Q: Is the Brutal Black Project still ongoing? A: From their Instagram it looks like the project is still ongoing in Italy. Though I suppose that anyone could do this type of tattooing, The Brutal Black Project is a specific concept by Valerio Cancellier that he calls primitive concept modern. Valerio does these pieces in […]
Author: Gatekeeper
Hi there! I'm Taylor, you may know me as Sterling Skull reception, or gatekeeper, or most recently Tater (thanks Chris). I love writing, creating and I love tattoos; so what better way to use my passions than to bring you a personal experience of our studio via a blog! Welcome, please stay a while!
Wonderful World of White
I had a friend ask me this week if white tattoo ink is used because they don’t see white tattoos anywhere, while white ink is rarely a focal point of a tattoo it is one of the most important parts. White is most commonly used as a highlight to make a piece really pop! There […]
The Fight to Get Above Ground: South Korean Tattooing
Despite South Korea being home to some of the best tattoo artists in the world they are still fighting for the right to tattoo. The beginning of this story starts over on the island of Japan, just off the tip of South Korea, where tattoos were first criminalized. In the 1980’s a Japanese gang, Yakuza, […]
Black on Black on Black
This week I thought I’d do a little educational post on different terminology surrounding black tattoos in the industry. Ever since the Brutal Black article came out I’ve noticed some confusion with all the differentiation between tattoos that rely heavily on black. So I’m going to summarize the difference between: Brutal Black Project, black out, […]
The History of Pinup Girls
Pinup girls are one of those iconic images that are constantly evolving and changing as society does. There are many contributors that played into the development of the pin up girl through the 19th and 20th century. From illustrations, to photography with real models and into the tattoo industry the becoming of the pinup is […]
American Traditional Part 6: Paul Rogers
Franklin Paul Rogers, known as Paul Rogers is a monumental tattoo figure, he has participated in every part of the industry through his years in tattooing. He is even referred to as the Father of American Tattooing. Rogers was born on September 9th, 1905 in a cotton mill town in North Carolina. He worked at […]
Geometric Tattoos
Geometric is a unique tattoo style that utilizes clear shapes to create or accentuate an image. Like with American Traditional there are certain meanings attached to the symbols; but just because there are common meanings doesn’t mean that they have to have those meanings to you. Geometric can be anything from a small simple mandala […]
Freehand Tattoos
A freehand tattoo means that the stencil is drawn directly on your skin rather than drawn on paper, put through a stencil machine, and then transferred to your skin. These are quite often done with sharpies or special stencil markers; not literally freehanding with a machine. This process can look a little odd if you’re […]
Open vs Closed Books (and Respecting Artists Time)
In the tattoo industry, every artist does things differently. Especially with booking appointments. There are 2 types of bookings that we see: open books and closed books. Open bookings are when you can book at any time for a future date. Closed books are when an artist will only accept appointment bookings within a short […]
Laser Removal
Laser tattoo removal is a great tool in the tattoo industry. You may not think of a tattoo removal as working with the industry but it’s a versatile service that has its place in artwork. Laser technicians can work on more skin issues but for the purpose of the tattoo blog I will just be […]