February 15, 2024 • 15 mins
I've found that in the face of overwhelming global chaos, it's the small, steadfast beacons in our lives that offer us much-needed stability.
As the world is crumbling around us, as people are being brutally murdered in several genocides in several countries, I find myself pretty f'n down. Sometimes I stop and breathe in the middle of a freak out, and other times I distract myself with my favorite humans.
One of whom is my apprentice Sayler McBean. My regular clients and friends who have known me for years know that I've worked on my own in a private studio for the last decade. I was in no hurry to bring someone else into my space and start to call it "ours." But Sayler came along and it was an easy yes. As we got ready, and closer to the time of her moving here I wondered how it would feel to share space.
I interviewed her on the podcast back in early October, and it has now been five months since we started this process, and six weeks since she started tattooing.
Folks keep asking me how it's going and I am happy to report, it's been fantastic.
But please ... have a listen.
Find Sayler at:
https://www.instagram.com/doomfae/
You can connect with me, Micah Riot, as well as see my tattoo art on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/micahriot/
Micah's website is www.micahriot.com
The podcast is hosted on Buzzsprout but truly lives in the heart of Micah's website at:
https://www.micahriot.com/ink-medicine-podcast/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Micah Riot (00:00):
Hello darlings, hello, Micah Riot here with
episode 62 of Ink MedicinePodcast.
I would like to talk todayabout what it's been like to
have my first apprentice.
As you all know, Sayler came inSeptember of last year, so it's
been approximately five monthssince she's been in the shop and
(00:23):
people keep asking me how it'sgoing, and so I will give you an
update.
But first speak to name,acknowledge the what feels like
collective depression.
I think that we're not meantfor this level of violence in
(00:44):
the world to be happening and tobe televised.
This is not what human beingsare meant to be doing to each
other or getting from each other.
We're not meant to murder eachother in masses.
It's been devastating and I cryall the time about it, and I
(01:05):
know other people do too.
It's been really hard to justkeep life going right, to just
get up in the morning and havebreakfast and go to the gym and
go to work.
I mean, I've been doing thosethings, but many times through
the day I stop what I'm doingand I think what it's like to be
(01:30):
a person in Gaza right now,what it's like to be a person in
Congo right now, and also inSudan and Haiti to Gray, but
we're being televised or atleast I am on the news sources
(01:54):
that I look at the genocide inGaza and it's being shown very
closely, their bodies on ourscreens.
There's blood, there's peoplebegging for their lives.
It's not a movie.
I've honestly just had a hardtime just going on, and I'm sure
(02:23):
you have too, and I think it'sjust worth acknowledging, even
if there's really nothing we cando about it.
Like we can do all of theresting and all of the the
gemming and all of the sleepingand reading, and you know you
have to do those things too.
You have to distract yourselffrom reality of the world and
(02:50):
when things feel extraunbearable, what I do is I stop
in the moment and I do a littlecheck in with myself about what
are things happening that I canappreciate.
I do a little body check and Ithink, okay, I'm not in pain, I
don't have a headache and youknow, a couple of times a month
(03:14):
I get these two three-day longheadaches that really last for
that long and medicine Advilhelps a little bit, but not
entirely, and it's horrible.
So I stop and I go.
I don't have a headache and I'mnot having cramps and my feet
don't hurt and I'm here,supported by this chair, just
(03:39):
sitting in this chair, my weightsupported, and my dog is next
to me and I can pet her and feelher fur in my fingers because
someday she'll be gone.
But she's not gone yet andshe's here with me.
I look at her sweet face and Ikiss her little cheek.
And the air is clean.
(04:04):
There's no fires happeningnearby and we're not in the war
zone, so the air is clean andbreathable and the water is
clean and I have food Right thereally basic shit, the basic
stuff of life.
I just make a little inventory.
I just place myself right herein the center of my existence
(04:30):
and just tell myself I'm okay.
And then I get up and keepcleaning the house or keep
working or try to go to sleep,whatever it is I had to stop
(04:50):
myself from doing because I washaving a freak out.
So I hope you are doing whatyou can to take care of your
nervous system.
It's been really hard, so Ihope you are doing what you can.
(05:13):
And now I will give you a shortupdate on how my first
apprenticeship, my firstapprentice, my first I'm sharing
my space with a person it'sgoing.
After this short break.
There are a few things that areable to get me out of my funk
(06:03):
Right now, and that is havingtime with Sayler in the shop.
And you know my clients.
I love my people and I love mysessions and tattooing my people
.
Having that couple hours tojust drop in with somebody has
been an incredible balm for meand my soul.
(06:24):
But outside of that, the shopis really a place of pleasure
and joy, and Sayler is a hugepart of it.
So, in short, it's been reallyeasy.
It's been way easier than Ithought it would be.
(06:44):
I am somebody who is a creatureof habit and think most people
are, and I hadn't shared tattoospace with anyone since it must
have been 2014.
(07:05):
So, yeah, it's been about 10years.
I spent the first four years ofmy tattooing career at Block
Blue, so 2008 until 2012.
And then I went and worked forMermaid Sattu for two years and
then I went out on my own.
So I've been on my own sinceabout 2014, and first at
(07:27):
OneSpace, a really tiny space inthe city, and then in the last
five years here in the East Bayin San Leandro, and I knew my
shop could accommodate anotherperson, but it didn't seem like
something I wanted to do until Imet the right person, and that
is most definitely Sayler.
(07:47):
Whether it is because she is soeasy going and so easy to
communicate with and so justlovely to have around, because
her energy is just so beautifuland bright and sparkling, or
(08:08):
because it's our energy together, the we're good match.
I think both of those thingsare very true.
But it really we haven't hadany hiccups and they could
happen.
I allow that maybe some littleones have happened, but there
really hasn't been anythingmajor.
Sharing space has been reallyeasy.
We turned the other side of theshop like the side of the shop
(08:31):
that had my kind of office areawhich I really wasn't using, it
was just kind of dead space intoher side of the shop.
So we have her full set upthere and it's so cool to come
in the shop and see that she hasher own spot and just got her
heart there and decorativethings and her special trinkets
(08:53):
that she's collected in heryears of life and collecting
beautiful things.
And then I have my side andthey feel they're different, we
have different styles butthey're very complimentary
energetically at least.
My stuff has more color, herstuff is mostly black.
(09:14):
It's a bit more goth, but Ilove that aesthetic.
Anyway, the shop looks amazing.
People come in they say yourshop looks amazing.
It feels amazing.
The energy here is great.
The very beginning, like thefirst couple weeks of Sayler
being there, there were a coupleof times that I was like, well,
(09:37):
this client and I, we reallytalk very frankly about stuff.
We get really deep, they tellme personal things.
Why don't you not come in sothey can have their privacy with
me?
It was like a couple of timesin the beginning and then after
a little while it was like okay,everybody loves Sayler, no
one's ever asked me to haveprivacy.
It's great, she can come and go, she pleases.
(10:00):
So that piece has been great.
I've not had to really adjustmyself in any way, except for
sharing space and answering morequestions and giving a bit more
energy, which I'm happy to do,cause I also receive so much
beautiful energy from Sayler andI've been really happy to see
(10:23):
her tattoos from the very firstone.
Like I've never seen her doanything that to me looked bad,
like at all.
Everything she does isbeautiful.
It's early-ish work, likethere's definitely she's gonna
get better and better and better, but it's beautiful.
It's on par with any excellentbeginner tattoo work out there.
(10:44):
It's been really cool to see.
I'm happy and proud to have herdo work like that under the name
of Ink Medicine, and my mainworry, I think, is just whether
or not she'll get enoughclientele.
I think it's a harder, in someways a harder world to come into
.
There's such there's just somany tattoo artists in the Bay
(11:09):
Area in the world, for sure, butin the Bay Area there's just
there's a shop in every cornerand there's people charting out,
apprentices and people startingtattooing their own and there's
so many people tattooing andthere's also more people getting
tattooed too.
So I think that's kind of mymain thing is, once in a while,
(11:30):
I'm like is she gonna haveenough clientele to support
herself?
I sure hope so, and it's also apiece of it that I can help her
with and encourage her andsuggest ways of marketing
herself, but in the end, it'sgonna be up to her how she does
that.
It turned out that it didn'ttake that long between her
(11:51):
whining about not having enoughtattoos booked for the coming
week to her being overwhelmedwith inquiries after she posted
a couple different things in acouple different places online.
People came in droves, so not aproblem, and I'm thinking it
will continue not to be aproblem.
She'll continue to do bigger,more complex work and yeah,
(12:17):
actually, yeah, I'm not reallyconcerned.
We have a great rapport.
We find it easy to be aroundeach other.
She wants to continue to dothings for me, like set up my
station, break it down.
I don't expect her to, but shewants to and I'm happy to have
her do it.
It's definitely a relief for meand I am present for her for
(12:39):
whatever she needs from me,which is really not much, but I
am happily there for whatevershe needs.
It feels like a familialrelationship.
It feels like anintergenerational relationship a
little bit, because we aredifferent generations.
She's 17 years younger than meand I just think she's the most
(13:03):
special human and I want her tobe happy and safe and fed and
loved and all of that by theworld and by the people in it.
So I will do whatever I can tomake that wish come true.
So that's kind of the update.
There's really not that much tosay because it's going really
(13:24):
well.
She is still doing tattoos, forI believe it's $65 now for a
tattoo.
She has flash it's.
She's got really cute teethdrawn up, so there's a bunch of
teeth and there's leaves andthere's eyeballs and there's
mushrooms.
Mushrooms have been verypopular.
(13:45):
People are really into themushrooms.
So if you're interested in anapprentice tattoo, that's really
fucking good.
It's not the average apprenticetattoo.
It is not what my work lookedlike when I was an apprentice.
It's much better if you want anapprentice tattoo for $65.
Now is the time.
(14:07):
She is Doomfay on Instagram.
That's D-O-O-M-F-A-E.
You can reach her there or ifyou can't find her, ping me and
I will point you to herInstagram.
While I can't stop beamingabout Sayler because she really
is a big part of the joy of mylife, I have not a lot of words
(14:30):
to describe the experience.
I'm so glad it's going well,glad it's bringing ease and joy
into both of our lives, and I'mreally happy that my clients,
you guys, really like Sayler'spresence in the shop.
It makes me really happy.
Until next week, I'll be backwith an interview with another
(14:51):
Caitlin, a lovely, lovely tattooartist, trauma-informed, social
justice-oriented person up inWashington state.
We had an amazing conversationand it's going to be a good one.
I hope you have a good week andI'll talk to you soon.
Hello darlings, hello, Micah Riot here with
episode 62 of Ink MedicinePodcast.
I would like to talk todayabout what it's been like to
have my first apprentice.
As you all know, Sayler came inSeptember of last year, so it's
been approximately five monthssince she's been in the shop and
(00:23):
people keep asking me how it'sgoing, and so I will give you an
update.
But first speak to name,acknowledge the what feels like
collective depression.
I think that we're not meantfor this level of violence in
(00:44):
the world to be happening and tobe televised.
This is not what human beingsare meant to be doing to each
other or getting from each other.
We're not meant to murder eachother in masses.
It's been devastating and I cryall the time about it, and I
(01:05):
know other people do too.
It's been really hard to justkeep life going right, to just
get up in the morning and havebreakfast and go to the gym and
go to work.
I mean, I've been doing thosethings, but many times through
the day I stop what I'm doingand I think what it's like to be
(01:30):
a person in Gaza right now,what it's like to be a person in
Congo right now, and also inSudan and Haiti to Gray, but
we're being televised or atleast I am on the news sources
(01:54):
that I look at the genocide inGaza and it's being shown very
closely, their bodies on ourscreens.
There's blood, there's peoplebegging for their lives.
It's not a movie.
I've honestly just had a hardtime just going on, and I'm sure
(02:23):
you have too, and I think it'sjust worth acknowledging, even
if there's really nothing we cando about it.
Like we can do all of theresting and all of the the
gemming and all of the sleepingand reading, and you know you
have to do those things too.
You have to distract yourselffrom reality of the world and
(02:50):
when things feel extraunbearable, what I do is I stop
in the moment and I do a littlecheck in with myself about what
are things happening that I canappreciate.
I do a little body check and Ithink, okay, I'm not in pain, I
don't have a headache and youknow, a couple of times a month
(03:14):
I get these two three-day longheadaches that really last for
that long and medicine Advilhelps a little bit, but not
entirely, and it's horrible.
So I stop and I go.
I don't have a headache and I'mnot having cramps and my feet
don't hurt and I'm here,supported by this chair, just
(03:39):
sitting in this chair, my weightsupported, and my dog is next
to me and I can pet her and feelher fur in my fingers because
someday she'll be gone.
But she's not gone yet andshe's here with me.
I look at her sweet face and Ikiss her little cheek.
And the air is clean.
(04:04):
There's no fires happeningnearby and we're not in the war
zone, so the air is clean andbreathable and the water is
clean and I have food Right thereally basic shit, the basic
stuff of life.
I just make a little inventory.
I just place myself right herein the center of my existence
(04:30):
and just tell myself I'm okay.
And then I get up and keepcleaning the house or keep
working or try to go to sleep,whatever it is I had to stop
(04:50):
myself from doing because I washaving a freak out.
So I hope you are doing whatyou can to take care of your
nervous system.
It's been really hard, so Ihope you are doing what you can.
(05:13):
And now I will give you a shortupdate on how my first
apprenticeship, my firstapprentice, my first I'm sharing
my space with a person it'sgoing.
After this short break.
There are a few things that areable to get me out of my funk
(06:03):
Right now, and that is havingtime with Sayler in the shop.
And you know my clients.
I love my people and I love mysessions and tattooing my people
.
Having that couple hours tojust drop in with somebody has
been an incredible balm for meand my soul.
(06:24):
But outside of that, the shopis really a place of pleasure
and joy, and Sayler is a hugepart of it.
So, in short, it's been reallyeasy.
It's been way easier than Ithought it would be.
(06:44):
I am somebody who is a creatureof habit and think most people
are, and I hadn't shared tattoospace with anyone since it must
have been 2014.
(07:05):
So, yeah, it's been about 10years.
I spent the first four years ofmy tattooing career at Block
Blue, so 2008 until 2012.
And then I went and worked forMermaid Sattu for two years and
then I went out on my own.
So I've been on my own sinceabout 2014, and first at
(07:27):
OneSpace, a really tiny space inthe city, and then in the last
five years here in the East Bayin San Leandro, and I knew my
shop could accommodate anotherperson, but it didn't seem like
something I wanted to do until Imet the right person, and that
is most definitely Sayler.
(07:47):
Whether it is because she is soeasy going and so easy to
communicate with and so justlovely to have around, because
her energy is just so beautifuland bright and sparkling, or
(08:08):
because it's our energy together, the we're good match.
I think both of those thingsare very true.
But it really we haven't hadany hiccups and they could
happen.
I allow that maybe some littleones have happened, but there
really hasn't been anythingmajor.
Sharing space has been reallyeasy.
We turned the other side of theshop like the side of the shop
(08:31):
that had my kind of office areawhich I really wasn't using, it
was just kind of dead space intoher side of the shop.
So we have her full set upthere and it's so cool to come
in the shop and see that she hasher own spot and just got her
heart there and decorativethings and her special trinkets
(08:53):
that she's collected in heryears of life and collecting
beautiful things.
And then I have my side andthey feel they're different, we
have different styles butthey're very complimentary
energetically at least.
My stuff has more color, herstuff is mostly black.
(09:14):
It's a bit more goth, but Ilove that aesthetic.
Anyway, the shop looks amazing.
People come in they say yourshop looks amazing.
It feels amazing.
The energy here is great.
The very beginning, like thefirst couple weeks of Sayler
being there, there were a coupleof times that I was like, well,
(09:37):
this client and I, we reallytalk very frankly about stuff.
We get really deep, they tellme personal things.
Why don't you not come in sothey can have their privacy with
me?
It was like a couple of timesin the beginning and then after
a little while it was like okay,everybody loves Sayler, no
one's ever asked me to haveprivacy.
It's great, she can come and go, she pleases.
(10:00):
So that piece has been great.
I've not had to really adjustmyself in any way, except for
sharing space and answering morequestions and giving a bit more
energy, which I'm happy to do,cause I also receive so much
beautiful energy from Sayler andI've been really happy to see
(10:23):
her tattoos from the very firstone.
Like I've never seen her doanything that to me looked bad,
like at all.
Everything she does isbeautiful.
It's early-ish work, likethere's definitely she's gonna
get better and better and better, but it's beautiful.
It's on par with any excellentbeginner tattoo work out there.
(10:44):
It's been really cool to see.
I'm happy and proud to have herdo work like that under the name
of Ink Medicine, and my mainworry, I think, is just whether
or not she'll get enoughclientele.
I think it's a harder, in someways a harder world to come into
.
There's such there's just somany tattoo artists in the Bay
(11:09):
Area in the world, for sure, butin the Bay Area there's just
there's a shop in every cornerand there's people charting out,
apprentices and people startingtattooing their own and there's
so many people tattooing andthere's also more people getting
tattooed too.
So I think that's kind of mymain thing is, once in a while,
(11:30):
I'm like is she gonna haveenough clientele to support
herself?
I sure hope so, and it's also apiece of it that I can help her
with and encourage her andsuggest ways of marketing
herself, but in the end, it'sgonna be up to her how she does
that.
It turned out that it didn'ttake that long between her
(11:51):
whining about not having enoughtattoos booked for the coming
week to her being overwhelmedwith inquiries after she posted
a couple different things in acouple different places online.
People came in droves, so not aproblem, and I'm thinking it
will continue not to be aproblem.
She'll continue to do bigger,more complex work and yeah,
(12:17):
actually, yeah, I'm not reallyconcerned.
We have a great rapport.
We find it easy to be aroundeach other.
She wants to continue to dothings for me, like set up my
station, break it down.
I don't expect her to, but shewants to and I'm happy to have
her do it.
It's definitely a relief for meand I am present for her for
(12:39):
whatever she needs from me,which is really not much, but I
am happily there for whatevershe needs.
It feels like a familialrelationship.
It feels like anintergenerational relationship a
little bit, because we aredifferent generations.
She's 17 years younger than meand I just think she's the most
(13:03):
special human and I want her tobe happy and safe and fed and
loved and all of that by theworld and by the people in it.
So I will do whatever I can tomake that wish come true.
So that's kind of the update.
There's really not that much tosay because it's going really
(13:24):
well.
She is still doing tattoos, forI believe it's $65 now for a
tattoo.
She has flash it's.
She's got really cute teethdrawn up, so there's a bunch of
teeth and there's leaves andthere's eyeballs and there's
mushrooms.
Mushrooms have been verypopular.
(13:45):
People are really into themushrooms.
So if you're interested in anapprentice tattoo, that's really
fucking good.
It's not the average apprenticetattoo.
It is not what my work lookedlike when I was an apprentice.
It's much better if you want anapprentice tattoo for $65.
Now is the time.
(14:07):
She is Doomfay on Instagram.
That's D-O-O-M-F-A-E.
You can reach her there or ifyou can't find her, ping me and
I will point you to herInstagram.
While I can't stop beamingabout Sayler because she really
is a big part of the joy of mylife, I have not a lot of words
(14:30):
to describe the experience.
I'm so glad it's going well,glad it's bringing ease and joy
into both of our lives, and I'mreally happy that my clients,
you guys, really like Sayler'spresence in the shop.
It makes me really happy.
Until next week, I'll be backwith an interview with another
(14:51):
Caitlin, a lovely, lovely tattooartist, trauma-informed, social
justice-oriented person up inWashington state.
We had an amazing conversationand it's going to be a good one.
I hope you have a good week andI'll talk to you soon.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.