Artistic Process

   Yes it has been awhile... been travelling alot this Summer, so many projects have been on standby. But now it iw full steam ahead to finish them now that the sun and holidays are over :-)

 

 

A new sleave project to balance some older work done by my mentor 

Three interlocking dragons, first visit... stay tuned

Been getting a few more calf projects lately. As opposed to a half sleave the calf has two sides which have to be filled, although the area isn't symetrical from side to side.

 The horizontal bands which are marked with dots will eventually be lined up and filled with a rune text tattooed by hand

John's Quadrupal Dragon Leg Sleave continues

Finished up the honeycomb dragon this time and outlined the scales in the last dragon

Another calf dragon on a client from Italy

Went with more free form unsymetrical dragons on this tattoo... one up, one down :-)

These days I usually prefer to do multiple dragons... it gives more variety in the knotwork and more options for scales. Very hard to cover an entire arm using just one dragon and keep it dynamic. However she insisted and I think we got it to work nicely :-)

Second visit

The Fenris Wolf bound by the chain "Gleipnir" which was fashioned by the dwarves from such intangables as... the footsteps of a cat, roots of a mountain, breath of fish, etc:

Icelandic Tattoo Convention 2012

The convention was situated just across the street from the National Museum... so what better way to spend the morning :-)

Figure of Thor holding his hammer Mjolner

Some scholars argue that the hammer is actually a cross, as a blending of christian symbols began infultrating the older pagan beliefs

    

The famous Wolf Cross (or Hammer)

a christian symbol with very clear Asa loyalties 

 A version of the Galdrabok... a tome of Icelandic magic.

The use of these types of spells continued well into the 20th Century and are also popular tattoo motifs today 

A little Elfin magic :-)

 A petroglyph of a man snowshoeing, formed to fit the contours of the foot

Thor's Hammer with Ægers Hjelm from the Galdrabok for protection and courage 

Custom Dragon on Guðrún Finnsdóttir

The tail ends in a spiral on the elbow joint while one of the scales does the same on the wrist bone

Took about 9 hours by hand in one shot... her first tattoo!

Guðrún returned on Sunday to say Hej and thanks for the tattoo.

Svanur and Andreas (the organizers) convinced her to enter her tattoo in the "Best of Show" competition.

I was very happy that she was willing to show it off, but I really didn't expect anything to come of it.

My friend Alex of Rites of Passage told me many years ago that... "an ornamental piece can (could) never win best of show". He never meant it as a comment against tribal work, which he has always shown a respect for... but rather as a comment on tattooing in general these days. I was glad we could prove them wrong in Malmö shortly afterwards, but I never thought for a moment that I could do it again... especially with a hand tattooed piece :-)

A very fitting end to a tattoo convention in Iceland

Total Tattoo Magazine October 2012

Returned home for 12 hours between our flights from Austria and Iceland just to find this arrived in the mail :-)

Total Tattoo October 2012 updated and re-printed an article and interview written by my friend Lars Krutak a few years back. The magazine is a UK publication and it comes out just in time for the London Tattoo Convention :-)

The article was was published last Spring in a Dutch magazine... but here is your chance to read it in English

Enjoy :-)

Villach Tattoo Convention

Goth Ink Fest

   After having Brent come and guest few days at Skin&Bone we drove up to Gothenberg for the Goth Ink Fest hosted by Heidi Hay. The convention was held at the Lisben amusment park in the center of the city which also allowed us access to the park. The weather was sunny, so this was a welcome break between tattoos :-)

Ægirs Helm... on a man who diserves to bear it

   My friend Kai joined Brent and I on center stage the second day. We all competed in the tribal competition... first place went to a collaboration I had done with my good friend Pat Fish several years ago, while second place went to my own legs tattooed by Durga by hand when he visited us from Indonesia last year. It was really an honour to show some of the cultural tattooing I've received and I'm looking forward to giving Durga a few awards for his work to take home to his tribe when I see him later this month in London :-) Kai took third place for a leg which he was in the process of tattooing and is sure to win more awards for when it is completed.

Kai's work from Saturday... unfortunately Kai showed up a day late, so I had to take over on Sunday after he explained to his client that I was the one who tattooed him :-)

Thanks for the warm recommendation Kai

 

Kai tattooed the outline of the deer and hunting dog

While I tattooed the outline of the sun wheel and ship.

There will be a few more figures added before Kai dotshades the entire background so that the outlined figures pop out in negative and the black ones fall more into the background. 

Stockholm Ink Bash

Well, we had another good year at Stockholm again... however the absence of Alex (due to a bicycle crash) Queenie (who moved to Germany) and Tumppi left it also a little empty. Nontheless it was great to work together with Brent McCown again on the same stage, swapping stories and trade secrets :-)

Spent most of Saturday working on Johann and his girlfriend Caroline who I've tattooed a few times before, both in Stockholm and at the studio

Sunday I was only at the convention a short time as I had been asked to be a consultant on a Swedish television program on tattooing Sunday and Monday. Although I don't have a television myself I still found the process very interesting and it was enlightening to see the reality behind the lense.
http://www.tv6.se/inkmastersverige
I'll post more on the event when it is aered in October :-)

Horimyo

Horimyo visited us from Japan

  a sample of Horimyo's Traditional JapaneseTebori