TATTOO TALK THURSDAY! DANNY DOES THE MYSTERY MACHINE!!

Some of you might have heard about shops that have those old-fashioned sweets machines where you put a coin in and some sweets pop out. They're amazingly cool. Some run on tokens you can purchase from the shop owner or so on. This machine isn't filled with sweets, but tattoo flash! Several artists in the shop have drawn some flash, put them in little plastic containers and filled the belly of the machine with.

So how does it work?

Each of the tattoos in the machine is a straight price. Some shops charge 80, 100 or even 120 for the piece. It can be either black and grey or colour. You pay your deposit in full, put in two tokens and turn the knob of the machine. Whatever pops out is whatever get. There's no do-overs unless you want to pay another 80 for another go. It's a total gamble! You literally have no idea what's inside until you open the container; you have no idea even when you look in through the plexiglass of the machine. I didn't think I'd ever do anything like this, but I figured, what the fuck? It would make a cool story one day and I want to fill in some of the smaller pieces that I have on my body before working on all the larger pieces that I have planned out. I will admit that I was a little nervous about it; what if I get something that really doesn't suit me and I don't want to go through with it? I don't think I'd pussy out like that, but I have a few pieces I don't like and really hated as soon as they were done because of the shit artwork of them, do I really want to add one more piece I'll have to cover up? All kind of thoughts swirled through me, but in the end, I decided to take the plunge.
When I spun the knob out popped a little plastic ball with the piece of flash in it. This was the moment of truth. I opened it up and saw there was a little potion bottle in it. I was relieved. Something that not only would blend well with the other pieces that I have but also in a way, represented me and my interests. We booked the tattoo for a few days later when he had some time and all I had to do was wait. I was excited about it. I mean, I'm always excited to get tattooed, it's such a thrill for me, but this was one that was totally out of my control. Something 100% new.
Monday came and it was the moment of truth. I headed to the shop, signed the paperwork needed and watched Tony set up. It didn't take long at all. I had a few ideas of where I wanted it done, but I'd narrowed it down by the time I got to the shop. I wanted to use the piece to fill in some of the odd, small spaces that I have on my left arm. It didn't fit too well down at the bottom of my upper arm near my elbow, so we decided to go with the little bit of free space I have at the top of my upper arm. Tony got the stencil in the perfect location in one go. While getting it done, he and another artist there asked me about how I heal all the piece I have, where I'd gotten some of them done, the usual tattoo talk. It was nice to be back with other artists and people who appreciate the art form of tattooing. 
I wanted something simple, so we went with traditional black and grey. Tony's got a light touch, some artists are a bit too heavy-handed, and he's well in control of what he's doing He finished the small piece in about a half hour. I liked that I could just let him do his thing; he had a vision for it since it was his flash. Sometimes people who tattoo quickly, don't do that good a job, but he did a lovely job on the piece. I'm seeing him again this upcoming Saturday to get another little filler! It's not another mystery tattoo, but it's something that I've been wanting to get for a while now! Stay tuned for that in another mini-episode of Tattoo Talk Thursday!!

If you're in the Western Mass area like I am right now and you want to get a mystery machine tattoo head over to Paper City in Holyoke to give the machine a spin and book your appointment! Have any questions? Hit them up on Facebook by searching Paper City!