The incomparable Paul Sayce spent some time chatting with Alex Binnie at this year’s London Tattoo Convention; the history of Into You, memories of Mr. Sebastian and more. If you don’t already subscribe to Paul’s channel– treat yourself.
Tattoo Artist
Cosmic Debris
Our friend Alice of the Dead will be showing new paintings this weekend at I HATE TATTOOS in London; she’s promised strange new art, good music and excellent company.
Saturday, May 26 at 6 PM – 11:55 PM
I Hate Tattoos Tattoo Studio
Unit 1
400-404 York Way
N7 9LR London, United Kingdom
Ralph Ashwell
The folks at Yellowbeak Press just opened up preorders on their newest book- a look at never before seen designs by Harrisburg, PA tattooer Ralph Ashwell. I’ve had a chance to check it out, and it holds up to the high standards of previous YBP volumes. Check it out!
https://www.yellowbeakpress.com/collections/books/products/ralph-ashwell-book
We are excited to announce our latest book about Harrisburg, PA tattooer, Ralph Ashwell! Born in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania in 1901, Ashwell was a tattooer from the 1930s through the early 1960s. Working as a trade laborer who held various positions while also tattooing, he was a hidden gem amongst the other practitioners of his day. His flash embodies the functional, technical, and artistic aspects that defined a multifaceted, visually oriented craft. With a career that spanned the Great Depression, at least two wars, and the accompanying waves of servicemen, Ashwell always had something to offer everyone – from roses and banners to military insignia and pop culture imagery. Despite a somewhat elusive history, he holds a place among America’s twentieth century tattoo artists. This book will contain over 100 never-before seen full-color flash sheets beautifully painted by Ashwell, spanning the late 30s to early 60s, along with a biography written and researched by Carmen Forquer Nyssen.
OV/IG
My roots are in the early 1990s zine/website culture. We shared our thoughts with audiences that ranged from a few casual readers (zines) to international audiences (websites) and, DIY and digital ink being free, we shared it by the bucket.
As social media has evolved, my generation’s need to say it in as many words as we saw fit has been replaced with making our point in 140 characters or less, or posting a photo to Instagram with little to no additional information- unless it’s in a clever hashtag- to drive new eyes to our content.
I hate it.
But I always say if you can’t beat em, join em. OV now has an Instagram account. I’ve spent the last few weeks digging through photos and videos that I’ve scanned and captured for this blog and posted them, one a day, on IG.
If you’d like to follow us (with us being me) you can do so here: http://instagram.com/occultvibrations23
Pussyfooting Around with Dave
You folks can thank the Netflix show OZARKS for tonight’s update- I found myself binge watching the (highly anxiety inducing) show until the wee hours of the morning last night, which gave me time to convert some 8mm video tapes to digital. This excerpt from the 1993 AMJAM Tattoo show features Dave Waugh doing an amazingly 90s tattoo on my foot.
You can find Dave at Classic Electric Tattoo in Frederick, MD as well as on Instagram here: http://instagram.com/davewaugh
Texas Weird: Richard’s Eyes
https://www.gofundme.com/saverichardseyes
Along with Dave Lum and Chris Trevino, Richard Stell helped define true Texas Weird tattooing; rooted in Traditional Americana with a healthy dose of underground comix and biker elements, it’s a style that directly influenced what I think tattoos should look like.
As with a few other key tattooers who’s work helped make me fall in love with tattooing back in the 1990s, I dicked around and never ended up getting tattooed by Richard, figuring I’d eventually get around to it.
Nineteen months ago, Richard had corrective eye surgery that ended up botched, leaving him effectively blind in both eyes. A Texas surgeon has faith that he can reattach Richard’s retina- which he calls a tough task but absolutely doable- but the expenses are going to (continue to) mount up, so if you can spare a few dollars, I’m sure they’d be appreciated with the eventual goal of getting a machine back in Richard’s hands and have him tattooing again.
I’m saving a little patch of skin for when that happens.
https://www.gofundme.com/saverichardseyes
Occult Vibrations 