One of the new perks to working at Cicatrix is that we offer piercing as well as tattooing. I have not worked with a piercer since my apprenticeship four years ago, and I am very impressed with the knowledge and experience of the staff here. Tori(the head piercer) carries a wide variety of jewelery and Cicatrix is open for piercing seven days a week.
Virgin Mary tattoo
this is the first piece to come out of Cicatrix, on my first day.
How do I care for my tattoo?
A: After four hours remove bandage, do not re-bandage, your tattoo will need to breath. Now wash with mild soap and water.
Mild soap is one with no fragrance and no aloe Vera.
After you wash, apply a thin layer of ointment, such as aquaphor or a tattoo specific ointment(pegassus pro cream is one that I recommend).
Repeat this process three times a day for the first three days.
After the first three days wash once per day but still apply ointment three times per day. That will last about six days.
Do not soak your tattoo in water. Showers are fine but no bathing or swimming for about a week and a half to two weeks.
do not scratch your tattoo if it itches, gently patting it can releive the itchyness.
I had the pleasure of trying to duplicate a Banksy piece. I had no idea who Banksy was until about a year ago when Jaime VI pointed a couple of his pieces out to me here in San Francisco. Apparently they appear mysteriously at night and no one knows the true identity of Banksy. Follow this link to his portfolio, he really is very creative.
Going to be at the new space on Monday. Everyone is welcome to come by and say hello. We are located at 17th st and Market, Cicatrix tattoo and piercing. The name will soon be changing to Castro tattoo.
Here is the first sitting of the geisha tattoo. I tried to be as original as possible, I did not look at examples of other geisha tattoos. It was hard to find good reference but I think it is coming out pretty good so far. The line work for the designs in the clothing was done in color, which will make for a nice effect once a lighter color is placed into the background. This is one of the last tattoos here at Black and Blue before my move to Cicatrix next week:)
-
-
drawing for the Geisha tattoo
-
-
line work
I have been working on this back piece since august. It is definitely my biggest piece so far. We started this one at the Bodyart Expo at the Cow Palace in SF. there is still work to be done but I wanted to show the progress.
panther sleeve
I have been working on this sleeve for a while now. The client allowed me to freehand the flames and the panther(my first old school panther). “Freehand” or drawing on the body(actually “freehanding” something would be tattooing strait away with no guidelines) allows you to work more effectively with the curvature of the body.
A: pick an artist based on the style of tattoo you want. I get a lot people that will want me to do a tattoo that is not my style. Most of the time I will refer them to another artist, but it leads me to believe that people are picking artists based on reviews or something unrelated to the style or quality of my work.
First off you are getting a piece of art work on your body for the rest of your life, you are not choosing a best friend. If a review says that the artist was late, rude, smelled of alcohol, and played loud music then I would guess that review would sum up 90% of the best tattooers I know. Choose based on their portfolio, and experience doing the style of tattooing that you want. Make sure you look at the tattoos and not just drawings that hey have done(just because they can draw doesn’t mean they can tattoo), the tattoo work should be pretty close to their drawing ability. I would steer clear of someone who’s drawings look much better than their tattoos…but not the other way around(tattoos better than they can draw).
If you cannot get through to the artist your idea, easily, than they probably are not the one to do the tattoo. You have to share a common vision in order to get the best tattoo possible. You should feel comfortable knowing that the artist knows what you want.
If you review an artist, on say Google, base your review on the tattoo you received…not the bad attitude, or the devil music…remember you hired an artist…they let you into their world for a few hours, to help you, so that you could express your vision.
If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.
John F. Kennedy
One of the new perks to working at Cicatrix is that we offer piercing as well as tattooing. I have not worked with a piercer since my apprenticeship four years ago, and I am very impressed with the knowledge and experience of the staff here. Tori(the head piercer) carries a wide variety of jewelery and Cicatrix is open for piercing seven days a week.
