Hey everybody!
It is Qcknd and welcome back to another episode of Tattoo Talk Tuesday
If you are joinging us for the very first time,
Tattoo Talk Tuesday is our interactive Q&A tattoo series
where I, as a tattoo collector
lend my tattoo experiences to you guys
Today I want to talk about a subject that I get a ton of questions on
and that is, tattoos I was refused
I have a couple stories
and as anyone who's been getting tattooed for a number of years
or through a serious amount of tattoos, number wise
you run into the occasional ... refusal
And I have a couple of things I'm not considering tattoo refusal
Like before I got this Love Letter, I wanted to get a compass there
and my tattoo artist at the time was like,
"Let's avoid circles, no circle tattoos"
That's not what I mean by refused
I mean, these three stories that I'm going to share
where tattoos I was flat out refused
Definitely share your experience in the comments below
and we will get started
I have a couple more than three
but these are
our three favorites
and I think stories are stronger in threes
My first story is probably my lightest story of the bunch
And I'll just jump right into it
Maybe a couple Winters ago, maybe two or three winters ago
My friend Justine and I went to get tattooed on South Street (That was my cat)
On South Street in Philadelphia
If you don't know anything about South Street, I don't know 20 years ago it was a pretty big scene
For the whole punk movement and stuff like that
And now it's really commercial and it's mostly a good place to buy cheap iPhone cases
No offense South Street
But there are a lot of tattoo shops around there and I think (dude. Where did you come from?!)
I think because of this punk scene that used to be on South Street there are a lot of tattoo shops there
In a very small strip, I would say between a 4 block radius
There is probably four tattoo shops
So I feel like these shops have developed a system where they are no bullshit shops
Because there are twice as many bars as tattoo shops in that 4 block space
And I'm sure this place has to be very no bull shit tattooing
My friend Justine and I where on South Street, and we were talking about tattoos we wanted and I really, really, really
And I still really
Wanted a tattoo of a string tied around my finger
So I wanted something like that, I thought that would be really cute
Not that I was trying to remember anything, but I was like
"Hey, I dig symbolism. Why not?"
We went, we happened to be on South Street and we were like lets get these tattoos
They don't have to be done by our specific artists because they're just one and done. I've seen them done before
And I figured that would be pretty cute
So we go into a tattoo shop, and we're greeted by a woman in the tattoo shop
And we're like "Hey these are our ideas, and we're interested in getting them, do you have any availability?
For tonight, or just, we want to get them now."
And the girl kind of looked at us, it was Winter so we both had jackets on
And she was like, "Um, I don't know about getting tattooed on your hands, have you really thought about it?"
And we were like, "Yeah we want it."
And she was like, "Um, you might wanna try to get a tattoo maybe, you know, on your arm, your ankle, your back"
"Maybe try that first and then move on to your hands"
And, Justine and I were both like, ".. Excuse me?"
And she was like, "Yeah you know it's kind of like, you might want to be tattooed somewhere else first"
And really quickly, you guys have probably seen this picture of Justine and I before
This is Justine, this is me.
And I feel like were both pretty tattooed people
But you know we had our jackets on, maybe our faces weren't really screaming tattooed people
Both her and I maybe look pretty normal in the face
so we don't have face tatttoos
So the girl was basically saying that she wasn't going to tattoo us on our hands
And instead of me being like, "Oh, I do have my arms tattooed, I do have my ankle tattoed, and I do have my back tattooed"
We were just like, "so we can't get it, unless we have arm tattoos?"
And she was like, "yeah, you should wait"
And we were like, "okay bye"
And we were basically refused because we weren't apparently tattooed
And with this I understand the sentiment, totally, but at the same time
I also kind of wanted that tattoo and I don't know if i should've like, flexed and showed her I had all these tattoos.
And all the sudden she would've been like, "Oh I'm sorry your majesty come right this way!"
So in that instance we kind of left, we never ended up getting the tattoo because that kind of put a bad taste in our mouths
And we thought alright maybe the next time we want a tattoo on our hands we better get our throat tattooed first
so everybody knows that we're dead serious
So rewind a couple years before that, some of you guys know that I have an inner lip tattoo that says "Cynic"
And I have a whole episode about that somehow like, went viral
And it has a lot more views than any of my other videos
I have an inner lip tattoo in my mouth and, um, some of you guys are familiar with that story
But what I don't share in the story is that, that was the second tattoo shop I had gone in that day
The first tattoo shop I went to that day refused to do the tattoo for me
I was in Doylestown, and there are probably like three tattoo shops in Doylestown at this point, it has really become a place for tattoos
Before that back in my day there was about one shop and I remember it was lightly protested, people did not want a tattoo shop in Doylestown but here it was
And I didn't have a ton of options when that tattoo shop was there
I really wanted an inner lip tattoo. I had tattoos at that time, not a ton of tattoos but still tattoos on my arms and leg
And was like, "Hey i wanna get a tattoo today"
I was in a relationship with my Ex at that time and he was away at school and he was home for the weekend
And we were like, "Hey, we're in love, lets get tattoos together!"
And, we weren't panning on getting matching tattoos, we weren't getting tattoos that said the same thing, we weren't getting tattoos of the same thing
We were just getting tattooed together because it was the weekend and we wanted to get tattoos and that's who we were
And so we went to a tattoo shop, and we went in and I was like, "Hey this is the tattoo that I want, this is why I want it, and I want it inside of my mouth"
And the shop person was like, "Hey one second, you know I'll grab a tattoo artist that is available"
Because I just wanted a walk in tattoo I didn't want to make an appointment with my tattoo artist for just this little thing in my mouth
Because I just wanted the word Cynic, and that's all I wanted. I didn't want crazy script, just the word
So the tattoo artist came out and she said, "Hey, you know, I just don't feel comfortable tattooing couples"
And I was like, "Oh you know, you know we're not getting matching tattoos, we're just both getting tattoos today! You know if that's okay with you"
And she said, "I just don't do couple tattoos its something I refuse to do and I'm never going to do it"
"I also do not do face tattoos"
And I had been there before and I'm not kidding its where I got my 666 tattoo on my fingers
So I wanted to be like, "Psst, it's me"
But um, you know you have to respect your artists opinion, and even if you have a but.. but.. you still have to go
"Hey this person is in charge of what they do and they are in charge of what they put out there"
and, just like I wouldn't want to give somebody a bad haircut, because they would walk around
and be like "Yeah, Qcknd gave me this haircut"
same person has the exact right to be like
"Hey, I think that's a bad tattoo and I don't wanna do it"
But, I was just a little put off by the fact that she didn't wanna do
couples at the same time. Again, it's her right,
and, you know, maybe there are people out there who are like,
"Don't bring too many of your friends to the tattoo shop,"
or, "I don't do group tattoos or party tattoos," or whatever,
"Bridal shower tattoos..."
But this person said that she does not do couple tattoos even if the couple isn't getting the same tattoo.
So just the presence of my ex being there cancelled out my ability to get a tattoo that day.
So, a little desperate — some of you know the story...
We took a bus to a different tattoo shop and definitely got shitty tattoos
and I had a panic attack.
But, it was all because the first girl didn't want to give us face tattoos
and didn't want to tattoo couples.
And, although I don't really consider my inner lip my face, like a face tattoo,
I do see my tattoo all the time, every time I talk!
So, maybe she was right, and it was a face tattoo
and maybe I should've listened to her but I kinda like the tattoo, not gonna lie.
So my final tattoo that I was refused in this little series story
is a little bit of a here and there because the tattoo never really happened
and I'll tell you what happened
I'll tell you why.
When I first started getting tattooed, years down the line, years past, boyfriends and everything like that,
I was living with independently and going back to school and
getting tattooed was really important to me and it was something I started to travel for
and it was just when I started traveling for tattoos and just when I started to get good tattoos
so I was really excited, really motivated to get tattooed
but I was really unexperienced with getting "higher-end" tattoos.
And by "higher-end" tattoos, I just mean tattoos that required an appointment,
tattoos where the artist had a significant portfolio and a significant hourly rate,
and I was juuuust wading into the water on these more fancy tattoos
so I was really unexperienced with what my expectation could be,
and if I was being taken advantage of,
and really I was just new to this whole world.
And I found this artist. He was in magazines, and he was on the internet...
and this was a couple years ago, before Instagram, so bear with me with what I considered "celebrity" at the time."
And he had this big tattoo shop and his name was like renowned for this tattoo shop because he was famous
he was like world famous, I don't know
That was my understanding of him.
So I had received one tattoo by him, and looking back on it, I felt like he was really bossy,
he had a lot of rules that didn't make sense to me —
why are there rules?
Why are there rules...
He told me that he preformed tattoos in one session only,
he required a really large deposit,
he had a very specific hourly rate,
and even during my first tattoo, um, he smoked a bunch of cigarettes on the clock,
he took a consultation on the clock,
and I remember when he was like, "Alright, well that was about X amount of hours,"
I wanted to be like, "You at a sandwich..."
He kept his tattoo shop freezing cold and because I wasn't wearing pants,
I was like, "I'm dying," but at the same time, I was like "This is what it takes to be tattooed!"
"This is what I have to do to get tattoos by people who are good at what they do."
You know, X amount of years later, I realize I don't need to get tattooed by people who wanna be on TV,
I wanna be tattooed by people like me whose art I enjoy
but I didn't know.
And here's where this goes.
So, after our first tattoo was done, I thought, "This is the person whose going to give me the tattoos I want."
So I put down a deposit for a new tattoo.
And honestly, years later, bigger tattoos better, bigger tattoos later, better tattoos later,
I have still never put down a deposit this big.
Ever.
Um, some of you guys know that I have a Me Without You tattoo by Ashley Love, um,
yellow spider, yellow leaf, I have a tattoo of a yellow spider and a yellow leaf.
Half a decade ago, this tattoo artist was supposed to do this tattoo on me.
And Ashley did it exactly how I want, a small, palm-sized tattoo that I can create pieces around.
and have a leg of tattoos
That was my vision, that's what I vocalized. My appointment came up for this tattoo artist,
and I got there, and I was already really nervous.
I remembered how cold the tattoo was, how much the needle hurt in this freezing cold room,
Um, how it was silent, expensive, um, I felt so uncomfortable, I felt like I was bossed around...
I felt like I was truly just a canvas to work on and not a human being.
But I didn't know better.
And some people never experience that and some people do
Some people find their perfect artist right away and some people don't.
So, I got to the appointment and the drawing was all drawn up, and it was huge.
I knew this tattoo artist wanted to just make this huge tattoo on me because I didn't know better.
The tattoo previous was HUGE, this one was HUGE, and I wasn't ready to commit to this giant tattoo when I knew in my heart I just wanted something
small. And not small and dainty like "I just want a little tattoo,"
I wanted to create a leg of tattoos.
And in my heart, I could tell something was going wrong.
And people say, "You know when something is wrong and you follow your heart and you use instinct,"
And after everything I had been through and how strange I felt during the previous appointment,
my heart was telling me that this was all wrong.
I don't know where it came from, because even now I don't think I'm this brave,
but I said to him, "I can't get this tattoo."
And, he was like, "Why? What's wrong with it? Is it this part? This is how I draw this. This is how I do this."
"This is how I do this."
And I knew something was wrong and before I could have another panic attack I said, "Well, can I at least buy this painting that you did of the tattoo?"
And he said, "This is mine, and you can't have it just so you can get it somewhere else!"
And since I had already put down that pretty big deposit, not talking like fifty bucks, not talking a hundred bucks, not talking two hundred bucks...
deposit, for a spider tattoo...
After I had all that in mind, I was like I either get this tattoo, or I lose this money.
And I don't want the tattoo, and I don't want it to be bigger, and I know better.
I know the tattoo does not have to be THAT big to get the detail in.
This was about to be a piece, not a tattoo.
And after all the money I had spent for the other tattoo that he encouraged me to get really large,
I knew that this wasn't right.
So I had to leave.
And I left the huge deposit. He didn't let me keep the sketch, and when I stood up to leave, he told me I could never come back.
And although I felt like I wasn't refused the tattoo, I was told that it was either this, or nothing.
And I chose nothing.
And it was at a time where that much money definitely hurt me, it was definitely almost a year until I could afford another tattoo
after I took that loss, but I kind of learned — sorry, I'm scratching my back —
I learned that there are tattoo artists out there who will try to take advantage of you,
and you can either get that tattoo that you don't want, or that you were pressured into getting,
or you could vocalize yourself, and if the tattoo artist tries to butt heads with you... you leave.
And if I was stronger, if I was more tattooed, if I had been more outspoken, maybe I could have got my deposit back
but after he vocalized that the deposit was his no matter what, and it was held there in case I decided to not get the tattoo,
and that is what I exactly did, I said, "Hey, fine."
"If that's how you earn your money, then that's how you earn it."
"And if you earn it in an unhonest way, by taking advantage of people, then I know that, and I don't wanna be tattooed by you."
So, that was then, over and done with.
I have spoken to other people where it's happened to them before, too,
and they said, "Yeah, that guy, he made my tattoo HUGE!"
And I was like, "Yeah, he does that."
And I guess that's how you make your money, but that's not how I wanna be tattooed.
These are my stories, don't get too discouraged. There are people out there
and there are tattoos out there, tattoo artists out there who wanna work for you and wanna create something beautiful on you.
So if you have to shop around, if someone has to tell you no, it doesn't mean that you necessarily have a bad idea,
and it doesn't mean that there isn't somebody out there who's gonna fit perfectly for you,
because there are plenty of artists out there who are amazing and talented and they wanna give you exactly what you want
So, I encourage all of you to look out there and even if your tattoo artist isn't across the street,
maybe they are across the state, or across the country, they're out there for you
and they wanna put beautiful stuff on you, so
with that, I LOVE YOU GUYS! Thanks for watching Tattoo Talk Tuesday,
thanks for encouraging me to make this episode,
I hope it wasn't too much of a downer,
because five, six, seven years later, I couldn't be more happy with how the progression of my body has turned out!
And I hope to encourage you guys as well
or at least entertain you
if you are sittin' pretty with all your perfect tattoos and your perfect artist that you found right away.
I love you guys! And until next time, bye!
Hey everybody, it is Qcknd, and welcome back TO Tattoo Talk Tuesday!
If you're joining us for the first time, Tattoo Talk Tuesday is our weekly interactive
Q and A where you...