Looking for a tattoo "fixer"

CamillaRhodes

I'm looking for an artist to fix up a small tattoo i got on the top of my foot recently which the studio that did it have now ballsed up twice.

First time it looked great but as it healed it became clear the artist hadn't pressed hard enough so the ink was too shallow. Went back to complain, gave another artist a chance to put it right, but he just free-handed over the original and now the lines aren't straight as I wanted, there's fuzziness at the edges, etc. It's only small lettering (my kid's name) but I wanted it a certain way and hate that when I now look at his name I'm irritated by what went wrong.

I'm looking for an artist who's a "fixer", the Mr Wolf of tattoo artists, who has meticulous attention to detail and understands that, though my little tattoo may not be significant to him or her, that it is to me, and s/he'll pay proper attention to what I actually want done.

I don't know at this stage if the lettering can be re-done correctly a 3rd time or if I'll have to cover it up with something else - open to either, though would prefer the first if poss. I'm in dublin but willing to travel if nec, price not important at this stage, but willingness to listen, fastidiousness and attention to detail (even on a small piece) are essential. This sounds like a job vacancy, ha.

Any tips for specific artists, not just studios, would be great. Thx!

Marty McFly

Op throw up a pic of the tattoo as it is now and people might be able to help you more on who and what to do with it.

scudzilla

This is one John from HolyShow (Navan) did last week, a great cover up

K.Flyer

To be honest that is not a great cover Tat.
For a start you can clearly still see parts of the old tattoo to the right of the cross which is not good, and as for the cross, take a closer look at the centre section, it is all wrong and unbalanced with a lot of uneven lines. Its definately not been done be good artist.

Arawn

K.Flyer wrote: »

To be honest that is not a great cover Tat.
For a start you can clearly still see parts of the old tattoo to the right of the cross which is not good, and as for the cross, take a closer look at the centre section, it is all wrong and unbalanced with a lot of uneven lines. Its definately not been done be good artist.

Generally the only way ypu wont see the lines from an older tattoo is to either laser or to get a solid black piece

January

I don't think you'll get anyone to work on someone else's work... especially if it's been worked on twice already and is still not good.

Might be best to go for a cover up and incorporate the name into that somehow.

HarrisonLennon

scudzilla wrote: »

This is one John from HolyShow (Navan) did last week, a great cover up

That new tattoo is shocking. The level of skill involved there is nowhere near even the apprentices I know.

He'll be getting that covered up in 5 years.

gregers85

Have a look at Ross Nagle in Allstar Tattoo in limerick! he has done some great cover ups! they also offer Laser work in the shop if its needed to lighten the piece first!

HarrisonLennon

In all fairness this is still average.

Check out Joe Deegan in Classic Ink in temple bar, Dublin.

He is one of a handfull of artists in Ireland that are considered world class.

Search in Facebook for "Joe deegan" check out his page.

He's st the Liverpool convention ATM but will be home in a day or too.

Adiboo

HarrisonLennon wrote: »

In all fairness this is still average.

Check out Joe Deegan in Classic Ink in temple bar, Dublin.

He is one of a handfull of artists in Ireland that are considered world class.

Search in Facebook for "Joe deegan" check out his page.

He's st the Liverpool convention ATM but will be home in a day or too.

Ross Nagle is far from average.

HarrisonLennon

Joe deegans website is

http://josephdeegan.blogspot.ie

All details there.

HarrisonLennon

Adiboo wrote: »

Ross Nagle is far from average.

Depends on your expectations.
It's no offence to him.
But I've seen first hand artists beyond his level.

gregers85

HarrisonLennon wrote: »

In all fairness this is still average.

Check out Joe Deegan in Classic Ink in temple bar, Dublin.

He is one of a handfull of artists in Ireland that are considered world class.

Search in Facebook for "Joe deegan" check out his page.

He's st the Liverpool convention ATM but will be home in a day or too.

Ross would be another one of the handful of artists that are considered world class! his style is different from Joe's, this does in no way make it average!

CamillaRhodes

OP here. As requested, here's a pic of the tattoo, and the original font it was meant to be (it's an old typewriter font, though I was fine with the tattoo lines being solid). It's about 3cm across and 1cm high, on the top of my foot, towards the side.

As you'll see, the straightness of the font lines, the angles of the serifs (particularly on the "l" ad the "u") and the overall style of it are just wrong, plus you can see the fuzzy edges of the original (which didn't take).

It's still healing from the second attempt at it, last Wednesday.

Jaysus, looking at it blown up large it looks even worse. My partner reckons I'm being too picky but i don't think I am.

Sorry I'm not sure how to post the images in-line.

Adiboo

The fuzziness is called a blowout and is caused mainly by the artist going too deep. Looking at it, blowout aside, I don't see much wrong with it, it does look like typewriter font to me. But you're unhappy with it, which is the main thing. You're lucky that it's quite small, so you shouldn't have much of an issue with a cover up if you did go down that route.

My friend recently got typewriter font from Atilla in Wildcat in Stephen's Green and it turned out lovely. Might be worth your while to pop into him for a chat and see if there's anything he could do for you.

CamillaRhodes

When the girl did the first attempt at it, she drew the outline of the letters and then filled them in, so they were thicker than a single line drawn with the needle (does that make sense?) so that's what I thought I was seeing at the edges.

Do you think it could be gone over again with sufficient black to cover the fuzziness / blowout?

Attila @ Wildcat seems to get a lot of love here, will defo talk to him.

And I know I'm being precious, but it's because it matters to me a lot and I see it all the time (now I'm in summer shoes!)

Viva La Gloria

I don't know necessarily whether it's always down to the artist...I've had two tattoos done by Attila and the blowout was terrible on both of them. Had to get one of them touched up three times. I asked the second tattoo artist I went to whether it was just my skin but he didn't seem to think it was. Not blaming Attila or anything, but I just wonder if it's always down to the artist? Although I've never come across anyone else who has experiened this...

CamillaRhodes

Just wanted to follow up on this; I went in to Wild Cat to chat to Attila, he totally got what I was on about and I got a good vibe from him, so gonna have him try to fix up my little name-tat in a couple of weeks. Blowout is the lesser concern for me than the style being right, angles straight, looking like typeset rather than freehand, etc.

Big thanks to you all on the thread for the discussion and the recommendation!