Hope for Japan!

What a day we had yesterday! 35 tattoo's and 31 people got tattooed. I have no idea how many people actually came through the door but I know it was a lot. Before we go any further I just want to say thank you so much to ALL the people who showed their support yesterday. Thank you to those who got tattooed and thank you to those of you who stopped by and made donations. What an awesome turn out we had, we had people lining up from 8:30am to get tattooed! I also want to say I am so sorry to those who missed out, we ended up having to turn a lot of people away and I feel bad about that. But the guys tattooed from 9:30am till around 6:30pm, they worked their butts off and it just wasn't possible to do too much more. But we aren't going anywhere and I encourage those people to still come back and see us again another time!

So we made a grand total of $2851.60!! Not bad considering tattoo's were only $80 each. I am pretty damn proud of those efforts for just one day! I will be donating the money as soon as Monday and every cent will be going to the Japan relief effort.

Here is a bunch of pics from yesterday:

This jar was full to the brim by the end of the day, well done people!

Tash pretending to tattoo Tom (who got his first tattoo yesterday- actually 2 tattoo's for his first)- well done! Don't know how much damage that finger is going to do though.

Jamie (AKA Mango) tattooing Ty.

A bunch of lovely ladies waiting to be tattooed

Sorry but the ice box (eski) has to make it in here, who has a coffin to keep drinks in? US, that's who! I am so keeping this at the shop permanently. Don't know where I will put it but it stays! I might even put pillows and blankets in it and use it as a bed.

Our two best workers for the day!! Thanks so much to the lovely Tash and Amy, who spent the whole day helping out! Love you guys!!

Kris getting his neck tattooed by Mango.

Mango is pretty damn happy about that hannya on Justin

Simo's cute little Japanese flowers

Matty did this rose on Sally's neck

Peoni, done by Simo!

Hope for Japan tattoo that Jamie did

Best tattoo of the day goes to Kris, done by Jamie. STOKED!

Our mate Scotty (AKA Too Good), done by Matty.

Kokeshi Doll by Simo

Fire beard dragon by Jamie.

All the wonderful people who donated their time, money and skin for the Japan- LEGENDS! THANK YOU!

Our awesome crew (missing Amy) but we are done! Time to go out for dinner and a drink! Good job guys! x

That's all for now...

Times, they are a changing

What a week! With our house undergoing some small renovations and us getting the keys to the the new shop, we have been burning the candle at both ends. I have been running around like a headless chook, between the new shop and the house but it has all been worth it. We are so excited to finally be able to move some stuff next door and the shop is looking way less cluttered. We actually have a proper kitchen, in which to prepare food (instead of doing it in in the reception area). Last night we moved Jamie and Simo's room around a lot and it's looking so much better, can't believe we hadn't thought of doing it earlier. Anyways, I have posted some snaps of the new and improved shop! Enjoy!

So we put the couch/coffee table where Jamie used to be, near the fireplace.

And put Jamie over the other side of the room, where the couch used to be under the big mirror.

And the big drawing desk has been put next door, so Jamie could set up a station there instead.

Also thought it might be fun to show the new shop. Excuse the mess, we are still organising. But this is what will be the new drawing room. We still need a heap of furniture we are bringing from home but you get the idea. Also this is pretty much what our shop used to look like, before we got to it. PS All the drawings on the wall are about 1/2 of what Matt has on the go at the moment. Shit, he really does work hard!

So damn excited to have this balcony all to ourselves now. Can't wait to deck it out with furniture, so we can sit outside in Summer.

On the tattoo front I have posted a couple of pics but yet again I have been so busy and not really around to take many shots. But Matt did finish a couple of big jobs this week, I gotta get the guys to come back to the shop for pics. So will post them soon.

This is a hand tattoo Matt did last Saturday (Matt didn't do the rest of the arm). So this is Jimmy's tribute to his baby girl Ava, her name and a bloody big rose to go with it! Sweet!

And here is a phoenix 3/4 sleeve Matt started on Friday on Nick. Just the outline for now.

Aaaaaannnnd, you guessed it, I am gonna mention the open day again! Sorry to harp on but it's important to keep you all interested! So, this time next week people!!!! Please come down and show your support, we can't forget Japan, they still need our help!!

For those people who read our blog and live elsewhere in the world, check out the Tattooers for Japan website for shops that are getting involved and get yourself involved!

http://tattooersforjapan.com/links.html

Or get yourself a print from Uncle Allan @ Conspiracy Inc. They are selling 100 signed and numbered prints and all proceeds are going to the cause. Here is a link to where you can buy the prints but they are also donating proceeds from the sales of most the their other prints too. Get one, we did!

http://conspiracyinctattoo.blogspot.com/2011/04/uncle-allan-for-japan.html

Shige from Yellow Blaze Tattoo Yokohama has decided to donate all proceeds from prints and shirts, so if you ever wanted any Yellow Blaze merch, now is the time to get it!

http://www.yellowblaze.net/shop/index.html

Or get one of these "I Stand with Japan" t-shirts by Chad Koeplinger and Horitaka. Do it, they are just $35

http://www.horitaka.com/standwithjapan/

And finally check out the "HOPE for Japan" project. If your going to Ink Explosion or the Frankfurt conventions get involved!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_152660114796365&ap=1

Let's stay on this people, by no means is Japan back on it's feet again and we need to do all we can to help out!

Matt's input this week "For an enjoyable listen, please peruse "Radiohead- King of Limbs" and "Raekwon- Only built for Cuban links part II".

That will be all. Have a great weekend!

Hail Mary

Had a couple of Virgin Marys to tattoo last week, one designed by myself and one designed by Jo. Really enjoyed doing both and looking forward to finishing off the gangster version.

Don't Forget April 16th!

Well here we are again, another week is over. I am a little disappointed today because we were supposed to get the keys to the shop next door. We had big plans to move over the weekend and unfortunately that has been pushed back a week. So it will have to be next week instead. It's probably a good thing, we have a lot going on right now and I seriously don't have enough hours in the day to do everything.

PLEASE don't forget our fund raiser for Japan day (I really should come up with a better name) on the 16th of April. We have had heaps of interest from people, so thanks for that. I just want to clarify what will be happening.

• We will be open from 10am sharp till roughly 5pm (but this may be extended, depending on interest).
• All tattoo's will be $80!! We normally charge $120-$150, so it's a good saving for you too!
• Matt, Jamie and Simo will draw up custom designs to choose from. Most will be Japanese inspired, such as Hannya, Kokeshi dolls, cherry blossoms and other Japanese flowers. There will be more, that's all I can think of right now.
• Also if people have a small tattoo idea, that is easy for our artists to draw up quickly, we will be doing this too. I must stress that it has to be small and easy to draw (we aren't going to have time to spend on anything really detailed or big). So things like small script, symbols etc would be the kind of thing we are talking about.
• Sorry we won't be doing large scale tattoo's or ongoing work for $80. We want to get as many people through as we can, only small work will be able to be done on this day.
• There will not be any appointments taken, it will be a "walk in" day. So it will be on a first come, first serve basis.
• We will have new merch and we plan to donate part of the proceeds of those sales to the cause too (we haven't actually made them yet, so the details of that still to come).

But here is a sneaky peak.

Onto tattoo's! Matt has started a bunch of new things, as per usual I got slack with photo taking again this week. Aaaaaand, he has one that is finished! Except I took some of the worst photo's ever, so it doesn't look as good as it does in real life. Hopefully when we get our photo station set up, I will get all Matt's recently finished stuff up on here and the photo's should be a hell of a lot better.

Dragon Koi Fish Sleeve, just the outline.

Side View

Paul's finished Hannya. This is the one that was started at the Melbourne convention. Will get better photo's soon hopefully.

That's it for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Matt's input this week "Watch Survivor Redemption Island, Phillip is my hero"

Summer time's coming!

All this sunshine is great! Also got to do some work on Chris, finished off a matching girl sugar skull on his other shoulder and managed to get a picture of the original one healed.

Also got started on this cover up, the original design was a bit of flash I'd drawn up and just changed a bit to help cover up the dragon, really pleased with the first sitting and can't wait to put the back ground and colour in

And a piece of flash drawn up by Jo of an Angel, really fun piece to do and get finished!

Autumn is here!

It really does feel like Autumn is already here, seems it has come early this year. I am actually ok with that, there is something nice about the cooler weather and being able to rug up again. In my older age Summer just doesn't seem as important. I think I fell in love with Autumn last time we were in Japan. I am obsessed with maple leaves, I took bunches of photo's of them. So what better way to welcome in the change of season than to post them and look over them again.

And since we are on the subject of Japan, please keep the 16th of April free, it's our open day/fundraiser. Please come along and help us raise money. Just because the media has seemed to move onto other things going on in the world, we cannot forget what's going on over in Japan and how much help and support is still needed there. If you read our blog and aren't in Adelaide, then see http://tattooersforjapan.com/links.html for a list of tattoo shops involved and get in on the action.

We hope to have a little more detailed info by next week on how we will be going about the day and hopefully I can post some of the designs that will be up for grabs. But please do come along, even a donation of $5 will be really appreciated and we should have a really fun day.

We hope to have new hoodies and T-shirts by then too, I will post very soon on what they are going to look like. But we hope to donate part of the proceeds of those sales too.

And on the tattoo front Matt started some new pieces and we got an update on one too:

So this is just outline of 1/2 sleeve. It is Raijin (God of Lightning). This client will be also doing Tajin (God of Thunder) on his right arm next week.

Again just the outline. Here we have a Tibetan Skull and snake. Matt chucked a chrysanthemum and a centipede in there too.

Front on

An update on our mate Luke. Still one more session to go but it's getting there.

Ok, I must be off. The couch, my puppies and a vodka lime and soda are calling. Have a great weekend everyone!

Matt's weekly input: Movie of the week "Never Let Me Go" and he has been "thrashing the pants off Ignite"

some new tattoos by Paul Nycz

tattoos now featuring the color BLUE!