3.30.11

Yesterday I made a quick stop to the Yellowhead Brewery to grab a few bottles for my trip.  Beer so fresh, it has to be labeled for me.  Excellent.

The labels were accidentally printed without the alcohol content, so the get upside down stickers

A few things you may see if you make the 11.5 hour drive from Edmonton to Penticton via Calgary, Banff, Golden, Revelstoke

3.29.11

Unfortunately, I'm just that guy... I can not pack in advance... I always have to do all of my packing at the absolute last minute before leaving on a trip....

Thus... I have nothing to blog about tonight... and even less time to do so...

You know what that means?  Yup,  cat photo tonight.

3.28.11

I was backing up my iPhone today before my trip, just in case, and found this picture I took about a week ago.  I think it pretty much sums up how the whole city feels...

 

A few years ago I tried to make a machine rack for my drawer so my machines were a bit more organized.  Being that I don't have the appropriate tools, and I'm far from a carpenter, the one I made worked but was beyond ugly.  It also only held 6 machines.  I've been asking clients if they could make me something new, something a bit nicer, and something a bit more functional for a while now, and finally someone came through!!!!
 

Solange brought me a beautiful new machine rack for my drawer today.  Super awesome.   I've literally had a half dozen people say it would be no problem at all to make, draw out little tumbnails, take extensive measurements, want to make it out of wood, metal...  and then never speak of it again.   She literally took one look a the drawer, took 2 quick measurements, didn't even write them down, and had it made and in my hands in under a week.   I'm beyond happy with it!

 Cherry Wood base... beveled edging...pretty damn nice...

 Finally, I saw these in Shoppers Drug Mart tonight... What the hell are these.... seriously....why?

3.27.11

Help!  I found this bird today while searching randomly on the internet.  Does anyone know what kind of bird this is?  Please leave a comment or email me if you know.  It would be GREATLY appreciated.  Thanks!

3.26.11

Three more days until I hit the road to replenish our wine cellar... or I guess more accurately, our wine crawl space... Either way I'll be leaving this Wednesday and working in Penticton March 31 to April 4th.  I still have a few openings for smaller, fun tattoos.  Get in touch if you're interested.

  

3.25.11

I was checking my facebook feed today and was extremely happy when one of my favorite tattooist posted that he is horrible at taking photos and shoots hundreds of photos just to get one that kinda turns out semi okay.  Makes me feel a bit better about my lack of photography skills. 

First appointment today, flash burn over the whole thing.  15 photos, all of them crap.

Second appointment today, much better results.   I've been tattooing Noel since he was 17 years old.  I love tattooing Noel.  Always a good time with that kid.  We coloured the fox sunburst thing today and the roses.

3.24.11

I've just spent 2 hours answering as many emails as possible and want nothing more than to get off this computer asap.

Today at the studio, Amy's deer backpiece.  We finished back end of the deer which happens to be on her ribs, which is an area I'm sure Amy is super happy to be finished with.  Then we jumped over and worked on the head of the deer for a bit.  It's coming together pretty quick now.  Super tough girl and getting lots done in 3 hour appointments.  Pretty awesome.

3.23.11

 I'm unbelievably tired tonight and had set the goal of being in bed by 10:00pm.  I was 2 seconds away from getting into bed and then remembered.... the blog...

I guess I'll use this time to say that if you're waiting for a response to an email you've sent, hang in there.  I'm trying to as hard as I can to make time to get to all of the emails sent to me over the last few weeks, but they keep piling up so fast and I'm finding there is less and less time to respond now that spring has arrived and everyone wants to get tattooed.  Thanks again to everyone who is patiently waiting for a response.

I do this every time I "take time off" of work.  I'll be leaving for a work trip to Penticton next week and have completely overbooked myself leading up to that trip to make up for the lost days.  Between working extra hours, working on days off, working on extra drawings, and trying to keep up with emails... I'm exhausted....

ANYWAYS...  Today was pretty awesome.  I tattooed my friend Adam and was lucky enough to finally tattoo a lighthouse.  Not only a light house, but a lighthouse with roses and a message in a bottle.  What does that message say?  Help?  Save me?  I'm lost?  I miss you?  I loved you?  I guess we'll never know...

Okay, it's 10:11pm now... time for bed....

3.22.11

New Timber Timbre in 2 weeks... pretty awesome...

3.21.11

Tattooed a super fun traditional tattoo on my friend Steve today.  I've really been into doing these little colour studies for traditional tattoos lately.  Since the photo of the tattoo turned out horribly, I decided to post the paintings as well.

 My camera is officially grounded as of today.  It takes crappy pictures, and now the battery will not hold a charge to the point that I can't even take one photo before it dies.  The next tattoo I do I'll be testing out my wife's point and shoot until I can purchase something a bit better.

3.19.11

Teagan and I have officially been our house for a full year now.  Pretty awesome.  There were definitely times in my life that I thought I'd never be able to own a house.

Finished a half sleeve this morning.  Danny had great advice for the background which was far better than our original plan and saved Doug a bunch of time under the needle.  Unfortunately it was so shinny after tattooing, I didn't even attempt the photo.

My afternoon appointment was adding another small piece to Sandy's collection.  These small tattoos to fill random spaces are super fun to tattoo.  Filled this space with a classic Sailor Jerry style mermaid.

Pretty awesome that the mermaid is under the ship.  We may still add a bit of background... or more small tattoos.  I feel Sandy's far from done getting tattooed....

3.18.11

Today was a long day.... The first tattoo I did was earlier this morning, a quick script piece on Tammie's forearm that took just over an hour.  I took photos but there's a huge flash burn going right through the middle...

Then I had to wait a few hours until my good friend Jon came in to add another piece to his arm.  Without even telling him, I just took the liberty of shaving his Mom heart and dagger so I could get a healed photo.  Hopefully he doesn't read this blog because next time I tattoo him I'm going to jump back down there and touch it up a bit.

Then we spend a bit of time adding a piece in his ditch.  When I don't get much direction from the client as to what to draw and how it should look... things get tend to get a bit weird....  Jon's awesome because he's always down to get crazy stuff done in crazy colours.  He's definitely real man and not scared to have a bunch of pink in his tattoos.  Next session we'll add a bit of color to the bottom jaw and colour the other rose.

 

Unfortunately I didn't take photos of the new flash I'll have for sale and upload them to the web shop tonight.  Teagan and I went to visit our friend's new apartment after work and now it's late and now I'm tired.  Soon...

3.17.11

Picked up the flash sets today from the printer, pretty excited.  As always they turned out great,  the colours are exactly the same as the paintings.  I'll get them up on the webshop tomorrow after work.

3.16.11

Started Kevin's lower 1/2 sleeve today.  We got way more than I expected done in 3hrs.   I know he had dreams of try to do the whole thing in one session, but sat extremely well considering this was his first tattoo and I was working fairly quickly and aggressively.  The peony was super fun, I don't think I've ever done a blue peony before.  Next session we'll finish shading the phoenix and add a bit of red and yellow, as well as possibly add another peony just below his elbow.   Good times.

3.15.11

If I was to try to imagine what my email's inbox might look like if it were a real desk it would currently look something like thisSpring upon us. This is by far the busiest time of year for me as both new and old clients are filling up my inbox daily trying to get tattooed "before summer starts."

I'm just going to rattle off a few FAQ's

Yes, I am still only one person.
Yes, there is a limit to how many times I can check and respond to emails in one day.
Yes, I did get your email but haven't had the time to respond yet.
Yes, I will get to every email in my inbox so there is no need to send the same email to me 2-3 times in one week.
Yes, unfortunately there are only so many clients and projects I can take on in one time.
No, unfortunately I can't get you in if there is already an appointment booked the day you'd like to get tattooed.
And finally ...
Yes, everyone wants a weekend appointments so they are limited and book FAR further in advance than weekdays. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it.

Your patience is appreciated.

That's my rant for today....Deep breath.... (cue relaxing music)

3.14.11

This morning I was supposed to tattoo the colour study I worked on last night, but didn't. Maybe more on that tomorrow. Instead I did a bunch of running around, and then at 5:00pm decided to make use of the extra hour of day light and go for a quick ski. It was beautiful out today. Really warm, light wind, sunny... Pretty amazing that the sun stays up until about 8:00pm now...

3.13.11

Even though I finished an amazingly fun tattoo today on one of my favorite clients/friends, I unfortunately don't have time to edit or post photos tonight. I'm working on finishing this colour study for a cover up tomorrow. The black's done... on to the colour...

3.12.11

When we left for work this morning, there was an unusual amount of water in the alley a few houses down from us. When I got home I quickly figured out that there was a water main break and the water to our house has been turned off. I guess this is our water supply for the next little bit. I'm tired and going to bed.

3.11.12

Today was a pretty awesome day at the studio. I finished the lower part of Ben's arm, meaning we touched up his had and a bit of the camera, added the film details, and added a bit of background colour bursts. I had to stop myself with the background blue about half way up since he's already planning the top half of his arm. I wish I could have posted pictures of the backside of his arm, but I ALWAYS zoom in and forgot to keep the full hand in the photo, which looked stupid when you put them all together. The photos are also a bit shinny, but you get the general idea. Can't wait to get healed photos in about a month.In other news, there are only 3 of the Amsterdam prints left... they seem to be disappearing way quicker than I expected. Thanks to everyone who bought one. I'll hopefully have something new by the end of the month.

... just keeping this at the top of the blog for now, new posts below....

3.10.11

I worked on Sean's underwater sleeve today, but since we tattooed his ditch and elbow, it was really shinny and did not photograph well at all... oh well.... he's back in a few weeks so hopefully I'll get better photos then.

I worked on my friend Adam yesterday. Yes, it is exactly what you see. A ninja turtle, skateboarding in a swear with a mouse climbing the ladder in the background. Just wait 'till you see the rest of his arm....

3.9.11

I finally won a copy of Volume 1 a few weeks ago and it arrived today, completing my collection. Super happy to have all 3 finally!Travel news- I'll be tattooing in Penticton March 31 to April 4th. Space is super limited and about 1/2 the appointments available are already spoken for. If you live in the beautiful Okanagan Valley and are interested in getting tattooed, please email me at shawn@shawnoconnor.ca to set something up.Last order of business- If you're looking to get a copy of the Amsterdam Shark print, you'd be advised to do so fairly soon. As of today, just over 1/2 of them are gone. You can buy your very own copy at the webstore.

thetimbertattoocompany.bigcartel.com

3.8.11

Finally I present to you, the Tattoo Peter post. I'm not giving out a history lesson on who Pier de Haan was, if you're interested in learning more, click here or here.

One of the first things we talked about doing when we arrived in Amsterdam was to go see the Tattoo Museum, see Hanky Panky's shop, and see Tattoo Peter's shop. We found out quickly the Tattoo Museum had bee closed for a few years now, and Hanky Panky's old shop in the redlight district wasn't owned by Hank anymore. Not to far from the old Hanky Panky's, we made our way over toTattoo Peter. From the moment we stepped in, it was old time magic.

We inquired about getting tattooed and unfortunately did not realize that we had arrived the same weekend as the London Tattoo Convention, and that Bill was leaving for London a few days early. We met Dan who worked the front who told us Bill would get us both in at the end of the day. So we went literally out the door and around the corner and had a beer on what quickly became our favorite canal patio.


These would be the first of many pannekoeke consumed on our tripWe headed back to the shop for our 4:30 appointments. Living up to being a true old timers shop, the second we arrived I knew there was no way that either of us would be getting tattooed at 4:30. I also realized really quickly that the more time went by, only one of us would be getting tattooed. Teagan was so excited to pick from the wall of old flash, and I am a gentleman and let my lady have the only appointment available.This is Dan. He works the front at Tattoo Peter and Hank's new studio. He also worked at the Tattoo Museum and takes photos of tattoos that come through Amsterdam. He's published a few books of his photo collection, as well as a couple of books of drawings done on the back of coasters by tattooist passing through town. He was a wealth of knowledge about the history of the studio and tattoo scene in Amsterdam, and had amazing suggestions for things to do and see while in town. I'm pretty sure we may have skipped the Rembrandt House all together if it hadn't been for Dan telling us we needed to go see it, which was by far one of the highlights of our trip.There was a whole wall of old hand painted flash, old photos and articles right as you walk in. Absolutely amazing. Dan was super excited when we told him we just wanted to pick flash off the wall. It's sad so many people pass through the doors of that shop and have no idea what they're looking at...

This is the sheet Teagan picked fromOf course Dan did all of the prep work including placing the stencil while Bill rolled cigarettes and smoked out front. Awesome service, no asking if the size was right, no asking where exactly on the back of her arm she wanted it... Nope... He placed the stencil and walked away. Obviously it was a bit off centered, and a bit crooked, so basically perfect.Teagan said the tattoo hurt, but Bill's snake bit grip hurt 100 times more. The inside of her arm was bruised for days from that grip. Look at how red her arm is.Classic bandage. Plastic wrap and making tape applied way too tight. Awesome. She was pretty happy considering the guy before her got dry paper towel and one piece of tape for his bandage.Tattoo Peter was probably one of if not my favorite part about visiting Amsterdam. It's amazing to see all of that history in such a small space. Just looking at the walls, you know many sailors had picked from that same flash 40-50 years ago. It is such an amazing piece of history. If you're ever in Amsterdam, do your self a favor and go check it out.