Category: Guest bloggers

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My tattooed body

In issue 9, stripped back, we asked the Things&Ink team how they feel about their naked bodies, now that they’re tattooed…

We got in touch with blogger Rachel Bradford, creator of Illustrated Teacup, to discuss how she feels about her body now that it is beginning to be covered by tattoos…

“You don’t have to go far on the internet or on social media to find a debate of body positivity or body confidence. A particular area of contention is tattooed people, especially women, and even more so, anyone who has an extensive collection of tattoos.”

“Apparently it isn’t attractive to have lots of beautiful images on your body. It takes away from your ‘natural beauty’. It isn’t ‘ladylike’. It’s not ‘pretty’.”

Green lady  by Dani Green at Dragstrip Tattoo, Southampton

“Obviously this isn’t everyone’s feelings, or no one would have tattoos, but I’m here to explain why I think tattoos are a good thing for body positivity.”

 

“Take a look at Things&Ink Issue 9 for some examples:”

 “I see my colourful tattoos before I see the shape of my body, and then I notice the gaps. I get lost in the ideas of what would fit where and the work I could collect from other tattooists. With tattoos you are never truly naked, they are one thing you can never take off, and I love that!”

Editorial Assistant Rosalie Woodward (Page 5)

“I like to think of my tattoos as ‘permanent accessories’ and they make me feel very glamorous when I’m in the nude”

Beauty Editor Marina De Salis (Page 5)

“I feel like I’ve created my own body, rather than just being stuck with the one I was given”

Columnist Reeree Rockette (Page 5)

 

“Three talented, smart ladies, with tattoos, who feel better about themselves and their naked bodies because of their tattoos. And quite frankly, what is wrong with modifying your body if it makes you happier? That is what we all want isn’t it? To be happy with our bodies?”

Cat and compass by Saranna Blair at Urban Image Tattoo, Bournemouth

“Personally, my tattoos have boosted my confidence no end. My confidence and happiness with my own body, comfort on my own body, grows with every tattoo. It’s an experience in itself. My tattoos distract from the things I dislike about my body. And fill me with happiness every time I see them. They catalogue my life so far, and remind me of my journey. I feel like I wear my life on my body, miniature pieces of artwork carried around with me all the time.”

“To me, I am enhancing what I was given, and making my body my own, rather than it just being borrowed for a little while.  I think that is the most important part of body confidence. Being comfortable in your body, making it your own.”

 Belle by Dani Green at Dragstrip Tattoo, Southampton

 

 

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Can you be friends with your tattooist? A reader’s response…

When we asked the question, Can You Be Friends With Your Tattooist?, reader Sarah K got in touch to say, yes you can. Sarah is 31, a heavily tattooed human rights lawyer and law professor, living between Brussels and Brooklyn… 

Tattoo by Drew Linden“This tattoo is the first one on my right leg, the only limb left to be inked. I got it done this June by Drew Linden who had started at East Side Ink in NYC. Initially, it was supposed to be much smaller and a filler on my left leg. Leave it to Drew  to expand and make it more amazing.

“It is now the fourth tattoo I’ve gotten from her, it started from a wonderful lady gypsy / sugar skull combo in 2011. We hit it off right away, we’re about the same age, she’s stunning, a life force, yet so sweet and kind. She has a strong identity, a refined and unique personality, traits I look for in a person. We had friends in common and we spent the duration of the tattoo talking about them. I knew I’d come see her again.

Photo from June 2012, when Drew first tattooed Sarah.

 

“The friendship developed quickly, we kept in touch via text and social media. She was always extremely supportive of me – 2011 / 2012 were years during which I got a lot of work done while processing a lot of personal stuff. My work had been put on hold after an accident, and I was struggling to gain control of my body as well as of my life. The tattoo process, led by two key artists, helped immensely – and Drew was the second female artist that redefined how I saw my own body.

Gypsy by Drew Linden
Gypsy by Drew Linden

 

“In 2012, I wanted to get my chest tattooed. On the day of the appointment, Drew had actually redesigned it entirely so it would not be vertical and along my sternum, but across my chest. She added flowers and dot work, to make it “less aggressive.”

“But Drew, I *am* aggressive.”

“Not just.”

“But-“

“Sarah, you’re a woman, too. And you can be lovely. And this is a very feminine part of your body. And it’s a huge deal, working from limbs to chest. You’ll be *heavily* tattooed, all in black and grey. I know you’re not girly. But you deserve something that shows you can be a lady, and there are parts of you that are not lawyer-soldier.”

Sarah's chest piece
Sarah’s chest piece

“Five and a half hours later, and a bonus cup on my bra due to the swelling, my chest piece was done. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“My globe tattoo signals the fact that as of May 2014, I will have been a lawyer for 10 years. In June 2014, I told Drew I wanted a globe, with the phrase “jus cogens” – a Latin phrasing that refers to the peremptory norm, which is to say, the most fundamental, unalienable of human rights. As a human rights lawyer, working internationally and in war zones, this sounded perfect. She started on my right leg, the way she started my left one three years before. Her best friend sat next to me and held my hand during the session – that she belted in under an hour. The hands and flower are of her own making.

“I thought we’d have the hands over the globe, you know, protecting it.”

“Ah, but design wise it doesn’t work, and this is the old school symbol of friendship, love and fraternity. With the globe, it’s the fraternity of all peoples.”

“Equality and protection.”

“Yes. That. Like you.”

“The arrow is pointing straight forward on my leg that was once injured.

“Drew is not just my friend and my tattoo artist. In many ways, she is also a therapist, a healer, a psychic, a drinking enabler, someone I once flew all the way to San Diego to see, literally on the other side of the globe. She made my world manageable again.

“She and Jessica Mascitti, one of the first artists to work on me, made me a woman. I transitioned from prodigal lawyer girl to full fledged woman of the law because of them; they inspired me and blew confidence beneath my skin. I became stronger, and more focused as a result. And I stand proud.”

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Interview with tattoo artist Gia Rose

Sofia from Geeked Magazine talked to tattoo artist Gia Rose for us about tattoos, being a female artist and her battle with cancer. Read her interview below and don’t forget to check out more of Gia Rose’s work on her Instagram.  

 

Sofia: “Having been diagnosed with a chronic illness – even though not dangerous/deadly – it affects my everyday life, I draw a lot of strength from the artist Frida Kahlo who suffered for more than 30 years, but has never let her health deter her from doing her art. When I decided on getting Frida tattooed on me I knew I wanted a woman to do it. I remembered seeing the awesome portfolio of tattoo artist Gia Rose from Art Machine Productions in Philadelphia, so I decided to look her up. Sadly she was off work on medical leave due to cervical cancer, but hopefully she would survive it, get better and come back to work as soon as she had recovered. Thankfully that happened and today I have the most wonderful tattoo I could have ever asked for, full of meaning, passion and female strength. Here are some questions I asked Gia about her amazing turbulent and brave journey.” 

Tell us a little bit about your background, how did you come to be a tattoo artist? I consider myself an accidental tattooist. I pretty much stumbled into my apprenticeship with all the excitability and ignorance that youth offers!  After a few years of being a general misfit and vagabond I landed myself in Asheville North Carolina. I always drew and never fancied myself an artist but liked the idea of learning a trade, so I hastily put together a portfolio of sketches and drawings and threw myself at Miss Kitty, who owned Sky People Tattoo (a private tattoo studio that no longer exists), but she still tattoos in Asheville! I know now that getting an apprenticeship like that is not the norm and pretty difficult these days! I did my apprenticeship for a year, then left to work in a street shop in New Orleans. After that I pursued a degree in Illustration in Portland, Oregon. That’s the short of the long. It’s been a long journey!

What’s it like being a female artist in the tattoo industry? To be frank, it’s awesome. In the beginning, I definitely felt the differences in what being a woman meant. It meant I had to work harder, push harder, strive for more and be very careful about who I dated. We live in a patriarchal world that still subjugates women and uses them as a commodity. So we face these challenges in our daily lives in all fields. So in all actuality, I would argue that the tattoo industry may offer more benefits to women, mainly the fact that I make the same amount of money as my male co-workers. Getting into tattooing is hard for anyone at first. But once past those gates and once you establish your skills and place in the industry, there’s a whole world there to support you.

I did my apprenticeship in 2003 and I’ve seen girls explode into the tattoo industry with such awesome creativity and skills, it’s been so cool. I’m very proud to be a female artist and I feel very supported by the guys. Yes, there is the “sex sells” aspect to this industry, but that’s in ANY industry, tattooing just has no shame in it. So it’s hard at times, we do indeed have to work harder, but I think it’s just hard being a girl in this world sometimes.
Which is why I love Things&Ink magazine, us ladies gotta stick together and celebrate what we bring to the table.

 

Where do you get your inspiration? Other female artists, and a lot from fashion  collections and jewellery artists, as well as artisans and crafts people. I find so much inspiration from Instagram! I like pulling things from life and peeking into people’s personal curating of the world around them. Sometimes I’ll design a tattoo completely around a piece of jewellery I saw.

Your life has been brutally interrupted and affected recently by cancer, how did this affect your work, your life as an artist and as a woman?

Holy hell. Cancer blows. But it’s also a really great gift once you find your centre. You don’t just learn about yourself, you learn what you’re fucking made of!

I was diagnosed in January 2014 with an aggressive cervical cancer. Uninsured like most American artists, I found myself very alone and very afraid. I refused to wait to even see someone, so I did something I will never ever regret doing. Via social media I went public and reached out to my tattoo community for help. We also had a fundraiser that raised over 30K to help me in my fight.  Through Tattoos Cure Cancer and tattoo artists all over the country I was able to get the best care possible. I had a radical hysterectomy in February 2014 and found out in May that at this time, due to fast acting and early detection, no further treatment is necessary. I’m 100% convinced my industry saved my life.  I will never have children but in a way, I feel like this gives me more drive to push myself as an artist and reach out to other women survivors and continue to add my efforts to making people feel beautiful and strong.

Every January (cervical cancer awareness month) starting this year, I will be donating proceeds from my tattoos to someone battling cervical cancer like I was. This has been the most humbling experience in my life. The tattoo industry has made me so proud.  Tattoo artists are some of the most generous people on the planet.

It’s definitely made me a stronger artist and person. Life’s too short to fuck around.

 

 

How did you feel about tattooing Frida Kahlo on me? I LOVED it. This was seriously a bucket list tattoo for me. Frida Kahlo is one of my personal artist heroes and I find her radiating such beauty and strength!  I hope I captured it well. It was also very empowering to get the opportunity! This is my second colour portrait so it was challenging, which I like and I’m very happy with it.  My stuff is usually very illustrative, which I think this tattoo is, but it works.

I love it. Hands down one of my favourites.

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Mindful Wanderlust – The vegan travel diary

Our guest blogger is Giselle the creator of Mindful Wanderlust a travel blog about tattoos and following a vegan lifestyle. This is the first of many posts to appear on th-ink, telling of her and her husband Cody’s travelling tales.

 

 My name is Giselle, and I am a tattoo and travel addict. And an extreme animal lover.

I started travelling at the tender age of five, caravanning with my father and other family members to places like the Maritimes, Orlando Florida, Boston Massachusetts, and several different camp grounds throughout Canada.

When I was twelve my mom took me to Cuba; and by the time I was twenty, I had been to England, Venezuela, Peru, Egypt, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya, Mauritius, and Madagascar.

For me, the road is life.

I was fifteen when I received my first tattoo. It is now resting under a better thought out piece of work. When I first started getting tattooed, every piece had to mean something to me. Like so much in my life, that has changed. I view tattooing as an art form. It helps many people through difficult times, and that is a wonderful thing, but it can also be fun and spontaneous, which can then turn into a piece of meaning.

Prior to our nomadic lifestyle, I was quite happy tending bar at home, and doing make-up on the side, but the road was calling. I have always been pretty unconventional in thought, and so the next step was to live unconventionally.

Two and a half years ago, my husband Cody and I set off on an incredible round the world adventure. We saved our pennies, sold a lot of our belongings, put the rest in storage, started up a little website, and off we went.

Egypt, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Bhutan, Indonesia, England.

We loved Thailand so much that we ended up staying for eighteen months. Cody and I spent seven out of the eighteen months at Elephant Nature Park, an elephant sanctuary in the jungles of Northern Thailand. not only did we work with elephants, but several dogs as well. It was magic.

We can’t get enough of the lifestyle.

We are now in Saskatchewan, Canada visiting friends and family, and getting tattooed. This September we are heading to Cuba for the 9th time; and in January we are travelling to Japan for two weeks, and then back to Thailand for thirty days.

We have been tattooed in Nepal, Thailand, and of course Canada, and I look forward to getting something done by Ichibay when we are in Japan.

Our plans always involve travel, tattoos, and animals; and to us, that is our kind of freedom and happiness.

There’s no telling when or if we’ll ever get tired of gallivanting around the world, but either way, we’ll be covered in memories.

 Follow their  journey on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and of course their Blog!

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Sailor Jerry’s tattooed Ambassador EmmaLi

EmmaLi Stenhouse, 29, from Hastings, UK, talks rum, Sailor Jerry and shows us her tattoo collection

What do you do for a living? I am currently the UK Ambassador for Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum.

Fly Lightly My Heart by Ben Davies

 

Fly Lightly My Heart by Ben Davies

 

 

How did you get into being an Ambassador and what exactly does it entail? Are tattoos a part of this? 

I guess it was all down to being at the right place at the time and maybe a little luck. I went from managing bars in Hastings to setting up my own Tiki Bar, Huny Lu Lu’s. One day, completely on the off chance, someone from Sailor Jerry came into the bar and said that they were looking for an Ambassador and thought it would be worth me applying. I thought I’d be brave and give it a go as there was nothing to lose, so sent in my CV, got an interview and to cut a long story short, got the job. They wanted someone who was into rum and tattoos, which sums me up as I’ve always been genuinely passionate about both. My time is split between talking to bartenders, organising events and trying to educate people about Sailor Jerry.

On EmmaLi's legs by Alexis Camburn-Cox
On EmmaLi’s legs by Alexis Camburn-Cox

 

How different was being a bartender that to what you do now? 

I travel a lot more now and am rarely at home – my days are completely varied. One day I could be at a tattoo convention or throwing a party, and the next I’m in the office planning the next event or doing a training session at a bar. The variety means I’ve had the chance to meet some amazing people and travel about a lot. I do love bartending and I still miss it loads, so it is nice to still be involved in the industry without having to be on the front line, which, trust me, can be really hard. I don’t think we really appreciate how hard bartenders work or what we have to put up with – anyone who’s ever worked in a bar will know what I’m talking about. Saying that, I still get the chance to stay pretty close to the bartending side of things, as Sailor Jerry is always keen to find a way to support bartenders. For example, we’re currently running a campaign to get “Bartender Appreciation Day” recognised as a national holiday within the UK. It’s nice to have the opportunity to reward those hardworking guys and gals who make our good nights out possible whilst dealing with all the bad and the ugly!

By Madame Butterfly

 

Can you give us a bit of a rundown of your tattoo collection?

 I was 18 when I got my first tattoo at Madame Butterfly’s in Hastings. I started with my ankles, and then moved onto the “True Love” roses on my feet.  I worked my way up to the backs of my legs and hips, then my ribs and stomach.  I accidentally got most of my painful bits out of the way early, which I’m now pretty glad about. I wanted to save space for the places that would be more on show until I found the right pieces. I’m slowly but surely adding to my collection, and now that I’m 29 I know what I like, and I’m confident my mind won’t change too drastically. I’ve recently started getting serious on my arms and adding to my back.

I’ve always loved traditional tattoos and was probably influenced by Sailor Jerry before I even knew who Norman Collins was. I love the romanticism and hope that his tattoos portray. The messaging behind them evokes a strong sense of telling a story and holding on to a memory which I love. For me, Sailor Jerry tattoos are as timeless and relevant today as they were back in the day.

Love it or leave it by Alexis Camburn-Cox

 

Ladies and lower butterflies by Rebecca Butterfly – Neck by Alexis Camburn-Cox

 

What are your favourite pieces and why?

 My arms are definitely my favourite pieces at the moment because I’m still excited about adding to them. The peacock is one I particularly love and is done by Caleb Kilby at Shangri-La, someone who I have known for a long time and despite it not being my usual style, means a lot to me. I love his style. Some of my other arm was done by Alex Bage, whose style I adore so I was lucky enough to catch him twice. Other pieces I’ll always love are probably my feet and my ribs, which I love as much now as when they were new, in fact I don’t regret any of my tattoos. I’m really lucky to have the opportunity to meet a lot of amazing artists doing what I do, so I’m trying to build up my collection on my travels.  

Peacock by Caleb Kilby

 

Fat Panda by Alex Bage

 

What do you think your tattoos say about you? 

I dread to think! Personally, I think they bring out the hopeless romantic in me. I love tattoos on women, but for me, keeping them classic and feminine softens the edginess of having quite a lot of tattoos.

By Alex Bage

 

What else is in the pipeline for you this year? Work and tattoo wise.

 I will be busy running the campaign for Bartender Appreciation Day, so get voting! We’ve got a few big events coming up which are definitely keeping me busy, and I’ll no doubt be hanging around in bars across the city! With regards to tattoos, I’ll definitely be getting some more work done on my arms and I’m planning on getting to work on my shoulders next.

By Aracelli 4Eva

 

Last but not least, a quick cocktail our readers can make at home? 

Heavy Punch – it’s a great summer cocktail which is refreshingly fruity and easy to mix at home.

HEAVY PUNCH RECIPE

Ingredients:
1 ½ parts Sailor Jerry Spiced
1 part pineapple juice
½ part port
½ part simple syrup
½ part fresh lime juice
4 dashes of bitters

Method: Combine ingredients, shake and strain over crushed ice. Garnish with fresh grated nutmeg.

Respect his legacy, drink responsibly