Tag: tattoos

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Tattoo Artist Myra Brodsky

New York tattoo artist Myra Brodsky has created a line of spooky inspired tattoos titled Cabinet of Curiosities, which features ghouls, goblins and 19th century magic. Strongly influenced by art nouveau and the Victorian age, Brodsky has developed a style that is feminine, classic yet dark…

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I’m not interested in making little girls happy in the simplest way, and if I was I wouldn’t even be able to serve that, I only see the world through my own twisted mind and it just happens to be dark inside of there. I cannot help it.

What inspired you to become a tattoo artist and what drew you to the world of tattooing? I did not become a tattoo artist because I really wanted to. For me it came out of an emergency situation. I was 19 when I started to tattoo. I had to pay college fees and rent all by myself after I lost my father. My mother stopped talking to me and disappeared after he passed so I had to figure out a way to provide for myself. Luckily tattooing gave me the chance to generate some pocket money. At that time I had no idea what I was doing so I let my insane state of mind direct my actions.

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How long have you been tattooing? I started tattooing in 2008 when I met my best friend at the time who was already working at a tattoo shop. I did not take it seriously when I started and it was more of a way to try out things and tattoo my friends. It took me a while to figure out that it was something I could actually get really good at.

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How would you describe your style? How has it developed over time? It’s always very hard for me to put in words what my style is about. I get inspired by a lot of different things, periods of art and places I’ve been to. I settled down in New York City a while ago. But when I was still traveling from one place to another without a steady home base, I was so mad about absorbing all sorts of inspiration I was able to find anywhere in this world. Soon my style transformed into a blend of decorative elements you can basically find in any given period of art from the past and comic-like rather more modern characters that bring the scenery to life. I’m glad that I received my O1-visa for aliens of extraordinary ability as I have the privilege to travel back and forth between America and Europe whenever I want to. I’m sure my style is going to transform again in a few years.

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Designs from Cabinet of Curiosities

What do you love to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? What I most like about tattooing is trying to figure my clients out and find a personalised idea that really suits them. Everything has to make sense no matter what idea we are talking about. If I tattooed a large-scale griffin on someone’s arm there’s supposed to be a reason why. Personalities become alter-egos become simplified images.

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What inspires your tattoos? Do you think your German roots inspire your designs? I would not necessarily say that my German roots play a fundamental role since I consider myself a European citizen rather than a German. I went to art school and I know a lot about art history and love to help myself to all the decorative and adorning elements that most periods offer. They’re classic, they’re organic and can easily be used as a timeless way to complement your design. It just makes sense to me to tattoo them since classic art never gets old. People still pay admission to see old paintings in museums so I’m sure they won’t regret getting details of them tattooed. But still I need something else to break the sweetness in there. And I’d like to manifest that these days I mix my knowledge of art history with more modern elements I find in adult cartoons from the 70s-90s.

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You’ve created a series of designs based on a Cabinet of Curiosities, where did this idea come from? I take the subway everyday, I drink a lot of wine among other things and I watch a lot of B-Movies. I guess that explains at least something.

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Design from Cabinet of Curiosities

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Blogger Style: Ayup It’s Shann

24-year-old Shannon Wright is a blogger as well as Production & Marketing Manager from Doncaster, South Yorkshire. We caught up with Shann to chat tattoos, her grungy style and body confidence…
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How old were you when you got your first tattoo? I was 19! And I was at a Gay Pride Festival in Birmingham.

What was it and do you still love it?  I got some lyrics by The Smiths round my ankle. They’re one of my favourite bands. They say ‘Save your life, because you’ve only got one’. I wish the artist had used a thinner needle, because they’re harder to read then the second set I now have on my other ankle, but I still love it! It meant a lot to me at the time because I’d just come out of a toxic relationship, and it was the first time I felt like myself again and realised I had so much of life to look forward to!

What inspired you to get tattooed? Suicide Girls. I think I was about 13 or something when I first realised alternative models were a thing and I’ve wanted to be one ever since!

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Has having tattoos helped you to see your body differently?  1000%! Even before I decided to lose my weight, I wanted them to help me love my body. I always hated my legs because they were quite big (I was a UK28) and I’d never get them out. Even in summer when it was boiling! So my first lot of tattoos I got them on my legs and it gave me such a confidence boost! I learned to love myself and my skin. I just thought if people were going to look anyway, then I’ll give them something to stare at.

What do your tattoos mean to you? I couldn’t imagine myself without them now. They tell my story and make me who I am. Especially on my weight loss journey, they encouraged me to become a better and healthier me and gave me something to strive towards. I have to acknowledge my tattoo artists @lilyjtattoo and @pippa_kovacs_tattoos, without them I couldn’t look the way I do and be who I want to be so I owe them a massive thank you!

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Do you have any future tattoo plans? Of course! I’ve just started a chest piece. But I’m actually booked in later this month to finish my sleeve and start my new one! It’s going to be a spooky sleeve with all my favourite ghoulish things like the Addams family, Halloween and goosebumps!

Your style is pretty grungy do your tattoos reflect this too? Kind of! I think my tattoos add to the grunge look, but to look at then up close they’re all really bright and colourful. The majority of my tattoos have a meaning behind them so they tell a story, more than just reflect a style  or image.

You’ve recently started blogging, what can readers expect to see in your posts? It’s kind of an extension to my Instagram, so it’s going to be full of recipes, fashion advice and just general chit chat. I get asked so many questions daily that I find myself repeating myself, so I thought if I started a blog, it would be easier to answer them and help people.

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You’re really active on Instagram, what inspired you to share your life on social media? Honestly, I think it was the key to actually making me change my life. I think it’s easy to wake up and say you’re going to change but if you post it on social media it’s a sort of pressure to mean what you say. But it’s also such a beautiful community and I have the support of my followers to thank everyday for helping me and encouraging me to be the person I want to be. It was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. It’s kinda like a diary and when I feel like I’m going to give up I scroll through and it gives me that boost to carry on.

You’ve also shared your weight loss journey, has being so open helped you stay motivated? Definitely. I have some of the best followers. I’ve made some beautiful friendships, and it’s just an amazing community. I think I’d have given up a long time ago if it wasn’t for those guys.

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What sorts of reactions do your posts and/or tattoos get? Does this differ to the reactions you get in real life? I’m lucky to say I rarely get any negative comments. Maybe two in about three years of posting. My goal is to just be real. I want people to see that I’m not perfect. I think it’s so easy to follow other people on Instagram and want to be just like them because they look and seem perfect. I think social media has a lot to answer for when it comes to us being negative about how we look, or having to look a certain way.

I just want to show men and women that it’s okay to just be you. We’re all special and beautiful. Which brings me on to real life. I’m very aware of the stares I get or the negative comments in supermarkets and shops. However, I’m being the person I want to be. I’m comfortable in my skin and I love the way it looks. I’m a massive believer in if it makes you happy just do it. I’d rather die knowing I did everything I wanted to do; than wishing I had done everything differently. Life’s too short!

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Halloween Tattoos Pt.1

We just love Halloween, it seems that you do too, what with all the Halloween inspired tattoos we’ve been spotting lately on our feed.  From your favourite films to spoopy bats – there were just too many for one blog post, so we’re doing a mini series… 

@hayleyblackwoodtattoo

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@criscleen

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@charlotteannharris

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@stephanie_melbourne

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@ebony_mellowship

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@littlerachtattoo

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@rwhittakertattoo

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@avalontattoo

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@isobelmortontattoo

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If you’d like your Halloween tattoo to be featured on a future post send it to hello@thingsandink.com

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Alice SB Tattoos Bravery Medals for World Mental Health Day

24-year-old tattoo artist Alice SB at Forever Bound tattoo studio in Bristol has been tattooing bravery medals to raise money for Papyrus – the national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide. We caught up with Alice after the flash day to find out what inspired her to raise awareness for suicide prevention and World Mental Health Day…

The flash day took place on Friday September 28th at my tattoo home, Forever Bound in Bristol. The inspiration for the day came from so many different places. I’m lucky to have never been immediately affected by suicide but I’ve had mental health issues for as long as I can remember. I’ve been in some pretty nasty places, but I’m so crazy proud of myself for being where I am now. And I don’t tell myself that enough!

Locally, Bristol has quite a bad rep for suicide rates. A lot of my customers are students, and Bristol Uni had one of the highest suicide rates in the country last year, and I think the first place to start to deal with that stuff is open conversation wherever and whenever it can happen. I’m super lucky to have amazing customers who are so open with me about their own mental health, they are a constant inspiration. I can’t emphasise enough how amazing my customers are.

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I think the designs mostly came from my own experience, every day with mental health means a new challenge even if it is just leaving the house or getting out of bed, and we one million percent should be rewarding ourselves more for the things we conquer. I find that having depression/anxiety makes me such more encouraging of other people’s recovery, but less so of my own. So I thought it would be nice to do something a little more self love focused.

The conversation on the day was super varied! We all did a lot of laughing and a bit of crying. Some of my customers were super positive about the whole thing, There was a lot of really positive talk about personal growth and about my customers finding their own coping methods and ways to love themselves. But equally, some of the day was really heavy. I had a couple of customers who had been really immediately affected by suicide, be it a friend or a family member, and some themselves. It was really rad to think about how they might use their new tattoo medal and how it might help to change the way they view themselves and the wider world.

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The general feedback was super positive all round, and everyone was so happy to contribute to Papyrus. They are such an amazing charity, who’s work is focused around youth suicide and it’s prevention. They offer support and education about suicide from a young age in loads of different formats.

All in all the day was really amazing. I really hope the girls’ new tattoos will help to remind them of how far they’ve come, and how tough they are. And to know that we can maybe contribute in a small way to improving the wellbeing of other young people with mental health issues is the best feeling ever. I’d like to thank them all too, if you can put that in there! For the support, and the trust, and for generally being top notch little human beings.

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