doncaster tattoo jam convention 09

[morag]

Roz and me went down for this on friday morning- leaving Edinburgh at 6am- cough- and got there at 11 am. Just in time to set up our stall and be ready for 12 when the show opened. It was an opening with a difference, though- no public! The good people from tattoo magazine Skin Deep, who organised this event, have come up with a new concept of having the friday of the convention for tattoo artists only, to give us a chance to socialise and nerd out together, with seminars to go to and supplies to check out.

It was a great and chilled way to kick off the convention, and the good thing was really to have the time to chat to other artists. Usually everyone is getting stuck into their work as soon as they get there, and unless you bump into your friends from other studios at the bar afterwards, it's quite possible to miss each other all together.
The organiser neil knows a lot of the artists personally and really made an effort to put artists' stalls together that knew each other and complimented each other. We had a great time with our neighbours Bez, thomas Kynst and others like Theresa Gordon and Fiona Long.

After a day of geeking out and fawning over colour theories, shading techniques and tattoo machines, Roz and me checked into our hotel and got ready to stop by the party the organisers were putting on for the artists, the tattoo master's ball.
I'm never too convinced by the concept of a party BEFORE the busiest day of tattooing of a convention, but I wasn't going to miss it. The theme for this one was 'a day at the races' and a prize was given for the best hat.
Erik's wife Mel makes wonderful hats and she really got into the swing of things for this one, and had made a hat for Roz that was spectacular! Unfortunately we missed the competition all together, they had it on dead early...I think Roz would have won hands down.
here is Roz in the Hotel getting ready for the ball



and just as we were leaving I took a photo of her complete outfit, isn't she adorable?



For some reason I completely forgot to take any photos of the convention itself apart from the tattoos that I did, so instead I'll post lots of picture i took at the party

Roz and Katy from Liquorice tattoo is Kirrimuir, Katy used to work for us until the travelling down from Kirri got to much and she opened her own studio, which is doing well I'm pleased to say



Dan Gold and Billy Hay doing karaoke. Billy is actually a pretty good singer. Dan isn't



being upstaged by Billy didn't seem to put a dent on Dan's party mood



there were lots of great hats and outfits around





Gray Silva from Rampant Ink and friend



two other nutters





and of course there were three guys dressed up a jockeys complete with horses. Apparently one of them was Darren Stares, but i really couldn't tell which one, the false teeth didn't help



everyone wanted their picture taken with these guys, comedy gold



Roz and me stayed well behaved and went back to the hotel before there was a possibilty of a hang over the next day, working with a hang over is no fun at all and I had a full on day booked.

Gary from Edinburgh had made the journey down to get a large cover-up done, Roz had been lasering his arm to lighten some old random stuff including an ex's name, and it was now light enough to be covered up easily.



he wanted to extend the concept of celtic + skull which was on his forearm (an old cover-up from pre-laser days, where we had to go a lot heavier) and was happy for me to go with the flow.
I'd like another hour on this piece to finish the skull a bit more and to get some more shading in there, but i think we did well to get this much done. hat's off to gary for a long session!




check out the girl getting a tattoo next door to us, she'd been there a looooong time, too

Also in was eva, who lives in Nottingham now, but used to get tattooed by me when she was in Edinburgh. The fact that i was in her part of the country suited her and she got booked in to make a start on a vegetable and flower tattoo that she has designed herself, to go above an existing armband with writing. Eva doesn't like to have any black ink, so we relied on colours for this
there is a beetroot and some sweet pea flowers, and also a cornflower which I didn't get a decent photo of. The other pictures aren't too hot either, sorry


that's steven form Liquorice tattoo in the background





that wrapped up the saturday and Roz and me were ready for our beds. I was tattooing until 9pm, and after something to eat we called it a day.

I had originally been booked for the whole of sunday, but the guy cancelled a couple of days before, not leaving me enough time to arrange someone else to fill the slot.
I'm quite fussy about what I tattoo at conventions, it's a time to show off what I like to do and do something a bit different from what else is on offer at the show, something that's more my style. We always get plenty of request for more 'generic' type of tattoos, for example gothic lettering, but I feel that is something any tattooist with basic skills can do nicely, so I hold out for requests that are specifically inspired by my portfolio. One of these came from a girl called dawn, she spotted a piece that i did involving poppies and art nouveau style swirls and wanted something along those lines to cover up an old piece on her chest. we arranged for her to get her tattoo started at 3pm on sunday. leaving me some time to check out the convention and buy more supplies

Roz has a photo of the piece we were covering up on her camera, I forgot to take on..oops.. hope Roz will be so kind as to post t on here for me ....

but this is what we came up with for Dawn



it was quite nice to have a light work load on sunday, it meant I wasn't completely wiped out by the evening, and was actually up for the after show party for once

After packing up and having something to eat we headed into town to the wrap party where we saw a great band and had a blast, meeting old and new friends and living it up. No photos from this party, probably best

[steviek]

Top Pics

Looks like you had a good time

Dan Gold looks like he was really partying ! Bet he's Late For his First customer as usual

Glad it went all ok and you got home safe as the blog has been very quiet

See ya the morra

S

[gymburd]

Looks like you had a fab time! Roz looked amazing!
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"when men are pure, laws are useless; when men are corrupt, laws are broken!"

[faerycake]

I love my flowers and beetroot so much! Thank you

People keep asking if it's a painting!

I'll get on with drawing some carrots for the next bit!!
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lambrini girls have all the fun

[faerycake]

oops, also meant to say - Roz's hat is amazing too! Real pity the judging was so early
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lambrini girls have all the fun

[morag]

I know, she would have nailed it

[Kitt]

Some great photos there Morag - looks like it was a great convention. I love the poppies piece - infact I saw a photo of you doing this on someone else's camera and got unreasonably jealous that "Morag is tattooing someone else's chest"! I do love poppies.

[morag]

your chest pieces were in my portfolio and were much admired if that makes you feel better xx

[Kitt]

I feel tons better now - thanks Morag!

[Lady Kakata]

Now how come Ascot can't look like this
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Bid on mah stuffs? :3 UPDATED

[Rod]

Hunt scum have no class!
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Read 'em and weep, the dead man's hand again

[Lady Kakata]

Perhaps there should be an AsKin; come with your tats out, feathers in your hair, and we can have specially trained sportsmen race each other to the finish line whilst being pursued by their other halves
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Bid on mah stuffs? :3 UPDATED

[p1nkl4dy]

thats genuis!!!! maybe someone could arrange an event like that!!!!
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oh. we're in trouble!