Design A Tattoo
Source:- Google.com.pkMEMORIAL DAY TATTOOS
As Americans head into our Memorial Day weekend, prepping to gorge on BBQ and cultivate sunburns, I figured I'd do a holier-than-thou, finger wagging post to remind us that it's a time to honor and reflect on those who died in service to our country. And I figured I'd do that via memorial and military tattoos, like this one above by Steve Boltz of Smith Street Tattoo in Brooklyn.
Personally, I cannot think of a better way to pay tribute to our military than ogling them during NYC's Fleet Week, going on until the 26th. My fave is the Tug of War and Stem-to_Stern relay race tomorrow at 11:30 -- events that truly highlight those bicep and calf tattoos.
Good readers, let me take this time to suggest you toss out that old tape recorder from the 80s you may have used to interview various tattoo artists in the past, especially if you've recently discovered that during your latest interview it failed to record anything at all and, instead, still has the four gloriously terrible songs from your short-lived lark of a synth-heavy goofball hardcore band AXXX WOUND.
Good thing I was able to hang out with French tattooer Noon for a few weeks before getting him to sit down for an interview. So instead of a nice and neat little Q and A, you get a nice and neat little quasi-article from some feverishly taken notes before Noon booked for more international travels. And while it seems Noon is constantly on the move, he's made a semi-permanent home at Tattoo Culture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, usually returning twice a year.
Recently featured in the May issue of Total Tattoo, Noon has created a style instantly recognizable and completely his own. It's something I'd rather let him describe, though he plainly says, "It's difficult to explain. I would say it's minimalist, it's singular. I don't know if there's a real name for this. The way I started was with the idea that the tattoo could be finished with only the line."
Growing up in a town full of ex-cons and gypsies, Noon's studied how they tattooed. "I watched them attach needles to pencils and set the ink bottle on a small plate over a flame. Very basic. I was young and in the poor part of town. All the guys there were tattooed and tattooing all the time. So I watched them. And at ten years old, I already knew how they did it. There was no color, no fill, only the line."
Noon's gypsy education could only go so far. He retained the basics and began to learn himself. He explains, "There were no magazines, no Internet. So in 1996 I got the address of Mickey Sharpz in London and I bought everything I could! I practiced on myself, I was always on the phone with Lionel (from Out of Step Tattoo) and we'd go back and forth asking 'How do you do this?' 'What's working for you?' It was not so easy then."
"I like the look and feel," he says, making motions with his hands that seem to be building something in mid-air. He plans to keep painting but he is a tattooist first. "Always tattooing," he says, "until they shkkt! -- chop off my hands."
Back in February, we talked about performance artists Wafaa Bilal, who was embarking on a tattoo-based performance-art piece entitled "...And Couting," in which he would be receiving a tattooed dot - in both black and UV ink - to commemorate the military and civilian casualties in Iraq.
So, seeing as how I'm a "white-noise" freak who keeps WBGO blasting in the living room 24 hours a day and NPR equally cranked in my office here at the Needles and Sins Compound, I was pleased to find out that the latter had done a piece on Bilal.
On Saturday, June 26th tattooer Todd Noble will be celebrating the grand opening of his new shop, Right Coast Tattoo. Big news for the folks of Fenwick Island, DE, but even better, Noble will play host to guest artists Grime, Bert Krak, Civ, Steve Boltz, Eli Quinters and Mike Shea.
There will also be $10 tickets available for the greatest raffle of the decade (next to that Chris Conn raffle) a 4-hour tattoo from Grime. There is also the promise of a pig roast and crab fest, and the festivities are set to go "all day til the wee hours."
I am well aware that this shindig doesn't kick off for a few weeks, but we're giving you ample time to plan here!
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