Things&Ink

March 6, 2016

Apprentice Love: Olivia Foxx

We spotted the work of apprentice Olivia Grace Foxx, 23 on Instagram and instantly loved her dotted Disney tattoos. We chatted to Olivia to find out more about her life as an apprentice at Skin Kitchen in Margate, Kent where she works.

How did you get your apprenticeship? What were you doing before? I’d been trying to find an apprenticeship for around two years and had been for a few interviews but not found the right shop. A couple of my friends sent me a link to an advertisement for an apprenticeship at a local well renowned shop. I sent over examples of my work, had an interview and was asked to work a trial day. Everyone immediately made me feel welcome and I’ve been there full time since December 2014.
Before starting my apprenticeship I’d been working as a doctors receptionist for around three years, all the while building up a decent portfolio.

What do you like about it, what do you dislike? There are so many things I love about being an apprentice. I love working in a creative environment and being surrounded by such talented artists who are also a lot of fun. Being given the opportunity to do something you love everyday is incomparable.
The only down side for me is that I get incredibly nervous and do doubt myself and my work a lot.

Do you have a background in art? Ever since I can remember I’ve always drawn. I studied art at A-Level and went on to do a Foundation Diploma specialising in fashion and textiles (not too sure why) but I did learn a lot of useful skills and techniques that I still use now. I was a little unsure about what I wanted to do career wise until I got my first few tattoos and realised that was the job for me.

How would you describe your style? I feel like I’m still trying to find my style but think this will come with time and tattooing more. I’m really enjoying dotwork with some elements of blackwork at the moment. I’ve also done quite a few mandalas which are fun, and also some dotwork Disney pieces!

What is a typical day like for you? A typical day at the shop includes setting up my boss’ station, cleaning the shop and making sure everything is nice and tidy. Speaking to and booking in clients and lots of drawing (if I’m not tattooing). There’s also quite a lot of tea and coffee making.

How did you feel doing your first tattoo? My first tattoo was on myself, it was a little traditional rose on the inside of my calf. I was so nervous and it took me around four hours. Mainly due to the fact it was so painful. Thankfully I’ve had a lot of lovely volunteers (mainly my brother) who let me practice on them shortly after.

Can you tell us about your own tattoos? My tattoos are a bit of a mixture really. I love traditional/neo traditional work. My first was a traditional thigh piece done by Dan Frye, which I’m still completely in love with. I’ve also got a couple of really cool pieces done by the guys I work with including a stylised Daenerys on the back of my calf. I have a ridiculous amount of space, but I have a long list of artists that I want work done by so it’ll have to be gradual.

March 5, 2016

The art of Alessandro Gallo

Italian born and London based artist Alessandro Gallo creates sculptures that explore the the ways that animals and humans are both the same and interchangeable. His work takes a humorous look at animals and humans within city environments and the links between the species…

Turkey Vulture, 2013

March 4, 2016

Careers: Tattooed Hair Stylist

We chatted to 28-year-old Lucy Keegan aka Stylicorn about exploring her creativity with a new career venture as a hair stylist and her pastel cute tattoo collection…

Lucy styling at a BMW event

I was 18 when I got my first tattoo. It was a koi carp on my lower back. I’d just rocked up to a local studio with a picture off the internet, it was on a whim and it took me around seven years to get anymore. Although I loved the tattoo at the time, it didn’t age well. I’ve since had it covered with a gorgeous piece by Lucy O’Connell. Using Instagram opened me up to a world of amazing tattoo artists, and I just fell in love. It feels really important to me to have these lasting pieces of artwork, and they have helped me to make my body beautiful. I’ve had a tough few years with the loss of my mum in 2013 and lots of health issues, and I’ve found tattoos give me back a control over my body and my life.

@keelyrutherford

Most of my tattoos are very ‘me’ –girly, colourful and cute. Some have personal meanings, my anchor is linked to a quote ‘hope is the anchor for my soul’ , which Harriet Heath created from a picture I painted for my mum while she was ill, and my match was inspired the by the Paramore song ‘Last Hope’. Others, such as my fan and my jackalope, were designs artists posted on Instagram and I fell in love with. Most are purely for the fun of it, such as my piece of cake and my happy doughnut! I always enjoy the collaboration process between the artist and myself, and knowing that I can email them and ask for ‘a girly, feminist, amazing, sparkly sailor moon tattoo’ and get just that!

@abbiewilliamstattoo

I really admire all the amazing female artists out there, and it’s great to see them grow in popularity. Two ladies who are very special to me are Lucy O’Connell and Abbie Williams, because I know they will always create beautiful pieces for me, and they have both tattooed me numerous times. They are also both super lovely ladies! I met Sarah Terry at the Brighton Tattoo Convention in 2013, and have followed her progress as an apprentice since then. Her dedication to the craft is amazing and I was so happy to finally get tattooed by her in January this year.
I am booked in for another tattoo with Lucy in April, and I’m hoping to grab something at Brighton this year too. I’ve got lots of artists on my list for future work, such as Katie Shocrylas, Onnie O’Leary and Shannan Meow.

tattsss

@lucylucyhorsehead & @charlotte_eleanor88

I was originally a Primary school teacher, but after five years I wanted a new direction. I’m a very creative person, and I felt like teaching was trying to squish me into a tiny box. Plus tattoos are still frowned upon as ‘unprofessional’ in teaching, so I was getting mine in places that couldn’t be seen. I’d always wanted to get into hairdressing, so last year I was brave enough to leave teaching and retrain at the London Hair Academy in Shoreditch. It was an amazing experience and I’ve been taught by such great tutors who are still in the business. My dream is to become a session stylist, and to work on magazine shoots, music videos, film and TV. So although my day job is as an assistant in a salon (Matthew Cross Hairdressing) while I complete my training, I take on freelance styling work, such as a recent event for BMW. Hairdressing is not 9-5, I spend evenings and my days off doing hair for friends and family, but I love every second of it. Countless people have told me how happy I look, and although its hard work starting from the bottom, I’m excited about the journey ahead.

Red carpet hair- I won 1st place in my college competition and have now been nominated for Level 2 British Hairdressing Student of the Year

There is no dress code at my salon, and lots of stylists have tattoos so I don’t worry about them being on show. Most of mine you will only see if I’m wearing a dress or a skirt, so it’s funny when people notice them for the first time. To be honest I get more comments about my hair, which is my little pony colours!

ninety nine percent of the reactions I’ve got have been positive. People always comment on how girly and colourful they are, and like to ask about what they mean. I like how engaging having tattoos can be, and it always creates a conversation. The only real negative I feel is when people don’t respect your boundaries if you are tattooed. I’ve had a couple of men pull at the back of my dress and stare at my back tattoo while in bars or at work, which makes me really angry. I don’t mind showing my tattoos if I’m asked, but nobody has the right to touch you without your permission.

@samwhiteheadtattoos

I think it’s really important to consider your career when you get a tattoo, and also think about the fact that you might change your career in the future. As a teacher, it was not acceptable for me to have tattoos on show, so I always had mine covered up. Now my job is accepting of tattoos, but I have yet to take the plunge and have any really visible ones. You don’t have to have tattoos on show to enjoy them, as for me that’s not what they are about. Although tattoos are much more common, especially on girls, they are still seen negatively by society in a lot of ways. I always advise people to think carefully about any tattoo before they get it, because it’s a lifetime commitment.

March 3, 2016

Fashion Pearls of Wisdom: The Taxi Driver

Our columnist Natalie McCreesh aka Pearl, is a fashion lecturer, freelance writer and creator of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom. In this post she’ll be talking about the perception that all tattooed people are criminals…

My boyfriend and I jumped into a taxi, on our way out for a few drinks. He starts telling me a story of what had happened to him earlier in the day involving a community officer giving him a telling off for putting an empty can into someone’s refuse bin which was out in the street. Needless to say, knowing James, this debate went on for about half an hour ending with him taking the can back out of the bin and telling the bloke what a jobs-worth he was. I’m crying with laughter by this point as I know how stubborn he can be in proving a point, when the taxi driver pipes up: ‘No way, I thought you were gonna say you smacked the guy one’, we both look at each other, ‘with all those tattoos and your clearly ripped’ (it was a tight t-shirt and biceps kind of day) ‘when you walked up to the car, I thought bloody hell you know’!

We didn’t know, that was the first time I’d ever really thought about other people’s perceptions of us. The taxi driver was just having a laugh with us and nobody took offence, but it’s easy to forget how stereotypes still exist around tattooed people. Have we really not moved on from the image of the bad guy with tattoos? It reminded me of my guilty pleasure Australian soap Neighbours who always chose a greasy haired, leather jacket clad tattooed bloke to signify a new character who was inevitably up to no good. Australia has been in the news with reports of changes to the law under Queensland VLAD (Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Bill 2013) part of which would see all new tattoos photographed and recorded to create a new database of tattooed people – because only criminals have tattoos right?

March 2, 2016April 6, 2016

Music Review: City & Colour

Our guest music blogger Verity Vincent caught the culmination of City & Colour‘s UK tour at London’s Troxy last weekend and boy did they go out with a bang…

Support from Lucy Rose was the perfect choice for City and Colour. Her combination of soft yet powerful vocals and at times, heavy guitar riffs meant she was positioned with the perfect crowd. Playing a beautiful 40 minute set, Dallas Green stepped on stage to perform Lucy’s ‘She’ll Move’ and created a vocal blend almost as perfect as his with Alecia Moore. (AKA Pink, with their joint project You & Me). She seemed shocked at the number of bodies that had arrived in time to see her play, but the volume was justified. The venue was nearly full and she deserved it.

After some funky mariachi style intro music, Dallas opened with ‘Woman’ from fifth studio album If I Should Go Before You which instantly set the bar for their set. Magical light displays paired with Dallas’ equally magical tone can effortlessly fill any room.

Offering a perfect range of songs from the albums Sometimes, The Hurry & The Harm, Little Hell and Bring Me Your Love, along with 2015’s If I Should Go Before You, the blend of material spanning over a decade offered a nostalgic element as well as showcasing their newest, and equally brilliant, material. Sadly the repertoire didn’t stop the cries of song titles being endlessly screeched, like the band were there to form a human jukebox. Perhaps they take that as a salute to their back catalogue, either way it was suitably ignored.

‘Hello, I’m In Delaware’ was the first throwback track and kicked off an all mighty sing-a-long before picking the tempo up again with ‘Wasted Love’. Whether the audience were more familiar with the recent or earlier albums mattered not. Experiencing the sheer ability this man and his band have was clearly at the forefront.

After an impressive display of thirteen songs and swirling, multi coloured lights illuminating the Troxy, the band briefly stepped off stage to return for one outstanding encore. A further four track section of tear inducing music. Standing solo initially, Dallas treated fans to Day Old Hate before whipping out his harmonica for Body in a Box and a universal, “Oh wow”, could be heard as the initial bars flew out of the harmonica.

Switching from the delicate acoustic arrangement of ‘The Girl’ the full band returned for the second half to up the tempo one last time, culminating in a ridiculous vocal and guitar showcase with ‘Hope For Now’.

There is such a genuinely humble root to Dallas Green, and as he not only thanks the crowd for singing along to every single word and making his dream and career possible, he also thanks his band and each individual that helps put together their show. You feel a sense of pride for being part of something so special, to sing back the lyrics to him that were written in a small Ontario bedroom is an amazing moment to share, especially when the artist is so openly appreciative. Those lyrics mean something to each person standing in the room, as well as him.

This is the third time I’ve been lucky enough to watch City and Colour live and it never fails to leave the impression; Fuck. He’s just so, so incredibly, goosepimpingly good. His voice has the capability to go right through you, head to toe, and he still remains to be one of the most spellbinding vocalists I have ever heard.