Spirit Gallery Tattoo - Home

Guest Blog- Introducing TattCafe.com

brankauti@gmail.com (Blaze) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:31:26 +0000

No matter how old you are, dating can be fun and flirty but at the same time, it can be very intense, confusing, and a minefield of decisions.

Try being between 18-29 years old, living an alternative lifestyle, with visible tattoos and piercings and trying to meet someone who can appreciate the ink. Personally I have lived this problem for the past 15 years and this is why I decided to develop TattCafe.com. To help others avoid those first impression judgements.

Almost all online dating sites require your primary profile photo of a happy smiling face but that always felt weird to me. I felt that having my work online said more about me than my face could. I tried to get photos that showed my face and my tattoos but that was really awkward! Try putting up a foot tattoo with the name of your dead cat - Miss BooKitty - and see where that gets you! So at TattCafe.com even the shyest of members can feel comfortable giving a glimpse into their personalities without fully ‘exposing’ themselves by putting up their tatt's instead or in addition to their faces.

I felt it important that TattCafe.com not only encourage its' members to email, sms, video chat, speak to each other using an anonymous calling feature but create/attend social events, such as tattoo conventions posted in their Groups and Events areas. Some members just send me links through the blog and I add them to the website.

Membership has been growing steadily over the past few weeks with singles in Canada, the US, Ireland and Israel being the most interested in meeting others who are devoted to the lifestyle associated with body art and culture. Statistically our members have a fondness for their pets, music, travel, and life choices such as being vegetarian, volunteerism, activism and alternative spirituality.

Our website also has a companion blog: http://www.TattCafe.wordpress.com that accepts content from all TattCafe.com members and body mod community members. Charity awareness and fundraising all feature prominently in the philosophy of TattCafe so if you send in a story, event, latest work, make sure to include the name and link to your favorite charity! My favorite charity is the Friends of Animals Nea Filedelphia in Athens, Greece and I tattooed their logo under my 'Embryo in the Womb' tattoo inspired by da Vinci's wood cut series!

Best wishes,

Kitsilano Kitty, President of TattCafe

Breast Tattoos

brankauti@gmail.com (Blaze) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

For those who have been through breast cancer and lost a breast, getting a breast tattoo can be a very meaningful and emotional experience.

Many women are unaware of how much of their femininity they associate with their breasts until they lose one. Without their breast, they feel like less of a woman, unsure of how they are perceived by others and even by themselves. Are they still feminine and womanly with a flat chest? The disease of cancer has taken away part of their body and with it some of their identity. It's a cruel outcome that many women struggle with after they have won their battle with cancer.

Tattoo artists have been able to help these women to regain some of their identity, either through the addition of beautiful feminine artwork over the scar of the missing breast, or through cosmetic tattooing where a nipple is drawn back in where it would have been on the chest.

If you are looking to have a nipple to be tattooed back in, this is a job for a cosmetic tattoo artists. Cosmetic tattooing falls under different laws and licenses than traditional tattooing, and so you will need to research doctors or the occasional tattoo artist who also holds a cosmetic tattoo license. The equipment used in this procedure is different from a traditional tattoo machine, and is typically smaller, one-use, and uses smaller needle sets. The procedure may be covered under your health insurance as part of reconstructive surgery, so speak with your insurance provider and your cosmetic tattooist to find out if there can be help with payment towards the tattoo.

If you opt for an image rather than cosmetically replicating your breast, you can find imagery meaningful to you that represents your own ideas about yourself. Some women choose to place a pink ribbon as a badge of courage and success over their breast. Others flow vines and flowers over the chest, a symbol of beauty and femininity.

Ultimately, the choice to get a breast tattoo is very personal and significant to the client, and so care should be taken to speak with an artist or multiple artists to find one who can help manifest your vision.

Breast tattoos can help you reclaim your body, celebrate victory over the struggle with breast cancer, and provide a vision of joy where there used to be pain. If you have gotten a breast tattoo or breast cancer tattoo, please share your experiences with us. We'd love to know how to better serve your needs and desires from both an artist perspective, and from a serving point of view to help make the process more comfortable for our clients.

Stomach and Bellybutton Tattoos

brankauti@gmail.com (Blaze) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Stomach Tattoos have a reputation for boldness. People get words, family names and banners tattooed across their stomachs, declaring their family history and stance toward the world. Women often get tattoos around their belly buttons; delicate designs to accent their femininity.

The stomach tattoo can look great on a fit body, or one that doesn't change very much in weight over time. But, due to the many minute fluctuations in weight almost everyone experiences, a stomach tattoo should be carefully considered before putting needle to skin.

In general, I would recommend men getting a stomach tattoo over women doing so. Pregnancy is a consideration for a woman getting stomach tattoo, because this will cause a great deal of stretching and distortion to the piece. But, even if she does not gain weight, because women tend to pick such delicate designs that the tattoo tends to blur out over time and look less feminine.

As it loses its shape, a delicate flower around the bellybutton can become a strange target shape or loop. A body piercing might be a better accent than a bellybutton tattoo.

For men going for a lettering tattoo on the stomach, consider the shape of the stomach and arch your letters or banner to flow over or under the belly button. Keep in mind the natural lines of the rib cage under the skin and the pelvic bones, and use these as guidelines in placement.

Keep a stomach tattoo design bold and simple so that it is easily understood from a distance. Stay away from lines that are too close together, as these will blur together in time, usually much faster than tattoos in other locations on the body.

By keeping your lettering or other tattoo design simple and clear, you can have an excellent stomach tattoo experience. During the process, breathe slowly and steadily so that the tattoo artist can execute the design easier. This will also help mitigate the pain of getting tattooed. Holding your breath may be needed in some locations for a brief moment, but your tattoo artist will tell you when and if this is necessary.

Hip tattoos have some of the same concerns as stomach tattoos, but are a much less stretchy area of the body to work with. If you have concerns about tattooing over your stomach, consider getting a hip tattoo design instead.

Armpit Tattoos

brankauti@gmail.com (Blaze) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I am not sure if there is a more badass place to get a tattoo than in your armpit. Maybe directly on the front of the neck. But that's about it, as far as painful areas in which to get stellar body art.

A tattoo in the armpit will require some pain endurance. My own experience of being tattooed near and somewhat in the armpit has been interesting. Leading up to the edge of the pit was very painful with a sharp kind of cutting sensation, but as we got closer to the armpit, the sensation dulled. I have not had a tattoo placed directly into my armpit, but I suspect that it would be an intense experience.

The skin of the armpit welts very quickly, making highly detailed lines difficult to execute there. Bright colors will work, but I imagine that there may be multiple sessions needed to really even out all the ink, since the swelling of the skin may make it difficult to know if the tattoo is entirely filled solidly during the first pass.

Because your some of your lymph nodes are located in the armpits, this may be an area you wish to avoid tattooing. While I have not heard of anyone ever developing cancer directly or indirectly as a result of tattooing, the deposit of tattoo ink into the lymph nodes is currently being researched by the FDA.

I am not a doctor, so I do not have any certifiable authority to pronounce that tattoos are completely safe on all areas of the body. However, my opinion is that the exposure to tattoo inks is so brief as to not hold the risks associated with long-term exposure to any of the materials found in them. Also, while processing any wound, materials will pass through your lymph nodes to be expelled from the body. This is part of the natural process of healing, and as far as I know, tattoo inks do not collect there to stay forever. They pass from the body except for the parts encased in the skin. Within this scar tissue, the tattoo ink is inert and does not interact with the rest of the body's systems. My thought is that if the tattoo ink is deposited within the skin at the proper depth, there is no need to fear adverse consequences other than perhaps tattoo regret brought on from not thinking your tattoo design through fully, or an allergy to an ingredient in the ink, which you probably would know about before getting tattooed, and therefore would avoid that particular color or product.

Generally, if you are considering getting an armpit tattoo, you probably have a lot of tattoos already and have run out of space - thus filling in even the armpit with beautiful artwork that couldn't fit somewhere else. Or, you might feel that the armpit is a place where you can hide your tattoo so that nobody will really see it there.

Talk with your tattoo artist to come up with a simple and clear design that will work on this area of skin, and be sure to avoid shaving or waxing your armpit during the healing phase. With a clear plan, your armpit tattoo can be a beautiful experience rather than a haphazard one. Good luck!

Arm Band Tattoos

brankauti@gmail.com (Blaze) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Arm band tattoos are a very popular tattoo type, especially for first-timers.

These tattoos are often the first tattoos people think of when they imagine getting a tattoo, or picturing someone with a cool tattoo in their head.

Arm band tattoos wrap around the biceps and give the eye a resting point on the arm a few inches below the armpit, or as low down as just above the crook of the elbow. They are a classic look almost as popular as traditional sailor tattoos that rest on the biceps without wrapping around all the way.

Getting a great arm band tattoo is the result of working with your tattoo artist to make sure it is shaped correctly for your arm. Of course, you are thinking, "It's a band that wraps around my arm, how hard can that be?"

But, you should consider your overall frame size to make sure that the band is wide enough or thin enough to look good on you in particular. Thin and slight frames will need a thinner or more wispy arm band. Muscular and wider arms and bodies will need a thicker band, or the design will look weak or ill-matched to the body.

Consider tribal arm band tattoos if you are looking to accentuate your biceps or want to go with a classic biker style tattoo look. You can vary this theme by choosing different weight lines, or working with various curve shapes. Would you prefer pointy, jagged, smooth or wavy? Maybe you would like the shape to be very straight, with all the details inside of the lines.

Tribal arm band tattoos can be altered to include colors or designs within the tribal shapes. This can alter the mood of the piece and add more individuality to an otherwise very "normal" tattoo, as far as tattoos go. You could choose to complete the entire tattoo in color without an outline, but keeping the tribal shapes, or you could outline the tattoo in black and then fill in colors or a scene inside of the shapes. This often is very striking.

A great option with choosing color in your tribal tattoo to begin with is that you could always fill it in black at a later date. You will have the option of going darker later on if your tastes change. If you start with a black tattoo, you cannot make it lighter later on without laser tattoo removal.

Blaze and Husky Blaze

brankauti@gmail.com (Blaze) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We have a lot of amazing and sweet clients here at Spirit Gallery Tattoo. It is our pleasure to get to know you all and become a part of your lives, through your tattoos and sometimes even outside of the shop as friends.

In summer of 2010, a talented and dedicated sled-dog team leader, Becki Tucker, came to me for for a tattoo to honor one of her dogs who had passed away. We worked on a wrist band for her, and I learned about Outlaw Ridge and how much her sled dogs mean to her and her life.

It was an honor to work on the memorial tattoo, and to learn more about how sledding works. She has many dogs and they take a lot of work! They train throughout the fall and through the spring, competing in the winter snows all around New England. It was fascinating, and of course being the animal lover I am, I was enchanted with hearing about her relationships with the individual dogs and their personalities.

At the end of our session, Becki asked me if I would mind if she named one of the new husky pups after me in the next litter that was due soon. I was so thrilled! So, in a few weeks, I got my first photo sent to me of baby Blaze.

My heart melted, and I put her photo up in my station. A few months later I got an updated photo of Blaze, who was growing into a beautiful little husky pup.

This past summer, I got my first in-person visit with adult husky Blaze at the studio! She is very sweet and gentle, and began running the sleds this winter with her team.

Thank you Becki, for your friendship and for bringing Blaze to visit me. It's great to have a namesake, and I couldn't ask for a sweeter pooch to bear my name. Aw.

Tattoo Etiquette

brankauti@gmail.com (Blaze) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Tattooed people everywhere would agree, there is indeed such a thing as "tattoo etiquette."

What is this novel concept? Well, it is the idea that the politeness you extend to all people also extends to those who have tattoos! This politeness and respect is especially due in regard to unwanted touching or grabbing.

It is amazing how often strangers will just reach out and touch a tattoo on someone else without asking! These same people would never dream of grabbing most strangers by the wrist or arm to talk to them or look at them, but when they see a tattoo they suddenly lose their graciousness. Without thinking their hands lock onto the person in question and are already raising the tattooed person's clothing to get a better look before the request to see it leaves their lips.

Tattoo etiquette dictates that you simply ask the tattooed person if you can take a look at their tattoo and if you can touch it.

Second Screening of REVEALED: Portraits from Beneath One's Surface Moved to Saturday Jan 28th at 6pm

brankauti@gmail.com (Blaze) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:17:47 +0000

Hi guys! We need to postpone our film screening of Revealed: Portraits from Beneath One's Surface, until next weekend, Saturday January 28th, from 6-7pm. We are sorry for the delay, but are excited to share the event simultaneously with Hygienic's Salon des Independants opening. Please join us for this amazing film, and catch the show one last time before tear-down! The event is still FREE to the public, and will give viewers an inside look on the making of artist Scott Indermaur's insightful portrait work. This will be the last night that the REVEALED photography show will be hanging in the gallery, so come check it out one last time before it moves on!

Showing the Progress of a Tattoo in Time Increments - "Mer-mom" Tattoo Project

brankauti@gmail.com (Blaze) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

This past autumn I had the pleasure of tattooing a pin-up portrait of a client's mother as a mermaid on her leg. To accomplish this task, we went through several photos of the client's mom, (another amazing client of mine!), and ended up choosing her high school portrait as the best reference for the piece.

From there, I drew up the pose as a mermaid, and we sized the piece out to be about as tall as an 8 1/2 X 11" sheet of paper. This gave us enough room to explore the detail of the face and create a likeness, and also gave us enough room to add some details to the fins and scales.

Above is the reference photo we used for the piece.

Here is a sequence of photos that take you through the tattoo process that afternoon. The entire tattoo took about 5.5 hours, and it is my hope that seeing the progress of this tattoo will help you get an idea of how long a large tattoo can take to accomplish and help you estimate how long your tattoo idea might take to execute.

Webwire article on Laser Treatment for Removal of Scarring Caused by Tattoo Removal

brankauti@gmail.com (Blaze) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000

In cruising around the internet, we have come across an article that we thought you all would find interesting. It concerns tattoo removal and scarring, and a new laser process that helps remove or reduce the scarring caused from having tattoos removed.

If you have a tattoo removed and have experienced scarring (raised areas of skin around the site of the old tattoo, or keloiding), this article promises hope that this condition can be reversed, and is being reversed for people in the UK.

For those of us in the US, I am sure that such a process is available if you speak with your dermatologist. While it might be costly, it could be something that somebody who has had a tattoo removed may want to pursue. It could aid in truly removing the memory of the tattoo from the skin, which of course is the goal with tattoo removal.

Check out Webwire's article on laser treatment for the removal of scarring caused by tattoo removal.