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Interview with Niki Sparkle, piercer and our online fitness muse

We caught up with Niki Sparkle, from Wrexham North Wales, she is owner/piercer aat Crystal Point Piercing. We chat about piercing, tattoos, health, fitness and her perfect day…

Check out her Instagram account @nikisparkle for daily health inspiration and piercing goodness.

We have been following your Instagram account and you often post fitness / motivational pictures, have you always tried to lead a healthy, active lifestyle? I was an elite basket ball player when I was a teen and very fit. Then life happened! Though I have never been seriously overweight my life style certainly hasn’t been always the healthiest by far. I have been going to the gym for years but doing it all wrong so didn’t see much benefit. I have only recently taken fitness serious over the past year. More intensively over the past six  months. I post on Instagram so that I actually do the workouts…

I post before and after pics regularly to encourage myself. Hearing that others are getting inspiration from my posts is amazing and a mega plus. I have gotten to the point now where I want to push it and I will be working towards my first bikini competition (May 2015), which is super eek and not something I thought I would ever consider even a few months ago.

How do you motivate yourself to exercise? It’s a great mood enhancer and I enjoy the structure the gym gives my morning/start of the day. I go because I feel great when I go and it’s “me -time” although I do work and answer emails on the treadmill. Now with the impending bikini comp I am under the watchful eye of my trainer so I get up and go.

 

What are your favourites forms of exercise? I love core workouts, HIIT (high-intensity interval training), a good sprint, jump squats… any form of jumping about and really getting a good sweat on, followed by long stretch/yoga/Pilates time

As a tattoo collector, how do you cope with not exercising when you have a healing tattoo? I usually find a way depending on how sore I am. Or I just have a break until I feel the area can handle it. I have started to take time away from the gym when I have extensive work done as my immune system works stronger when I am not asking my body to do too many things at once. Lesson learnt on that one.

Describe your perfect day. Hmm I try to make every day count as quality. A beautiful sunrise, good music to kickstart the day, a HIIT workout and good nutritious food to fuel the day. A busy day making people gorgeously shiny using beautiful high-end jewellery. Meeting up with friends. Unwinding/story sharing/general larking/dancing…

Niki with our modification issue cover star Grace Neutral

 

How did you get into piercing? Completely by chance. I wore a fake lip ring and this guy (Jack Rubini, Gorlubb Piercing) called me out and offered to pierce it properly in his new studio in Copenhagen. I became his first receptionist (I think it was in the late 90s) while I was at business college and have worked in piercing/tattoo studios ever since. It took me years to get the courage to learn how to pierce. I was a piercing counter person for many many years before finally picking up a needle.

What is your favourite thing about the job? I love it all so much, but mastering techniques is up there. Always learning new things. Of course the best feeling is seeing healed work look divine on someone.

Niki’s head by Deryn Twelve

 

Any advice for our readers thinking about getting tattooed and pierced? Ask many questions, get to know your piercer and above all be safe in your choices. I’m a big fan of the Association of Professional Piercers approach to piercing. There is great information out there for piercing clients who want to research what to look for in order to get the professional procedure they deserve.

 

 

Any advice for those thinking about taking up exercise? It’s one of the best things I have done for myself, and I can only speak from my own experience, but it’s cured so many rough old habits. And the fact my body is in better shape now than it was when I was 20 is mind blowing and really fun. Little is better than nothing and small progress is still progress, so be kind to yourself and one day you will notice the benefits! I highly encourage anyone thinking of it to start. The Internet is full of help and advice and things you can do at home so there is something for everyone.

Don’t know about you, but we feel pretty motivated. See you at the gym?

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Tattoo advice for first timers

We’ve put our heads together here at Things&Ink to bring you a post filled with tattoo advice for those who are yet to go under the needle…

Get quality not quantity!

 

Jen Adamson our Music Writer says: “Get quality not quantity!” Jen has learnt from her own mistakes of being covered with awful tattoos when she was younger! You get what you pay for! (she is also going through a painful removal process, read more here)

 

Know your body and its limits. Don’t over push them.

 

Writer Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray has a multitude of great advice to impart, she really knows her stuff: Do your research before getting one. Know everything about the process of getting a tattoo, understand the equipment, have an idea of the health and safety standards, etc. If you walk into a shop and you see anything wrong, leave immediately.
Always look at a portfolio of both fresh and healed work. Wet, fresh, swollen tattoos often look so great, but it’s after the peeling and healing that you see if the lines are straight, or if the colours took, or if the drawing is good.
Be sure you fully hydrate and eat a good meal before sitting down. Bring drinks with you and don’t be afraid to ask for a pause to sip. Also, sometimes if you are getting a back piece done or something on a painful area it helps to bring along a sweatshirt or something from home that you can put your face on or into when it gets a bit tough.
The tattoo shop comfort is as important as the artist. Be sure when you’re looking around that you actually go to these places, don’t just look online. Go in and check the place out, does it feel right for you? (e.g., are there private rooms or are you out in the open, does the artist allow people to hang around him or her while working, are there comfortable chairs or tables). Talk to the artist and the staff and make sure you are comfortable with them. After all the artist is going to be touching you, and you have to be able to tell him/her if you are struggling, or might faint etc., The shop needs to be a place where you aren’t afraid if the worst happens – it needs to be a place that if something happened like fainting or puking you’d feel confident that you’d be taken care of properly and be okay. Know your body and its limits. Don’t over push them.

 

You don’t need to be able to draw, a good artist will do this for you

 

Our editorial assistant Rosalie Woodward says: You don’t need to be able to draw, a good artist will do this for you, but it helps to go with an idea of size and what you would like. I always try to give the artist as much free rein as I can, I think you come away with a better tattoo. I have a lot of tattoos that have no meaning, I simply liked the artwork and this is fine! You don’t need a story behind every one! While it heals it will itch! So infuriating but don’t give in and scratch it and don’t pick at your healing tattoo, this will peel off the ink and ruin it!

 

Keely Reichardt
Stick to your guns and be confident in choice of sizing and design!

 

Make-up artist and homewares writer Keely Reichardt has this pearl of wisdon: If you really are not sure whether you want to go bigger or not, then do not be bullied into getting a tattoo much bigger than you first thought. Stick to your guns and be confident in choice of sizing and design!

Look beyond photographs of other tattoos that belong to other people in your search for inspiration.

 

Editor Alice Snape has this advice: Look beyond photographs of other tattoos that belong to other people in your search for inspiration. Think about the artists you love – the pictures that hang on your walls – favourite books, characters from films and just look around your home at the things that surround you. Then pick a tattooist whose style you are drawn to – whether its their colour palette, or bold lines. If you go with them with an abstract idea and some references, they will be able to create something just for you a custom, unique piece. Just don’t let them persuade you too go too big, or have it somewhere you are not happy with.

 

We hope this helps… good luck and remember to share your tattoo journeys with us, hello@thingsandink.com, @thingsandink, facebook.com/thingsandink.

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Mobile tattoo parlour collects 200 pictures and stories

A mobile tattoo parlour has been touring Bristol, encouraging the public to document their tattoos with photographs and share their stories. The project “I Will Always Have You” will be featured in the city’s art and culture show and started in Knowle West in June 2014.

Arts producer Melissa Mean curated the exhibition in order to gather memories and stories behind tattoos to add to growing digital archives.

By exploring the power of personal narratives and the construction of character through body art, we hope to better understand the growing popularity of tattoos across the UK and the richness of Knowle West’s tattoo culture.

The exhibition will be on show at Knowle West Media Centre until Christmas. People can add their tattoos to the online archive.

Image and Melissa quoted from bbc.co.uk

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The Art of Dan Baldwin

British artist Dan Baldwin works in ceramics and paints to create vivid abstract pieces that reflect reality, the power of imagination, as well as his inner self. His works change dramatically depending on the themes he is exploring and the emotions he is channelling.

His new exhibition End of Innocence will be hosted in New York City in association with PMM Art Projects and CCA Galleries starting 22nd October until 2nd November.

 

 

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Feminist postcards by Carol Rossetti

Carol Rossetti is a Portuguese artist who has created a collection of empowering feminist postcards that have been translated into numerous different languages and shared around the world.  The illustrations highlight the difficulties and judgements that women face in today’s society.

I feel very disturbed by the world’s attempts to control women’s bodies. So I’ve started a series of illustrations in a friendly tone hoping to reach people about how absurd this really is.

Writes Carol on her website.

You can view Carol’s work on her website at carolrossetti.com, where you can also buy postcards and prints…