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Thursday, January 6, 2011

Hog Toed

There is a part of my past that I try to forget. It was one of the best times of my life, but ended in one of the worst. I apprenticed to tattoo in Columbus under He Who Shall Not Be Named after leaving IBM in Austin in 2003. It was hard work, living off charity practically, but I loved the fact that I was concentrating on art and refining a personal style. I thought for sure I would be spending the rest of my life being one of those tattooists. I loved it. I loved the hours, I loved the work, I loved the feeling that people look up to you and meeting people to look up to. I loved the comradery, the craziness, the stories I was collecting. But, in the end, it didn't work out. I left tattooing vowing to never return to that world of man-children that never had to grow up.

I was perusing my old portfolio, thinking about some of the things I did. During my apprenticeship, the only money I got were tips for cleaning tattoo tubes and doing freelance art.

No, these aren't pot leaves


One of the things I did was tattoo pigs feet and try to sell them (cheaply, I may add).

First tattoo ever




Here are some of my favorites.

Done for tattooist Soba, he made me a tattoo machine in trade


Swazis for Buzz from the Melvins


Lucky Pigs Foot, very punny


for artist Brian Ewing


Death Head for artist Andrew Bawidaman


piggy for tattooist Billy Hill


Check them all out here.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Did they sell very well? I love it! Creepy and beautiful at the same time. You're a very talented individual.

Anonymous said...

I ALWAYS wanted one of those - you have any left? Wonder how they held up in that liquid solution??
seems like yesterday..
+feeney+

Vorhese said...

Nope, sold them all. I don't even have one.

kellyohhhhhhhhh said...

good memories, at least for me.

kellyohhhhhhhhh said...

those were good memories for me, at least. that was right about when we met! def miss ya

Anonymous said...

I know this is over a year old but Im looking to tattoo some pigs feet and want to preserve them after in mason jars, what type of solution do you put in the jar?