Fresh Ink

I spent Thursday night at Clay Decker & Chris Garver's Original True Tattoo (1628 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood). Demz's tour was in town and he wanted Ric Clayton to do a piece on his thigh. So I picked up Demz, Jared and Jim from their hotel after load-in and we headed back up to Hollywood.

Jim's new. He's only 22 and this is his first tour - he and Jared hitched a ride with us so Jared could show him around the Boulevard. They took off soon after we arrived at the tattoo parlor and promised to call if they got arrested.

Demz: They know I'm spending all of their bail money on this tattoo, right?
Me: Well then let's hope they don't get in too much trouble.

Demz wanted the Mike Ness psychobilly logo on his right thigh to match the Social Distortion skele on his left. However, after hours and hours of searching the best picture we could find online was a pixelated photo of a t-shirt that had the logo on it. Ric sent us down the block to Amoeba Music to see if we could find the image on a CD or LP while he tried to draw something up.

After twenty minutes of searching we hadn't found the logo but Demz had found a deep-seated love for Amoeba (he'd never been before); I had to drag him out of the store. Though we returned empty handed, Ric had managed to draw the logo *exactly* in spite of the crappy picture we gave him.

After a bit of preparation, Ric & Demz settled in for a few hours of work.

Jared and Jim wandered back just after Ric had started work. They hadn't gotten arrested, but Jim had gotten something pierced (of course). It was around midnight and we settled in to wait.

And wait.

Ric & Demz took a break when the outlining was finished.

And then, there was more work.

There is something very surreal about being locked inside a tattoo parlor in Hollywood at 2am. Ric pulled the gates closed before he started filling in Demz's outline so we were inside a little cage, looking out into the street as all the bars and clubs emptied. I snapped this great photo of Jared looking out into the street beyond:

Around 3:30, Jared and Jim and I were getting punchy and Demz's leg felt like it was on fire. But, the tatto was finally finished!

I absolutely adore Ric's use of negative space. Looking through his flash books, the negative space in his designs is just as compelling and beautiful as as the positive space. It was an unusual choce to leave negative space in the flames and the nautical star, but it really makes the piece beautiful and distinctive. I think I've finally found the artist to design the piece for my back.

Comments

[kattunge]

Oooh! Nice work there! Maybe if I come visit, we can go see this guy? I have a cover-up I need to have done. :)