Stuff

Well what a busy few weeks we have been having at the shop! I have been so busy catching up on things and just trying to juggle the everyday stuff too, so it's been hectic to say the least. I am not complaining though, being busy is a good thing! 

And I just want to plug again that Matt is working the Auckland Convention (I know, I have already plugged a million times). So it's 26th and 27th of November. We will only be away from the shop for 5 days, so just a very quick trip to do the convention and then home again.

In tattooing news, Matt finished some stuff this week, yay! I only got iphone photo's, so proper shots still to come but you get the idea.

Anchor and some hibiscus 

A Dragon

Another Dragon

On Friday I felt inspired to take photo's of the kids working (I think I was just procrastinating over stuff I SHOULD really be doing). 

Mango (Jamie) and my glass of vino (it was Friday night ok)?

Simo

Matty D

Also, if you get bored of waiting for stuff (stuff meaning tattoos) to be posted on this blog, we do often upload such pics on instagram. People with iphones need to get on it. Instagram is the new facebook after all!! Look us up under @mattdeverson, @samdeverson or red_cat_whirlwind (for Simone). The guys are often posting their work on there. So if you want to keep updated you can, you don't have to wait for my lazy ass to post a blog every 6 weeks :D

Matt also spent Monday drawing up a new design for convention banner and our business cards. I posted the line drawing because he didn't end up liking the colours he put into the finished one. So when he does it again we will post it in colour. 

And this is what Jamie has been up to this week

And here is what Simo has been up to:

I am really scattered today, really not in the right frame of mind to be blogging. Just ignore the extra grammatical errors but anyone who reads this is used to that by now. It's just particularly bad today. ...Now I am rambling. So goodnight.

Melbourne Tattoo Expo

Beautiful Melbourne and it didn't even rain! 

So it's been a chaotic couple of months but good couple of months! We are finally home, safe and sound and it's good to be back at work, as well as home (not that we have been there much). I really wanted to blog about the last part of our travels in Korea and Japan but I feel that it's past now and I need to probably talk more tattoos than traveling anyway. 

So in saying that we had an awesome time at the Melbourne Tattoo Expo over this past weekend. Although a little tired because we got home from Japan on Thursday at 12pm and spent majority of the day getting the stuff together to take to the convention. Then we flew out, on that wonderful 6am flight from Adelaide to Melbourne, just in time to get straight to the convention to set up at 9. Our poor dogs and cats are so confused right now, we keep coming home for a second and then leaving again. 

But we had an awesome time, despite being exhausted from all the traveling. I guess our favorite part about conventions is meeting new people and making new friends, which we definitely did this weekend! It's also so great to meet tattooers who you really admire and respect and they end up being just as cool as you had hoped, love when that happens! My favorite part is just talking to all sorts of people all weekend. Matt does often tell me my favorite thing to do is talk, so this kind of thing works for me! :)

Matt's little spot, or big spot I should say. We had a lot of room really, pays to share a booth with others! 

Anyways, Matt had a mammoth tattoo to do all day Friday (1st day). I think it took an epic 7 and 1/2 hours or so in the end. Kasie was an absolute trooper and sat like a champ. Obviously colour portraits aren't something Matt does very often but I think it turned out a treat.

The reference for the photo comes from 666photography  by  photographer, Gayla

And a little tradish on day 2

Me looking like a tool. Well not really too toolish I guess but I just wanted to bring back "tool" for a second.

Busy busy

And Matt freehanded this Peoni to fit in a gap for the lovely Denis (who was an absolute legend). 

We shared a booth with some awesome people, great to meet you guys!

And now that I am thinking about it, I really didn't take enough photo's this weekend. But there you go, some shots of what we were up to.

So next on the agenda is the Auckland tattoo convention on the 26th and 27th of November. See their website for details 
http://aucklandtattoocon.co.nz/home.html 


If your keen on getting tattooed, please email what you want, where you want it and what size. 

And we sold all our merch at the convention on the weekend, so Matt is hoping to get some new things happening in the next few weeks. Thinking we will get more hoodies, same as the last lot. So if you missed out on the first lot, let me know and I can put one aside. Also we are thinking since it's getting warmer that it's time for more singlets (tank tops for you foreigners) and hats!


Oh wait I lied, I will sneak a little bit of Japan in here. I did promise to post Matt's beautiful hand tattoos (by Shige) in the last post. So here they are in all their glory, freshly done.

Shishi's, Ah (open mouth) and Un (closed mouth). They are for protection.

Ok think that's all my brain can spew out right now.  

Yikes, a title.

It's been a while since my last post, hopefully the coming winter will lead to more frequent and high quality blog posts. I better start journaling some good post titles.

Here's a new tattoo, an old one and some really neat stuff my brother's been up to.


Some unholy markings for Brett.


This is one of my first tattoos, thanks Kevin.


Workin' on tattoo machines with Iko.


My brother Steven has been building some amazing pneumatic motors out of lego. This is a three stroke engine, attached to a transmission, it's either a four or five speed. He builds these with a reverse gear as well.



A cool single stroke engine with a fly-wheel. This one goes fast.


Thanks for checkin' out the blog!

September

We've been very busy recently, mostly with ongoing pieces and neither Eva nor myself have really taken photos of pieces in progress, just waiting to post the finished article. Here's some of the stuff we have taken photos of:

Joe

A little cover up on Anna, a nice quick fun one

Managed to do this in a few hours on Jason's arm. We're going to add some doves in a couple weeks and finish off the background.

Sail ship on Sean, Going to add red to the rose and then add some more bits to complete a full sleeve, I love doing this kind of work

Heart locket and Key on Wendy, this is a healed photo and I'm really happy with the way it's turned out

Japan update

Took this photo the other day. It's the Yokohama ferris wheel and a storm was rolling in. Anyway, I thought it looked cool.

We are still in Japan and having a blast. We have been up to all sorts of course, so I thought why not share, plus I have a spare minute to do it. First up we did karaoke for the first time in Japan on Saturday night. We  went out with our friend Kaoru and her friend (who is now our friend) Atz and they showed us how it was done (they could actually sing well, Matt and I...not so much). Matt stole the night with his rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the dark" (that one was for you Rebecca Liston). I prided myself on my efforts of Nirvana's "Lithium". Oh my goodness, karaoke is so much fun! I have of course done it before but I have to say it was pretty awesome here in Japan. We had our own booth and everything, so we could sing whatever we wanted and how ever we wanted. I really didn't want to go home. We are hoping to go again before we go home.

The stars of the night

Think I may be way too into it

Today we had an awesome day. We went to Kamakura, which is really not far from Yokohama. It was a really nice town and I want to go back there and see more. We were a bit limited on time, so only saw a couple of sights. First off we went out for lunch and had ourselves some okonomiyaki, which is probably my favourite thing to eat in Japan. It is a savoury type of pancake (fillings optional) and you cook it yourself on a hotplate that's on your own table. Yum!

Me cooking the okonomiyaki, see I can cook. 

Then we visited The Kamakura Daibutsu (Japan's second largest Buddha image). Which is the Amida Buddha (figure of salvation) and it's amazing to see. It is actually 11.4m tall, you probably can't tell how big it is from the photo. 

The Kamakura Daibutsu

Then we saw the Hase-Dera temple, which houses the Kannon Statue (goddess of mercy). It's not appropriate to take photo's inside the temple, so there is only one from the outside. But it was a 9m high carved wooden statue (but looked covered gold) that is supposed to date back to the 8th century, also amazing to see. 

When we were at Hase-Dera temple we stumbled upon a look out, which we realised we weren't far from the ocean. So we decided to go down to the beach, which can you believe is the first time we have been to the beach in all the time we have spent here. The surf was amazing and Matt was chomping at the bit to hire some gear and get in there. Instead we just watched the waves roll in for an hour or so. I think we are going to have to head back  again before we go.

Matty watching the waves

Having a little dip, can't believe how warm the water was.

And on our way back to Yokohama I took this photo of the storm rolling in (from the train)

And there has been lots of tattooing of course. Matt's hands are still healing, so no pics yet. Although he did post them on instagram (@mattdeverson) last week, if you wanna see. We actually got through heaps on my arm this week and I got a lot of colour now in my phoenix, looks crazy good but I haven't taken any pictures of it yet.

Matt is now booked out for the Melbourne convention too, so thanks for the support and interest! It should be a good show and we are looking forward to it.

Jamie and Simone are still working at the shop, so we aren't closed! Remember to leave a message if no one answers the phones. I am not there to take calls and it's hard for them to get to the phone. 

Also I just wanted to take a minute to acknowledge the problems that are still here in Japan. People effected by the tsunami and earthquake hit regions are still needing much help and there is still work to be done. I know that in Australia (not sure about elsewhere) we don't hear much about what is actually still happening in Japan (through media) and it is easy to think that things are all back to normal. There is still so much to be done and people are still in need of help here. 

Even though we are enjoying our time here in Japan, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about what has happened or how people are still struggling here. I hope that our tourist dollars help support a struggling economy.

Japan red cross have information on how to still donate to survivors or help support their efforts at:

http://www.jrc.or.jp/eq-japan2011/donation/index.html#B

Ok, must go. 

Matt has decided to have some input this entry. So everyone should go check out "The Flower Travelin Band". Soooooo good! Japanese prog rock. They are old but oh so good! 

Konichiwa

Our current home, Yokohama

Well we have been in Japan a week now and it is as awesome as always. Matt has finally gotten over his cough/throat infection, so we have been able to get out and about a bit. Friday night we were supposed to go to a baseball game but it got cancelled due to rain, major bummer!! So instead we went to Yokohama China town and went to our favourite  restaurant and had some lovely Japanese food.

Matt in front of the Landmark Tower ( near our apartment in Yokohama)

On Saturday we made a trip down to Osaka and went to Universal Studios. We were like two little kids and raced around to all the rides and I made myself a little nauseous by doing that (damn my weak stomach). First ride was JAWS, which was sweet! I just love how animated the people operating the rides are, they put their heart and soul into it I tell ya! Even though I can't understand what they are saying they still make the ride for me. I was wondering how they can be so enthusiastic when they have probably done it for the millionth time that day, I loved it!

Universal Studios (Jaws ride)

And of course our main reason for going to Universal was to do the "Back to the Future" ride. Matt nearly had a heart attack when we came across an actual Delorean. Not to mention that the actual ride involves sitting in one!

Universal Studios again and the delorean we found (someone is a little bit excited)

On Sunday we went to the Osaka Castle and climbed the many, many stairs to the top (my legs are still aching by the way, so climbing Fuji in a few days is going to be fun). Anyway there was an amazing view of Osaka from the top, which made it all worth it. The rest of the day we spent walking around Osaka and just taking it all in, we are definitely going to have to get back there again next time.

Us being dorks at the Osaka Castle

And on top of Osaka Castle

Yesterday we met up with our mate Crystal and stomped around Harajuku and Shinjuku, checking out the sights (oh and the sights!). I just wanted to sit on the street and stare at all the wonderful outfits and awesome people getting around. I would have taken photos of some of the outfits but I am too shy to ask and I don't want to be rude. Anyways we went to a noodle bar for a bite to eat, checked out an antique store, some book stores and art shops, so that was fun.

Walking around Shinjuku

And the tattooing is going really well. Last Monday we started my left arm (I am getting a phoenix) and Tuesday we finished my right arm (with the dragon). I am obviously really happy with them (as if I wouldn't be), Shige has done an amazing job and I can't wait to see them both finished together. Shige also extended them both across my chest, which I wasn't expecting but have to say I am pretty damn happy with. 

Matt got his Fudo Myoo (right sleeve) finished too. He had sessions on Wednesday and Thursday last week. Even though he was sick as a dog he coped really well with the tattooing (I think getting tattooed was a good distraction from being sick). But his is still healing, so will have to post pics later. Of course it looks fricken awesome! 

Pics of my stuff: I had to chop my head off, I really wasn't feeling it this morning, my head was looking pretty rough :P

So here is a front pic of my finished arm

And side view

And a little preview of the outline on my lefty and how they are going together across my chest

And side view of the phoenix

Matt is currently at Yellow Blaze getting his left hand tattooed as we speak, looks pretty rad but will have to post pics when they are healed too. 

Ok, time to sign off, I have to go clean our abomination of an apartment (how we make so much mess is beyond me). 

Eva and I have been treated to some really nice pieces recently, we're both lucky to have customers who give us an idea and free skin to go to town with, and it's great to get some big pieces finished and looking better than we planned.

Joe

I managed to finish off Anthony's leg today and get a picture of the finished product.

This was a great walk-in piece on Saturday and very fun to do, F.T.W.

Zepplin art work, because they're the best band ever I'm told.

And some Boog flash finished, the top half's healed up, bottom's still red and fresh.