Kittylovedump

Got my own booth at "Rolling Stone Tattoo" and I'm so happy to be a part of the team. We lost one artist, she moved out of town and off to other endeavors, we've gained a really great talent and another artist ,excluding myself. I'm still apprenticing and practicing. I've been super busy with juggling my regular 9-5, then off the shop till close and then my home life. It's been a tired struggle my husband has been such amazing support through it all. It's always great to have a strong support system people. Off to conquer the world with this art ish!!!!

Ciao, till next time.

Purrrrr,

KLD (kitty love dump)

My journey has been knowledgeable and exciting and most of all very promising. I tattooed my Husband, co worker and her significant other. All 3 experiences were amazing and I can't wait for more hands on practice. Worked with my mentor and he assisted me with picking some better tools and equipment and I practiced on my first client in-shop. Free of- course as i'm not guarantee my work until my mentor says I'm good to go full time. I couldn't be more happy and everything is aligning perfectly. PS my birthday was 8/2, go me!

I started my apprenticeship on 4/25 and it's been awesome!! I work with amazing artists. Shop owner and artist is Sam and the other two artists are Marie and EG. All 3 are unique in their styles so I'm learning so much. I've been practicing on oranges which really has been allowing me to get to know my machine as well as my hand strength, it's quite difficult tattooing an orange. Ive sinced moved on too pig skin and first off GROSS!!! I dont eat pork, never have, so you can only imagine how interesting it was to be tattooing pig skin. It's been very realistic though. My line work is getting better. I've been working on small outline images like flowers. I want to practice on myself and I created this ankh that was inspired by the Mexican Sugar skull. It's pretty colorful and if started would take me a while to complete and I know battling the pain and accuracy at the same time will be difficult. All in all, it's a great shop, great location so we get the best clients coming, great artists!!! I can't wait to officially be a tattoo artist walking into my first day of work!! wohoooo

I will be apprenticing here now. Upgrade Upgrade Upgrade, Details to come as they unravel but boy is it JUICY!!!!!

Update, I'm still searching for a new shop to apprentice at. I know it's looked down upon to do a paid apprenticeship but after research and investigation it almost seems to be the ONLY way to go. Here's the circle: you have a shop that is whether already happy with who they have as artists in their shop, therefore will not offer an apprenticeship or they will at a steep cost (thousands). So I have a starter kit, I started looking for pigskin because the HD skin wasn't cutting it to practice on and trying to obtain that information was like pulling teeth. Automatically tattoo artists will call you a scratcher, why?!?!? If you as an artist aren't willing to teach then don't shun a pro-active go-getter for taking matters into their own hands. I found pigskin, practiced on it and my rotary tattoo machine started giving me issues. I spoke with Hilldbrandt we worked that out. Back to the paid apprenticeship. It's circled around the apprentice's schedule which is awesome and it cut's out the hazing phase as I like to call it. The hazing phase is being the shop owner do person. I'm not saying I'm not willing to do my time, to earn informative information into such a secretive career BUT if shops or artists are going to continue being so secretive you don't leave an aspiring tattoo artist with many other options to go for a paid apprenticehips where you cut out the fluff and get straigth to the importance. THe particular paid apprenticeship I'm considering has advised for the cost you learn all the basics, safety, techniques, etc as well as at the end of hte course a tattoo from the teacher estimated to cost about 350.00 and you keep the recording of it and also you bring in a client of your own and tattoo them with the guidance of the apprentor. I feel with my persistence, my drive and skill, this is perfect. I can also continue practicing from their, but atleast I would have one physical tattoo under by belt which was monitored by a 14 year vet(yes thats the tenure of this artist). So all in all, I'm gravitating towards this decision. Ive reviewed this artists work and its an option for sure. I'll keep you all posted.

Ciao..!