Trash Polka started at a small shop in Würzburg, Germany and has quickly spread all over the world. Though you may not have heard of Trash Polka in those terms, chances are you have even seen someone wearing a Trash Polka tattoo. Some people who have Trash Polka like this hidden aspect, that not everyone […]
Author: Gatekeeper
Neo Traditional
So we’ve gone over some American Traditional.. Quite a bit actually, and there’s still more to say about it. For such a simple looking style it is so complex and has such a deep history. This week though I want to go into one of the styles that has branched off of traditional, and as […]
Interview with Jonnii Guns
This week we had a guest artist, Jonnii Guns. You can find him on instagram @jgunstattoo or at his regular shop Anthem Tattoo in Edmonton. I fell in love with his traditional work and heard he liked doing sharks so I decided to get a shark tattoo from him on my stomach. Despite how painful […]
So You Want a Colour Lined Tattoo
General Colour Lining As tattoo trends come and go we in the industry have to be mindful of informing people of the risks, right now colour lining and especially red lining is getting very popular. As an aside, remember to do your research before getting any tattoo but I think especially trends like this. Any […]
Weight Changing and Tattoos
Lots of people have been asking me recently about what weight loss and muscle weight gain can do to a tattoo, and I think this is something lots of people have questions about; “should I wait to get tattoos until after I do the muscle building I’m planning?”, “Do I have to wait until I […]
Deposits
Going into the busy season we want to give a little reminder about how deposits work and maybe a bit of why. If you’re a regular tattoo client anywhere you’re familiar with dropping a deposit to book a tattoo, but this is just a little reminder or for anyone new to the tattoo scene. At […]
April Recap
It’s been a while since we did a shop update post so I wanted to share a little about our lives with you! The week of April 13 was kind of crazy! I was off Friday and Saturday much to my dismay waiting on a covid test because my roommate was advised to isolate. No […]
Medicinal and Therapeutic Ancient Tattooing in the Arctic
This is a bit of a long one but I hope it’s worth it! I’ve included a bunch of headings so that if you want to skip to the more interesting parts it’s easy to find. However the cultural context is important to really understanding why they tattoo so I encourage you to read it! […]
Hand Poking Part 1: Asian History
I’ve been having some writers block this week so first I’d like to thank my friends for suggesting this topic! Everything I mention is about the style of hand poking tattoos by professionals, not stick and pokes done at home. Make shift stick and poke tattoos can be very dangerous and we recommend going to […]
American Trad Part 3: Symbolism
Is there a meaning behind the more popular trad style tattoos, like sparrows or pinups? This Q&A question fits perfectly in with the American Trad series I’ve been slowly working on so this week we are doing part 3: symbolism. Now there are a ton of symbols in traditional tattooing so I’ll provide additional resources […]