When I found out about the London Tattoo Convention a few months ago I decided that I wanted to get a tattoo done there. I studied the list of artists who were going to be working the convention and there were so many people there who I wanted to get tattooed by; Bob Tyrell, Bugs, Alex Binie, Tintin, Filip Leu – the list was endless. However I wanted to find a tattooist who would give me the tattoo that I wanted, in the style that I required, as much as I love the work that Bob Tyrell and Tintin do, it wasn't what I wanted. I decided that I would go through the websites of the artists who would be at the convention so that I could figure out who had the style that I wanted and then get in touch to see if I could book a time with them. So that's what I did. Going through each artist in the gallery took some time, but it was time well spent as I narrowed my list down to two; Bugs and Alex Binie. I emailed Alex first of all but got no response so assumed that he was on the road and couldn't get the message. I then emailed Bugs but he already had all of his slots booked. I decided to take the design with me to the convention and see if anyone could do it there.
At A Glance Author wolfbane Contact wolfbane@bme.anon IAM wolfbane When A week ago Artist Zele Studio Zagreb Tattoo at the London Tattoo Convention Location London Tattoo Convention, Brick Lane, London The morning of the convention dawned and armed with my bag and design I headed to the station. The train arrived and with it a friend of mine so I sat with her and her friend and had a lovely picnic which included a third of a bottle of wine and some Amaretto - needless to say I was just a little bit drunk when I got to Paddington, and needless to say I know I shouldn't have done that when planning on getting a tattoo that same day! Luckily the drunkenness wore off pretty quickly and I headed to the tube to get to Liverpool Street, taking the long way round as some of the lines weren't open. I got there at 3 to meet Queen of Sleaze Town and another friend who we know from the Cold Steel forum, and went straight to the convention. It was amazing!
We dumped our bags in the cloakroom then wandered our separate ways to see the artists working. I watched some traditional artists for a bit then wandered around the booths where I noticed a woman about to get the right side of her head tattooed with a scorpion by an artist called Zele. I decided to stay and watch for a few mintues, the minutes turned into hours, and before I knew it I realised that I'd spent a couple of hours watching that being done. The work that he was doing was amazing; it was incredible, really striking design and excellent shading being done – the tattoo looked almost 3d when he'd finished. Watching the tattoo being done from start to finish was also an incredible experience; it was interesting to see what Zele did and how he interacted with the woman he was working on, and I have to say that he really put her at ease and was extremely professional.
While he was working I flicked through his portfolio and noticed some finger tattoos which got me thinking: the design that I'd originally planned on getting was a BME calm logo to be placed on both feet, one half on each foot, so that when I stood with my feet together it would make up the whole logo. I thought that it might be a difficult placement so if the artist couldn't do that, or if the design didn't look like I wanted it to I'd get it done just on my right foot, leaving the other free for more ink later on, but the more I thought about a ring tattoo the more I liked the idea. I asked Zele if he had any free slots and explained what I wanted; a small spiral with some little purple and white stars around it just between the knuckle and the joint of my middle finger. He said that he wouldn't be able to do the original design but he could do something with spirals and spikes and it'd cost about £50. I had seen a couple of designs similar to that in the portfolio which I liked so agreed to that and left him straight away to try to find a cash point. Bloody hell was that hard! There was a Link machine in a shop that wanted to charge me £1.75 to withdraw money then cancelled the transaction and I spent ages wandering up the street until I was directed towards the cash point. Having got the money I headed back, sat at his booth and waited until he'd sold some flash before he started on me.
I'd already described what I wanted so he asked how far he could go; could he go down past the knuckles. I was a bit reluctant because I work in a school and it would have been even harder to cover up, but figured there was no harm in looking at the design so said ok and he proceeded to draw the design freehand. Even in orange sharpie it looked amazing! It wasn't something I would normally have had, but it looked really cool; quite feminine and elegant, which I liked, and which worked really well with the shape of my hand. Having agreed on the design he set out the inks and put a 3 line needle into the tattoo machine. I asked some questions about the different machines and needles he had as I'd noticed him using two different machines on the girl before me, and he explained that different needles are for different size lines; the needle I had was very small as he was doing small, delicate lines, and the machines varied depending on what the shading and designs you were doing were. He was very patient explaining things to me, and pulling different machines out of his case so that I could have a look at what was what.
Once everything that was needed had been laid out, my finger cleaned and gloves changed several times the inking began. It was a pretty strange sensation. I was watching everything that was being done, in between talking to friends and posing to have my photo taken (ok, my finger was doing all the posing, I was just looking at the photographers in bemusement) and it was quite strange. Although it was my hand that was being tattooed it seemed almost as though I was watching someone else having theirs done; it's quite hard to explain, but it was interesting to watch. The tattooing didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. The parts where I thought it would hurt (knuckles) didn't hurt much at all, but the side of my finger, next to my joint, was very painful. It was an easy pain to deal with and the longer the line being done the less it hurt. It didn't take too long to do though; less than an hour, and the finished result looked even better than the drawing. While I was being tattooed I was talking to Zele about the conventions he's been at and how the London Tattoo Convention differed. The main thing that I noticed, and the he agreed with, was the lack of space the artists had in which to work; there were two artists sharing a booth with one table between them, which meant that equipment was sometimes hard to reach, or store. It seemed as though Zele and the others were managing pretty well though; the work that I saw them doing was excellent.
Once I'd finished being tattooed, had paid and thanked Zele effusively I wandered round the rest of the building for a couple more hours, glancing at my tattoo far more often than was needed, then bought some new plugs for my ears and headed off to the tube to get to Queenie's house. The tattoo is healing up nicely now, though it's in the itchy stage which is incredibly annoying. I've been washing it with normal soap and applying Savlon cream twice a day; once in the morning once in the evening – basically sticking to my usual tattoo aftercare regime. The one problem that I've had is that because I work in a school I've had to cover the tattoo up, which means having a large plaster over my hand and an elasticated bandage over my finger. While it doesn't irritate the tattoo per se, it does make it itchier than it would normally be. I've had a very positive response about this tattoo though. The kids in school (who have seen it) absolutely love it. In fact two of the girls drew similar designs over their hands yesterday, and promptly got told off by the teacher. The more I look at the tattoo the more I like it, and I have plans to extend it down my hand and onto my wrist, money and job permitting of course. All in all the convention, and the tattoo experience there, was great. It was interesting to see so many good tattooists in one building, and even better to have the pick of them. Roll on next year I say.
