Milkshakes and rants

Phew.
After a very hectic, and very, very fun August, we're kinda back to normal here.
We miss all of our buddies, but it's also nice with a little quiet once in a while.
The quiet is not gonna last too long, though, cause London is coming up, and that convention has a way of sneaking up on us, fast!
Allan is working on designs for the convention, and maybe, if they're ready in time, we'll post a little preview. If not, you'll just have to wait and see!

I have some good news for everyone who've been asking ever since it closed; the waiting list will open soon.
Yay!
Not saying how soon, but soon-ish, so start thinking of fun ideas!
Also, since we're on the topic of the waiting list....

Sometimes i'll write someone about finally getting their tattoo appointment, and they're unable to accept due to various circumstances like loss of a job, moving house, or just being plain broke, which is understandable, of course, but also a giant waste of time for us and the other people on the list.
And then there are the people who are super stoked in their mails, but never reply, which is just weird... or my personal favorites; the people who get tired of waiting and go to another artist, but never think of letting us know.

The point is, while most people are more than happy to jump at the chance to get tattooed, and are well prepared, there are some who seem to sign up without considering that they will eventually have to get tattooed!
We do try to give everyone a few months notice, but my point (i have many points!) is: when you sign up for the waiting list, start saving up. And if something happens that makes you unable to get tattooed, like say moving house or getting pregnant, please just take yourself off the list and sign back up when you're ready again.
If you don't, you're missing the point and you're wasting our time.

Whoa, that sounded harsh! But really, i'm just looking to make our system as efficient as possible, and make sure that the people on that list who really want to get tattooed, can get tattooed with as little waiting as possible.
So if you're a person who's on the waiting list but maybe shouldn't be... please send a mail to uncleswaitinglist@gmail.com with the subject "delete me". You can always sign back up later.

Ok, rant over!
Here are some pictures from the Black Metal show.
And some other random shots too.
Most of these are taken with my analog Canon and as you can see, it was entirely too dark at the show for that kind of film, but i had to try anyway!

The dino looking rather blurry... and slightly constipated?

Statue

Another one

Front room goodness

And workroom

I already published these on my blog, but i like them a lot, so i'm putting them up here too! 

From left: Wendy, Allan & Lucifer, Matthew and David

From left: Matt, Davee, random photobombers and Nick

Here's one from the instagrams of our painting night a few days before the Aussies had to leave

A tattoo Matthew Gordon did on one of our coffee shop buddies

Oh, and here's one from that time me and Wendy wore floral jumpsuits and traveled through a wormhole and ended up on the cover of Time Magazine, and that was coincidentally also the time we liked stupid iPhone apps a little too much!

More exciting news soon, and maybe some tattoo pictures too?
I know i've been holding back on the Uncle Allan pictures, but we're kind of enjoying keeping them secret, so we can blow people's mind at the London convention with a portfolio full of never before seen tattoos!

What not to write

Winter is on us like a big, heavy, grey blanket and it seems to be suffocating my need to blog.

But we're good, don't worry! The shop is doing great, and since it's not nearly as cold as last year, we're not even freezing our asses off inside like we usually do.

I believe our often partially dressed clients appreciate that too!

Allan is busy working on his art show and his book, Nick is tattooing almost every day as well as working on his new web comic, and Eckel... where is Eckel anyway? I believe he's in Hamburg today, actually. And also tattooing a lot, when he is around. And next weekend he'll be moping around Brighton, mumbling about some vegan burger joint that no longer exists.

So yeah, all is well at the Conspiracy, gloominess aside!

Me and Allan's trip to Japan is moving closer and closer, and just to emphasize how much we friggin miss that place, we've already bought tickets to go back in April, which should be good news for all the people Allan won't have time to tattoo on this coming trip.

Speaking of clients and booking, i do have a bit of practical info, possibly in rant form, that i could squeeze into this post!

You see, i have started to book from the Uncle Allan waiting list, and all in all it's going ok.

Except for a couple of things...

1. Some people still don't seem to understand that you shouldn't write a bunch of questions to the waiting list. I will not email you back, and you will not be added to the list.

If you have any questions, ask them before submitting your ideas to the waiting list, and ask them via our regular mail.

2. You will also not be added to the list if you don't include tattoo ideas and placement.

Also, it's up to you to think of something interesting for Allan to do. Try to make it fun. 

If i'm going through the waiting list and the choice is between someone with an awesome, well thought out tattoo idea, pictures of placement and reference, all wrapped up in a polite email, and a dude who's whole email goes something like this; "hey, i wanna get tattooed, i don't know what i want, so just do whatever, i don't care", well... it's not a super hard choice, is it?

3. Lots of people apparently only read the part of this page that has the email address in it, and so again, those people, who don't read the whole thing (yes, i know it's long) and leave important stuff out, they won't be added to the list.

4. If you get impatient and decide to go get tattooed somewhere else, at least have the courtesy to send us an email, so we can take your name off the list. If you sign up for a service of any kind, anywhere, and decide to back out for whatever reason, you let people know, right? 

This especially goes out to the people who couldn't wait for Allan and decided to get tattooed by Eckel instead. It's fine if you don't have the patience to wait, but for christs sake, let us know so i don't waste time writing emails offering you dates to get tattooed!

5. You don't get to chose the date you get tattooed, another thing that's explained on this page, so if you write an email saying "i'd like to get tattooed in June 2012", that's probably not gonna happen. Once we book you, we'll do whatever we can to find a date that works for everyone, but until then, you shouldn't assume you can get tattooed whenever you feel like it.

Whoa, with the angry teacher-type ranting, sorry about that, but seriously, a good third of the mails i get for the waiting list are either missing information or missing the point.

But the rest of them, those who get it right, we're so grateful that they take the time to read all the rules, come up with fun projects and wait patiently for Allan to have time to tattoo them!

If you read Allan's blog, you already know that he has claimed the month of March for his book project, but as soon as that's done, it's back to regular booking!

Ok, if you've read this far, you deserve some friggin tattoo pictures.

And even if you've only skimmed this... whatever, you still came by to read the blog, so you deserve some pretty pictures too!

Here's a couple of newer Eckel tattoos, one from 2011 and one from 2012. Enjoy!

Tattoo by Eckel

Tattoo by Eckel

 

Tattoo by Eckel

 

 Ps. Sorry for the obvious iPhone pictures... ahem...

Bird tattoos (and a tiny little rant)

Man, it feels so weird to be in Copenhagen and not at work 24-7.
And by weird i mean fantastic!

Eckel is still in Thailand and Allan doesn't have to tattoo until next week, so we only go to the shop once in a while to hang out and ship out prints.
More about them later, since there may be a deadline coming up.
Anyway, i had some pictures uploaded from weeks ago that i just forgot to publish.
So here, surprise, tattoo pictures!

Here's Martin, a shop regular, who on this day forgot his comfy pants and had to wear, uhm, alternative leg-wear!

Fancy gentleman by Eckel

Me taking a picture of Eckel taking a picture of the fancy gentleman!

A good old Danish "skarv" by Eckel (that's a cover-up, by the way)

Peacock by Uncle Allan, started years ago and finished in March

As you can see, i've started watermarking our pictures again.

I'm getting so sick of seeing the guys' work floating around the internet, on various tumblr's in particular, uncredited.

There are too many people reblogging this shit to begin with, and mindless reposting of other peoples work is annoying in itself, but when they start to remove links and credit, well, that's when i get mad.

If you see any examples of this, please feel free to snitch and let me know so i can have them removed.

And if you, or someone you know, wishes to use our pictures, all you have to do is ask and make sure the image links back to this blog.

Easy as that.