My First Guest Spot!
About a year ago, I was scrolling through the Instagrams and happened upon this guy talking about being a tattoo artist and all it entails. He caught my attention, so I gave him a like and a follow. He reached out to me and we talked on the phone for an hour or so. This fellas name, Matt Hodel, owner of Ragtime Tattoo and Community Director of the Jackpot Tattoo Community. I decided to join and haven’t looked back. I’ve met tattoo artists from around the country in our weekly meetings and had the opportunity to ask questions of those artists with vastly more experience in the tattoo industry. Wins all around. This last April at the Middle of the Map Tattoo convention in Des Moines, I had the opportunity to be tattooed by Rob Foster, Jackpot member, at the convention. We had interacted in the community and finally met in real life. It was a great experience and created an even further bond between us.
Fast forward to this past July. I’ve had the hankering to do a guest spot. But I has so many questions: how does it work, how do I get clients at whatever shop to come see me, how do I get paid, etc. So I talked to a few members in the Jackpot community who’ve done many guest spots and conventions in their careers and they all pretty much told me the same thing. Have NO expectations, go into it with an open mind and learn what you can while there. Copy!
So, I reached out to a couple other members of Jackpot about said guest spots, and alas; they all said yes to me coming. Ha-za! :-)
I decided to take Lars Van Zandt up on his offer to come down to his shop, Century Tattoo, to participate in Spooktacular III. Dates were set for October 4-6th. I went into Color Works and talked to Taylor and Sarah about the opportunity and got the weekend off.
I’m an old Eagle Scout, so with the mantra of being prepared; I started collecting all the things I thought I’d need for the guest spot. Two totes were filled with supplies, machines, pigment, etc.
October 3rd arrives and I begin my journey south at 9 AM. I arrive at Century Tattoo around 3 PM (I took the scenic route). I was welcomed by Lars and his crew, along with a couple other fellow artists; Jonathan and Mike from Hannibal. I got settled in and we headed out to Lars parents (amazing people and gracious hosts) to get our camp setup. Yes, we tent camped all weekend! After camp was setup, Jonathan, Mike and I headed back into town to gather food and the like for the weekend. That evening, Lars, Jonathan, Mike, and Matilda (Jon’s doggo) and I sat around the fire and chatted til late in the night.
Friday morning I’m up and out of my tent by 7am, showered and coffee made by 7:30. I’m stoked and ready to roll. Everyone is up and going by 9am and we head to the shop to get the day started and prepared for the mass of clients that would come through later that day. Other tattoo artists began showing up around 11 am. This definitely wasn’t Lars and his crews first rodeo. They did an mazing job making sure that everything was in place for the artists and the clients to have a great experience. Very smoothly run event. After a midday Homecoming parade that ran right past the front of the shop, the event began. Not sure how many tattoos got done that day, but I know it was busy all day.
My first guest spot client. Megan! Megan arrived with her friend Allison and I got the nod that I was next up. Fuck, I’m nervous I thought. Different space, different shop vibe, new people, am I good enough, all the things. Focus bro, you got this I told myself. Thankfully Megan and Allison were super friendly and we chatted before I got started, which put my mind at ease. Session went well and Megan got herself a traditional death moth on her upper forearm. ….and exhale! My cherry was popped, first guest spot tattoo was done, and done well, and I made a couple new friends.
We finish up around 6:30ish Friday night and the little cafe behing the shop, The Dandy Lion, is hosting karaoke. So we all meander that way and the drinks start flowing. Lars started the night out with a great rendition of the Monster Mash. The Shot-ski came out at some point, followed by shots of MD 20/20. I allegedly ordered a bottle of MD 20/20 on ice, aka bottle service. It was rather amusing. We had planned ahead so everyone had sober transport back to Lars parents property later in the evening. We all arrived back to camp around 11ish? Fire was started and we sat around getting to know one another a little better. A good time was had by all. I retired to my tent around midnight and got a great nights sleep.
Saturday morning, October 5th, I awoke again at 7am, well rested; grabbed my shower kit and my change of clothes and headed up to the house to get showered and ready for the day. Slowly everyone that had camped arose and did the same. Coffee was drank and we all reminisced about the previous evening. We got to the shop around 10:30 and got prepped for the day. Several other artists arrived and got settled in as well. The day was busy again, with the artists in a rotation. We had 6-8 artists tattooing at a time, with clients picking designs from five large 2’ x 3’ flash sheets. After the day came to an end a bunch of us were outside the shop hanging and chatting and someone brought up playing Cee-low (google it). I won the first round, which meant I’d be tattooing one of the other artists. Lars lost the second round; which meant that I’d be tattooing him (gulp). Jonathan won the third round; which meant he was picking the design. Mind you, I’ve used a rotary pen machine my entire career in tattooing and have NEVER actually tattooed on real skin with a coil machine. That was about to change. We all headed back to camp and started a big ol bonfire. Albers decided he still wanted to tattoo, so Jesse (DJ for the weekend) and Liz (Lizrd.tats) both got tattoos around the campfire. I observed and then asked, “Albers, want to add a skull to my leg?” He said yes and drew on a skull on the top part of my ankle and then proceeded to tattoo it with his Dan Kubin machines. What a cool experience.
Sunday morning came quick, I slept in past 7 and had to wait in line for the shower. No biggie. We all headed to the shop around 11 and got settled back in. Today was the day I’d be tattooing Lars, with coils. But before that, Lars was going to tattoo another skull on me with an acetate stencil (very old school stencil method, charcoal and vaseline). That was a cool experience to watch as well. Dude did the line work in less than three minutes without wiping once. Talent.
We ran a bunch of tattoos early in the day and then it slowed down as we expected it to. Oh would you look at that, Lars and Ringo aren’t tattooing… Ringo it’s TIME I hear someone shout. Fuck, this is going down. Lars hands me a couple machines that Matt Hodel and Lars apprentice, Mel, had tuned earlier in the day. I’m setup and ready to go. A crowd gathers around the tattoo table, the stencil is dry. I take a deep breath, press the pedal, dip the needle in the ink, and go right in. And Lars yells! Everyone busts out laughing, I’m already LITERALLY sweating bullets. I laughed and went to town. Ran the lines in a couple minutes, smooth as butter and then packed black as it was a blastover. And exhale. I can check that off my list now. I’ll be ordering a Build it your Fucking Self coil machine soon.
After that, Lars and Rob tag team tattooed Thomas, shirts off. That was a treat to watch. After that, most of the artists packed out and headed home. A group of us who were either staying locally or had shorter drives home, met up at Sake in Columbia for dinner together and then said our goodbyes. Lars invited me to stay the night in his backyard with his cats and chickens. They did a great job keeping the possum I saw in his neighbors back yard away from my tent. :-)
Monday morning, rise and shine, coffee and chat with Lars and K and off to get some grub. Ozark Mountain Biscuit & Bar was recommended and did NOT disappoint! With a full belly, I headed north and again took the scenic route arriving back in Des Moines around 3PM.
Wow! I had the most surreal weekend. So many firsts. So many new faces. So many new friends. So many new experiences. So many great memories.
All this as a result of me liking and following some random tattoo artist dude on IG a year ago. Matt and Lars, thank YOU both very much. To all the other artists (and significant others) that I had the opportunity to meet and share this experience with, THANK YOU! I learned so much from you all! I’m looking forward to my next guest spot, hopefully in January in Clearwater Beach, FL.
Lars, Liz, Mel and Veronica; you’ll have an amazing shop vibe and cohesive team. Thanks for the hospitality and welcoming vibes.
Until next year, Peace, Love, Tacos and MD 20/20 bottle service! ;-P
