The Cold Hangover by larsvandegoor.com on Flickr.

Omg I feel like I have found the lord of tattoos. I was wondering if and how much you do commission pieces for! I am really wanting a sweet gypsy girl and your style and design are absolutely gorgeous!

Haha lord of tattoos xD I don't do designs for anyone unless they're my client/business purposes like tshirt designs etc. Sorry :(

I'm glad I finally found the source. Do you mind if I take your gypsy drawing as a basic idea as a tattoo I want to get. It wouldn't be identical, but I love your drawing and I want my artist to do something similar.

Yes. Of course. Thanks for asking. :)

Hi! So I've seen the image you drew of the "gypsy woman" floating around the internet and I thought it was absolutely beautiful. I found it on pinterest but wanted to find the artist to see if you would mind me taking this to my tattoo artist as reference for part of a piece I want. It wouldn't be an exact replica but I didn't want to plagiarize or steal your artwork! I am just in love with the style. If I lived in Australia I'd let you tattoo me in a heartbeat!!

Of course. As long as it's referenced :)

Hi! Did you draw that amazing gypsy tattoo? Or did tumblr link me wrong lol

Yesss. :)

Hi would love to see more of your tattoo work! Do you have Instagram? Found you through that idiotic post that sounded like the writer was dodgy from the beginning even before I read your story!

Hi! I sure do. It's @cwxtattoo :) thank you!

That post pisses me right off. The best tattoos I have are your work. They don't itch, raise, are still perfect as the day I got them. Christine you are an incredibly talented person. My Lone Wolf ones are still my absolute favourite!

Haha, thank you

Hahaha what a crock of absolute shit, I'm pretty sure I was the forth or fifth person you tattoo'd and my arm hasn't faded AT ALL.

Yeah, and she made me sound like I was being aggressive, I even remember telling her it'd look better with shading in a friendly and polite manner. The reason why I ask people if they want colour or shading is because some people make that mistake and come back and want to add colour to a greywash tattoo. I'm not name dropping because it's lame, but yeah. Not stoked, but whatever, what's done is done... I guess there's just some horrible clients out there.

Okay, okay. This has been twisted in so, so many ways, haha.  First off, yes I did the original tattoo. I was an apprentice at that stage. I think I was only six months to a year into tattooing at this point and the person was fully aware of this. I did discounted tattoos at the time because I was starting out and I made this very clear. Obviously it wasn’t perfect because I was AN APPRENTICE. My apologies, I am a bit frustrated because I’m baffled at how things have been changed around... Anyway! It did heal up a bit rough because I went too lightly... I prefer tattooing lighter than heavier because tattooing heavily can cause scaring and blowouts. Blowouts are very hard to correct, unless you get a cover up, something else added in or lasered. You can’t make a line thinner after they’ve become super thick. I never intended on using a thinner needle to create thick lines like the other tattoo artist stated either. I started off with these lines because that’s what I was used to at the time. If I wanted to get larger lines like what he did, I would’ve gone with a larger needle. Technical stuff aside, I did state that if she had any issues with it, she should get in touch again. All it needed was a simple touch up. I actually had suggested her to add some black/black and grey to the piece to give it more depth but i’ll go more into that in another paragraph.  She submitted this in February, 2014 which was several years after she got the tattoo. She had so much time in between to come back and get it touched up and get shading added because it takes roughly two weeks for tattoos to heal. I had told her that touch ups were free.  I did in no way pressure her at all into getting her piece coloured. I had done colour prior but at this point, black and grey was my preferred style so i’m not sure where they got the colour thing from. I gently suggested adding a bit of black or greywash as it would make the piece pop a bit more and if they wanted to add anything else after, i’d keep it open so there was a possibility if she changed her mind. My clients know I am not pushy in any way and I try my best to respect their wishes and I never try to overstep any boundaries. Don’t get me wrong, I will give advice on a piece in terms of composition and placement because I want the piece to compliment the body, however I still respect clients wishes and i’m never forceful or put pressure on people to get something they don’t want. It’s just not in my nature.  I believe this person has decided to slander me publicly because one of her best friends at the time and I had stopped talking. We were 18/19 at the time so it was just childish drama. I have several messages from her stating she was over the moon with her tattoo and that she had started a tattoo addiction. She told me a week later she wanted more tattoos. Happy to provide proof if needed.  She was never annoyed, frustrated and didn’t just walk out due to frustration.  People who like to do this just for the sake of starting drama are horrible. Why can’t you just be honest? I don’t understand why they decided to twist things around. I would be the first person to admit that I was being a crappy person and wasn’t being respectful/professional. These are traits that I really try to uphold. I will always admit when i’ve done wrong and apologise, but in this instance it’s all just been twisted weirdly and i’m just confused. There was so much made up in this whole post that it’s quite hard to fathom. I understand that there are bad tattoos out there and like I said it did heal roughly but I explained why. All this needed was a touch up and some shading and it would’ve been fine.  I don’t like drama, nor do I like starting drama which is why i’m honest and upfront from the get go. I really wish this person was actually telling the truth, but here we are, I guess. 

This is a warning to anyone about to get a tattoo - just because an artist is good at one style, DOES NOT mean they will be good at any style. I saw a neo-traditional artist (Christine Ward, Black Throne Tattoo) who is fond of colour, to get my greyscale traditional tattoo done. She informed me when I walked in the shop door, she had never actually tattooed a banner before. The entire time she was doing the outline, she kept trying to convince me to add colour, after I had been very specific I wanted it grey wash. It ended up irritating me so much, that I said that was fine and walked out. The top photo shows you how badly it healed. It dropped out, lines were uneven, and the amazing artist who fixed it (Hamish McWhirter, City Body Art) later informed me that she had tried to do thick lines with a thin needle. Please be so careful and RESEARCH your artist! Fix ups are not at all fun. Oh, and Buddy is my dog, don’t judge - he means the absolute world to me.

Submitted by Khoax

Glen Shiel Waterfall by Alan E Taylor on Flickr.

Australian Master Post

Francisco de Goya  - Bon Voyage, plate 64 from Los Caprichos. 1812–20

Hello! Are you the original designer/artist for the gypsy drawing?

I sure am :) Its been blogged around heaps so im surprised you found me..haha.

Myrland by steinliland on Flickr.

1-640 sek. vid f - 4,0 ISO 400 28 mars 2014 Andreas Christensen_ by andreassofus on Flickr.