Tattoo Holiday!

I have had the best couple of weeks … with the Y pool being closed I decided to go on a tattoo holiday and get tattooed by everyone at the shop. Yes. EVERYONE!! 

I started with Gerry. He tattooed my knuckles.

Next was Dave Maier. Dave is a new addition to Tattoo Zoo. He started out as a guest-spot and after his first day I said to Gerry “That guy should work here…“. Well it took a few years for him to finally decide to move from Edmonton to Victoria but he’s making the transition here and we couldn’t be happier. He’s a great addition to the shop. 

I chose this design off the wall. I can’t remember who drew it but I’ve always admired it and thought he would be the perfect person to tattoo it. Dave is left handed so it was wild watching him tattoo me. Kind of unnerving for some reason. Ha ha. I love it!!

The next day I got tattooed by Mason Larose. Mason has been with us for a few years now and I haven’t had a chance to be tattooed by him because of all my cancer treatment. We were going to tattoo one of his drawings but then I saw this snake on the wall (drawn by Ezra Haidet) and showed it to Mason and he was stoked to do it … so we put it on my leg. Right beside the tattoo that Dave had done the day before. I thought it was going to be painful but it actually wasn’t that bad …

I was in the grocery story a few days later and a woman shrieked and pointed at my leg. “SNAKE! I HATE SNAKES” I patted her on the shoulder and said “It’s not real. It’s a tattoo.” ha ha.

A day later it was time to get tattooed by Caroline Paquet. Caroline has been with us for many years and I love love love her style. I was going to get her to tattoo one of her drawings but she saw me compiling ideas to get tattooed and saw this little mouse drawing that is from a 1990’s Cherry Creek Flash page (If you’re an older tattooer – you know the one I mean) and BAM!! She tattooed the hell out of it. I think it’s the cutest tattoo I have. Love it!

I took a few days off before I got tattooed again. I was feeling pretty beat … Getting tattooed requires a lot of energy (to get through the tattoo) but also the healing process. So I had a nice quiet weekend. Just lay around and healed.

Before I knew it – it was time to get tattooed by Nicole Nowicki.  Nicole has only been with us a few months and is such a wonderful addition to our shop. I chose one her drawings from her “wanna-do” book. Wanna-Do books are full of drawings that our artist “wanna do“.

It was fun getting tattooed by her … and the tattoo took about 15 minutes. I love quick tattoos!

Next day was Tami’s turn to tattoo me. Tami has been at TZ for about a year and I love her delicate line work. I knew she’d be perfect for this idea… and she nailed it! I love it!!

Next thing I knew it was my birthday weekend… WHAT? Time is flying. How on earth am I 47 years old?? Crazy.

Our friends Chris Hold and Eckel were in town doing a guest-spot at TZ so it was perfect timing for fun bro hangs!! Did I tell you I got a selfie-stick? Best $10 I’ve ever spent!!

I had a great visit with them. We went out for a nice dinner at BeLove for my birthday and then hung out at the house eating ice-cream and gossiping about tattooing and other tattooers. A regular hen-party only I was the only hen. I think we stayed up til 2am gabbing. It was a fantastic way to spend my birthday.

I am so lucky to have such good friends. They just “get me”.

Before they left it was time for Chris Hold to tattoo me. I’ve known Chris for many many years and he is one of my favourite people. He was Gerry’s apprentice and then graduated from The School of Gerry and moved back to Vancouver. He’s such a talent … I love getting tattooed by him. He tattooed a mummy on me that I chose off the wall (drawn by Dan Higgs). I love it SO MUCH!!

Unfortunately I ran out of time and wasn’t able to get tattooed by Eckel but he comes back once a month to do a guest spot at TZ so… 

It was SO MUCH FUN to get tattooed by everyone in the shop. I am a lucky lady to be surrounded by so much talent. Most importantly it was really great to spend a little bit of one-on-one time with each member of my tattoo family.

Best. Holiday. Ever.