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The Attention Economy of Decline

Market Signals, Information Cascades, and the Fate of Western Tattooing Beyond the Six-Inch View Most discussion of the current state of tattooing happens six inches from the nose. An artist notices their books are thinner this month, a studio owner watches a franchise open across the street, a client complains about a price. Each of these observations gets treated as a self-contained fact rather than as a single data point inside a much larger system. Each of these points can be viewed as a visible symptom of decline in Western tattooing. Market consolidation, media distortion, the erosion of skilled representation, […]

Black and white watercolor tattoo wolf design

Modern Tattoo Aftercare: A Guide to Best Practices

Traditionally, tattoo artists have provided a basic set of guidelines for aftercare:

Avoid picking scabs.
Clean with antibacterial soap.
Moisturize with recommended products, like Aquaphor (though Aquaphor isn’t universally recommended).
Refrain from swimming.
While these are general guidelines for wound healing, they may not be all-encompassing for every individual, given the diversity of skin types and lifestyles.

Ep. 10 – Ben Shaw

Ben Shaw and I from the APT sit down to discuss regulations. It’s not really about the history but it does have something historical attached to it.

Ep.6 – Damon Conklin

On the show this week, Damon Conklin. Not only does he have an interesting history in tattooing, but he also slays the critiques! We talk about his origin, ego, influence, and how he sold Afroskulls to nazis.

Skin histology of a tattoo

How To Successfully Accomplish a Cover Up Tattoo

In the previous article, we covered some fundamental theories necessary to understand how to approach a cover-up tattoo. In this article, I overview the application process for a cover-up tattoo and how best to heal these procedures. Setting a Stencil Over a Cover-Up Tattoo. Most cover-up tattoos I have dealt with over the years are mainly line work. I don’t know exactly why this happens, but I imagine the client was receiving a tattoo and decided halfway through not to finish it with the current artist. If this is reality, it may have been a good decision for the client […]

koi fish coverup

Getting Started With a Cover Up Tattoo

In the previous article, we discussed how to get ready for a cover-up tattoo. In this article, we are going to discuss cover-up tattoo theory, specifically, how the pigment in the skin reacts when undergoing a cover-up tattoo. A Cover-Up Tattoo Has Pigment Already in the Skin. People wouldn’t request a cover-up tattoo if there weren’t something already embedded in their skin. So, to look closer at the markings made during a tattoo, we need to focus on where tattoos are implanted – the skin. To start, let’s think about how thick skin is. How Deep In the Skin is […]

Laser treatment on a tattoo

How to Plan For a Successful Cover Up Tattoo

So, many folks think that cover-up tattoos are an impossibility. To be honest, sometimes they are! But I remember some crazy projects over the years that seemed impossible because I wasn’t looking at the potential in a way that focused on the result. I kept thinking, “Oh my God. How am I going to tackle this mess?” And “What steps am I supposed to take to get the final product to a point where it passes as something valuable?” Luckily, after many years of attempting coverups and getting comfortable with the process, I ended up with a better understanding of […]

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