I've seen a few on IAM, but I think Steve and I effectively drive some of the most badass trucks on the continent.
Left: Steve's armored truck, Right: My monster truck.
I'm not saying that this is it. Or that it's even close to what it'll look like. But I am toying with ideas. Fishbowl took the two photos I composited to make the back… I think the silouette is Gary.
So many people asked about this cat that I am posting a second picture of it. The cat it big and fat — it's no kitten. In fact, it steals the kitten's food whenever it can. It lives with my second story next-door neighbors (the girl with the blue beetle). To all of you that offered it a home, it's got one… although it does jump out the window all the time, it seems to end up back there.
You thought the shirt I picked up yesterday was nice? These are AMAZING! I'm heading out to pick up envelopes to send them in shortly — they'll ship over the next two days. The sleeve print is soooo cool. Again, you can not buy these — if you are getting one, you already know (they're for people who have made exceptionally generous financial contributions to IAM).
The colors are actually much brighter in real life — the shirt is an olive drab (not brown), and the face is quite bright green.
“There are two kinds of people in the world… Tattoo artists and losers who wish they were tattoo artists.”
Just got this today — the premier issue of a tattoo trade journal. I've never seen anything like it… Features include a wild project machine and reader's machines (which reminds me an awful lot of custom car magazines!), an interview with Seth Ciferri on tattooing and machine building and his website, a how to article on cutting springs, a shop space feature on the prevention of cross-contamination in tattooing, articles on the evolution of the tattoo machine and the history of needlemaking, tons of technical questions answered, and even fun stuff like a coloring contest and an autoclave cookbook.
A couple of excerpts:
| Q: What's the difference between carbon steel needles and stainless steel needles? I've also been hearing about carbon plated needles — what are they?
A: The quality, or usability of a needle for tattooing cannot be judge solely by what the needle is made of. Certainly, stainless steel needles are the only needles that should be used for tattooing — but not all stainless steel needles are foing to work well for tattooing. The profile and diameter of the needle will determine whether or not a needle will work well for tattooing. Carbon steel is a softer metal than stainless steel and consequently easier to grind. So, a less expensive material that's eaier to manufacture ends up a lass expensive product. But not one that should be used for tattooing. Carbon steel has a tendancy to rust very quickly — and would be exposed to liquids during the tattooing process. Carbon plated needles are generally nickel or chrome plating over a carbon steel needle — not some kind of carbon plating on a needle. Very inexpensive, very low quality. No plated needle should ever be used to tattoo. The process of tattooing causes some wear on the needles. As the plating starts to wear, it chips and separates from the needles. Stainelss steel is a more expensive product, and very difficult to grind, especially at the diameters and to the tolerances required to make a good needle for tattooing. Its high cost would be its only drawback. If you're trying to save money, don't save it on needles, it's only a few cents and will ultimately affect your work.
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The Green Monster
The planning stages of building the world's fastest tattoo machine.
The most important measurement that can be made on a machine is the speed that it runs at. Machine speed determines if a machine will work as a liner or shader. Most tattooers have no idea what speed their machines run at. Some are using a liner for a shader, and some are trying to outline with a machine that should be a shader. They could easily fix this, if they could measure and control the speed of their machines. Speeds of 100 to 120 Hz are common for shaders, and speeds as high as 150 Hz are used for liners. The Green Monster will break the 300 Hz barrier. We're not building this machine just to go fast. By making it run at maximum speed, we will learn what the limitations of each part of the machine are. Once we know that, we can figure out how to overcome these limitations, and engineer a better running machine…
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Anyway, Machinegun Magazine is published by
Eikon and in theory has a website at
machinegunmagazine.com. The website does not appear to be up and running as I write this. As far as getting the magazine, I'm told that this issue is basically all spoken for and has been mailed out to current Eikon customers — contact them for more information. At a minimum it will encourage them to continue with a second issue.
PS. Any typos in the above excerpts are mine.
