J is the owner of First String Tattoo in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He works in a number of styles including black and grey, Polynesian, black work, realism, Japanese, and neo traditional.
Fantastic coverup with deer skull, flowers and a book!Massive peacock. Look at those details in the tail feathers!Realistic black and grey Japanese Kitsune and skull.Big sugar skull inspired rib panel.
He does both large and small pieces, from sleeves and back pieces to tiny one shot pieces!
Creepy crawly head tarantula.Some feathers and an awareness ribbon.Healed black and grey lighthouse.Viking themed frost giant on a bloody rampage!
You can check out his flash on his Instagram or in person and choose something cool, or talk ideas with him!
A lovely loon covering up some old script.Neo traditional lady head.Japanese koi fish as a chest panel to lead onto a half sleeve.
As well as working in Winnipeg, J also guest spots in Saskatoon at Rites of Passage Tattoo.
Neat drawn on Polynesian inspired piece.Polynesian elephant.Bright neo traditional owl!
If you’re looking to have some ink removed he can also do that for you as he does laser tattoo removal right out of the shop. If you’d rather have a piece covered up he does lots of that too.
Brilliant brightly coloured sleeve with some skulls and flowers.Healed Where the Wild Things Are themed piece.Realistic black and grey snow leopard.
He has an incredible attention to detail and is sure to make you happy with any style you choose.
Huge flower for a coverup.Fresh and healed. Sugar skull and a more nature themed skull.Healed shots of an octopus sleeve.
J is a must visit artist in Winnipeg or Saskatoon!
Susanne is a tattooer at Redwood Tattoo Studio in Manchester. She does fine linework, dotwork, and blackwork. All of her tattoos use only black ink, but her intricate dotwork make a great contrast to the heavy black.
A girl and her cat, the start and the moon.Victorian octopus lady looking very serious.Fantastic night time land and city scape.Gorgeous Venus piece!Lovely jellyfish in a jar.Three adorable foxes cuddling.A girl and her big dog!
Much of her work features popular characters or places from books, film, and tv.
Eleven from Stranger Things!Severus Snape wearing Neville’s Grandmother’s clothing.The first years heading to Hogwarts!
She draws much inspiration from histories famous painters, and even does their portraits.
Brilliant portrait of Van Gogh with his own sky design as the background.Frida Kahlo as one of her own portraits.Dot and blackwork Picasso vase!Katsushika Hokusai’s wave, one of the most iconic Japanese motifs.
Her whimsical animal portraits are fantastical and heartwarming, such as space narwhales, dogs in space, dinosaurs in clothing, etc.
Sloth bathing in some tasty ramen!Super cool badger rocking out.Pirate kitty!!Narwhale with a cool space theme.Brachiosaurus in some fancy clothes.Very pretty mermaid.A heavily tattooed and bearded merman.
Susanne is a must see artist if you’re in Manchester!
Getting tattooed in another country can be a daunting experience. Where do you even start? This post is designed to walk you through the steps of getting a tattoo while visiting Japan and make it a little less stressful.
I was tattooed in Japan on June 2nd, 2018, by Hide Ichibay at Three Tides Tattoo in Tokyo.
If you’re getting a tattoo in Japan, i’m going to assume you’re wanting some sort of Japanese tattoo, whether it’s traditional or just something to remember your trip by. Traditional Japanese tattoos are their own style, but Japanese themed pieces can be done in a few different styles. Such as traditional Japanese, neo Japanese, realistic Japanese, black and grey, and black work.
Once you know what style you want you can start looking for artists. The best way to do this I find, is to look in a specific city. So for myself I started with a simple google search of traditional Japanese artists in Tokyo. I sifted through the first three pages on google, looking at some websites and portfolios and chose my top three shops and a few different artists. Once I had those I looked more at their sites and checked out more portfolios, pricing, and most importantly their hygiene. Lots of artists will also have Instagram accounts, such as my artist, making it easy to see their work.
Tattoo shops in Japan aren’t regulated like shops are in Western countries since in Japan only someone with a medical degree can legally tattoo. Therefore the shops you’re seeing aren’t regulated by the government, so you want to make sure they aren’t re-using any tattooing instruments that touch blood, and that the shop is clean. Most sites will have a section on this, and if the site is in Japanese and you can’t read it, such as myself; you can always use google translate to get the gist of it. If you’re still questioning it you can also send an email, or just pick another shop.
Once you have a shop and artist picked out you can send an email. Some shops, such as Three Tides, will have a receptionist that you will deal with, rather than the actual artist. You’ll want to email at least a few months in advance (some artists will require more time than that, even up to a year in advance), and request an artist, and give a few different days that would work for you. You should also include some reference pictures for what you would like, include any needed information like if the tattoo will be in colour or not, and how big you would like it and where it’s going on your body. Once that is set up you may also have to include a picture of where on your body it’s going, especially if you have other tattoos in that area that the artist has to work around.
You may also be required to send a deposit to hold your spot. This is normal and most shops will use PayPal, though if you don’t have PayPal and don’t want to get it you may be able to work something else out such as a direct deposit.
The next step is getting your tattoo finally! If you have tattoos then you know what to do and you’re all set. The only difference may be that you’re used to having a consultation first, and for this tattoo you’ll spend the first thirty minutes to an hour basically doing that. If it’s your first tattoo then you’ll want to make sure you eat something before your appointment, and maybe have a juice box with you incase your blood sugar gets low.
This was my first time getting tattooed in a country that is so hot and humid, but I had gotten some tips from other people who had been tattooed in Japan as well. Most people have their favourite cream or gel that they like to use for healing (mine is vitamin E gel or a cucumber cream) and you can still use that, but for dealing with the heat I recommend using a chilled coconut oil. You can keep it in the fridge (it will harden quite a bit) and use a tiny amount when it’s dry. The coolness feels fantastic in the heat of Japan. Thanks to my new friend off of Reddit for that tip!
Finally you can enjoy your new tattoo! Have fun being tattooed in Japan and on your trip.
My healed Japanese tattoo by Hide Ichibay.
If you have any questions about getting tattooed in Japan feel free to leave a comment.
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