June 30, 2024 • 25 mins
One of the perks of being a tattoo artist is the freedom of movement one can take advantage of. There are shops everywhere these days. Conceivably, that means that as a tattooist you can go anywhere and temporarily live and work there. I've known of people who didn't live in any one place but just continuously went from guest spot to guest spot for years.
Besides the pleasure of travel, such as discovering new places and people, there is the added bonus of exposure. The more people you meet, the more connections you make, and in more communities, the better for your overall reach.
And that sounds great.
However, for me… it has mostly felt a bit more tedious than it was worth... until now.
Last week I guested at Butterfat Studios (https://www.butterfatstudios.com/) and it was a dream come true.
Listen to me recount my other guest spot experiences and why this one was my most successful. Smile as I gush about the amazing legendary Esther Garcia whom I got to watch work. And who I've long admired for her experimentations in color theory specifically for expanding the options for deeper toned folks.
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/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Micah Riot (00:00):
Hello, hello, darlings.
Micah Riot here with anotherepisode of Ink Medicine Podcast.
I've been home for a week sincemy trip to Chicago.
I went to Chicago to do a guestspot at Butterfat Studios, and
today I would like to talk aboutguest spotting, all that it
(00:21):
entails, all that it can be andall that it has been for me.
Specifically, I think thisepisode will be interesting to
those of you who either areaspiring tattoo artists, people
who love to get tattooed byguest artists, and also people
who just are interested invarious aspects of tattoo
culture and how we do what we doand the different perks that we
(00:43):
have in this job.
This is definitely one of them.
So listen in.
(01:13):
One of the things that seems tobe the best about tattooing is
the freedom of movement that youhave.
There are shops everywhere inthe world, especially now, and,
and conceivably, that means thatyou can literally go anywhere
and work from there, at leasttemporarily.
So even though a tattoo artistwho works for themselves and
(01:34):
that is most of us does not geta single paid day off in their
life, we could do like a workingvacation at any time, like you
could go to Europe and work inParis.
You know tattoo in Paris, forexample, and enjoy Paris.
So personally I'm notparticularly interested in Paris
(01:54):
, but I gave it as an examplebecause I think a lot of people
are, and also I imagine thatfinding a tattoo shop that wants
to take on guests is easiest invery popular touristy areas and
big cities where there's a lotof demand for tattoo artists and
tattoo work and a densepopulation that maybe is looking
(02:16):
to collect different stylesthat aren't available to them
usually, usually.
So, from the perspective of thetattoo artist, besides the
pleasure of travel, discoveringnew places, meeting new people,
there's the added bonus ofexposure.
The more people you meet, themore connections you make in
more communities, the betteryour reach overall right.
(02:38):
So if you're trying to gainexposure and followers on
socials, if you are trying tospread the word about your name
and your style, this is a way todo it for sure and personally
for me it hasn't worked that way.
It kind of has felt more like apain in the ass than not.
(03:01):
I've only done three guest spotsin my life and they were all
good experiences in their ownright, you know it's.
I feel like it's always worthit going out of your comfort
zone and going somewhere new andgetting that experience Like
those are memories you make thatyou do not forget, like those
become core memories, and I'mgenerally of the opinion that
(03:22):
you don't regret things that youhave done.
You tend to regret things youdid not do.
But I think a measure of howgood of an experience something
was can be whether or not youwould do it again, and in one
case I would not do it again andin the second case I did it a
couple times.
I believe it was maybe threetimes, that I did it three
(03:44):
summers in a row, maybe, and inthe last case I actually done it
once so far last week, and itwas amazing and wonderful and I
would absolutely do it again.
So the very first guest spot Iever did was in Connecticut, and
the way that I got to thatplace was that I met the owner
(04:06):
of that shop, andrew, here inthe Bay, and he came and got
tattooed by me and I ended upasking him to tattoo me as well
and we just struck up a you know, a connection, a friendship.
He's an older, older than meman.
He's been tattooing for many,many years.
He was around at the time whentattoo artists smoked and drank
(04:26):
whiskey while tattooing theirclients and didn't use gloves
and it was an especially maleenvironment.
See, he knew that.
He knew that's tattoo historyand he was part of it and that
was interesting to me.
It was interesting to me to getto know him more, to visit his
shop, see what it was like me,it was interesting to me to get
(04:47):
to know him more, to visit hisshop, see what it was like.
And so I went to Connecticut forI think it was a week, maybe a
little bit longer, and I workedat his shop for some of those
days and I also took a littletime and rented a car and drove
up to Vermont to see somefriends at the time.
So the reason why being therewas not all that great was that
it wasn't a very it was.
(05:07):
You know, connecticut is not asuper wealthy.
That part of Connecticut is nota super wealthy town, and it
was still the time when tattooculture wasn't super widespread.
So you know, the tattoos thatpeople got, a lot of them were
small, simple, and there werewalk-ins.
A lot of them were studentsfrom the schools around there
(05:30):
and I spent a lot of time justkind of sitting my ass wondering
what the day would bring.
And then when I did tattoo,they were really small, simple,
not that super interesting andnot very challenging pieces.
And although I'm grateful to getany work at all and always was
and, as a younger tattoo artist,was very grateful for walk-ins
(05:51):
working in walk-in shops, atthis point, given that I've been
in my private space for over 10years, I really prefer to do
work in the styles that I liketo work in and with people who
know what they're looking forwith me specifically.
And so my second time doing aguest spot was at Classic Tattoo
(06:13):
up in Grass Valley, which is nolonger there because the people
who ran it at the time are nowin their own private studio and
I get why.
But at the time it was awalk-in shop and I got my chest
piece done a classic tattoo.
So I got to another shopbecause I knew Cory Norris was
there.
Cory Norris is the owner.
(06:34):
He's very well known in tattooindustry.
He's like a neo-traditionalstyle dude.
He's amazing at what he does.
His work is absolutely gorgeous, and when I decided to get some
bigger pieces, I didn't reallywant to do them in the Bay,
because it's actually reallyhard to get into someone's books
here in the Bay and there's alot of ego and it's hard to get
(06:54):
to know people in a more likechill environment.
So I, because I spent a lot oftime up on Grass Valley, which
is only a couple hours away fromhere, I was like, oh, I'll just
get my work done here, it willbe more chill, maybe I won't
have to wait as long and I havean excuse to come up and keep,
you know, keep coming up to thisarea, which I love and have a
(07:17):
very close friend living in, soI always have a place to stay.
So I looked around at the shopsthat were there, chose Classic.
So I looked around at the shopsthat were there, chose Classic
mostly because Corey Norrisowned it.
I really wanted to get a pieceby him, but I kind of figured it
would take at least a coupleyears of waiting.
(07:44):
And so I walked in one day and aman was standing in the middle
of the shop kind of sweeping thefloor as people were tattooing
around him, and I said, hey,dude, is when, like do you know
when, corey Norris'savailability opens up and he
goes yeah, my availability isprobably about a year, you know,
in the most humble way ever andI was like this dude's for real
, I like this dude.
And so I was like, okay, well,can I get on your wait list and
(08:05):
while I wait, I might, you know,do something else with somebody
else here in the shop.
And so he ended up doing myback piece, which you know took
a couple years, and I got mychest piece done by another
person who was working there athis shop, alicia Har, like the
only woman who was working there, and I spent a lot of time at
that shop and probably about ayear into me getting tattooed
(08:28):
there, I reached out to Coreyand I was like, hey, I'd love to
guest spot at your shop and inthat case, for me it was so much
more about spending time withthe artists there and getting
some of that community feeling,because by that point I was
already working on my own andfeeling lonely, like I had very
little feedback from people, Ihad very little interaction with
(08:50):
other tattoo artists and whenyou know, when you're in a
bubble, you like you don'tprogress as much, like you don't
get inspired by what otherpeople are doing, you don't get
to know different types oftechnology and machinery that's
available, you don't try thingsout, because you know it's hard,
it's scary to commit tosomething new, like buy new type
of needle or machine, um, andthen like kind of not know what
(09:13):
to do with it and, you know,waste your own money or and also
resources.
So I was excited to just go andhang out at the shop with those
guys, um, and Corey was like,yeah, of course you know,
anytime you want, we have space,which you know I was not
expecting, because I justassumed that, like he I don't
(09:35):
know what I assumed, but Iassumed that I wasn't good
enough to tattoo at his shop andapparently I was.
So a couple of summers in a rowI don't remember if it was two
or three, but started to feellike a routine.
I went out there and I livedwith my friend and I tattooed
and I went to the river and thesite.
This was summer.
So I went to the river and Ijust kind of took a break from
(09:58):
my usual life and it waswonderful.
Um, most people I tattooed aclassic were also walk-ins, also
little simple things.
But at least I had a book out.
You know, I had a printed bookof my work and so people could
see it.
So I did think I did get to doa couple of things that were
more my style and, because it'sonly a couple hours away, I
actually have some of my ownclients up in that area, closer
(10:20):
to that area, so I had a coupleof folks that I already knew and
had tattooed before come andget a session with me at that
shop.
So, yeah, I loved working atGlossick and love getting
tattooed there, love my backpiece.
And that brings us to my lastexperience having a guest spot
(10:41):
and that was just this last week, as I said, at Butterfat
Studios in Chicago.
Guest spot, and that was justthis last week, as I said, at
Butterfat Studios in Chicago.
And the way that that happenedwas that I wanted to go to
Chicago to visit some friendsand I was like I want to go out
there for a week.
I don't want to just be atourist and hang around the city
all week, I want to work.
And so I looked around for awhile until I realized that
(11:04):
Butterfat Studios is in Chicago.
It's a studio that I'vefollowed since I was like a baby
tattoo artist.
In fact, esther Garcia, theowner, is the person I've been
following that long and likelooking at her website for years
and dreaming about beingtattooed by her and being
inspired by her work for so longyeah, 15 years and so I am very
(11:28):
much a fan and I decided Iwould email and probably would
not hear back.
I've imagined that she was busyand unavailable to people she
doesn't know, which wasn't thecase.
I got an email about two days,like two mornings, after I sent
mine, that said that she washappy to hear from me and that I
(11:49):
was welcome and it made me sohappy and excited and, yeah, I
got really excited for my trip.
She also said that she's happyto post for me on the shop's
Instagram, which has a fairamount of followers, and I was
like, yeah, okay, let's see.
Let's see how many people Ineed to book.
(12:09):
Oh, I have one repeating clientwho lives in Minneapolis and he
, like before I even made theplans, he's been saying like, if
you come and tattoo anywherecloser by, I'll totally come see
you.
It's just kind of hard to getout to California and of course
that's the case, it's true.
Told him that I was coming andso he was one of my clients.
(12:36):
I decided I would work five daysand take on one client each day
because I didn't know how longthings would take me and I
didn't know if I'd have accessto the shop outside of shop,
like official shop hours.
So I was just like I'll takeone client a day and do longish
kind of sessions.
And so I had this one clientand then I had my friend who I
was visiting, who also wanted toget tattooed, and then one of
(12:57):
one of their best friends alsowanted to get tattooed.
So that's three, you know, andI had five spots.
So I essentially was like OK, Ihave a couple of spots left and
I made a posting and peopleflocked and I got more requests
than I had spots open.
So I ended up actually doingthree like new clients.
I booked two for the two days Ihad open and then somebody else
(13:20):
emailed me and wanted, and so Idid a morning session with the
other person, like a 9am session.
So overall I filled my timereally fast, really easily, and
I think it was because of itbeing a private studio so there
were no walk-ins, right.
So I had to set all of myschedule ahead of time.
(13:41):
I had to set my appointmentsahead of time and know what I
was doing, which is exactly howI prefer to work and because
they posted my work like theowner posted my work and my
little Instagram reel ads that Imade on the shop's Instagram,
that's what got me the attentionand I think that's in fact,
(14:03):
when Esther emailed me back, shesaid that the type of style I
do like detailed color work israre and hard to find in Chicago
, that you know a lot of whatpeople do is like black, like
fine line or other types ofblack work mostly, and so my
style was rare and wanted, whichfelt really good to hear, and
(14:24):
apparently it was absolutelytrue, because it was so easy for
me to fill my books.
I think that next year, if I dothis again, I will try to go
for a few extra days.
I think five days of work wasgreat, but I would have loved to
have had like four days of workand then like a couple days of
break, or a day of break andthen another like three days of
(14:45):
work, something like that.
So, depending on availabilityof space, if they have artists
traveling out of the city sothat there's space for me, and
how long the space would be Iwould like to go for a little
bit longer and just like not be,you know, working every day for
five days in a row and thenlike basically leaving and
(15:06):
having very little time to relax.
I was super lucky with aneighborhood.
I booked an Airbnb that waslike a five minute walk away
from the shop.
Love that.
I walked so much all over thatneighborhood.
I went to two differentfarmer's markets.
I fed myself mostly from foodfrom farmer's markets and also
(15:26):
had some amazing meals out.
I had a beautiful meal ofUkrainian food which was like
food that from my childhood,because Ukrainian and Russian
food is very similar, while alsobeing like a little up leveled,
which I love.
Like I'm a fancy bitch, I dolove me a fancy-ish meal.
(15:47):
And then the other reallyamazing meal I had was a makasa,
which is, for those of you whoare not familiar, it's a sushi
meal, japanese meal, and it'swhen you are basically sitting
in front of the chef and theykeep handing you little bits of
food and each bite is moreamazing than the last and you
don't really know what's coming.
But it's all going to beabsolutely fucking incredible
(16:09):
and it was.
It was in like the top meals ofmy life for sure, and I got to
share it with my friend who Iwent there to see and we just,
like both were so stoked aboutit.
So, yeah, I had a reallybeautiful time in Chicago.
I got to connect with reallyincredible humans.
I tattooed some really coolpeople.
A couple of my like the firstcouple of days of clients where
(16:31):
got their very first tattoos forme and they both committed and
went big and colorful and boldand it was just really exciting
and I felt really like honoredto do their first tattoos and
they were both very open to mystyle.
So kind of both were likewhatever you want to do, I'm
open, which you know.
It's like it's so amazing, soamazing for me.
When people ask me to like theyjust love my work and they want
(16:52):
me to do what I do on them andthey're open to how it's gonna
for me.
When people ask me to like theyjust love my work and they want
me to do what I do on them andthey're open to how it's gonna
look in the end.
I well, yeah, I said I walked alot.
I walked around downtown, Iwalked around Logan Square.
Yeah, I'm really excited tocome back next year.
I saw lightning bugs, which Ihaven't seen since I lived in
(17:15):
Ohio and I got to experiencelike a summer rain, like a
gentle summer rain, but alsolike a freaking storm, like so
much water just pouring from thesky and like thunder and
lightning.
And those were on my list ofthings that I really wanted
while I was in the Midwest.
I wanted the storm, I wantedjust some basic ass rain and I
(17:36):
wanted lightning, bugs and, youknow, the beautiful food and the
beautiful people, of course,were number one.
So I am very happy I went and Ialso learned a lot.
Um, esther, esther Garcia, theowner of Butterfat, is a painter
and is a color nerd and I gotto see her collection of inks
(17:59):
and how she thinks about colorand how she layers color, and I
got to watch her work a littlebit.
You know, just kind of like I'dcome over and kind of look at
what she was doing and it wassuper cool, like watching
legends, like people you'veadmired for years.
Work is, you know, a specialkind of honor and she, um, she's
(18:20):
really into color theory butalso layering colors on top of
different skin tones.
So, yeah, very passionate aboutthat work and I am, so I'm like
admiring of it and I also, youknow, I try, I try to experiment
too.
I try to think about it and Ialso, you know, I try, I try to
experiment too.
I try to think about it too,and she's, like you know, light
years ahead of me.
So I learned a lot.
I learned things about inkcomposition and pigments that I
(18:43):
didn't know before.
She gave me some resources tokeep studying.
She had some inks that I am notfamiliar with that I really
liked using, using.
So I'm gonna be buying somemore new colors that I didn't
have before.
Yeah, it's a very special thingto nerd out with a person in
your field who has similarpassions in your field.
(19:07):
It's just a special thing tomeet somebody like that and nerd
out.
And you know, know that, likeother things, other people are
passionate about similar things.
Other people care about similarthings.
Other people are also trying todo more than just tattoo, make
some money and go home, and thatwas kind of, I think, the jewel
(19:28):
of this trip like learning andwatching her work and getting
some more like tips and tricksand some things to experiment
with for myself.
Um, you know, like my mom askedme, you know, was it worth it
financially?
And I think it was.
You know, I made um, I madesome money for sure and um, the
(19:48):
cut to the shop was like lessthan I've ever paid to shop
before when I've worked for ashop.
So that was very generous ofEsther to allow her artists to
keep more than most shops doallow their artists to keep.
And but you know, my trip wasexpensive.
My Airbnb was like $1,400 forthe week and my plane flight
(20:13):
like my flight, I think it wasit was, uh, maybe 500.
So it's summer, right, sotravel is more expensive.
So I definitely paid a lot ofmoney and just like getting
there and staying there, um, itwas still, yeah, it was still
worth it to me, um, because Ilearned so much.
So it's kind of the point, it'snot.
You know, money isn't alwaysthe point, but I did have to at
(20:34):
least break even because I donot have much extra, do not have
much cushion, so I had to atleast break even if I could.
This point it is definitelybetter to go somewhere where the
(20:57):
shop has a fairly big followingand where maybe people don't do
the style that I do Like asEsther said, it's detailed color
work and where I might bewanted and desired, where people
might be excited about my workand where the shop will post
about me on their socials sothat I can get more exposure and
(21:18):
be seen by more eyes and getclients.
I don't have enough followersto do that myself.
If I had I don't know 100,000followers, 50,000 followers from
all over, I could potentiallyjust use my following to go
somewhere and get enoughclientele, but I don't.
So it does take the shop beingwilling to post about me and
(21:39):
have a following of their own,and so I would love to go to
other places.
I think that I would need lotsof reasons to go somewhere.
I had lots of reasons to go toChicago, but yeah, I'm
definitely more excited aboutguesting right now and I'm
hoping.
You know I like routine and Ilike rituals and I like to do
(22:00):
similar things year in, year out.
So I think next year I'm goingto try to do this again.
Maybe I'll get like a placewith one of my closest friends
who lives on the East Coast andshe can work from Chicago and I
can work there and we can hangout.
We'll see.
(22:24):
Oh, the other thing I did thatwas fun besides drink a ton of
coffee is go to CrossFit.
So, because I've been doingCrossFit since I was about 27
and I'm 40 now.
I speak the language ofCrossFit, even though I'm pretty
mediocre at the sport itself.
I do like to go to CrossFitgyms whenever I'm in a different
city just to see what it's likelike, how similar or different
it is, different spaces, andthere was kind of a CrossFit on
like every corner in Chicago inmy neighborhood.
(22:47):
Okay, it's not true, but therewere a bunch like I had some
choices and so I went to onethat was fairly close to my
house it was about a 15 minutewalk and I went there.
One that was fairly close to myhouse, it was about 15 minute
walk and I went there twicewhile I was there in Chicago and
it was freaking hot outside.
It was so humid and so hot.
It was like 90 degrees at sevenin the morning.
But I rallied, I did.
It was super sweaty, it wasreally hard and I did not get a
(23:10):
shirt because they only hadt-shirts and I'm not a big fan
of t-shirts.
And that's kind of it of myexperience with guest spotting.
I think that my kind of advicefrom this talk is that if you
want to go guest somewhere andyou are intimidated and you feel
(23:31):
like maybe they would not sayyes to you.
Just ask, like, yeah, theymight reject you, you might
never hear from them, but sowhat?
I have put myself out therevery few times, thinking in both
cases that I would not be askedor allowed or you know, to come
and be there and work fromthese shops.
And I was, and it was supereasy and it was super chill.
(23:53):
So, yeah, the worst thing theycan do is say no or not get back
to you.
So just ask.
And you know, you don't knowwhat type of experience you're
going to have.
And even if you feel like, oh,it's tedious and you have to
bring all your stuff and youknow, set up a new space and you
don't like newness Most of thetime if you have an artist there
(24:15):
that you're admiring or it's acity that you really want to
travel and explore, just do it.
Just do it.
I'm happy I did so.
Thank you for listening and Iappreciate you so much.
Please tell a friend about mypodcast.
If you enjoyed it.
If you think somebody in yourlife would enjoy it, please tell
them.
It's growing very slowly, andby that I mean not really at all
(24:38):
, but I'm grateful for every oneof you that listens and I
appreciate you and I'll talk toyou very, very soon.
You.
Hello, hello, darlings.
Micah Riot here with anotherepisode of Ink Medicine Podcast.
I've been home for a week sincemy trip to Chicago.
I went to Chicago to do a guestspot at Butterfat Studios, and
today I would like to talk aboutguest spotting, all that it
(00:21):
entails, all that it can be andall that it has been for me.
Specifically, I think thisepisode will be interesting to
those of you who either areaspiring tattoo artists, people
who love to get tattooed byguest artists, and also people
who just are interested invarious aspects of tattoo
culture and how we do what we doand the different perks that we
(00:43):
have in this job.
This is definitely one of them.
So listen in.
(01:13):
One of the things that seems tobe the best about tattooing is
the freedom of movement that youhave.
There are shops everywhere inthe world, especially now, and,
and conceivably, that means thatyou can literally go anywhere
and work from there, at leasttemporarily.
So even though a tattoo artistwho works for themselves and
(01:34):
that is most of us does not geta single paid day off in their
life, we could do like a workingvacation at any time, like you
could go to Europe and work inParis.
You know tattoo in Paris, forexample, and enjoy Paris.
So personally I'm notparticularly interested in Paris
(01:54):
, but I gave it as an examplebecause I think a lot of people
are, and also I imagine thatfinding a tattoo shop that wants
to take on guests is easiest invery popular touristy areas and
big cities where there's a lotof demand for tattoo artists and
tattoo work and a densepopulation that maybe is looking
(02:16):
to collect different stylesthat aren't available to them
usually, usually.
So, from the perspective of thetattoo artist, besides the
pleasure of travel, discoveringnew places, meeting new people,
there's the added bonus ofexposure.
The more people you meet, themore connections you make in
more communities, the betteryour reach overall right.
(02:38):
So if you're trying to gainexposure and followers on
socials, if you are trying tospread the word about your name
and your style, this is a way todo it for sure and personally
for me it hasn't worked that way.
It kind of has felt more like apain in the ass than not.
(03:01):
I've only done three guest spotsin my life and they were all
good experiences in their ownright, you know it's.
I feel like it's always worthit going out of your comfort
zone and going somewhere new andgetting that experience Like
those are memories you make thatyou do not forget, like those
become core memories, and I'mgenerally of the opinion that
(03:22):
you don't regret things that youhave done.
You tend to regret things youdid not do.
But I think a measure of howgood of an experience something
was can be whether or not youwould do it again, and in one
case I would not do it again andin the second case I did it a
couple times.
I believe it was maybe threetimes, that I did it three
(03:44):
summers in a row, maybe, and inthe last case I actually done it
once so far last week, and itwas amazing and wonderful and I
would absolutely do it again.
So the very first guest spot Iever did was in Connecticut, and
the way that I got to thatplace was that I met the owner
(04:06):
of that shop, andrew, here inthe Bay, and he came and got
tattooed by me and I ended upasking him to tattoo me as well
and we just struck up a you know, a connection, a friendship.
He's an older, older than meman.
He's been tattooing for many,many years.
He was around at the time whentattoo artists smoked and drank
(04:26):
whiskey while tattooing theirclients and didn't use gloves
and it was an especially maleenvironment.
See, he knew that.
He knew that's tattoo historyand he was part of it and that
was interesting to me.
It was interesting to me to getto know him more, to visit his
shop, see what it was like me,it was interesting to me to get
(04:47):
to know him more, to visit hisshop, see what it was like.
And so I went to Connecticut forI think it was a week, maybe a
little bit longer, and I workedat his shop for some of those
days and I also took a littletime and rented a car and drove
up to Vermont to see somefriends at the time.
So the reason why being therewas not all that great was that
it wasn't a very it was.
(05:07):
You know, connecticut is not asuper wealthy.
That part of Connecticut is nota super wealthy town, and it
was still the time when tattooculture wasn't super widespread.
So you know, the tattoos thatpeople got, a lot of them were
small, simple, and there werewalk-ins.
A lot of them were studentsfrom the schools around there
(05:30):
and I spent a lot of time justkind of sitting my ass wondering
what the day would bring.
And then when I did tattoo,they were really small, simple,
not that super interesting andnot very challenging pieces.
And although I'm grateful to getany work at all and always was
and, as a younger tattoo artist,was very grateful for walk-ins
(05:51):
working in walk-in shops, atthis point, given that I've been
in my private space for over 10years, I really prefer to do
work in the styles that I liketo work in and with people who
know what they're looking forwith me specifically.
And so my second time doing aguest spot was at Classic Tattoo
(06:13):
up in Grass Valley, which is nolonger there because the people
who ran it at the time are nowin their own private studio and
I get why.
But at the time it was awalk-in shop and I got my chest
piece done a classic tattoo.
So I got to another shopbecause I knew Cory Norris was
there.
Cory Norris is the owner.
(06:34):
He's very well known in tattooindustry.
He's like a neo-traditionalstyle dude.
He's amazing at what he does.
His work is absolutely gorgeous, and when I decided to get some
bigger pieces, I didn't reallywant to do them in the Bay,
because it's actually reallyhard to get into someone's books
here in the Bay and there's alot of ego and it's hard to get
(06:54):
to know people in a more likechill environment.
So I, because I spent a lot oftime up on Grass Valley, which
is only a couple hours away fromhere, I was like, oh, I'll just
get my work done here, it willbe more chill, maybe I won't
have to wait as long and I havean excuse to come up and keep,
you know, keep coming up to thisarea, which I love and have a
(07:17):
very close friend living in, soI always have a place to stay.
So I looked around at the shopsthat were there, chose Classic.
So I looked around at the shopsthat were there, chose Classic
mostly because Corey Norrisowned it.
I really wanted to get a pieceby him, but I kind of figured it
would take at least a coupleyears of waiting.
(07:44):
And so I walked in one day and aman was standing in the middle
of the shop kind of sweeping thefloor as people were tattooing
around him, and I said, hey,dude, is when, like do you know
when, corey Norris'savailability opens up and he
goes yeah, my availability isprobably about a year, you know,
in the most humble way ever andI was like this dude's for real
, I like this dude.
And so I was like, okay, well,can I get on your wait list and
(08:05):
while I wait, I might, you know,do something else with somebody
else here in the shop.
And so he ended up doing myback piece, which you know took
a couple years, and I got mychest piece done by another
person who was working there athis shop, alicia Har, like the
only woman who was working there, and I spent a lot of time at
that shop and probably about ayear into me getting tattooed
(08:28):
there, I reached out to Coreyand I was like, hey, I'd love to
guest spot at your shop and inthat case, for me it was so much
more about spending time withthe artists there and getting
some of that community feeling,because by that point I was
already working on my own andfeeling lonely, like I had very
little feedback from people, Ihad very little interaction with
(08:50):
other tattoo artists and whenyou know, when you're in a
bubble, you like you don'tprogress as much, like you don't
get inspired by what otherpeople are doing, you don't get
to know different types oftechnology and machinery that's
available, you don't try thingsout, because you know it's hard,
it's scary to commit tosomething new, like buy new type
of needle or machine, um, andthen like kind of not know what
(09:13):
to do with it and, you know,waste your own money or and also
resources.
So I was excited to just go andhang out at the shop with those
guys, um, and Corey was like,yeah, of course you know,
anytime you want, we have space,which you know I was not
expecting, because I justassumed that, like he I don't
(09:35):
know what I assumed, but Iassumed that I wasn't good
enough to tattoo at his shop andapparently I was.
So a couple of summers in a rowI don't remember if it was two
or three, but started to feellike a routine.
I went out there and I livedwith my friend and I tattooed
and I went to the river and thesite.
This was summer.
So I went to the river and Ijust kind of took a break from
(09:58):
my usual life and it waswonderful.
Um, most people I tattooed aclassic were also walk-ins, also
little simple things.
But at least I had a book out.
You know, I had a printed bookof my work and so people could
see it.
So I did think I did get to doa couple of things that were
more my style and, because it'sonly a couple hours away, I
actually have some of my ownclients up in that area, closer
(10:20):
to that area, so I had a coupleof folks that I already knew and
had tattooed before come andget a session with me at that
shop.
So, yeah, I loved working atGlossick and love getting
tattooed there, love my backpiece.
And that brings us to my lastexperience having a guest spot
(10:41):
and that was just this last week, as I said, at Butterfat
Studios in Chicago.
Guest spot, and that was justthis last week, as I said, at
Butterfat Studios in Chicago.
And the way that that happenedwas that I wanted to go to
Chicago to visit some friendsand I was like I want to go out
there for a week.
I don't want to just be atourist and hang around the city
all week, I want to work.
And so I looked around for awhile until I realized that
(11:04):
Butterfat Studios is in Chicago.
It's a studio that I'vefollowed since I was like a baby
tattoo artist.
In fact, esther Garcia, theowner, is the person I've been
following that long and likelooking at her website for years
and dreaming about beingtattooed by her and being
inspired by her work for so longyeah, 15 years and so I am very
(11:28):
much a fan and I decided Iwould email and probably would
not hear back.
I've imagined that she was busyand unavailable to people she
doesn't know, which wasn't thecase.
I got an email about two days,like two mornings, after I sent
mine, that said that she washappy to hear from me and that I
(11:49):
was welcome and it made me sohappy and excited and, yeah, I
got really excited for my trip.
She also said that she's happyto post for me on the shop's
Instagram, which has a fairamount of followers, and I was
like, yeah, okay, let's see.
Let's see how many people Ineed to book.
(12:09):
Oh, I have one repeating clientwho lives in Minneapolis and he
, like before I even made theplans, he's been saying like, if
you come and tattoo anywherecloser by, I'll totally come see
you.
It's just kind of hard to getout to California and of course
that's the case, it's true.
Told him that I was coming andso he was one of my clients.
(12:36):
I decided I would work five daysand take on one client each day
because I didn't know how longthings would take me and I
didn't know if I'd have accessto the shop outside of shop,
like official shop hours.
So I was just like I'll takeone client a day and do longish
kind of sessions.
And so I had this one clientand then I had my friend who I
was visiting, who also wanted toget tattooed, and then one of
(12:57):
one of their best friends alsowanted to get tattooed.
So that's three, you know, andI had five spots.
So I essentially was like OK, Ihave a couple of spots left and
I made a posting and peopleflocked and I got more requests
than I had spots open.
So I ended up actually doingthree like new clients.
I booked two for the two days Ihad open and then somebody else
(13:20):
emailed me and wanted, and so Idid a morning session with the
other person, like a 9am session.
So overall I filled my timereally fast, really easily, and
I think it was because of itbeing a private studio so there
were no walk-ins, right.
So I had to set all of myschedule ahead of time.
(13:41):
I had to set my appointmentsahead of time and know what I
was doing, which is exactly howI prefer to work and because
they posted my work like theowner posted my work and my
little Instagram reel ads that Imade on the shop's Instagram,
that's what got me the attentionand I think that's in fact,
(14:03):
when Esther emailed me back, shesaid that the type of style I
do like detailed color work israre and hard to find in Chicago
, that you know a lot of whatpeople do is like black, like
fine line or other types ofblack work mostly, and so my
style was rare and wanted, whichfelt really good to hear, and
(14:24):
apparently it was absolutelytrue, because it was so easy for
me to fill my books.
I think that next year, if I dothis again, I will try to go
for a few extra days.
I think five days of work wasgreat, but I would have loved to
have had like four days of workand then like a couple days of
break, or a day of break andthen another like three days of
(14:45):
work, something like that.
So, depending on availabilityof space, if they have artists
traveling out of the city sothat there's space for me, and
how long the space would be Iwould like to go for a little
bit longer and just like not be,you know, working every day for
five days in a row and thenlike basically leaving and
(15:06):
having very little time to relax.
I was super lucky with aneighborhood.
I booked an Airbnb that waslike a five minute walk away
from the shop.
Love that.
I walked so much all over thatneighborhood.
I went to two differentfarmer's markets.
I fed myself mostly from foodfrom farmer's markets and also
(15:26):
had some amazing meals out.
I had a beautiful meal ofUkrainian food which was like
food that from my childhood,because Ukrainian and Russian
food is very similar, while alsobeing like a little up leveled,
which I love.
Like I'm a fancy bitch, I dolove me a fancy-ish meal.
(15:47):
And then the other reallyamazing meal I had was a makasa,
which is, for those of you whoare not familiar, it's a sushi
meal, japanese meal, and it'swhen you are basically sitting
in front of the chef and theykeep handing you little bits of
food and each bite is moreamazing than the last and you
don't really know what's coming.
But it's all going to beabsolutely fucking incredible
(16:09):
and it was.
It was in like the top meals ofmy life for sure, and I got to
share it with my friend who Iwent there to see and we just,
like both were so stoked aboutit.
So, yeah, I had a reallybeautiful time in Chicago.
I got to connect with reallyincredible humans.
I tattooed some really coolpeople.
A couple of my like the firstcouple of days of clients where
(16:31):
got their very first tattoos forme and they both committed and
went big and colorful and boldand it was just really exciting
and I felt really like honoredto do their first tattoos and
they were both very open to mystyle.
So kind of both were likewhatever you want to do, I'm
open, which you know.
It's like it's so amazing, soamazing for me.
When people ask me to like theyjust love my work and they want
(16:52):
me to do what I do on them andthey're open to how it's gonna
for me.
When people ask me to like theyjust love my work and they want
me to do what I do on them andthey're open to how it's gonna
look in the end.
I well, yeah, I said I walked alot.
I walked around downtown, Iwalked around Logan Square.
Yeah, I'm really excited tocome back next year.
I saw lightning bugs, which Ihaven't seen since I lived in
(17:15):
Ohio and I got to experiencelike a summer rain, like a
gentle summer rain, but alsolike a freaking storm, like so
much water just pouring from thesky and like thunder and
lightning.
And those were on my list ofthings that I really wanted
while I was in the Midwest.
I wanted the storm, I wantedjust some basic ass rain and I
(17:36):
wanted lightning, bugs and, youknow, the beautiful food and the
beautiful people, of course,were number one.
So I am very happy I went and Ialso learned a lot.
Um, esther, esther Garcia, theowner of Butterfat, is a painter
and is a color nerd and I gotto see her collection of inks
(17:59):
and how she thinks about colorand how she layers color, and I
got to watch her work a littlebit.
You know, just kind of like I'dcome over and kind of look at
what she was doing and it wassuper cool, like watching
legends, like people you'veadmired for years.
Work is, you know, a specialkind of honor and she, um, she's
(18:20):
really into color theory butalso layering colors on top of
different skin tones.
So, yeah, very passionate aboutthat work and I am, so I'm like
admiring of it and I also, youknow, I try, I try to experiment
too.
I try to think about it and Ialso, you know, I try, I try to
experiment too.
I try to think about it too,and she's, like you know, light
years ahead of me.
So I learned a lot.
I learned things about inkcomposition and pigments that I
(18:43):
didn't know before.
She gave me some resources tokeep studying.
She had some inks that I am notfamiliar with that I really
liked using, using.
So I'm gonna be buying somemore new colors that I didn't
have before.
Yeah, it's a very special thingto nerd out with a person in
your field who has similarpassions in your field.
(19:07):
It's just a special thing tomeet somebody like that and nerd
out.
And you know, know that, likeother things, other people are
passionate about similar things.
Other people care about similarthings.
Other people are also trying todo more than just tattoo, make
some money and go home, and thatwas kind of, I think, the jewel
(19:28):
of this trip like learning andwatching her work and getting
some more like tips and tricksand some things to experiment
with for myself.
Um, you know, like my mom askedme, you know, was it worth it
financially?
And I think it was.
You know, I made um, I madesome money for sure and um, the
(19:48):
cut to the shop was like lessthan I've ever paid to shop
before when I've worked for ashop.
So that was very generous ofEsther to allow her artists to
keep more than most shops doallow their artists to keep.
And but you know, my trip wasexpensive.
My Airbnb was like $1,400 forthe week and my plane flight
(20:13):
like my flight, I think it wasit was, uh, maybe 500.
So it's summer, right, sotravel is more expensive.
So I definitely paid a lot ofmoney and just like getting
there and staying there, um, itwas still, yeah, it was still
worth it to me, um, because Ilearned so much.
So it's kind of the point, it'snot.
You know, money isn't alwaysthe point, but I did have to at
(20:34):
least break even because I donot have much extra, do not have
much cushion, so I had to atleast break even if I could.
This point it is definitelybetter to go somewhere where the
(20:57):
shop has a fairly big followingand where maybe people don't do
the style that I do Like asEsther said, it's detailed color
work and where I might bewanted and desired, where people
might be excited about my workand where the shop will post
about me on their socials sothat I can get more exposure and
(21:18):
be seen by more eyes and getclients.
I don't have enough followersto do that myself.
If I had I don't know 100,000followers, 50,000 followers from
all over, I could potentiallyjust use my following to go
somewhere and get enoughclientele, but I don't.
So it does take the shop beingwilling to post about me and
(21:39):
have a following of their own,and so I would love to go to
other places.
I think that I would need lotsof reasons to go somewhere.
I had lots of reasons to go toChicago, but yeah, I'm
definitely more excited aboutguesting right now and I'm
hoping.
You know I like routine and Ilike rituals and I like to do
(22:00):
similar things year in, year out.
So I think next year I'm goingto try to do this again.
Maybe I'll get like a placewith one of my closest friends
who lives on the East Coast andshe can work from Chicago and I
can work there and we can hangout.
We'll see.
(22:24):
Oh, the other thing I did thatwas fun besides drink a ton of
coffee is go to CrossFit.
So, because I've been doingCrossFit since I was about 27
and I'm 40 now.
I speak the language ofCrossFit, even though I'm pretty
mediocre at the sport itself.
I do like to go to CrossFitgyms whenever I'm in a different
city just to see what it's likelike, how similar or different
it is, different spaces, andthere was kind of a CrossFit on
like every corner in Chicago inmy neighborhood.
(22:47):
Okay, it's not true, but therewere a bunch like I had some
choices and so I went to onethat was fairly close to my
house it was about a 15 minutewalk and I went there.
One that was fairly close to myhouse, it was about 15 minute
walk and I went there twicewhile I was there in Chicago and
it was freaking hot outside.
It was so humid and so hot.
It was like 90 degrees at sevenin the morning.
But I rallied, I did.
It was super sweaty, it wasreally hard and I did not get a
(23:10):
shirt because they only hadt-shirts and I'm not a big fan
of t-shirts.
And that's kind of it of myexperience with guest spotting.
I think that my kind of advicefrom this talk is that if you
want to go guest somewhere andyou are intimidated and you feel
(23:31):
like maybe they would not sayyes to you.
Just ask, like, yeah, theymight reject you, you might
never hear from them, but sowhat?
I have put myself out therevery few times, thinking in both
cases that I would not be askedor allowed or you know, to come
and be there and work fromthese shops.
And I was, and it was supereasy and it was super chill.
(23:53):
So, yeah, the worst thing theycan do is say no or not get back
to you.
So just ask.
And you know, you don't knowwhat type of experience you're
going to have.
And even if you feel like, oh,it's tedious and you have to
bring all your stuff and youknow, set up a new space and you
don't like newness Most of thetime if you have an artist there
(24:15):
that you're admiring or it's acity that you really want to
travel and explore, just do it.
Just do it.
I'm happy I did so.
Thank you for listening and Iappreciate you so much.
Please tell a friend about mypodcast.
If you enjoyed it.
If you think somebody in yourlife would enjoy it, please tell
them.
It's growing very slowly, andby that I mean not really at all
(24:38):
, but I'm grateful for every oneof you that listens and I
appreciate you and I'll talk toyou very, very soon.
You.
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