It’s time for our next installment from our newest blogger, Lydia Amor. If you missed her first two posts, you can catch up here.The past week has been all about guest artists, me and Mike pretending to be models, titties (finally) and lots of quiche.Firstly, the guest artists.Between the two shops (Sakura Tattoo Leicester and Brothers Ink H.Q.) we’ve had three really sick guest artists in the past seven days.Tattoo by Nicola Fuicili. Tattoo by Nicola Fucili.
We had Nicola Fucili all the way from Berlin at Brothers Ink from Monday to Saturday. His work features solid line work and a fuck-ton of black. His designs are super cool, and check out his long hair ladies.He bought along his partner Dea Ciotti (Euforest Tattoo), who is a junior tattoo artist of six months. Her work is surrounded by nymph-like alien-human-combo-inspired creatures.
Anyway, I was lucky enough to get tattooed by both of these artists in the week. I had one of Nicola’s long hair ladies, and he also blasted my elbow with a cobweb and bones. Dea gave me the cutest little alien girl. I think we’ve made friends for life. Hopefully we’ll see them again (I did a big cry when they left shhh).Tattoo byTattoo by Nicola Fucili.At Sakura we had Paula Castle for a few days. She’s currently travelling about the UK and will be off to America soon. She specialises in girly traditional tattoos and will be back at Sakura for a few more dates in April/May.
My second story this week is one you may have seen on the Inkluded website and social media pages already. There are a series of t-shirts being released, all designed by UK tattoo artists. It’s launching soon with five initial designs from Mike Love, Clare Lambert, Dan Metcalfe, Hannya Jayne and Kat Winifred.Lydia Amor and Mike Love. Lydia Amor and Mike Love.
Most of the artists involved in making designs for the shirts met up in Leamington Spa for a photoshoot on Sunday. I stood in for Clare Lambert (boss lady at Sakura) and attempted to model her t-shirt. Emphasis on the attempted…We stood about posing under dripping bridges on a fresh afternoon, really needing a wee, trying to look super cool and do the artwork justice, I think we succeeded.Inkluded Store Inkluded’s new store launches in April 2016. Lydia pictured second from the left.It was awesome to meet up with artists from across the UK, we had a lot of fun on the shoot, I can’t wait to see how the images come out. Keep your eyes out for details on the t-Shirt release.
If you’ve read my last blog post, you’ll see that I was trying to get a willing victim to have their boob/boobs tattooed.Someone stepped forward! I’m so so happy with the result and hope that I have given this super babe some extra confidence to rock those tittas! As I’ve only been tattooing properly for 3 months, I’m still learning all about different tissues, how to stretch different areas and work with different skin types. Tattooing the areola tissue was unlike any area I’ve tattooed as of yet.Handpoke tattoo by Lydia Amor.Handpoke tattoo by Lydia Amor.
I can’t wait to tattoo more of these. I have a few booked in for the not too distant future, and I’m constantly taking bookings so get in touch if you’d like to get involved!In my last blog, I also wrote about how tattooing isn’t just about solely tattooing any more, we have all the added extras of photography, social media… the list is endless. Well, I forgot to add councillor into that list.The trusting bond between artist and client seems to open a whole new level of emotion. Spending 2-6 hours with somebody in this kind of trusting relationship really makes people open up and talk about their deepest feelings and experiences.
Handpoke tattoo by Lydia Amor.Handpoke tattoo by Lydia Amor.In the very short 3 months I’ve been doing this, I have heard a number of heart-wrenching stories from my customers. I think that being a tattoo artist can really change your perspectives on many subjects. After spending time with people chatting about their opinions, if I think their view is better and more positive than mine, I tend to adopt that thought.
I’ve always been quite easily influenced by different opinions and personalities, I’m one of those people who absorb a LOT of the energy from people around me. Negative attitudes and mindsets quickly bring me down, positive ones soon make me shine! I’ve always tried my hardest to avoid negative people, whether that be removing myself from friendship groups at school, or just limiting my communication with people of negative vibes. Obviously, in a lot of situations you can’t just cut people off… well you could, but, you know, rudeness and all that.But yeah, I’m a sucker for a good vibe. Shower me in sunshine and glitter and I’m all yours.Oh and last, but by no means least… quiche. Greggs’ quiche… is the shit.