The work

The front, the floor,
and six pieces.

Six styles out of one room, in the order you would meet them: the building, the floor, then the work itself. Every frame was shot wide open, so the shop behind each piece falls away. Look at one and the rest go soft.

The storefront of Blessed Tattoo Studio: a painted banner with blackletter lettering above windows lettered end to end, and a wooden bench outside carrying the shop's name. — 01The frontA hand-painted banner in blackletter, barbed wire around the edge, a coral stripe beneath it carrying the trade. The windows are lettered end to end. Below them sits a wooden bench with the shop’s name across the back and a machine painted on the backrest. A bench is not signage. It is somewhere to wait.

Inside Blessed Tattoo Studio: tattoo stations along one wall, red-stained cabinets, artwork covering the walls, and a poured floor marbled silver through red. — 02The floorThe room down its whole length. Stations along the left wall, an ink rack above each of them, cabinets stained red beneath. The art climbs from the counters and does not stop until the ceiling stops it. The poured floor is marbled silver through red. No partitions anywhere in the frame, and no back room to be taken into.

Colour realism tattoo of Thanos wearing the Infinity Gauntlet across a thigh, over a teal and violet nebula. — 03Color realismThanos and the Infinity Gauntlet across a thigh, against a nebula in teal and violet. The color is built in layers rather than blocked in, and the gauntlet carries a full metal range: near-black in the recesses, white at the highlight.

A black and grey sleeve in progress: a skull in a feathered war bonnet, an American flag below it, and a fresh un-shaded outline near the shoulder. — 04Black and grayA sleeve caught mid-build. A skull inside a feathered war bonnet, an American flag worked below it, and at the shoulder a fresh outline with no shading in it yet. Whoever owns this arm has sittings still to come.

American traditional tattoo of a clipper ship under full sail on an upper arm, with orange clouds and blue water. — 05American traditionalA clipper ship under full sail, upper arm. The oldest grammar in the trade: heavy black outline, solid fill, a small and fixed palette. Orange in the cloud, blue in the water, nothing spent that did not need spending. The style forgives nothing, because there is no rendering to hide a line inside.

Black and grey anime tattoo of a masked character on a forearm, with teal lightning crackling around one hand. — 06AnimeA masked figure on a forearm, rendered in black and gray from the crown down. One color is admitted to the piece: teal, and only in the lightning crossing his hand. That restraint is decided long before the needle touches anything, and it is why the hand is the first thing the eye finds.

Neo-traditional tattoo of a black cat's head with amber eyes on a calf, framed by a teal triangle, a dotted arc and a crescent moon. — 07Neo-traditionalA cat’s head on a calf, amber eyes, held inside a teal triangle with a dotted arc and a crescent above it. The geometry around the subject is the style, and the frame is doing the work. Shot against the lettered window at the front of the shop, still legible behind the calf.

New school tattoo on a thigh: a cartoon character with a blade, surrounded by fire and cold blue mist. — 08New schoolA cartoon subject on a thigh with a blade in hand, fire on one side and cold blue mist on the other. Saturation pushed as far as it will go, which this style asks for and the seven frames around it refuse. The marbled floor lies behind it, out of focus.

Booking a piece

Mostly by appointment.
Walk-ins through the week.

Call the shop Find the shop

Call the shop, say what you want and roughly where it is going, and bring whatever reference you are working from. There is a range of artists here, so you can pick the one who works in the style you are after.

A sleeve like the fourth frame is measured in sittings rather than in an afternoon. Customers here describe theirs in years and in hours.

The front, the floor,and six pieces.

Mostly by appointment.Walk-ins through the week.

The front, the floor,
and six pieces.

Mostly by appointment.
Walk-ins through the week.