The technique that you use to make these etchings is not very conventional, can you explain it to us?
I start from an existing drawing, done by hand on paper or in Photoshop, and I print it, like I would a tattoo. Once the drawing is cleaned up, I put on a slab of transparent Plexiglas which will be used as a mould. Then I take my tattoo machine, usually a rotary—but a coil is fine too for filling—and trace the design. Like for a tattoo, I take thin needles, more or less according to the tracing that I want. I don’t like to throw things away, so I use first the needles which have expired, needles still wrapped but with an expired best-before date.
Does this technique have a name?
Weeeeeeeeeell, no. I don’t find anything that fits, but I don’t know anybody else doing this either. That doesn’t mean he/she doesn’t exist. Everything is possible.
How did you come to distort the tattoo tool?
In the beginning, I was carving with a dry point, a tool that looks like a pen to which has been added a metal pin to make an incision. But this technique is extremely long, at least three times longer than with the tattoo machine and it’s uncomfortable too—it makes a lot of noise. So I asked myself why not use something that makes incisions, in a regular way and that I can master as time goes by. The tattoo machine became obvious.
With the exception of the dry point, did you try other tools ?
I’ve seen everything and I didn’t want to do etching with acid (eau forte) or something else—wood and copper are very fastidious. Etching is an extension of the graphic work that I do. I only do black lines and little points, so I had to find a means to do regular lines without having it be something too perfect, as it is with the dry point.
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Ask Here Part Two
With the release of Tattooing Ask Here—a collection of original and traditional flash, interview, stories and photographs detailing the tattoo history of Felix Leu—we took the spectacularly well-timed opportunity to speak to Loretta Leu about the book and her life with Felix. The following concludes our time well spent…
The SERPENTS of BIENVILLE
SEAN HERMAN’S TRANSFORMATIVE TATTOO
SAVED BY INK
Carlos ‘Loz’ Oliveros has never had any shortage of passion or drive. Inspired by his father, a pro fighter and DIY tattooer, Oliveros started boxing when he was just six years old, then picked up tattooing at 16. All the while surrounded by the realities of Miami’s Mexican gang culture. Saved by tattooing, Oliveros chose to follow a different path than most of his peers. A path he’s now sharing on a VH1 docu-series called Cartel Crew
THE PRODUCER
It’s no surprise at all to run into a guy like Russ Russell. Pretty much every tattoo artist I talk with cites music as a massive influence on their work and lives in general. But while, for most of them, music is a passion—an inspiration, even, for their day job at the tattoo shop—for Russ it’s almost the other way around. Music is his day job, Russ having worked as both a producer and musician for many years, with tattooing coming later on down the line
Why Is That First Tattoo Encounter So Terrifying?
There is something about getting that very first tattoo that will always make you feel a little bit sick when you walk through the door
The Serpents Of Bienville - Sean Herman's Transformative Tattoo
“There is probably nothing more menacing or dangerous than an individual who is devoid of compassion or empathy. When this individual is permitted by community apathy and bias to successfully cloak himself in the attire of one who claims allegiance to his or her Creator, it becomes the moral imperative of those who lay witness to the peril to step up before it is too late. Until such a time when domestic violence and sexual assault are eradicated for good, the perpetrators of these deplorable acts will continue to cause unspeakable harm as Evil’s welcomed ambassadors and Tyranny’s strongest ally.”
The Eternal River
Through impact-laden encounters between ornamental and figural imagery, tattooist Aron Dubois has developed a self-sourced visual language that openly explores symbology, spirituality and surrealism in an effort to “drink from the eternal river” and return to what the Colorado-native defines as “the source”. Drawing much of his inspiration from esoteric literature, mythic archetypes and the natural world, Dubois has spent his decadelong relationship with the craft “digging for the grail of tattooing”. Here, Dubois demystifies his “optimistic escape attempt” from the addictive dangers of digital tools, and the answers he finds in nature when allowing the walls that stand between himself and the world to dissolve
Palm Reader
For centuries we have looked to our palms as a valuable source of information, a complex blueprint of one’s identity, both physical and spiritual. The latter has seen the palm as a bodily map for instigating premonitions, with its many criss-crossing lines foretelling either a joyful life or a foredooming resolution
Japanese Whispers
He is one of the most gifted Japanese tattooers of his generation. From the region of Niigata in the North-East of Japan, he's spreading the beauty of Japanese tattoo culture. All tattoo lovers praise his complex and very detailed compositions which adorn the bodies of some very lucky collectors, but after 20 years, Tomo is ready to move on…
Rule Breaker
Esther Garcia plays by her own rules — she always has and always will. Even with two decades of experience, the Chicago-based artist still finds ways to push herself and innovate. Whether it’s juxtaposing two unexpected styles (she fuses blackout work with botanical imagery inspired by Dutch Masters beautifully) or offering a unique tattoo curation service in which she doesn’t actually tattoo, Garcia isn’t afraid to take risks. What else is up her sleeve? We tracked her down to find out.
