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Skin Deep

Skin Deep 217
  • The Great & Secret Show - Rakhee Shah
    It seems that everywhere you go right now, you’ll find a portrait tattoo of some description. The one that you’re still thinking of, long after the initial thrill has come and gone, will have come from the hands of Rakhee Shah. We caught up in the...
  • This Ain't Bollywood - Abhinandan Basu
    In the heart of the historic Indian city of Pune, amidst the temples, theatres and IT companies, we find Abhinandan Basu. A tattooer who has accepted lessons from an American ex-con, advice from his 83-year-old grandmother and executed an almost...
  • Paul Sweeney - 217: Life: Not As You Know It
    It’s not every day you’re forced to consider the fragile nature of your own existence, unless of course you happen to live (I use that term tentatively) in my house.
  • Millie Dollar - The Liver Bird
    You can take the girl out of Liverpool, but you can't take Liverpool out of the girl… and that’s a good thing – on your way to the top, it will always keep your feet planted firmly on the ground. And if ever there was a profession that called for...
  • Frank La Natra - If You Go Down to The Woods Today...
    It’s only after sitting with Frank La Natra for the best part of a couple of hours that it dawns on me that we should have gone for a walk. Where would have been better to talk about the opening of Into The Woods, than in the biggest forest on the...
  • M. Asaka - The Wood Cutter
    Some things are simply meant to be. In this exclusive feature, we hook up with M.Asaka, who, upon meeting with Horiyoshi III, decided he wanted to make these unbelievably stunning wood-cuts that echoed the beauty of the tattoos that came before…
  • Manchester International Tattoo Show 2012
    When I was a teenager the most exciting thing to happen all year was the annual August visit from a travelling fair...
  • An Eye Is Upon You - 217: Price Tag
    I love stuff. Glorious, shiny stuff… books, buttons, musical instruments, enough clothes for at least three bodies, dolls, pretty things for the kitchen, old stuff, new stuff, you name it, I like it… wonderful, wonderful stuff!
  • Behind Closed Doors 217 - Brandon Heffron
    In the fourth part of our ongoing series looking at what artists get up to behind the scenes, this month we caught up with Brandon Heffron from Beloved Studios…
  • Home Sweet Home - Craigy Lee
    After months of trekking all over Europe I decided it was time to get back to the UK and explore some far corners of my own country. After all, there are lots of fine countries in Europe, but only Britain is great!
  • Soren Granhof Schjott - The Great Dane
    The small town of Svendborg, located on the island of Funen in south-central Denmark, is not necessarily where you’d expect to find a tattooer who could spotlight as a comedian, and that is as good at conjuring up a Bob Dylan sleeve...
  • Sean Herman - Pilgrim's Progress: Part 1
    One day a few years ago, a young Sean Herman walked up to a group of guys in downtown Birmingham, Alabama. He started a conversation and offered them some homemade sandwiches, as it had recently become a habit for him to head into the city to try...
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Skin Deep 216
  • Celebrity Skin: Corey Taylor - Slipknot
    The mask-wearing frontman of heavy metal super group, Slipknot, is not necessarily the person you’d expect to be proudly sporting a David Bowie tattoo, barely being able to sit still when passionately discussing literature or getting chocked up when...
  • An Eye Is Upon You - 216: The Shoulders of Giants
    I’m not much of a sports fan, but it’s been pretty hard to avoid the Olympics this summer.
  • Paul Sweeney - 216: Sweet Dreams
    The other night I dreamt I was riding bareback, at sunset, across a sandy beach, atop a golden horse named Douglas…
  • Craigy Lee: Amsterdam or Bust - Amsterdam Tattoo Convention 2012
    A lot of artists I have met in Europe get very excited when they talk about the Amsterdam tattoo convention, really hyping it up. So it has been one of the shows I’ve been looking forward to the most this year, combined with the fact I have never...
  • Move On - Scott Move
    The internet, amongst a heave of pros and cons, has one particular standout pro – the freedom to trawl through a ton of mediocrity and be blessed by uncovering a real gem. That was how it was for me with my discovery of Scott Move.
  • New York Groove - Stefano Alcantara
    Nobody can deny the fistfuls of talent that Paul Booth has brought to the table over the years. But currently treading the boards at the Last Rites Tattoo Theatre and touring the US until there’s no stone left unturned, is Stefano Alcantara.
  • Tattoo Royalty - Joe Capobianco: Hope Gallery Tattoo
    Once you’ve worked in the industry for two decades, created your own pin-up girl style, owned a studio for nearly a decade, released three books, two DVDs, and your own tattoo machine, landed a gig as head judge on Best Ink, and even created your...
  • Ink 'n' Iron - 2012
    Are you a regular at conventions held in the old continent? If so, forget everything you know.
  • Behind Closed Doors - Dawnii Fantana
    My name is Dawnii Fantana. I’m a tattooist in Birmingham, UK. I’ve been tattooing for around ten years and have had my own studio, Painted Lady Tattoo Parlour, for four years. Like so many tattoo artists, my job pretty much consumes my life – I...
  • The Skeleton Society - Toni Moore
    Toni Moore is fast becoming one of the most recognisable faces out there for great tattoo work. Our man Scott Cole happened to be passing by at quite an opportune moment and returned with the swag you see here before you.
  • Master of Light - Shodai Hokuo
    Shodai Hokuo is one of the top artists of Japanese style work. Based in Kobe, his work is incredibly meticulous and realistic – the detail in his work creates an almost photographic quality and shows his absolute mastery at tebori-style tattooing.
  • Theme Park Dog - Pooch
    The annual visits to Disneyworld as a kid conspired to make him fall in love with theme parks… not for the speed and excitement, but for the art. Today the American artist and tattooist, Pooch, mixes Walt Disney with H.R. Giger to create his own...
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Skin Deep 215
  • Reader Profile 215: Buddha
    Passivity can sometimes be the main tactic in battle, like silence in a discussion, and no one knows and masters that art better than Bad Buddha…
  • Ael Lim - Imagine All The People...
    Imagine Tattoo, a little tattoo studio tucked away in the old police headquarters in a remote part of Singapore’s Chinatown, is home to tattoo artist, Ael Lim. Known for his amazing realism work, Ael has been tattooing since 2007… and we felt it was...
  • Birds On A Wire - Gilded Cage
    Sometimes, the underground throws up a name that gets consistently bandied around as someone that’s seriously going places. It makes sense to make sure that these rumours are true, because nobody wants to go on record touting a flash in the pan. In...
  • Chase The Dragon - Chad Chase
    Maine based tattooist, Chad Chase, was flying low under my radar before being introduced to him by the guys at Formula 51. But at soon as I saw his work, I knew we had to get him on board big time…
  • (We can be) Heroes... - Ink For Heroes 2012
    …and for more than one day too. The two-day event that is Ink For Heroes is one of the favourites on the circuit and never fails to supply amazement somewhere along the line.
  • Behind Closed Doors - Piew Choquette
    In keeping with our rummaging in the drawers for stockpiles of great art, here’s some after hours magic from our buddy, Piew Choquette, from Tatouage-Royal in Montreal – complete with colour commentary from the man himself.
  • Everyday Is A Winding Road... - Craigy Lee
    Time flies when you’re having fun, and it goes supersonic when you are travelling. As we hurtle towards the second half of 2012 I stop to ponder the places we have been so far this year, I look in my diary and realise my travel plans are now booked...
  • Lucky Strike - Cecil Porter
    Asked to describe himself in one word, California-based artist, Cecil Porter, chooses ‘lucky’ without skipping a beat. Tracing hundreds of comics in his youth didn’t hurt his career either. A talented, yet humble tattooer and art nerd, you know he’s...
  • Celebrity Skin: Jesse Schenker - The Kitchens Ink
    Start among the grease and burgers in the back of a McDonald’s, take a detour through Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen, and finish at a restaurant in New York City’s trendy West Village, and you’ve got 29-year-old chef, Jesse Schenker’s, career path in a...
  • Life Outside The Call Centre - Nicaragua
    OK, so Nicaragua might not be the first country that springs to mind when you mention the phrase ‘call centre’, but as AK47 owner, Chuck Serpa, takes us for a stroll around the streets, it appears that it’s big news…
  • An Eye Is Upon You - 215: Dear Mr. Parsons
    I read your recent Mirror article, ‘making my skin crawl – tattoos scream for attention’ with interest. You see, when I was a teenager, the NME, the weekly music paper you started out writing for, was my lifeline.
  • Paul Sweeney - 215: Game For A Laugh
    While all eyes are firmly fixated on the lycra-clad Olympians currently flexing and stretching in and around our great capital, there’s another fine example of British ambition being displayed throughout August.
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