Last day of Fall (and Maple Grove).

Oh man.

I'm done with Identity Tattoo for a little while.

Don't expect to see me back there till April.

It's been an awesome 4.5 years,

and I look forward to more fun when I get back.

But for the next few months,

I'm very excited to be working out at Jeff Gogue's shop in Oregon.

My last day there was spent working on Manda's strange animal sleeve.

We colored in a lot of poppies around an antlered squirrel,

did some background,

and tried to tie everything together.

Up top is the (antlered) blue footed booby,

and the sheepgoat under that,

and then some squirrels playing in a poppy field.

(i didn't do the blue armband thing)

It was also Handsome Adam's last day,

and he's leaving for the west coast, too.

So after packing and cleaning up,

we smashed our coffee mugs and released a couple floating lanterns.

Adam's such a good dude,

and it's been a pleasure working with him for the past year.

So it's just Todd and Ben at the shop for a few months.

Do me a favor, and check up on them every once in a while.

Stop in and be loud for a minute,

just so they don't forget about me.

I'm afraid they might get soft while I'm away.

(i can almost hear Maple Grove collectively breathing a sigh of relief)

Party Hopping

Meryl and I flew to Colorado for her sister Nicole's wedding,

but it was a super quick less-than-3-day visit.



Fly in, drive, rehearsal dinner, drive, bed.

wake up, drive, wedding, drive, bed.

wake up, drive, hike, fly home,

(and then do a birthday dinner for handsome adam!)



Here's us post-vows with our nephew Sia:































We went hiking at Brainard Lake near Boulder.

Meryl took this photo,

and others just as sexy here.

It's pretty unreal out there.













































Once we landed in MPLS,

we still had a birthday dinner to attend.

Identity's Handsome Adam had his golden birthday,

27 on the 27th!

We ate too much blops at T's Place,

since that's tradition now.

We had lots of mango juice, too, of course.

And then,

since shots on your birthday is part of T's tradition,

we had some birthday mango shots.

Just look at me.

That's a dude who doesn't know what state he's in.

Or maybe just poorly adjusting to normal altitude.

































Ruining Adam's bday photos wasn't my only birthday gift to him.

Tomorrow I'm going to ruin his future, too!

How?

Hand tattoos.

Well, just one tomorrow.

(only a-holes get both their hands done in one day)



And then with that comes some big nickname changes.

"Handsome Adam" will also be known as:

"Don't Date My Daughter Adam",

"We're Following You Around the Store Because You Look Sketchy Adam",

and my favorite,

"What Does Your Mother Think About That Adam".

Yup.

27 and all grown up.



Happy Weddings and Happy Birthdays.

You throw the party,

and we'll be there.

The gift that makes the other gift stop giving.

Justin's birthday is October 31rst,
which is pretty awesome.
A little less awesome, however,
is the pumpkin tattoo he got on his birthday a few years back.
Ouch.
Justin's mom wanted to help make the pumpkin go away,
so this year for his birthday,
she bought him a big cover up tattoo.
(what? i know! such a nice mom)

You'll have to click on the photo to see it in a not itty-bitty size.
It's the 3 stages of making a pumpkin disappear.
Stencil/maker stage, then session one, then second/final sit.
I believe it was about 6 hours total.

On a Stick.

Oh man.
This weekend was non-stop.
After working the convention all day Friday,
I got home late,
went to bed later,
woke up early, ran the 5k with Meryl (and Ryan and Rebecca!),
and went back to the convention.
I wasn't tattooing Saturday,
but I helped out and stayed busy.

I gave out lots of stickers:



but didn't sell prints very well:



Ben Rettke took "Tattoo of the Day" Saturday,
for a super dope version of Alice in Wonderland's Mad Rabbit.

Sunday I worked the booth solo,
since Todd was home with his daughter,
and Ben went home sick.
I spent 6 hours on this gnome riding a turtle,
and it won "Tattoo of the Day" that night!
That means Identity Tattoo took it home all three nights.



I'm super flattered by those wins,
and grateful for all the help I had at the convention
(especially Meryl),
and for all my rad clients getting tattooed
and entering them in the competitions.

I'm also grateful that it's over now,
and going back to work tomorrow is going to be a relief.
I have some availability before Meryl and I head down to New Orleans,
so let me know if you need a new tattoo in October.

(and yes, the gnome has a panties on a stick)

Foxy little thing

Nate co-runs Cult Status,
a newish art gallery getting a ton of attention in Uptown.
Some of us Identity Tattooers will have some work in upcoming shows, and neverquietneversoft has a huge project happening there in 2011.
So obviously, we like Nate.
When he wanted a dandy fox tattoo from me,
I even went in on my day off.

Not to be trusted....

Who's a big, fat liar?
Me, of course.
Big and fat and lying.
I didn't post here for 10 days,
and as soon as I do,
it's only to break my promise.
Here's the latest "dead birds are sexy" shirts
(that I made for my Off the Map Tattoo guest spot)
Thanks to Jessica for showing it off.
I have a couple left,
but not enough to sell online.
If you are at Identity Tattoo,
and I happen to have your size,
then it's meant to be.
Otherwise, you should have visited in MA.



And speaking of shirts,
Sunday was the 11th.
Never Quiet, Never Soft always has something for you,
every month, on the eleventh.
This time, it's an old favorite coming back
for all of you that missed out before.
Go check it out.

dribbling poison and blood...

Jordan wanted to have a full sleeve, and keep it Nordic themed.
So we're completing his arm with the story of Thor's fishing trip.
Sea serpents, giants, ox heads as bait.
Here's Jörmungandr, Thor's enemy.
It wraps around his forearm,
and yes, there's a severed ox head on the end of a fish hook in there, too.
That's officially badass.
One more session, and we'll have it finished,
and I'll post fully healed photos soon.

Got Places to Be

Here's a picture Big Dean took of me while I tattooed him at Off the Map.
Maybe it's because it was the last day I was there and I was tired, but I look so sweet and peaceful.
In every picture of me, you can do a "Where's Waldo" type hunt for the Dr Pepper can.
(Even in tattooed portraits of me.)
The story of that tragedy just made it to some new website called TattooBlog.
They sent over 10 average questions, but I sent them back a little creative nonfiction instead.
You can read the short version of the Great Antler and Crutch War of '08 all over again here.

I'll be visiting the winner of said war, JR Tubbs, his beautiful family and FX Tattoos in OHIO late January for a 3 day adventure. I made up an arrival announcement card.

Get ready, Ashtabula.
Lock up your pop. (soda)
JR's gonna be vegan the whole weekend, Sophie's turning 5, and I will try and top the Philly Convention in pure absurdity and volume.
Really.
January 30th, 31rst, and Feb 1rst.

While I'm discussing travel days:

I'll be headed East for the Holidays December 23rd - January 2nd.


That means I'll be at Identity Tattoo till December 20th. (the 21rst and 22nd are a Sunday and Monday, so the shop is closed).
I'll be back in the shop January 3rd.

(then there's a Dark, Dark, Dark show January 4th. Meryl and I just bumped into them at Seward while they were home visiting, and are so excited for the show. They are on tour, so check the link to see if you're lucky enough to be near one of the tour stops.)

There's a lot going on before I take another trip East. Email me, call, or stop by the shop if you're wanting to get tattooed while it's still 2008.