FUNHOUSE TATTOO - a little overview..


Here's Fester doing another FINE piece!! Perfectly executed Chinese letters.. complete with brush strokes. You could see all the tiny lines from the camel hair brush that it could have originaly been painted with! Don't know if that's what they use in China for brushes...
Fester tattoos with confidence and precision. Natural instinct. He has years under his belt of hardships & good times. He's had to jump some hurdles in his lifetime! All of these things can side track you from your trajectory of being a professional tattoo artists. He stuck with it and now 13 years later.... greatness.


Sasha does too! I don't think you will find another quite like her. ...This feather is so clean and well done. All this talent and ability is from YEARS of work. Working on your own legs... guinea pigging friends, working on Ryan! The amount of dedication it takes to do what she does is unbelievable. The anxiety and stress in the early years from trying to push your limits and occasionally falling on your face compares to accidentally cutting off the wrong foot of a patient with gang green in his toes... well, maybe not as bad. We have all been through it and come out the other side!!

It's as if one day, a light bulb goes on in your head and all of the sudden you're doing stuff like this:


or this shell by Sasha:


Now, because of the TV shows on tattooing, tons of people want to get into it. It's not the Outlaw art it used to be. It's great for business but it's lost it's edge. There are tons of kids who want to get an apprenticeship, or think it' s an easy job. It' s not. People think that just because you're a good artists, you can do this. Or just because you have a degree from some art school that you will be attractive to us to bring you in as an apprentice. Not true. We get tons of inquiries about an "apprenticeship program" or if we need any apprentices. Nobody ever NEEDS one... really. Maybe a helper to clean tubes... sterilize, answer phones... but to find somebody who is willing to dedicate YEARS of their life to learning this trade is a rare thing. It's even more rare to find somebody who is WORTH teaching this to.

I had an apprentice once - Jeremy Riley. He turned out GREAT. He was with me for 9 years!!! He now owns Tattoo Union on Broadway... right down the street from where he started.


For me, every aspect of tattooing is important. It's not just the art of tattooing...Here's a bit about what I do on the side... building tattoo machines.























This is the NEW steel BLACK WIDOW machine. It's coils are not only triangular in shape, the space between the protruding tops and bottoms allow for more winds of wire. It is a strong smooth running machine, yet sensitive and versatile enough to execute the finest details with the smallest needle groupings as well as subtle grey shades.

Most machine suppliers will sell a machine for the fair market price, but now that China is involved, the price does not always match the product. Most artists want to buy a machine which is ready to go. Buy one of those and if you don't know how to adjust of modify it, the price just wasn't worth it. Our machines are ready to go, tuned and set up to be able to perform whatever function you need to perform.
























This is the Godoy Machines V3 machine. This piece of machinery has had year of designing and testing. It happens to be our 3rd patent in the works!! The way this machine runs doesn't compare to ANY machine out there. Every component has been dissected and re worked for function and ergonomics. From the precise machining to the tight layer winds, from the deluxe powder coated finishes to the minor details like fasteners and terminals... this is a piece of highly functional art. Because of the coils shapes, there are more layers of wire than on a standard machine. It will operate at between 6 and 7.5 on a regulated power supply. Which is a higher than on our V2 and Black Widow machines. This does not change function. You will not find a smoother feeling machine than this one. This is the Mercedes of tattoo machines.























The Godoy Machines V2... what can I say. Before our office actions with the square coil patent, we were experimenting with a V series coil. The shape of the coil, the angles of the coil... and of course the wire gauges were all things we were studying. We were also concerned with the magnetic field and how to direct it to where we wanted it to go. We slanted the coils, away from each other to re direct the magnetic field to either end of the moving armature bar, and here ya go... the V2 was born. Future modifications lead us to now, where the rear coil is straight and the front coil is angled.


BACK TO THE SHOP....

We believe in advancement. We support creativity and originality. The shop environment, though light hearted and fun, is also serious. We are serious about the service we provide and the ethics we keep


Post 51

This is amazing, from Amalie's blog



I can't remember where I first saw this, but "Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives" by David Eagleman is a great book.



This is and always will be my favorite song, ever.


Post 50

The last week or so has been nice and busy. Ollie's been in town working with us and will be here for about another week or so.

I've also had a bunch of appointments the last week or so that I've been able to finish or do final touch ups on projects. Now I just need to transfer the files for my website off the laptop and onto the desktop computer so I can update the website....

Here's photos from the last few weeks-

Monday July 5th
- First appointment was touching up and taking photos of Josh's grain elevators.
Second appointment we worked on the bottom of Tyler's Lancaster, and started the background. If you've followed the last month or so, you'll know he's making short work of this project. Maybe one or two more sittings and we'll be done. Saturday July 10- My friend Jon has been really great about letting me touch up and fix old tattoos we've done on him over 6-7 years ago. I owed him a fresh tattoo for being so patient, so I'm really happy to have tattooed this owl sitting on a stack of books for him. Super fun to tattoo. Sunday July 11- I worked on Chris' Moai leg. I forgot my camera that day, but his girlfriend Sarah was there so I'm stealing this awesome photo from her blog.Thursday July 15- Finished Mike's sleeve. We coloured the back half of one of the roses, the skull under his elbow, and his hand. Our total from outline to completion- 6 sessions, we started Friday June 11th and finished Thursday July 15th, one month and 4 days. Awesome.Friday July 16- Started the first colour session on Eric's frangipanis. One more and this tattoo will be done.Sunday July 18- I tattooed this awesome little snake and hourglass on the back of Trent's arm......and then touched up Trish's maple leaves. Awesome that in a month, I should have healed photos of both of these tattoos.

WE COVER SH*T AND REPAIR SCRIBBLE...


Cover ups are serious business. They are a great way to get rid of regret, wether it's the memories of that Vegas trip when you got married by Elvis and got your future ex husband's name tattooed on you or wether it's a souvenir from your f*cked up teenage years experimenting with sewing needle and india ink tattoos! Emotional regret is a different story!!

Cover ups don't have to be so complicated. Any quality artist SHOULD be able to cover a tattoo. The "normal" way to cover a tattoo is to use a color that is darker than the colors used in the tattoo to be covered. Most artists (the mediocre ones) would have chosen a design which was mostly BLACK to cover this tribal, like another tribal or a mountain gorilla or... When in reality, a color that is the same value of the tattoo to be covered will work to blend it into the new design or to cover it. The tattoo in picture is greyish... a dolphin would have easily covered this, leaving plenty of clear skin to put a rainbow coming out of it's ass and not have the colors muddied up by the grey tattoo.

If you look at photo number one, the tattoo looks dark on the skin because the only color to contrast it is her skin color, but if you took a blue ball point pen and drew a line on the tattoo, you would see that the pen is darker than the tattoo and you would know that you have more options than you think!


Tattoo colors in their bottles look thick, dark and dense... they are much like tempera paint, or poster paints, the difference is in the surface they to be applied to. On paper, the color will be opaque, that is to say "solid" because the surface is not as porous as skin is so on paper, these colors can cover spots or patches which are dark. IN the skin, the colors go in transparent so there's no way you can cover a freckle with yellow, or pink or anything lighter in value than that freckle. They will show through, some darker scars will too... birthmarks, the same... GET IT?

how bout now?


In this tattoo I (Art) used shades of battle ship grey and watered down black to do the "base coat" of the tattoo... creating a foundation which would make it easier to add lighter colors around those areas to create depth.

If you need cover up work, think of the images that you like. It's up to us to make it cover that ugliness. You should be open minded because NOT all images will cover all tattoos, for example, a bright yellow happy face would never cover this grey tribal tattoo. The only other option, if your tattoo is super dark, besides tattooing a big black patch is laser treatments... which can be used to lighten the tattoo in order to have more options for cover up designs, or to get rid of it all together.

If anyone can do it, we can. Got one to do really soon, the clown who did it originally, knows who he is. Have a few ideas in mind just in CASE Your original idea doesn't work.


from: J. S.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 5:58 PM
subject: Tattoo Translation

Hello,


I just stumbled across your blog and thought that you could assist me in verifying the meaning of my tattoo. I did them myself late one night a couple years back while apprenticing at a tattoo parlor.

Thanks

J. S.


Tattoo_kanjis

First of all, the top character is upside down. Bottom characters 阿呆 means "fool, idiot".

The tattoo is very fitting & means "bitter [or suffering] idiot".
from: Paul W.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 9:47 PM
subject: Tattoo Question

Hey,

I saw your blog on Mental Floss and thought you could help.

I have a tattoo, it's supposed to be kanji for hope, but I haven't been able to find a symbol that matches it and has the same meaning.

Actually, I haven't been able to find the symbol at all.

Is there anyway you might be able to tell me?

Thanks in advance,

Paul W.

Photo0206

means "date, period".
from: ian b.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Sat, Jul 10, 2010 at 8:41 AM
subject: Tattoo translation dilemma!

Good afternoon,

I found your blog by googling 'What does my Chinese symbol tattoo mean?'

I was perfectly happy that my Tattoo meant 'friendship' for over 10 years until i recently researched symbols on the Internet and discovered that mine doesn't appear to relate to which it was sold as.

Can you assist me in a true translation for my tattoo.

Thanks very much in advance.

Ian

tattoo

does not mean "friendship" as Ian was first informed if it is read as Chinese. When read as Japanese, (なか), it is interpreted as "relation; relationship".
from: james h.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 3:52 PM
subject: Lost In Translation

I ran across your blog in the hopes that you might be able to translate my tattoo. A buddy of mine has the exact same tattoo and he got me it as a gift for my birthday. Over the years I've questioned the authenticity of the meaning and turns out he has know idea what it translates to. He told me it was kanji for "Fear No Man" , but I've looked in to it and know where can I find any similarities between what I have and what I have researched.

I would appreciate your help in translating my tattoo so I could have some peace of mind.

Thanks,

James

IMG00343

棺材佬 means "coffin man".

However, the middle character of 木見才 does not exist in Chinese character list.
from: Wendi B.
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 3:42 PM
subject: Tattoo

Hello, I found your blog randomly through "stumbling" and thought I'd toss my tattoo your way. When I got it I thought it meant "calmness" (out of a book at at tattoo parlor I worked for when I was young and dumb).

A few months later, a Japanese exchange student came in and told me it meant "lonely." So I just thought it would be interesting to see if you concur. Sorry it's a little blurry (also the artist used a tattooing method to make it look "brushed on"...and it's old at this point).


Thanks,
Wendi

tat 001

has multiple meanings when it is used alone. When read as Chinese, it can be interpreted as "solitary". However if it is read as Japanese, it would mean "lonely".
from: Justin
to: tiangotlost@gmail.com
date: Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 7:42 AM
subject: Tattoo query

Hey,

I was reading your blog and it very interesting. I have been having this dilemma of finding out what is the true meaning of the tattoo I got in my teen years. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a million.

IMG00096-20100707-1739

元氣 means "vitality", in the tattoo is distinctively a variant used in Japanese.

JULY 9 - 11 TATTOO CONVENTION LANGLEY - WE WILL BE THERE



JULY 9 - 11 in Langley. 2 artists per day at our booth. If you want to get tattooed at the convention, please call the shop to see which ones of us will be there on what day. Should be a good event. For more info on the show, go to : http://www.westcoasttattooshow.com.

COME GET TATTOOED BY SASHA!!!!



OR BY FESTER!!!!


OR BY MARK!!!


OR BY JUAN!!!


OR BY ART!!


If we're busy, come by anyway, make an appointment to get tattooed at the shop! See you there!










Post 49

Well... here's 1/2 of what I promised yesterday.... Photos from our almost 2 days in Penticton. I did tattoo today and I do have photos, however, those are on my memory card, and I don't feel like editing them tonight. The Penticton photos are already on our hard drive, so here we go-

First stop Sunday night upon arrival, beer at the Kettle Valley Station PubGood food, great beer.
You will however notice that we are drinking pints of beer. I must express my extreme displeasure with the fact that our waitress FAILED to inform us that the 2.5 L tower of beer was $5 off on Sundays. That make it $20 for 2.5L of beer.... so if you go to the Kettle Valley Station Pub on Sunday with $80, that will buy you 10L of beer. wow...

We usually stay at the Best Western...mainly for the free continental breakfast... featuring make-your-own-waffles.
Teagan decided to hit up the kids slide after waffles...
Then it's off to replenish our wine supply. First stop, our favorite- Dirty Laundry Vineyards.
That's not a full case of wine Teagan's carrying.... yet.... but it will be by the end of the day...
Second, my favorite place for red wine- Blasted Church Vineyards. That IS a full case of Cab Merlot.
Lunch beer.
More lunch beer.
Followed by ice cream on Skaha Lake.
Then off to Salty's Beach House for dinner....
...and more beer...
Then a walk along Lake Okanagan, with a mandatory stop for photos at the giant peach.


I don't know why, but my FAVORITE graffiti is always "weed" related graffiti. Makes me laugh every time, and you can pretty much find it ANYWHERE if you're looking. I'll make a post one day of all the "weed" related graffiti I've collected on my iPhone... 4:20 man...
I have a special place 1/2 way between Penticton and OK falls that I love to watch the sunset. iPhones really don't do a good job capturing how epic sunsets can be.
Oh the Valley Star... I love this sign and felt that it needed to be documented, as one day it will probably be gone... replaced by some crappy new ultra modern condo.... They don't make signs like this one anymore...
Tattoo photos tomorrow...
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