Here at Things&Ink we love everything kawaii and there is no better place to get your cute fix than at Hyper Japan!
Hyper Japan is the UK’s biggest celebration of Japanese culture, cuisine and cool. It brings sellers, performers, entertainers, traders and exhibitors all under one roof! A perfect place to buy all of your Christmas gifts and to immerse yourself in everything Japanese. You can get everything from a make-over to traditional Japanese crockery to exotic teas.
The Hyper Japan Christmas Market takes place on 14-16 November at the National Hall Kensington Olympia, London.
General Entry Tickets are £12 each for Friday and the Saturday Sessions, and General
Entry tickets for the longer Sunday session are £15 each. Click here to purchase tickets.
We caught up with tattooist (and love issue cover star) Rachel Baldwin to find out more about her Disney themed charity tattoo day, which was held back in September to raise money for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and celebrate her shop’s first birthday…
Rachel Baldwin and Alex Strangler
What made you decide to do a Disney Flash charity day? I wanted to do something super special for our shops first birthday (Bold As Brass). I’m a bit of a Disney fanatic and I thought this would be the perfect excuse to do cute Disney themed tattoos, dress up in silly costumes and have a fun party with my friends.
Yana AKA Tinkerbell who helped out on the day
How did you pick the charity Alder Hey Children’s Hospital? I wanted to do something nice for the local community. I am so grateful that Liverpool has been a welcoming place for us to set up our shop, so this is just a little back from us. As my family are all from Liverpool I have always been aware of Alder Hey, I know a lot of children from all over the country go there for treatment.
Vicky Morgan, AKA Pocahontas
Did you enjoy the day? And will you do more charity flash days? I always try to keep my expectations low (so I’m not disappointed!) but I had no idea we would have such a great turn out and such a lovely time. It seriously felt like my birthday! It couldn’t have gone any better. I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who came and tattooed, got tattooed or bought something.
I want to say an even bigger thank you to all artists who joined us working on the day. I am super lucky to have such talented generous friends! Everyone worked super hard all day and into the night and partied hard afterwards!
Rachel getting her nails did by the lovely Nancy Mc
Special thanks to Alex Strangler, Vicky Morgan, Matt Craven, James Kiley, Toni Moore, Anrijis Straume and Jody Dawber. As well as Nick (Baldwin) for his help and support and my super organised desk girlies Sandra, Yana and my sister Michelle.
Well done to Rachel and everyone involved in the day, who managed to raise an amazing £8,024 for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
Of course, Team Things&Ink showed up to show our support and some team members couldn’t resist the Disney flash…
Liz’s Pinocchio hand by KileyLeila’s kewpie Princess Jasmine by Jody DawberKeely’s Pudgey tattoo by Craven
Sin in Linenbrings you soft goods with hardcore style.
Ten years ago Sandy Glaze founded the Seattle-based textiles company and, to this day, it is owned and run by women. Their textile and homeware collections are inspired by rock ‘n’ roll, pin-ups and, of course, tattoos!
Sandy collaborates with artists and manufacturers around the world to produce stylish home textiles on high-quality ethically produced cotton.
You won’t find homewares like this anywhere else, their out-of-the-ordinary style and eye-catching designs will transform any room into a sultry heaven. The designs are tough and bold while still being feminine and sexy, and their product lines include: bedding, bathroom and kitchen linen. Sin in Linen encourages women to express themselves through their home decor, igniting a passion in the home like no other.
Try Something New in Bed with Sin in Linen!
Follow Sin in Linen on their Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for new products and don’t miss the launch of their clothing line!
#sininlinen #trysomethingnewinbed
Take a peek on the website at www.sininlinen.com, plus they ship internationally.
Newspapers and the internet are crammed full of celebrities showing off their new tattoos and getting tattooed.
Rihanna flew tattoo artist Cally-Jo to the Dominique Republic to tattoo her hand.
We’ve even spied celebrities doing the tattooing!
Earlier today, after getting tattooed by Lauren Winzer, Miley Cyrus gave Lauren a tattoo. Miley is almost as famous for her tattoos as she is for her music, she frequently tattoos her friends and other tattoo artists including Bang Bang.
Miley’s Hands by Lauren Winzer
Celebrities are influencing tattoo designs and creating trends in the tattoo world. One of the most famous and replicated tattoos of the moment is Cheryl’s hand (also her bum is also pretty famous too):
What do you think of the rise in popularity of tattoos and celebrities?
But we wanted to find out more about the need for an all-female tattoo show, and why it was first set up. So we spoke to one of the organisers at CBA Promotions to find out more, see how the show went for them and if any changes will be made to the convention in the future.
How long has the show been running for and who started it? This was our 4th year of running the show and it was started by Dave Boyle with a lot of help from his team at Creative Body Art in Coventry
Why have you chosen to create a female only convention? Honestly, we just wanted to put on a tattoo show and this was the only thing that had not been done in the UK before. The idea came from a show in the USA that has run for more than 20 years.
Is it at related to sexism in the workplace or the tattoo industry? Do you think it is harder for women to get noticed purely for their work? It is not related directly to sexism, however people would be stupid to think that it doesn’t exist. Even now, in our tattoo studio, we have guys come in and ask the female artists where the tattooist is. We were also told by a female artist one year she was denied applying to work a tattoo show “because they already had enough female tattooists on the list”.
I don’t think it’s harder for female artists to get noticed these days, the tattoo industry has come a very long way in recent years and there are now so many amazing tattooists both male and female. Most studios have a female artist – and so they should, I’ve always had female artists in my studio and long may that continue. I can remember when you could count on one hand how many female owned tattoo studios there were in the UK and now that has changed and it’s totally awesome.
Why was the judging done by three men when it is a female only convention? It wasn’t something we gave a great deal of thought to to be honest, in recent years we have had female judges, but like all tattoo shows we grab what judges we can as it’s not a job everyone wants to do, it usually depends who’s free and available at the time.
The entertainment was very similar to other conventions – dancing girls, pinups etc – why did you pick the same formula? The 1st Annual Female Tattoo Show had a very vintage feel. This theme came from the Art Deco and up-market venue, so the show was born from that. We are only a very small, one-day show and we put a lot of time and effort into the entertainment.
What are your plans for next year? Will you change anything? We are currently in the planing stage idea wise for next year’s show, I don’t think we will change much. We have a few things to address and we learn every year and listen to feedback. We make slight changes every year, for example we reduced the entrance fee this year and allowed children in for free, whereas previous shows have been 18 only. We are looking at reducing the cost of trade spaces too, especially for smaller independent traders.
Was the show a success for you? Any words for people wanting to attend next year? This year’s show for us was a huge success! The number of people who attended was up on last year and we had a huge waiting list of artists wanting to work. We also sold out of tattoo booths three months before the show. Anyone thinking about attending next year’s show definitely should as it’s a great day out. There is lots to do in the local area if people wanted to make a weekend of it, we have Shakespeare’s birthplace just up the road, Warwick and Kenilworth Castle and Coventry Cathedral are all great places to visit. Leamington Spa itself has some lovely shops, cafes and bars.
