Category: Art

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Holly Astral: ‘The Art of Tarot’ Project

After seeing sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes pics from some of our favourite tattoo artists taking part in ‘TAROT the art of Tarot’ we couldn’t help but be intrigued!

We caught up with Holly Astral, the woman behind ‘TAROT the art of Tarot’ and Gravity Tattoo Studio to find out more about the project and how you can get your own piece of it… 

Poster for Tarot, The art of Tarot project by Holly Astral

What inspired you to start the ‘TAROT The Art of Tarot’ project? It just came up spontaneously! Me and the girls in the shop love reading tarot, and one day we started talking about how fun it would be to design some tarot cards between us, and the idea for the show just clicked into place! Since I got the keys to the building that is now Gravity Tattoo Shop I’d always said I’d like to hold an art exhibition in the ground floor reception area, and this seemed perfect!

You’ve taken part in exhibitions at galleries across Europe and America, was this part of your motivation for the tarot project? Totally! Before I was a tattoo artist I was a toy designer, and ran my own line of designer toys. During that time I put on a couple of collaborative art shows in London, and one in LA. Each one showcased toys which has been customised by other designers in the industry and were so much fun to put on. My main motivation for this show and those that I’ve organised in the past is to showcase the talent of those around me – I figured I’d put on the kind of shows I’d like to attend.

Poster for the Tarot Tattoo Project

What message do you hope to spread? I’m interested to get the conversation going about tarot cards, and how people view them. I am relatively new to the concept, having dabbled a little as a teenager. I had a very rough start to this year and got into it as I was looking for answers. I don’t believe in divination or mediums, rather my take on tarot is that whatever you latch onto within a reading is your subconscious trying to tell you about a part of your life you need to look a little deeper at, or maybe an answer that you already know and need permission to bring to the surface. We all have the answers to our problems inside of us and activities like tarot reading can help us to bring the answers to the surface.

The Tarot project aims to raise funds for Hula Animal Rescue, does that charity mean a lot to you? Absolutely! We raise money for them throughout the year, and last year put on a flash day to fund raise for them. Gravity is a vegan tattoo shop and animal welfare is important to us, Hula are a wonderful small charity doing great things for animals.

Sneak peak at the Tarot Project Exhibition

You’ve brought together 78 individual artists for the tarot project – how did you pick them? Well at first we were going to do just the 22 major arcana from the tarot deck, so we asked some friends if they’d like to design a card for the show and it just got bigger and bigger! Before I knew it we had the entire deck being created, we were just blown away by the response.

Is there a wide variety of styles, mediums and interpretations? It has been incredible seeing all the artwork come back for the show! We left it up to the artists how they wanted to create their cards – any medium was okay, the only proviso being that it needed to fit in an A4 frame for the show layout. We have paintings, drawings, digital artworks and even a couple of embroidered pieces in the show. Seeing how everyone interpreted their card’s meaning has been so fun to see, with so many unique and interesting designs coming back to us. All the pieces they’ve created for the show were available to purchase for £100 each (a steal!)

Will they only be available to purchase at the show? First dibs on purchasing artwork from the show will be given to everyone who attends on the night of the party (August 24th 6-9pm) with any remaining artworks sales being opened up to the internet in the weeks after the show.

Sneak peak at the Tarot Tattoo Project

Will tarot sets be available to purchase too? We can’t wait to do a reading with them! Yes! Pre-orders are now closed but were available through our big cartel: gravitytattoo.bigcartel.com/product/tarot-cards.

Celebrating the art, design and creativity of tattooing will the tarot project be exhibiting anywhere else before the pieces go to their new owners? Nope! Tarot is a one night event!

Holly Astral - The Art of Tarot Tattoo Project

You used to create your own plush toys ‘Cavey’ and even exhibited at ToyCon, was this integral to deciding to create a physical product from the exhibition? My background in product and the toy industry definitely helped, and I also recognised that not everyone can afford £100 for an artwork and wanted to make an item that everyone could afford, so they can still contribute to the charity. Making the deck of cards seemed like the perfect idea, and a great way to showcase all the great art from the show! We enlisted the help of a local printers to help us make the cards as fab as possible.

This is your first exhibition at your studio Gravity Tattoo Shop, has doing the Tarot project given you a taste for curating tattoo art exhibitions again? Absolutely! We’ll be doing another, different show, next year!

Tarot Tattoo Project Poster

Don’t miss the launch of ‘TAROT The Art of Tarot’ on August 24th at Gravity Tattoo Shop in Leighton Buzzard from 6pm- 9pm or follow over on Instagram for more information!

Interview by Amber Carnegie originally posted on the Barber DTS Tattoo Supplies blog. 

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Wee Moody Judy: leather, pink and black tattoos

We’ve been following @weemoodyjudy on Insta for a while, we love her style – think black leather trousers and pastel pinks galore – her beautiful tattoos and her inspirational illustration work. Find out more in our chat…

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Photos: @ryanmormelo

Processed with VSCO with c6 presetWe totally love your style, where do you get your inspiration from? Thank you so much! My style is so intrinsic to who I am, and what I am going through during certain periods of my life. My wardrobe has definitely seen its fair share of experimentations through the years, all of which were fundamental to the development of where my style is today… regardless of how on point (or not!) each look was during that process! As a child I loved to wear my beloved pair of leather trousers and studded heeled boots. Stomping around in them I would feel so “grown up” and empowered!

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Other days, I would leave the house wearing an entirely pink outfit accompanied with sparkly trainers and a cutesy attitude. That juxtaposition has pretty much been a permanent fixture in my style ever since! My style has always helped me to discover a sense of self, and has became a way to visually represent how I feel.

When did you get your first tattoo? What was it and who did it? My first tattoo was a matching one with my late father when I was 19 years old – it was his first one too! We snuck out telling my mum we were having a “Father, Daughter Bonding Lunch,” which she unfortunately was not invited to. We skipped the fake lunch and drove ourselves straight to @blackdottattoo, and met with @tomtomtatts who did our tattoos for us. They were two Canadian rock formations called “inuksuk (inukshuk)” – we got these as a memorial tattoo for my cousin Luke, who was from the North Western Territories of Canada (Yellowknife) and who had died the previous year after just turning 22. I know that will always be my most cherished tattoo.

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What made you feel an urge to get tattooed and what do you like about being tattooed now? From a very young age, I always loved tattoos. Growing up I really didn’t know any adults with tattoos… or visible ones at least! Any time I was lucky enough to see someone with tattoos or colourful hair I was pretty much in awe, and knew I wanted to look like them when I was older. When I was twelve years old I even did a presentation in our school assembly: “when I’m older I want to be” about how I wanted to be a tattoo artist – all my slides containing half naked grizzly tatted men… this still makes my mum laugh. Although I’m not a tattoo artist today, it does make me happy knowing I am becoming that person my younger self always dreamed of looking like. Tattoos make me feel in control of my body, who I am, and how I present myself.

Processed with VSCO with kp3 presetTell us a little about all your tattoos… Currently I am only at the beginning of my tattoo journey, but so far it has been a very enriching and empowering process. My first tattoo with my dad will always be one of my most cherished experiences. I also have a pentacle hand poked on my sternum by @stickaroundtattoo, which I got with my housemates/coven when I lived in Melbourne. Recently I got that pentacle tattoo expanded by @jayrosetattoo to include cobwebs, a spider, and twigs from a bramble bush, which is significant to my childhood. I also have the word CUSTARD tattooed on my side, purely because of the sheer enjoyment I get while eating that golden goodness.

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Do you have plans for more? If so what and who by? Most definitely! I pretty much have my entire body planned out, and I’m very excited to see how my ideas materialise themselves by the artists I’ll be working with. Most of my tattoos are planned to be either botanical, witchy or mythological tales. My next one is going to be of Bacchus by Caravaggio and I’m trusting the lovely @patriciashim with that piece.

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So tell us… What do you do as job and what do you love about it? I am a stylist and an artist! I’ve styled for various freelance jobs, but I’ve just landed my first full -time position. I am fortunate to have a job that not only I love, but one that comes naturally to me. I recently started my own brand @WeeMoodyJudy, where I am selling prints and pieces of cool merchandise! In time I’ll be steadily expanding this to include clothing and accessories too – you can check out my website at weemoodyjudy.com. Being self employed is a tough gig and I often feel overwhelmed, but there truly is nothing more rewarding than seeing your work develop from concept, to design, to a tangible object which can be shared and enjoyed!

Tell us a secret… The name Wee Moody Judy was given to me as a child because I had serious “wee man syndrome,” which in Scotland means I was hella small with a LOT of rage.

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What advice would you give to someone who wants to get tattooed but feels nervous? I’m pretty wimpy when it comes to pain, so I definitely wouldn’t be able to do much to sooth their nerves apart from maybe offer them some paracetamol and tell them that it’ll all be worth it in the end. What’s a few hours of agonising pain compared to a life time of self love?

We love your Insta account, what do you hope to share with your followers the most? I hope to be loving and empowering/empowered by the women and queer people who I follow and who follow me. I want to share my art and looks and to be outspoken through them. I want what I share to be truthful to my own thoughts and experiences. I’ve found that when I’m most honest and vulnerable is when I can communicate best through my work. I use those moments of vulnerability and charge them with my own personal style and humour. I usually describe my work as a “fuck you”, but with a smile! So I hope that my followers can get their own sense of empowerment through the message I’m sending out.

Follow Judy on Instagram or visit her website.

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Dreaming in gold

Alice Le Beau-Morley is a dreamy jewellery maker from London. I discovered Alice’s beautifully pastel Instagram feed sparkling with unique gold pieces one evening when I was scouring the social media platform for handmade earrings to upgrade my current piercings with. I was immediately drawn to Alice’s delicate, handmade earrings, rings and septum rings, that all looked so lovingly crafted and designed. 

Words: Rosalie Hurr

Alice in her home studio
Alice in her home studio

How did you start hand making jewellery? I trained as a piercer when I was 22, as I love piercings (I have around 30!) I hadn’t really considered piercing as a career as its notoriously hard to get into so I just didn’t think it would be possible for me. But luckily I was offered an apprenticeship by an old friend and I jumped at the chance. I’ve always loved piercings, jewellery and styling peoples ears so it was ideal, plus working in a laid-back environment like that really suited me.

I ended up working in studios around London for four years, before I enrolled onto an evening class at the Working Men’s College in Camden to learn the basics of jewellery making, this was back in 2014. I took the classes purely for fun, and there was a lot of trial and error, but it was always something I’d wanted to try. From the first class, it all just clicked, and I knew that it was what I wanted to do.

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The classes really inspired me, and I built a small jewellery bench from an old kitchen cupboard door and some mismatched legs from Ikea. It was very wobbly and I only had a few jewellery making tools. I taught myself a lot too, with YouTube videos and books. Alongside the classes I was posting some of the bits and bobs I was making on my piercing Instagram and people would comment asking where they could buy one of the things I had made. That’s when I decided to set up an Etsy shop, although I had no idea if it would work out! I was very lucky to have my boyfriend (now husband) who supported me for six months to see if I could get my shop off the ground.

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What inspires the pieces you create? I love going to folk museums and looking at handmade crafts. Although to me, crafts are something much more tangible and made for wearing or being used, not for hanging in a gallery where you’re not allowed to touch them! I have such a strong connection to crafts that have been made by hand, as the makers tend to use skills that have been passed down from generation to generation. I just love the idea and sentiment behind this. I also love traditional jewellery that is made using rudimentary techniques, something that you can really tell is handmade, is so beautiful to me.

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I’m heavily inspired by folk art, weaving and particularly Polish and Hungarian embroidery. I enjoy knitting and embroidery, and I think piercing and jewellery making are similar, I love anything small and fiddly. I can happily make tiny  studs for ears and lips for a solid nine hours and then knit for the rest of the evening. Originally I didn’t consider making piercing jewellery at all as I just didn’t think I would be able to do it by hand, but I spent a long time working on the idea and coming up with the labrets you see in my shop today – and I am really proud of them. People would enquire all the time and ask if I could make them studs for their tragus or helix piercings and I would always say no. I couldn’t figure out a way to make them secure enough that I would be confident in putting them in my shop. I tried so many different ways of making them and eventually I got there. They are so comfortable, super secure and have become one of my bestsellers. That’s why I love them, because I spent so much time working on making them perfect for my customers and it feels really good to have achieved that.

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With my own pieces, I feel so happy that somebody wants something that I have made with my hands, it means so much. I also try to support other makers too, that person imagined this thing and put care into creating it, it’s special to them so it’s special to me too. I also adore the wabi sabi quality to handmade objects, you can really see the touch of the person who created it. I feel like I value my handmade things more, like they have a little touch of magic to them. I hope people feel the same about my work.

How would you describe your style, do the pieces you create reflect a part of you? I tend to make things that I would want to wear, I love cute motifs like stars, moons, seashells and flowers. About five years ago I made the decision to only wear colours I really adore. Now I wear a very limited colour palette and everything I own is a cute colour, mainly pink and lilac. My branding and packaging is cute and colourful too, and really it’s an extension of me.

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What advice would you give to other young women who want to start their own business or follow a creative pathway? I didn’t go to university and I think there are so many more options out there today. If there is something you are already interested in fashion, jewellery or drawing, just immerse yourself in it and do it every day. Don’t underestimate the power of the internet, get yourself out there on Instagram, show people the passion you have for what you do. Be prepared to work harder for yourself than you ever have in any other job. Nothing compares to being my own boss and making jewellery. I have absolute satisfaction from mastering a skill and constantly building on it all while supporting my family at the same time.

Visit aliceruby.com (warning: you will want everything.)

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Sasha Nicole: The Black Heart Project

Tattooer Sasha-Nicole works out of Gold Irons Tattoo Club, Brighton and is the founder of the black heart project. Sasha tells us all about the creation and inspiration behind the charity tattoo project and how you can get involved…

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The black heart project is something I created a couple of years ago, with the sole purpose of raising awareness and funds for mental health. Primarily the charity ‘Mind’. I designed a simple image to hold a word relevant to the client’s own experiences, whether that be their struggles or their triumphs, to display as a badge of honour in place of the stigma we’re often subjected to when it comes to these things. I wanted people to be able to be proud of who they are, despite how difficult things may be.

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I was going through a particularly rough time myself. I’ve struggled with a variety of things in my lifetime, and I guess I just wanted to put that energy into something positive and help other people along the way.

We all know that we need to talk more, and that doing so helps enormously, so the idea was to create a chain through these blacks hearts.

One person has a black heart tattoo, someone may then ask them about it, opening up topics that may have otherwise not come around, they may then tell someone or even get one themselves, and so on. When people come in for these tattoos they really open up to me, whether I know them already or have never seen them before in my life. The tattoo chair is a fairly vulnerable place and with this project solely based around mental health, I think it kind of gives people a safe avenue to open up and talk about it. I’ve seen people around town who have come up to me weeks or months after their tattoo, and they update me on how they’re doing, or tell me that their friend got one. I’ve had people from Brighton to Scotland get involved in this project so it’s nice to know that even a handful of people from different parts of the country have been made to feel a little better about what they’re going through.

black heart project

I generally advertise on my Instagram when I’m going to be doing a flash day, and then take bookings and cram as many people in as possible! I’m looking to expand this project over the next year, I won’t say too much now but I’m planning on taking it into schools (obviously not the tattooing element), but I want to spread the general idea as far as I can.

I get asked what word I would have in a heart on every flash day and I honestly still don’t know! I think I would probably have a blank one, just as a starting point for the logo and the concept, and then if people ask I can direct them to the black heart project from there!