Bumper Blog Bonanza!

How long has it been!?! I do apologise! I've been kept busy for the past few weeks, and wasn't well for one of them! I think I've been doing too much and ran myself down... a couple of days off work and spent in bed did the trick though!

So, a rundown of the shop news. We have a new member of the Lucky Cat family...

Say hello to Jesus! He appeared one day, as a complete surprise to me... after being told that something would be arriving in the shop that would "blow my mind". After a million and one questions, and being told to shut up several times, I did not imagine that a shiny gold Jesus the height of me would be making an appearance. But how awesome is he!?! He's hanging out in the corner with Mary, keeping an eye on us, and petrifying us all when we come out of the bathroom!

We're as busy as ever, fully booked now until mid-January. So get booking! We've been open long enough now that I'm starting to get to know lots of Kev's regular clients, which is lovely. It's great to come to work and be surrounded by fabulous familiar faces!

Kev and Patsy went away to Dundee for a day to learn about lasering. We're going to be offering tattoo removal in the future. It's a good thing to do in a studio, because we get a lot of people who come in with a tattoo they want covered, and are quite restricted because of the colours in it; like black ink can only be covered with more black. Lasering won't remove everything but can lighten things up enough to be able to put something better over the top. Something that the customer wants, rather than having to get it because it's the only thing that will work. However, I can't say I liked the after effects of the laser. Patsy had some of her arm done, and it didn't look pleasant! I'm so glad all of my tattoos are pretty!

Brian, Kev's other apprentice, has been keeping busy, he's been in the shop most weeks working on some of his nearest and dearest. You can see what he's been up to on our Facebook page. Speaking of Facebook, we've become part of the "Biffy Clyro Tattoo Club" which is an 'exclusive' group for people with Biffy Clyro tattoos. We've been doing a lot of those, but of course, it makes sense! So, if you are one of the lucky ones with a Biffy tattoo by Mr Younger, then make sure you get involved in the group! Here's a rather gorgeous one Kev did recently, how beautiful!

Onto my news. Kev has been abusing my Photoshop 'skills'... When I say skills I really mean, 'Let's see what this button does'. We've made up this flyer, which I'm super proud of, and will also be the basis for some more artwork in the shop!

Tattooing... Getting there. This new practice skin has been great. I've been trying to tattoo as often as I can, and it's really helping me get used to the machine. It's heavy. It vibrates. It's not at all like a pen... So here's some of my efforts:

After doing my anchor and gypsy, I stencilled a lot of straight lines, and tried really really hard to get that perfectly straight line. It was VERY frustrating. But there's a few not too bad ones in there... I tried some stars too, you think stars would be easy, ha! No no, they have to be perfect, and Kev declared my first star would be a 'riot'. He was right, of course. So it became a little star fish instead.

I was quite impressed with myself with some of the lines on this one, the floral design really surprised me! I'd like my compass to be more round, but Kev was impressed with it, at least it suggests roundness! And I think if I could tattoo ships all day, I'd be a very happy lady. After doing this, I moved onto my mermaid, I think her life ring is a bit more spherical!

Every time I try to tattoo a swallow, it always goes wrong. My mum quite fancies a swallow tattoo, and as she's offered me skin to tattoo I thought I should get some practice. What a fabulous lady my Mama is! These wee guys aren't perfect, but they're definitely improving, which is all I can ask for! Curtis is my cat, in case you were wondering.

And there he is in his favourite outfit, aw ♥

Today's challenge... I decided to try something a bit different. I love to look at Japanese tattoos, so thought I'd give it a go. I really enjoyed getting my teeth into this, and had to really concentrate. It started off a bit wobbly, but once I got warmed up things evened out a bit, then I went back and fixed some of the dodgy bits. But I'm really happy with it! Kev's response, "Let's see if you can do that on a person!" One step at a time Mr Younger!

So, what now? More practice. That's all I can do. I need to learn that I can't be perfect all the time. You have to start somewhere, and hey, I could be a hell of a lot worse. Tomorrow I'm going to be tattooing myself again. I'm looking forward to tattooing flesh again. Although the artificial skin is good for practice, it's nothing like real skin; it vibrates quite a lot as there is nothing to absorb it, which, I hope it's not just wishful thinking or making excuses, should help straighten up my lines. Then I'm going to move onto Patsy, and from there, it might be you next! I'd like to say a big huge massive fabulous thank you to everyone who has been in touch about lending me some skin to tattoo. I didn't think I'd get the response I did, and I promise I'll be in touch as soon as I'm ready! It really means a lot to me!

I will leave you with a picture of Patsy and I on Halloween... We had an awesome night at Club Noir!

Adieu,

Frenchie Fab xxx