Traditional Tattoos Archives

February 4, 2022February 4, 2022

Tattoo stories: Cicely

At Things&Ink we’re a curious bunch – we want to know about your tattoos. Why did you get that design? Why that artist? Tell us EVERYTHING! So we’re introducing our tattoo stories series, as a way to get to know you all better (and be nosy). Here’s Cicely Rae Jackson (she/her) sharing her tattoo story…

Hello! My name is Cicely and I live in Holmfirth with my husband Josh and our two kids Lilith and Abel. I create content for a living and spend the rest of my time hunting for treasures in our local charity shops!

How old were you when you got your first tattoo, what was it and do you still like it? I was 17 or 18 when I got my first tattoo. It was a pretty dodgy studio and there were a lot of red flags that would stop me going ahead with the tattoo now, but I was young and inexperienced!

I asked for a bow on the back of my ankle (they were super trendy back then ). I was never shown a design and the guy tattooed directly on to my leg without a stencil or freehand drawing, but I was happy enough with it for a couple of months. I then went to another studio and had it coloured in to try improve it, but it still wasn’t amazing. I later had it covered up with a bigger lilac bow, but you could still clearly see the original bow underneath.

So I eventually went to a great artist who worked it into another tattoo and covered up it up with a navy bow.

What made you want to get tattooed? I’ve always loved the look of tattoos and grew up with a mum who really supported us in expressing ourselves and I just knew I wanted to be covered in tattoos at some point in my life.

Can you tell us about your tattoo collection, any favourite pieces, artists or experiences? The majority of my tattoos are traditional designs or done in a traditional style. I love how bold they look and how they sit together.

One of my favourite memories of getting tattooed was when my sister and I took a trip down the country to Hastings to get tattooed by Cassandra Francis. We got a hotel room and stayed for the weekend, it was such a great adventure.

When I chose my wedding dress I knew I needed my shoulders tattooed. That was such exciting wedding prep going to shedwolf in our local town to get them done in the lead up to the wedding.

Jemma Jones has done kewpie baby tattoos of both our children, on both me and my husband. They are the same but different and I love how they represent the kids’ names.

One of my pride and joy tattoos is a crying lady head by Danielle Rose. She did a guest spot in Manchester on my birthday and it was meant to be. I had had a big year of crying, including a break up and getting this tattoo was a lovely end to that!

Do tattoos have to have a meaning? Not at all! Personally I consider my tattoos a collection of art from talented artists, I have a couple that mean a lot to me but I’d say 85% have no meaning!

What sorts of reactions do your tattoos get? I’m always happy to discuss my tattoos with people that have a genuine interest in them, the style or specific artists etc. I’d much rather people talk to me about them than just stare.

The negative reactions to my tattoos have predominantly been from family members or people of the older generation. A manager, at one of the jobs I had as a teen, was really against my tattoos being on show as I worked on the women’s wear floor of a department store. The same rules didn’t apply to the staff on the men’s wear floor and we had a lot of disagreements about this!

Can you tell us about your experience as a tattooed mum? My experience as a tattooed mum has been on the whole, a positive one. When my daughter was younger and we would go to different baby groups, I would always be conscious that other mums would judge me but I think a lot of that was in my head.

I’ve also found tattoos to be a really lovely talking point with like-minded mums at these kind of baby groups or in the playground! If my tattoos put people off wanting to approach me as a mum friend then more than likely we wouldn’t get on anyway!

What do your children think of your tattoos? They don’t really seem to notice them, I guess as they have been part of me for their whole lives. Sometimes my daughter will try to look for matching items that me and my husband have, like snakes or babies. My daughter’s friend refers to my tattoos as my patterns and she always wants to feel them.

Do your tattoos help you to view your body differently? I absolutely adore my body and I think my tattoos have played a big part in that. Sometimes when I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror or see a photo that includes a lot of my tattoos, I feel so happy as this is exactly how I’ve always wanted to look.

Do you have any future tattoo plans? I would be completely covered if I had the money and the time! The next one I have booked in is my fingers and I would love to start on my chest this year.

Be sure to follow Cicely for charity shop treasure hunts, adorable kids and craft inspiration.

February 11, 2021February 11, 2021

Interview with tattoo artist Sonia Cash

If you love traditional tattoos and pinups Sonia is the tattooer for you. Sonia Cash works at Berlin Ink in Berlin, in this interview we discover where her love for tattooing started…

How long have you been tattooing? I’ve been tattooing for eight years now. From time to time I take a break for a few months to gather new motivation and inspiration. I don’t like it when my work gets too monotonous.

What drew you to the tattoo world and how did you get into it? I have roots in the subculture of punk, hardcore and psychobilly. 20 years ago most tattooed people came from there. That’s why tattoos have always had a big part in my life. I always thought they were very beautiful, cool and outstanding. Also because tattoos weren’t for fashion and more about making a statement.

I got my first tattoo when I was 15 and I totally fell in love with this kind of art. Then I started to get tattooed more and get to know more people from the industry, which was very small and snobby back then in Israel. After some years I decided to follow my dream and with help from my tattooer friends I started to learn tattooing – that’s how I became a tattooer. Since I was young I’ve loved art and I always dreamt of having a job where I could share my art and make people feel pretty.

What inspires your work and how would you describe your style? I get inspired a lot by vintage photography, pinup drawings, athletes, body positivity and other tattooers like; Angelique Houtkamp, Paul Dobleman, Marie Sena, Jessica O, Olivia Olivier, Matthew Huston, Andrea Giulimondi and many many more!

What do you love to tattoo and what would you like to do more of? I love to tattoo lady faces, tattooed and non-tattooed pinups in different positions and flowers. I’m always happy to do more and more of them.

Where do you see your art in the future? On people all around the world and also in their houses or work places.

How has the pandemic affected you and your tattooing? The COVID-19 situation affected me in good ways and bad. Good because I became more creative and fell in love with drawing again. Also good because it made me accept a lot of situations that are not under my control. It has been bad because I can’t travel as much to see my family, friends and clients in Israel like I did last year.

Follow Sonia on Instagram for more traditional style tattoos.

January 8, 2019

Interview with Caroline Derwent

39-year-old tattoo artist Caroline Derwent works out of Dust n’ Bones Tattoo in Plymouth, UK where she creates an array of dotwork and colour tattoos in her girly traditional style…

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When did you start tattooing and what made you want to join the industry? I left school , went to art college and then to Manchester to do a degree in interior design, however, it wasn’t for me. I always wanted to do something art related, creative and something I loved. It wasn’t until eight years ago I began my career in tattooing. I was working a supervisor role in a print shop which was unfulfilling. A friend who worked in a tattoo shop asked me if I wanted to learn and I thought I’d give it a go. I learned alongside two other jobs and when Neil opened Dust n’ Bones Tattoo, I worked weekends and evenings, just on friends at first.

I was made redundant from my print job and thought it was time to give it my all and started full time down at Dust n’ Bones. It was a slow burner, and a lot of hard work building a client base, and eight years later, here I am. Working along side a strong team, still at the studio where I started out with a great client base, continuing to work hard and improve my skills. You could almost say I was in the right place, at the right time and I never take it for granted, being where I am today.

How would you describe your style? I would describe my style as a girly traditional, without the heavy black ink! I love pastel colours to make cute and pretty tattoos but I also do a lot of blackwork as it seems quite popular at the moment. I am very lucky to have loyal clients who love my artwork, it’s very fulfilling knowing my work is out there permanently.

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What inspires you? My favourite things to tattoo are Harry Potter designs, Star Wars, Disney and just anything cute and girly. Floral work is always popular and I love tattooing that style too. I myself have mainly colour work tattoos, it’s just my preference and what I love best to tattoo. I love to see the end result of a colour tattoo. I am always wanting to improve, and luckily I am surrounded by talented colleagues and friends in the industry who I have met through doing guestspots and conventions.

Do you have any guestspots or conventions planned? I have worked at Blood and Honey, Cheltenham, I will be working at Black Moon in Frome in February, and then Jolie Rouge in London in April. I am always open to new guestspots as it’s nice to be able to reach out to new clients that can’t make the journey down here to Plymouth.

In the past I have worked Leeds Tattoo Expo, Sheffield and Manchester Tattoo Tea Party, which I loved. I’ve just booked to work Manchester Tattoo Tea Party in March, and will maybe do some others this year too.

I always remind myself to stay kind and to be thankful for where I am. I often get overwhelmed when people travel to get tattooed by me and feel very humbled to be where I am today. Hard work pays off after all.

September 29, 2017October 6, 2017

Interview With Prof. Nicholas York

Our guest writer, digital marketing executive and traditional tattoo fan 21-year-old Poppy Ingham, talks to Nicholas York about his humble beginnings and the work he does out of Dark Age Tattoo in Denton, Texas…

21-year-old Nicholas York is customarily cited as Professor York, in a nod to the likes of Samuel O’Reilly, the dubbed King of the Bowery tattooers, who adopted the “professor” epithet. He has been tattooing since he was 15 and although this might not be the licit way of entering the tattoo world, Nick received his first tattoo machines two months before starting high school. Coupled with a power supply purchased with his earnings from a part-time job, Nick began tattooing classmates and anyone who was willing.

Fast forward five years, give or take, Nick is now embodying the definition of “world class electric tattooing”, producing nostalgic tattoos and paintings that ring true to the early 1900s.

What first inspired you to take on tattooing, especially at such a young age? I was in eighth grade at a school for kids with behavioural problems, and I started seeing some of the kids in my class get small tattoos. After I saw that you could get tattooed underage, I got my first tattoo at 14. The tattooist who did it was different from the guy who was tattooing the other kids, he approached me at the public library and asked if I wanted to get tattooed. Just a of couple days later I was in his apartment after school getting a tribal design that I had drawn.

I started tattooing a couple months after my first tattoo. In between the time of my first tattoo and the first tattoo I did, I had gotten my neck and my chest tattooed and started working on my arms. I was 15 when I got my throat tattooed. The throat tattoo was what made me start thinking about pursuing a career in tattooing. I knew I had found the job for me, when I found out that all you had to do was buy a kit online and do it out of your house. I started getting good and I was starting to feel hopeful about my choice.

My mom always knew about my tattooing and watched me do my first couple the day I got my kit. She was always supportive, because my dad was a tattooist, although I didn’t grow up with him (he went to prison when I was two). Over the years, he’d send drawings and paintings, but at the time, I was too young to realise they were tattoo designs that he had tattooed on people in prison.

My dad tattooed before he went to prison in the 1990s in downtown Dallas. He painted cars before he was a tattooist so it was a natural transition. Then he met my mom and stopped tattooing for a bit. He picked it back up when he went to prison a couple years later. I’ve seen a lot of his work and I hold onto all the paintings he sends me now. He is, in my honest opinion, one of the best black and grey tattooers out there. He does extremely smooth tattooing with a 90s twist. He really hasn’t gotten to see just how much tattooing has evolved since he has been locked away, except for the tattoos that he sees on me when I visit him.

Have you always wanted to tattoo in the traditional style, or did you experiment with a number of styles before settling on it? When I first started tattooing, I was doing a very new school style and everything was extremely colourful and cartoony. I was hanging around with an old tattooist named Sneaker and he had a big influence on my style and technical application. Over the years, my tattooing evolved into a more neo-traditional style thanks to a guy I worked with named Rene. He did some of the best neo-traditional tattoos I had ever seen up until that point. Rene told me I needed to simplify my designs and stop using so many colours. He told me I couldn’t do traditional tattoos because I always complicated my tattoos so much, so to challenge him, I did a traditional tattoo. From that one tattoo I realised that I was missing out on what I was meant to be doing.

Thinking along the lines of Rock Of Ages, Belle Of The Plains etc, what are some iconic pieces of art that you never get tired of recreating? Easily one of my favourite iconic images is the Rose of No Man’s Land. I always love seeing renditions of it. I also really enjoy dragons; they’re always big and impressive. And, of course, the Rock of Ages is always a classic.

Do you find that younger people (our age) are aware and appreciative of traditional tattooing, or do you feel like there is more demand for other styles? I think young people really dig the designs of classic traditional tattooing, but I don’t think they care for the history. The history posts I make [on Instagram] never get as many likes as the flash posts. I understand, though – not everyone has the attention span or appreciation for history.

Who, in particular from the past, do you admire and why? I’m a big fan of George Burchett. He encompasses everything I love about turn-of-the-century tattooing and has some of the best paintings I’ve ever seen! When I started tattooing in the style I do now, George Burchett was a big influence. My stuff doesn’t look like his that much, but if you know your stuff you can see small hints of it. I’m also interested in the early Bowery tattooers of New York. Samuel O’Reilly and his contemporaries have a certain mystery about them. We only understand a small fraction of their life, while we have a decent amount of George Burchett’s history.

Where do you gather information and history on the tattooists of the past? I get all my knowledge of tattoo history from books I buy, websites like http://www.buzzworthytattoo.com and just speaking to and being friends with as many tattoo historians as I can. I am no historian myself, and I don’t add any unknown insight and I have not made any new discoveries, like some of the other historians that I look up to, I’m just a big fan of history and love to learn as much as I can about my craft. I do happen to have a good eye and have found many great bits of history in photographs that have been looked over before.

For people wanting to explore authentic traditional tattoos in 2017 and beyond, can you recommend any modern-day tattooers who you applaud? There are too many to name but those are just a few that come to my mind and I think they each are very true to the essence of traditional tattooing. I’m extremely proud I can call all of these tattooers my friends and contemporaries:

December 22, 2015

Rosey Jones Illustration

23-year-old Rosey Jones from the Netherlands creates bright and bold illustrations. We chatted to Rosey about what inspires her, her fashion style and her awesome tattoo collection…

When did you start up your company/big cartel store? I started my store exactly 10 weeks ago! It’s funny to think my intentions were never to make prints of my designs, it was coincidence that I got asked to make one of the designs I handpainted on a tote digital for a band from the UK – then I realised I could do this with more of my designs and eventually the main focus became making designs for prints instead of hand painting them on totes. That’s kinda how this all started!

What kinds of things do you create? My main focus is on making artwork for my prints, besides that I also handpaint tote bags that I sew myself too, but I haven’t got as much time for it at the moment. The designs on my prints vary from teacups to roses and from donuts to daggers, I literally just draw whatever I fancy at that exact moment which could be anything really!

How do you create things, what is the process? I try not to think too much about what I draw so I usually just start sketching up some stuff that comes to mind, which usually happens when listening to music (might explain why half of my designs got lyrics included in them), then when I start seeing it come together as a whole I redraw my sketches with a sharpie, scan the image, and colour it digitally. I love the mix of it being both analogue and digital without it being super obvious how it’s done (if that makes any sense).

Do you have a background in art? After I graduated high school I worked for Vans for three years so I had time to build up a portfolio – my biggest dream was to study photography. I eventually got accepted in the school of the arts in which I’m a third year photography student now!

What inspires you? Literally anything and everything inspires me, I get fascinated by small things really easily which makes it quite easy to stay inspired all the time! Also cool looking people and nice tattoos inspire me a lot, and seeing amazing artwork of others always makes me want to get better at what I’m doing. I’m crazy lucky to be surrounded with passionate people, it’s really hard to be uninspired or unmotivated when the people closest to me are so supportive and hard working themselves.

How would you describe your style? Both fashion and art. I would say my artwork is pretty much the exact opposite of the way I dress, my artwork is all bold and bright while my clothing style is literally all black everything most of the time! I like simplicity, black jeans, black tee, black denim jacket and some sneakers to go with it (ok, maybe some dr martens when I’m feeling adventurous). I think for some strange reason my glasses make my outfit look a lot more fashionable as people keep on asking me where I got them from.

What does the word beauty mean to you? Not much, if there’s one thing I learned over the past few years it’s that beauty is relative.

Can you tell us about your own tattoos? I got quite a few tattoos for a 23 year old but then again, I started getting tattooed at the age of 16. My goal has never been to get covered as quickly as possible and I’ve never been one to get a whole suit planned out on my body either. Lately the main focus is on my legs as I just find that super pretty, finally got my second knee done too woo hoo! Couldn’t be more excited about that. Most of my pieces are done in the traditional style which is what I love most, there’s some very colorful ones and also some black ones but I think they go really well together. When I first started getting tattooed I always made sure I had some story to go with it but now I don’t really care about that anymore. Now I just want to get things tattooed that I find pretty or funny without it having to have a meaning – my latest addition is the donut design I drew myself. I’m super happy with how my legs are looking, all my favourite tattoos are on there.

Which was your first, do you still love it? My first tattoo was Stay True on my wrist, got it done in Germany when I was 16 and knew nothing about tattoos or how they were supposed to be done. This might explain why it’s upside down too, but I don’t really regret it, it’s something I still stand for – wouldn’t say I love it but I wouldn’t get it covered either!