Amanda Rappe

Location/hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Occupation/career: Food/Beverage Industry

Photographer: Allen Picard

See more of Amanda in the November issue of Skin&Ink Magazine.

On Sale Now!

By Sam Paul

Photography by Dan Howell

Walking through the New York City Tattoo Convention is like traveling through the city itself. Every few feet, you encounter a new culture, one wholly different from the last. Tattooers from some of the most known New York shops like Sacred and Red Rocket buzz away on their machines. Some, such as Amanda Wachob of Dare Devil, whose work resembles watercolor paintings, practice the art in ways that were unimaginable when the convention began fifteen years ago. Not far away, artists from Magoshi Tattoo in Japan tap their images into skin celebrating their nation’s ancient tradition as a woman braids a man’s long hair beside them. On the same floor, an artist is using Wes Wood of Unimax’s newest machine, which is still awaiting a patent.

The New York City Convention, like New York, is a melting pot. “We have from the most primitive, like traditional hand-poked tattooers from the Pacific Islands like Brent McCown, to Wes, who has the totally modern version of a tattoo machine,” says organizer Clayton Patterson, who, alongside Steve Bonge and Butch Garcia, has been working on the convention since its start. “That’s a big spectrum.”

New York is well represented. The old mainstays mingle with newer shops like Lone Wolf in Brooklyn, while big names from abroad like Baba from LA, Boris from Hungary, Wicked Tattoo of Spain, Palaco Tattoo of Brazil and more hold court beside them. A steady stream of customers keeps tattooers busy throughout the weekend.

“We’ve almost had the same group of people in terms of artists for the last fifteen years, so the turnover is not very high. But the turnover that has happened has made it much more international because now we have Brazil, Spain, England, Japan, China, Taiwan,” says Patterson. “It’s definitely become more global.”

A slight woman from a small company called Tattoo Artshop by Jack Jiang sells woodcarvings and geisha combs, across from Steve Leather NY, where t-shirts, corsets, spike-clad clothes and custom fangs are sold. Andrew D. Gore and Satan’s sideshow provides distraction on stage between the awarding of trophies. The entertainer escapes from a straightjacket while riding a unicycle, and hooks in his face hold up a cup he later drinks from. Local punk kids serve as the “Tattoo Crew” and help keep the event running smoothly. All of this happens beneath huge sideshow banners that are reminiscent of tattooing’s—and the country’s—past.

“The artwork here is top-shelf, museum-quality art. It’s old America. Those are really historically important works of art,” says Patterson. “Those banners are like a museum show.”

The venue itself has its own history and importance. Held at the Roseland Ballroom in the heart of Times Square since just after tattooing became legal in the city in 1998, the convention has blossomed alongside the industry and the neighborhood it calls home. Once a place where people came to experience the NYC’s seedier side, Times Square has become the city’s main tourist attraction. Both the convention and Roseland Ballroom have remained.

Check out the rest of Skin&Ink’s coverage of the New York City Tattoo Convention in the November 2012 issue of Skin&Ink. On Sale Now!!

Courtney Crave

Location/hometown: Originally from Heidelberg, Germany, now residing in Dallas, Texas

Website: courtneycrave.com and germandreamgirl.com

Photographer: A to Zed Photography

See more of Courtney Crave in the November 2012 issue of Skin&Ink. On Sale Now!!!

The lovely Megan Daniels is featured on the cover of the August 2012 issue of Skin&Ink.

On Sale May 22nd.

Claire Reid – A Spiritual Life in Tattooing

Article by Travelin’ Mick

Photography by Claire Reid and Travelin’ Mick

Claire Reid must be one of the most inspired—and inspiring—artists around the tattoo world at the moment. Her work, heavily influenced by oil painting techniques, is easily recognizable for its luminous qualities, graceful use of mostly earthy pastel colors and sheer endless creativity. Reid is a true tattoo artist in the original sense, as well as a dedicated activist for several charitable causes.

This twenty-nine-year-old former art gallery owner, with a university degree in sociology, only started tattooing in 2005, but has already shot up into the ranks of those precious few tattooists who are widely respected among their peers as someone entirely dedicated to her cause.

Find the feature in its entirety in the June/July Anniversary issue of Skin&Ink.

On sale now!

By Vicki Botnick

Photography by Andrew Brusso

Since ancient times, Hawaiian hand-poked tattooing has been a facet of the native culture that not only adorns the skin but protects, heals and guides the wearer, as well as perpetuating and honoring his or her family line. Because of the spiritual and cultural importance of traditional tattooing, acquiring one is a long and thoughtful process involving genealogy, deep reflection, prayer and familial consent. And yet despite the crucial role that this process has played in the history of the Hawaiian people, as of forty years ago, it was barely being practiced.

Hawaiian Keone Nunes had grown up exposed to family members who still spoke the native language and elders who still remembered the tribal practices of their past. Although as a young man he thought that his knowledge of indigenous culture was something everyone knew, he soon realized that he held in his mind a treasure trove of national customs that were on the brink of being lost forever. With a strong sense that his heritage must be perpetuated, Nunes sought to learn all he could about traditional tattooing, to practice it and pass on his expertise.

Even as a child he was learning about his culture, but it wasn’t until adulthood that he chose to become steeped in it. After one financially draining year of school in the continental U.S., Nunes returned to Hawaii. While other young men hit the nightclubs, he would sit at the feet of his elders, soaking up their first-hand remembrances.

Read the rest of this amazing feature in the June/July issue of Skin&Ink…on sale now!