I have been a fan of tattoo artist Grace Neutral for a while now, but her recent antics have made me love her even more.
Yesterday she had the pleasure of meeting the radical women who climbed the shard in London Bridge on a Greenpeace protest. They were protesting against Arctic drilling. The women spent 15 hours climbing to the top of the building, to fly a flag that said ‘Save the Arctic’. The police were waiting at the top to arrest the women.
Grace and the Greenpeace protestors
Yesterday the six protestors were charged and released. And the first thing they did when they got out – they went to see Grace Neutral over at Good Times Tattoo to mark the occasion with a shard tattoo. Fucking awesome.
‘I felt honoured that I got to tattoo a little memorial of their radical day,’ said Grace on Instagram. ‘It was fun to tattoo some hardened criminals, they were just so lovely.’
Handpoked shard tattoo
Two of the women have been tattooed so far, and a few more of them will at a later date. Absolutely love this story.
-FLASH is a number of designs, specifically made for tattoo purposes, placed together on a sheet of paper. Usually they are made in a set of multiple sheets. Meant to hang on the walls of tattoo shops, to be picked from by customers and tattooed. (not every painting by a tattoo artist is flash and sometimes even unsuitable, because not specifically made, to use as such)
-ONE-OFFS are drawings pre-made by a tattoo artists that are to be tattooed only once. Usually they are linedrawings to be colored and shaded while tattooed.
-CUSTOM DESIGNS are specifically made for one client, usually by their direction and specifications. To be used on that client only.
*NEVER take designs or tattoos from the internet, or anywhere else, and use them for your own tattoos, or anything else for that matter. They all have copyright. Buying flash though, will give your the right to use these for tattoos.
Sailor Jerry has embarked upon an epic quest to track down a rare breed of individuals – those walking the earth with tattoos inked by Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins himself. Not imitations, just tattoos inked by the man himself.
These men and women represent living history, so Sailor Jerry want to photograph their tattoos and interview them about their session with the father of old-school tattooing.
These stories and photos will contribute to an exhibition celebrating the life and legacy of Sailor Jerry. If you’re reading this post and you have an original Norman Collins tattoo (or know someone who does), please get in touch with the guys over at Sailor Jerry, by emailing them at originalink@sailorjerry.com.
Interview with Amy Savage, Jayne Doe Tattoo Shop in Hornchurch
See the full interview with more images in issue 1 – The Launch Issue – of Things & Ink magazine. Order here.
What got you into tattooing? It actually stemmed from an obsession with drawing Disney characters when I was younger. I always wanted to be an animator, then kinda grew out of that. But my love of art remained. Then when I was 16, I had a heavily tattooed boyfriend who suggested I start drawing flash for shops. I did so, until I thought, why do I need the middleman? Surely I can do it myself. It was a slow process, taking years for me to get an apprenticeship. In the mean time I did Art, Art History and Photography A-levels, then a degree in Applied Behavioural Science and Welfare of Animals. This just made me realise I wanted to tattoo even more. Finally, I got an apprenticeship in Kent and my journey began.
How did you practice? I started on fake skin and pig’s skin, then on any of my friends who were willing. We’re still friends, so that’s a good sign.
What influences your style? A lot of neo-traditional work, I also like a lot of animals, which I guess stems from my choice of degree. I’m known as a bit of a cat lady, I do loads of cats. I love doing fox tattoos too.
How would you describe your own style? Very girly. I would like my work to go in a more real direction, so it has a more natural appearance to it, I think somewhere in the middle of neo-traditional and realistic would be perfect.
If you could tattoo anyone, who’d it be? It would have to be Billy Corgan. Smashing Pumpkins are my favourite band in the whole world. If I ever did get to tattoo him, it would be the scariest, but best, situation ever!
If you weren’t a tattoo artist, what would you be? I can’t imagine not being a tattoo artist. But I would maybe have gone down the animal route as a pet behaviourist, specialising in rabbits. I love rabbits, I’d love to do more rabbit tattoos actually.
What’s it like working at Jayne Doe? It is an amazing place to work, none of the people who work here have big egos. It’s important as I tattoo all day – it’s my life, but I love it.
