Here at Sinner HQ we always look forward to the Brighton Tattoo Convention. It’s always packed with tattoo fans eager to get stuck in to some new ink at the start of the year.

As always the convention is superbly organised and run. Everything we artists need is looked after with efficient ease and it makes the whole weekend so enjoyable. (Other show organisers take note… it’s not hard to provide the basics)

Being January of course it’s gonna be cold, but once inside it’s warm and cosy and so full of bodies it’s hard to stay chilly for long. The Sinners were based upstairs in a sweet spot just as you went in the room and our booth was always jammed with people checking out the tattoos and stuff for sale. Must have been a lot of guitar players about, ‘cos we shifted a fair few Seven Sins plectrums over the weekend!

For us the weekend went in the blink of an eye and was over too quick! We all agreed it was an outstanding convention and we’re already looking forward to next year!

Skull & Flowers by Chic

   

Joker by Chic

Chris working his first convention! Not nervous....!

Penguin by Chic

They’re here!

Seven Sins Tattoo Guitar plectrums!

A ridiculously cool ‘must have’ for every guitar hero

Available in store now – Only 50p!

We look forward all year to the London Tattoo Convention at Tobacco Dock. It’s quite simply one of the very best shows – rammed with awesome quality artists from all over the world, superb entertainment, and more merchandise than you can possibly afford or carry home!

It’s inspiring to see the artists you only usually read about in magazines actually doing their stuff, up close and full on.

If you’ve never been then put it in your diary for next year, you won’t be disappointed!

We’re celebrating our first year anniversary at number 10 (High Street) by having a Grand Raffle!

First prize is £100 of tattoo vouchers,

Second prize is £50 of tattoo vouchers,

Third prize is £25 of tattoo vouchers

PLUS: we have Seven other quality prizes to be won.

(Black Seven Sins t-shirt, Cream Seven Sins t-shirt, Kat Von D t-shirt, Dark Wear Masked t-shirt, Skull bracelet & earrings, Pin-up trinket box & Picture Frame)

Tickets are £1 for a strip of 5.

You’ve got to be in it to win it….!

What can I say about the State of the Art tattoo convention in Derby…? I’d be expecting big things from this long-running, well respected show, but as usual, I came away really dissappointed

Dreary – it rained pretty much all weekend – too be expected I guess

Dull – severely lacking in atmosphere

Dearth - a real lack of punters through the door – possibly due to lack of promotion? One small sign in the venue window… not enough really

Disappointing – punters just wanting prices, with no intention of getting anything done – or having such big pieces they couldn’t afford them anyway

Dismal – the future of the tattoo convention as we know it? It’s obvious there’s now too many shows, sometimes three on the same weekend. This is seriously watering down every aspect of conventions.

Drawing – we counted dozens of artists sitting in empty booths just drawing because they had no-one to tattoo! It just doesn’t happen.

Disaster – the first convention that I made a loss! Ridiculous – it’s never happened – we’ve always at least covered our costs

Dingbat – me, for forgetting stuff yet again! One day I’ll do a proper check list like Mrs Sinner is always telling me to.

So there you go – a poorly attended show that fell flat and well short of my, and everyone else’s expectations – the general consensus of artists at the show that this was the beginning of the end of the State of the Art…. and possibly other conventions across the country

The highlight of the weekend for me was spending an hour or so chatting to Woody from High Wycombe – quite simply, the man’s a genius and I could chat to listen to him for hours!

a punter - quick - sit him down...!

Regular sinner blog readers will be well aware of my trials and tribulations at last months Bournemouth tattoo convention, so with more careful planning I was hoping this months convention trip to Portsmouth would be a lot less traumatic… Ha-ha!
This time I made sure to pack all the bits I’d forgotten last month! Top of that list was a lamp (which was really necessary given the dingy hole we ended up working in!) more small grips, etc etc. Hopefully all things covered…
So we make the journey fine in the comfy Sinnermobile and get to the historical port of Portsmouth via the gift of sat nav, then drive around the one way system for a while…. then being told by mrs sat nav that ‘you have reached your destination’? Er, no we ain’t… We’re still driving around looking for the Guildhall…!
Now forgive me for being stupid, but if you’re Read the rest of this entry »

Well the first tattoo convention of the year for us Sinners was, quite frankly, a stress-filled pain in the arse!
From the moment we arrived on day one, it was clear we were going to have problems.
We found our booth ok and started to get set up… but hold on… nowhere to put my power pack, colours etc? No water, no paper towels? What the fuck? So off we go to find someone who knows… an organiser (ha-ha) So we find one, who tells us there should be a stall for paper towels, water etc, but it’s not set up yet… so we leave it a while… then find another person with a smart ear-piece, and… surprise, they still don’t know where to find these basic essentials – he does manage to direct us to a sink though! Which isn’t really what we needed. Eventually we gave up trying to get anything with these muppets and Mrs Sinner went into town to get them instead. Then we began to put stuff up… and it fell down! brilliant!
Then I started to realise the bits I’d left behind in the studio… no lamp! excellent!
Good job I found my clip on the glasses led lights in my case!
More drama – Not enough small tips! so I have to go and buy a box of disposables. The I look and my cleaning bottle is almost empty! Blimey, I really must pay more attention when packing stuff up.
So, we get the booth looking okay and the punters start arriving, and asking for designs and prices etc – so I get the laptop going and try to scan stuff and print stuff…. and surprise, surprise! The fucking thing won’t work! No scanner, no printer! I get a bit flustered and delete the driver I need by mistake – bollocks!
So then I have to pay a fiver to get the internet (you’d have thought these days that a massive International Centre would have free fucking Wi-Fi wouldn’t you?) and download another one – and it still won’t work – I figure out it must be the USB cable is knackered… so as I don’t have a spare, I’m knackered too!
But, then one of the organisers (lol) tells me there’s a booth in the merchandise hall that can scan and print for us – result! So I leave the expectant customers waiting while I go and get the designs re-sized. Well these two idiots were fantastic! How about nearly 40 minutes to do two scans and print outs…! Honestly, it was the most frustrating thing, watching this dumbass who obviously had never managed to dress himself let alone used a Macbook before, try and do such a simple task. By the end of my long wait there was a massive queue behind me! So then I get back and at last manage to get the first tattoo of the day under way.
After that it got marginally better – though my wolf started pretty badly, looking a bit like a scabby dog for a while! Before I got my brain engaged, changed machines, and sorted it out. The Indian Chief and wolf turned out alright in the end, thank god, and the customer, Hank, was pleased with it.
By the end of day one I was ready to get back to the hotel and just disintegrate! Mrs Sinner and I went down to the hotel restaurant and had a bloody fantastic dinner! Just what the doctor ordered!
Day two was better – we nipped into town and got a new USB cable which sorted the scanning and printing drama – yippee! But despite being quite busy, it really lacked any atmosphere and people were just browsing and asking ‘how much’ and not really seeming to want much tattoo work. I did a funny finger moustache to add to our Facebook folder and some diamonds and stars but that was really it. No-one seemed to want anything big, but that’s how it goes sometimes I guess… At least it was less stressful!
So by about 4.30 the place was dying a death, so we packed up early and were back on the road home by about half six.
Will we go again next year? I doubt it. Pretty poor organisation, lack of atmosphere and lathargicl punters mean I’ll give it a miss thanks
Oh yeah – and they still owe me a bloody refund!

Mrs Sinner in hiding!

Good job I packed the 'eye-lights'!

Lamb Shank on parsnip mash... awesome!

Hayley and her new 'tache!

You can't go to a convention without getting a new toy!

Hi you lovely Sinners!
Here’s some dates for your diaries:
Chic will be working at these conventions

28 – 29 May – Bournemouth – www.bournemouthtattooconvention.com/

18 – 19 June – Portsmouth

16 – 17 July – Derby

http://www.tattoo-2001.com/index.html

Look forward to seeing you!

The Tattoo and Piercing Industry Union committee were shocked and dismayed to witness this Sunday’s edition of the popular motoring television show, Top Gear, featuring presenter Jeremy Clarkson driving a 4×4 vehicle over rough ground, while a so called ‘tattooist’ tried to tattoo a clover leaf design onto his friend’s shoulder, with as expected, shockingly poor results.

The issues of this practice are many, and obviously centre around the complete lack of hygiene, care and best practice the tattoo industry is trying very hard to promote, especially given the high level of media interest in tattoos in general at present.

The ‘tattooist’ appeared to be wearing latex gloves, which are not recommended by the TPI, due to the possible health risks associated with latex for the practitioner and client alike. The tattooist was heard to say that he’d hit himself with the needles, obviously subjecting himself to serious risk of infectious diseases, and when the ‘tattoo’ was finished, he appeared to spit on the tissue and wipe the fresh tattoo, again risking infection for the client.

Not content with doing this once, Clarkson went on to repeat the process in another vehicle, attempting to show the ‘smoothness of the ride quality’ between comparable vehicles.

Subjecting the viewer to this twice was unforgivable and will undoubtably result in the usual complaints against tattooing in general and ‘copycat’ idiots attempting the same stunt, with potentially disastrous consequences.

The TPI would expect Top Gear and Mr Clarkson to publicly apologise for this stunt, in a poorly judged bid to maintain viewing figures.

This Press Release was sent to:
Skin Deep, Total Tattoo, Tattoo Revolution, The Sun, The Mirror, The Express, Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Times
So far the only replies have come from Total Tattoo and Tattoo Revolution magazines.
Alex from Tattoo Revolution has asked to print it as it is, but so far nothing else.

I hate the poxy tabloids – rubbish red-tops – lazy bloody journos the lot of ‘em. Full of made up bollocks and sensationalism. But I hate poxy ad men more. Those jumped up little cretins in their designer red rimmed glasses and snazzy braces (see we can stereotype too wankers!) sitting in their shabby little offices, scrapping the barrell to come up with yet another  hackneyed excuse for an ad campaign.

Step forward the tossers who came up with this garbage for Suzuki – you know who you are… and what’s more so do I! This ad campaign is running currently in the Scum and other red top tabloids.

You can just imagine it can’t you…

…it’s friday afternoon – they’re up against a deadline (who cares, life goes on etc) and they’ve just got back from the poncy wine bar …

‘Oh Nigel we need to get this campaign wrapped up before we nip off to pick up the charlie from wossisname’,

‘Ooh I know Colin, lets brainstorm this one and get some lines racked up’.

Seconds pass by… tick, tick, tick…

‘Oooh I’ve got it Nig!’,

‘Go for it Colin!’….

‘You know how tattooists can’t spell right?’,

‘Really Colin, is that true?’,

‘Oh who cares, everyone know they’re all thick, that’s why they just draw on people for a living, so no-one will care, it’ll be a laugh!’,

‘Ok Colin, hit me with it…’,

‘Well Nig, we’ll have a model bloke who looks like a tattooist a bit, but hasn’t got any tattoos right, but we can draw some on, no-one will notice…, and he’ll be doing a tattoo right, on this big blokes back, and… here’s the sell right… he’s spelt the tattoo wrong! It’ll be wicked, we’ll get the campaign finished, and we can get down and sort the charlie right!’.

‘Ooh Nig you’re a bloody creative genius you are!’

‘Sorted!’

Well that’s what I imagine happened in the Suzuki ad men’s shabby office anyway – because if they had any brain they’d find that we tattoo artists aren’t thick – I have an National Diploma in Art & Design thanks – we can actually write and spell too. Some of us get together regularly to make the tattoo world a safer and better place for the rest of you, lobbying parliament, holding educational seminars for environmental health officers and taking on the big boys…

Besides which tattooists in the modern world use computers for lettering design and have ‘spell checkers’!

So to you sorry ad twats at Suzuki – absolutely NO ‘RESPLECT’ you cocks. Next time you want to stereotype an art that takes a lot of hard work and pure skill to do well, pick on something else…  maybe advertising eh? Doh! that’s not an art, unless it’s the art of bullshit of course!

Oh shit, better make a… wait for it…. ‘Swift Exit!’

Lame doesn’t even come close…