Amazing New Site! Check Out Fellowship Supply!

Last month I reviewed the amazing book Skin Graf, co-written by Michael "Kaves" McLeer and Billy Burke. Revisit the review here.

The day after my review appeared, I was fortunate enough to attend a talk about the book and graffiti tattoo, I met several of the artists featured in the book, and also had a chance to speak to both authors, including Billy Burke.

We resumed our conversation several days later when Kaves held a book-release party at his shop in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Made Tattoo.

Burke told me about his latest project, working with Fellowship Supply Company, "Purveyors Of Creative Tools For The Tattoo Artist."

He urged me to check out the website here, and spoke with great excitement about Fellowship's vision, embodied in this statement:

"Fellowship exists to promote craftsmanship while furthering the artistry of the tattoo community. We honor the dedication of artists before us through dedication of our own, shunning shortcuts in favor of sacrifice. For those who find joy in creating, the role of a maker is a life, not a living. In the art of tattooing, we blur lines between timelessness and mortality, between skin and canvas, between outcast and visionary."

Aside from a whole section of tattoo supplies, there is a lot of great content featuring the words, wisdom, and talent of some of the greatest tattooists and machine builders working today, like Freddy Negrete, Mark Mahoney and Timmy Tatts, to name just a few.

An amazing back piece by Timmy Tatts

Work by Mark Mahoney

Detail of a machine part by Dan Dringenberg

And check out this tutorial clip from Negrete on the art of black and grey:

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

Tattoo artists, aficionados, and fans can get lost in the site, which just launched in the last two weeks. I can hardly wait to see what other rare treats visitors to the site will be getting in the future.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Fellowship grows and expands its amazing collection of articles, biographies, and tutorials. Readers should certainly bookmark this site for exploration in the weeks and months to come!

This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Ryan Shares an Amazing Portrait of His Mom

I know we've been a little sparse with our posting of late, but we're coming back with a bang.

Last February, I met Ryan in my local laundromat and he shared some of his old school ink here.

I've seen him around since, but today when he walked into the laundromat, he had a stunning new piece.

A couple months ago I had run into my friend John (who shared new ink, which is also forthcoming) who tattoos out of Brooklyn Made Tattoo and he had told me that the legendary Freddy Negrete was going to be in the neighborhood doing guest spots at Brooklyn Made.

A few weeks later I was walking down 93rd Street in Bay Ridge and spotted Mr. Kaves outside of his shop. I stopped to say hello and he pointed out that Freddy and his son Isaiah were hard at work inside. They are both based out of Mark Mahoney's Shamrock Social Club in Los Angeles. I was meeting family for dinner so I couldn't hang around, but it was cool to get a glimpse of a legendary artist at work.

Which brings us back to Ryan this morning in the laundromat. I knew it almost as he told me, he got this sweet portrait of his mother from Freddy Negrete himself that week:

Ryan explained that this portrait is based on a photo of his mother from when she was in her early twenties, when he was around two years old. He elaborated:

"My mother died ... about an hour before her fortieth birthday, so this tattoo means a lot to me. It's the most beautiful work I have on me and I wouldn't have let anyone else do it. Freddy Negrete is a great guy ... he's a humbling guy and he's very humble himself and I am grateful to have met him and his son."

It really is an astonishingly beautiful piece of portrait work, and done by one of the true masters of the art here in our own little slice of Brooklyn.

Thanks again to Ryan for sharing this amazing tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.