tattoo me. It’s a special bond, I miss it terribly!

My own tattoos are mostly pieces I’ve collected from friends at conventions and shops in my years. I have a full sleeve from an amazing friend in Texas named Mark Vanness and it’s a whole arm of birds, it’s probably my favorite! I have a birds nest on my hand there and even a secret ostrich on my bicep, my other arm is generally American traditional and I have black and gray movie portraits on one leg, and some weird ocean creatures on my other leg. I’ve been saving my back for a really epic pelican I’ve been thinking about for years while waiting for the right artist to cross my path. I have saved all the worst spots for last.

Check out Emily’s Etsy store for tattoo toy machines…

April 19, 2016

Interview with Katie McGowan

29-year-old Katie McGowan, works at Black Cobra Tattoos in Little Rock, Arkansas and creates insanely bright neo-traditional tattoos. We chatted to Katie about how she got started in the industry and how she loves those who express themselves through tattoos…

How long have you been tattooing? It’ll be six years this month!

How did you start in the industry? What did you do before? I grew up drawing and having in interest in art. When I was little, I used to draw cartoons that I watched on TV. Mostly characters from Rugrats and the Simpsons. I would try to make the characters look exactly like how I saw them on TV. Then once I was in high school and college, I would draw portraits of my friends and try to study the details of their faces and bodies. Art had always been my hobby in a way. I drew a lot outside of school, but hadn’t taken any art classes until college. My freshman year of college was when I started hanging out at my local tattoo shop. I loved studying foreign languages as much as I loved art, so my major at the time was Spanish. After begging for a job at the tattoo shop, I started working there as an apprentice hopeful at the age of 19. I stayed in college for three years, but eventually dropped out to pursue a tattoo apprenticeship. My first year of tattooing was in 2010.

What drew you to the tattoo world? The energy that you find in a tattoo shop and at a tattoo convention can be quite magical. It’s this unapologetic environment where people can embrace their bodies, express themselves through art, and say “fuck you” to society’s expectations. I love this. I love the concept of a person having control of their body and life in such a way that if they want to pay to have it altered permanently, they can. To me, that’s empowering. Also, I love having a job where I can cuss. A lot!

Describe your style, how has it changed? What do you like to tattoo and draw?
I have respect for all genres of tattooing, but I’ve always had a particular fascination with traditional and neo-tradtional tattoos. I love tattoos that look like tattoos. I find them to be charming and eye-catching. I also love a tattoo that will age nicely and look rad from now until you’re playing bingo in the retirement home. Traditional style tattoos stand the test of time. I would describe my style as traditional-ish, somewhere between traditional and neo-traditional. I try to use interesting colour palettes, and I feel like my colour choices often times make my tattoos identifiable as being done by me. I tattoo lots of mandalas, lady faces, and other imagery with bold line work and fun colours. I’ve also been tattooing lots of geo-animals which is really fun!

What inspires you? I’m inspired by confident people. People that come in and get large, visible tattoos and don’t care how they’re perceived by others, that’s impressive to me. I’m also inspired by hard working tattooers that crank out killer work on the daily. Matt O’Baugh, who owns the shop that I work at (and was my partner on season six of Ink Master), is a good example of a hard working tattooer that inspires me. I’m also inspired by the young tattooers that are coming into the industry hungry to prove themselves. Females tattooers are a huge inspiration to me too. I love all of the female tattooers that are doing lots of feminine, coloruful, traditional-ish tattoos and making that style of tattooing more relevant and accessible. That is incredibly inspiring to me. I was so honoured to get to meet and hang out with Shanghai Kate at her shop in Austin, Texas. Talk about an inspiring female tattooer! She’s a trailblazer and a bad ass for sure.

What would you love to tattoo? I would love to tattoo anything that represents my style. Mandalas, roses, lady faces, any sort of traditional inspired imagery. Anything I can incorporate bold lines and fun colour palettes into, I’m down!

Do you have any guest spot or conventions planned? I’m working the Evian convention in France in October this year (I’m so excited!), and I’m working on locking down dates for guest spots and other conventions before then. I always post on my Instagram when I travel, so if you follow me on there, you’ll definitely know where I’ll be at!

Can you tell us about your own tattoos? I have a mixture of meaningful tattoos, silly tattoos, and stuff I wanted just because I thought it was cool at the time. I got my first tattoo ten years ago, which is crazy to think about because it doesn’t seem like it could have been so long ago! I don’t have a favourite tattoo on me, but I especially like my traditional rose with “don’t call me Shirley” in a banner on my forearm.

April 14, 2016April 14, 2016

Inkluded Launch New Online Store

Here at Things&Ink we are big fans of the Inkluded blog founded by freelance journalist Beccy Rimmer. So when we heard Inkluded launched a brand-new online store, we had to share it!

We’ve teamed up with Inkluded to give you the chance to win a T-shirt! Check out our Instagram for more details.

Inkluded have created a clothing range in which every design has been drawn by tattoo artists. Inkluded has worked with five UK tattoo artists, Hannya Jayne, Dan Metcalfe, Mike Love, Clare Lambert and Kat Winifred, who have all designed something from scratch for the launch range.

Founder of Inkluded, Beccy Rimmer, said: “At Inkluded, we’re passionate about showcasing and sharing amazing tattoo art. This country’s creative tattoo scene is fast-growing and flourishing with talented artists, remarkable artwork and innovative styles – we thought it was time tattoo enthusiasts had one online place from which they could buy tattoo products and fashion.”

Inkluded was set up with a strong mission, to raise awareness of exceptional tattoo art through blog posts, art exhibitions and by creating an artistic community that people can feel included in. As well as browsing the new products, readers can meet the artists through a series of interviews published on the blog.

A selection of limited edition T-shirts and vests (prices from £15) are available from www.inkluded.co.uk/store.

Photographs by JustJodie Photography