Off to NIX 2012: Toronto Tattoo Convnention

NIX 2012: June 15th - 17th

Well, it's that time of year again.. convention season, and probably not the kind of conventions you are expecting. I will be taking the next few days off the water and heading in to the big city.. Toronto... for some work and some play, as I will be working the Eikon Tattoo Supply booth at the 14th Annual NIX tattoo convention. This will be my 3rd trip to NIX and my second time working the show.

So it will be a bit quiet around here starting on Thursday (today) but should be back to normal come some time on Monday, .. well that honestly depends on how much "work" and how much "play" we actually do.

Anyways, if you have never had the opportunity to check out a Tattoo Convention up close and personal, now is your chance, the Toronto show is top notch with some amazing artists from all over the world (Including a few you may have seen on TV)

here is a link to the shows website, if your in the neighborhood come check it out

http://tattoos.com/nix/

Out of Office - Alberta Bound Tattoo & Art Festival

For those who check out this site on a regular basis (thank-you), I just wanted to let you know that I will be away from the keyboard for the next 6 days.

Im away on officially business, also know as having a blast at the Alberta Bound Tattoo Convention. This is an annual event and the company I work for a a major sponsor. The event has some of the worlds best tattoo artists all in one spot.. over 200 in all. This will be my second year at the show and as long as an Air Canada strike does not ruin my day I will be in the air by noon tommorrow

If your in the Calgary area be sure to drop by and check it out. if you are looking get ink, there is no better time or place

check out the details... here!

NIX Tattoo Convention - Work & PLay

Just to keep you all in the loop, my regular blog schedule will be slightly disrupted as me and my team are headed to the Norther Ink Xposure Tattoo convention (also know as NIX) in Toronto, On. I will be working 13 hour days from today till Sunday..

One of my sponsors and also my employer will have a booth at the show.. World famous tattoo artists coming from all around, so if you are looking for some new ink, this show is a must. These guys can bang our some serious fishing tats, I know, Im the proud owner of a few myself

check it out..http://www.tattoos.com/nix/

I wear my passion on my sleeve

Over the past 11 months I have been making the drive to Toronto every other month to get some work done on a Bass half sleeve tattoo. On saturday I sat for the last two hours of a 22 hour process, now it is all done, and I could not be happier with the results.Just over a year ago I had the idea for a Bass tattoo that took a tradition Koi fish and lotus flower design and changed it to Bass and lilly pads. I approached a Tattoo Artist that I admired and explained to him my idea. He was super exicted about the idea and booked me in. Here is the break down of the whole process from start to finishFirst things first, the artist that did my work is David Glantz the ower and main artist at Archive Tattoo in Toronto, Ontario. He started by sketching out my idea and adding a little color to give me an idea of what the fish would look like.
This pic is of David and the sketch he did of my arm. The photo is from a Toronto Star story on David and the tattooers for Japan event

Once the Drawing was done I had my first sitting, it was a 4 hour sitting in which David completed the lining of the entire tatoo. He also completed some shading and did some minor color work.

Once the linging hd some time to hear, I was back in to start on the color. The color span out over many months. David took his time to ensure all the deatils were perfect. He completed the first bass and lilly pad during a 4 hour sitting and did the second lilly pad, the Smallmouth and some water during another 4 (almost 5) hour sitting.

Ok, now we start to get to the painfull stuff. I have a few tattoo's so im not exactly new to the process. But i will tell you one thing, an hour or more on the inside of the wrist and I was calling "uncle" same goes for the inside of the armpit (also know as the ditch. My second to last appointment was spent almost entirly in these areas.. I apologize to David now for being a bit squirmyhere are some wrist and other detailed pics

Alright so now we are all caught up to my appointment this past weekend. It was my final 2 hours (that became 3) He was able to put on the finishing touched by bolding up some of the lines, we added the cat tails and did some touches ups in areas that I did not heal well (Im a notoriously bad healer).So when all is said and done here is the final tattoo. It is a thing of beauty and the photos really dont do it justice. Im extremely happy with the final product and was happy to spent 20+ hours with David talking movies,music, fishing and all the other important things in life

Check out David's site for more of his work http://archivetattoo.com/