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Skin Deep

Skin Deep 220
  • The French Connection - Needles Side Tattoo: Part 2
    In last month’s Skin Deep we had the pleasure of sitting down with the splendidly moustached, Kev James, part of Xoil’s Needles Side tattoo revolutionaries. This time, we catch up with the third musketeer and long-time friend of Xoil, Toko Lören,...
  • Think! - 220: Into the Great Wide Open
    We don’t get many letters around these parts anymore, but when we do, at least they’re well thought out. This issue, I thought it would be neat to take one, open some boxes full of frogs and see what opinions you guys have to offer on the rebound....
  • Tattoo The World - Ed Hardy
    This January sees the long-awaited release of Tattoo The World, the inside story of how one tattooist became the pop culture phenomenon that is Ed Hardy. Skin Deep goes under the skin of the man behind the signature…
  • Viva Las Vegas - Las Vegas Tattoo Show 2012
    Winter is only weeks away, but it feels like the middle of summer as you make your way through the throngs of tourists and never-ending rows of palm trees. You enter Caesars Palace in search of shade and discover cobblestone streets, ancient statues...
  • Paul Sweeney - 220: Happy New Your!
    It’s officially 2013, welcome to the future people! Finally I can break out my lycra silver one-piece and aluminium iHelmet combo, replace all of my buttons with velcro straps and my shoelaces with light-weight, pressure resistant, hydraulic locking...
  • Behind Closed Doors 220 - Tim Plumley
    This issue we take a look at the mixed bag of media that comes from the hands of Tim Plumley.
  • Spit 'n' Polish - Dan Walczak
    Peterlee 2010: in the far corner is a guy busting out a realistic tattoo; commonplace for a convention you might say, but Dan Walczak (or Polish Dan as he is more commonly known) is tattooing his own thigh…
  • A State of Grace - Horitaka
    The Japanese/ American tattoo artist, Horitaka, celebrated the tenth anniversary of the opening of his studio, State of Grace in San José, in September this year. We caught up with the former apprentice of Horiyoshi III during the Amsterdam...
  • An Eye Is Upon You - 220: A Pregnant Pause
    My son’s class were recently given a sociology project – to interview a family member and establish how that person defined their identity…
  • Craigy Lee: Around the World in a Day
    So it’s 2013 and if your reading this, it means the world didn’t end! 2012 shaped up to be another fantastic whirlwind year on the road that made me feel very lucky to be able to do what I do and share my adventures with you fine people through the...
  • The Writing on the Wall - Minka Sicklinger part 2
    Last month, Tom Abbott got railroaded by the mind of Minka Sicklinger - in a good way of course. So interesting were her points of view, we didn't want to cut anything and thus, lovingly present for you, the rest of it.
  • Space Oddity - Travis Franklin
    Over the years meeting and chatting to various artists, I have realised that when someone wants something enough, there is little that will stand in their way of getting it. Having the passion and desire to achieve our dreams is one of humanity’s...
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Skin Deep 219
  • The French Connection - Needles Side Tattoo: Part 1
    It’s funny stuff, cider… capable of reducing grown men to wreckage, turning ordinary evenings into murky, dimly-recalled nights of excess, and – if it’s the good stuff – doing it while still tasting perfectly innocuous.
  • The Hatchet Job - Adriaan Machete
    Adriaan Machete mixes Mexican style with new school – and man, does it rock hard!
  • Craigy Lee: A Small Belgian City Called Luxembourg...
    It is quite amazing how quickly time goes by – another year is drawing to a close and I find myself working my last convention and guest-spots in Europe for 2012.
  • Barcelona Tattoo Expo 2012
    Just when autumn hit England with cold wind and rain, I get to pack up my bags and hit the road again. With my mind already set to Spanish sunny weather, I decide to put my sandals and summer clothes on, and in the middle of a freezing night, I made...
  • Celebrity Skin 219: Shoko Tendo
    The yakuza are a source of fascination and it is still a hidden world shrouded with secrecy that even most Japanese people are completely oblivious to. Author Shoko Tendo writes explicitly about her life as a yakuza boss’s daughter in her novel,...
  • (Dot) Matrix Revolutions - Tamara Lee at Black Garden Tattoo
    I first heard about Tamara Lee when I interviewed Grace Neutral earlier on this year. Since hearing about her I’ve followed her intricate black and grey dot-work tattoos for a while…
  • The Writing on the Wall - Minka Sicklinger
    For me the most interesting kind of interview is not so much a Q&A, but more of a conversation. And there was no easier person to converse with than Minka Sicklinger. The following is a transcript of our discussion; mere days after New York...
  • Behind Closed Doors 219 - Dimitri
    This issue, we fell in love with a couple of great skulls from the hands of Dimitri. Then we fell a little bit more in love with his great Frankenstein’s Monster. But then we took a look at some of the sleeve photography that had gone on – which...
  • Paul Sweeney - 219: No Place Like Home
    The continuing adventures of our resident tattooed comic…
  • An Eye Is Upon You - 219: Face the Future
    When my tattoo collection started to gather pace, my mother, who didn’t really get it but loved me anyway, requested a boundary… she asked me not to tattoo my face. My mother-in-law made a similar, but less polite, appeal, and I’m sure mothers of...
  • Forbidden Fruit - Roey at Pentagram Tattoo, Israel
    This month, our tattoo-driven journey around the world has taken us to a country where religion forbids tattooing and where tattoo magazines and conventions are a thing of fiction. Welcome to Israel, a place where even those who would love lavish...
  • Buddy System - Max Shoberg at Red Rocket Tattoo, New York
    Last issue, we hooked up with Adam Hays at Red Rocket – being just and fair people, when Max Shoberg poked his head around the corner, we bagged him too. In for a penny…
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Skin Deep 218
  • Who You Calling Mammoth? - Mastodon
    12 years; five albums; no line-up changes (shocking!); two Grammy Award nominations; Dubbed “the greatest metal band of their generation” by Rolling Stone; and called the “most ambitious, most fearless, most fun heavy metal band” by BBC. Thank God...
  • Counter Culture - Gene Coffey at Tattoo Culture, NYC
    There are tattoo artists you love, those you get along with, those you respect, and those who you’d let loose on your skin with whatever was at hand. Allow me to introduce the man who ticks all four of those boxes for me…
  • Celebrity Art Match - Louis Molloy Goes Graffiti
    The endpoint ‘canvas’ couldn’t be more different – walls versus human skin. However, there is such common ground in the mutual influences, culture and artistic styles of tattooing and graffiti, that the boundaries between the two art forms blur.
  • Tattoo Jam 2012 Show Report
    Here we go again. With the Manchester International Show now sitting pretty in the previously sunny August spot of our calendar, Tattoo Jam found itself a new home during pumpkin season when the sun sets early only to let the stars come out and...
  • Adam Hays - Can You Feel The Force?
    Adam Hays’ thing is Star Wars. To the extent that he’s done T-shirt designs for Lucasfilm and ended up in a coffee table book featuring Star Wars tattoos. But there are many layers to this Texan former saddle maker turned New York tattoo studio...
  • Behind Closed Doors 218 - Eugene Rubuls
    This issue, we hand over the crayons to Mr Eugene Rubuls – this my friends, is wildlife art at it’s finest; he’s a mean tattoo artist as well! Over to you, Sir…
  • The Whole of the Moon - Horikazu
    I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating – when a publishing company knows what they are doing, you can find yourself in possession of some of the finest books on the planet.
  • Craigy Lee: Back in the Van... - Mainz Tattoo Expo 2012
    Sometimes our travel itinerary can make me feel like a ping pong ball, bouncing between different places; after a short time in the UK we are now shooting back over to Germany, but I will not be bouncing between conventions as I am also working two...
  • Sean Herman - Pilgrim's Progress: Part 2
    Now, where were we? Sean Herman’s journey towards becoming a tattooer (he prefers the term to ‘tattoo artist’) has featured skateboarding, punk rock, shuttling around the American South, doing battle with gods in various guises, a stab at being a...
  • Paul Sweeney - 218: The Tattoo (Un)Convention
    It might be hard to believe, but this year’s Tattoo Jam was even more wonderfully unconventional and just as memorable as the last.
  • Old England - Jesse Rayner at Electric Vintage, Bath
    The Hobgoblin, Bath. My pub of choice. A line of skulls hangs along the top of the bar; a line written above the urinals reads ‘Fuck, I just pissed on the floor reading the walls’. I feel comfortable in this place; I can go in there in whatever mood.
  • The Cover Model - Lauren B
    Lauren B hasn’t been modelling for long, but we think she does it rather fetchingly… obviously, or wouldn’t have planted her on the cover. Being a single mum to a little urchin, she was a little busy when we called round, so we did what we always do...
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