Tattos, music, and birthday

So as I promised, I'm going to try and update this thing a little more often. This past weekend I got to fly home and do what I do, tattoo. Although it was a tattoo trip I had a couple other reasons alternative motives behind this trip.

First of all it was my moms birthday on saturday and last year we flew to Oahu to celebrate because she was spending the year teaching at Kapalama. So this year, because we switched Islands and she's back in Hilo and I'm now in Oahu, I decided to fly back to Hilo to celebrate.

Secondly, it was HILO'S HO'OLAULE'A! If you're from Hilo you know that it's the biggest block party/concert of the year. Nothing beats it or even comes close to its awesomeness because not only is it 3 stages of the best local bands in the state pumping non-stop music, it's also MANUAHI(FREE)! But as I said earlier, I was there to tattoo because funds in Oahu we dwindling haha! So here are a couple pics from the trip, hope to make it out there again soon, maybe next month *wink *wink

Beast Mode

Normally, I have no problem doing bigger tattoos, but with these tattoos, big is almost an understatement. My boy right here is about 5'5" and quite possibly 180 lbs(rough estimation on my part). He's a beast! He embodies the phrase, "go big or go home". For his very first tattoo, he decided to tattoo his entire chest. Most people when they get their first tattoo, get a sleeve or something, or maybe even just one side of their chest. As if that wasn't enough, he decided to start his left arm sleeve only a few days later. I like this guy, Can't wait until we do his upper half of his sleeve.

"Glory to God"

Quote on his wrist: "As for me and my house, we will serve the lord"

Oahu Scrizzles

So when I was living in Hilo, I found that I was doing so much polynesian and asian work that all I wanted to do was so script. Well wish granted, since I've been in Oahu I have yet to do a piece that didn't include script in it. Now, I can't wait to get back home so I can go back to my tattooing roots and work in my natural element, polynesian haha. btw, I apologize for the long breaks between posts, I like to post with themes but I promise I'll start posting more often with up dates on tattoos as I'm doing them.

My boy Bryce, first tattoo for him, first for me here in Oahu

Braddah Kevin Fox(my favorite black kid ever) giving his chest up to his grandma

my boy giving up his WHOLE chest up for his very first tattoo...go big or go home right?

"Ua Lawa Makou i Ka Pohaku" if you don't know what that means, you better look it up! such a perfect spot for the meaning

I think I'm finally getting the hang of this script thing haha Now Oahu, hit me up for some asian or poly work!

Mash up

808 iD's goal has always been to merge the two dominant ethnicities in Hawaii, Hawaiian and Japanese, and bring them together as cohesive entities. I've finished one particular piece recently that matches displays that description. My boy Kyle from back in boy scout days wanted an ulua tattoo on his chest with some polynesian designs as well as his mon(family crest) with in it. I was pretty stoked from the get go although I did get a little nervous when I was drawing the design on to his chest and his girlfriend was like "umm can you fix the shape of the head to make it look more ulua like?" If I were a fisherman like Kyle, she'd definitely be a keep!
There is also Justin's back piece that I've been working on for a couple weeks that is another great example of blending ethnic backgrounds. On one side we have the sun from the legends of the demi-god Maui. within the sun we have two halves of the face, one in a polynesian style and the other representative of a kabuki painted face. Next step is to add the imperial sun and the great wave to tie in the kanji.

Repeat offenders

Tattoos have always worked in trends. Back in the day it was all about fairies, unicorns, barbwire, and tribal bands everywhere. Now days, it seems that the trends are sleeves and feet for girls. I know I've done my fair share of both.

What the H i've been up to

So I realized that I have a really bad problem, I am a chronic blog neglector. So just to let you all know I'm not dead, here's a couple updates for y'all.

First of all, it's SUMMER TIME! which means vacations and a lot more tattoos. Trip number one was to Ohau. Restocked on swag and finished my cousin Josh's leg up. Also, got to see Kung Fu Panda 2, best movie I've seen so far this summer(better than transformers 3 in my opinion)

My Second trip was to Northridge, CA where I accompanied THE Tricia Allen as her assistant. Although I only did one tattoo on braddah Dan O. it was well worth the cost of flying just in experience gained. I got my ass whooped in hygiene and I got a lesson in the tools of the trade.

After 3 weeks of going here and there with my Oahu trip and then my california trip, I was itching so bad to come home and tattoo...So I did, and I did it big!

I guess my friends in Hilo wanted to get tattooed just as much as I wanted to tattoo which led to two full weeks booked solid. I did everything from polynesian hip pieces to script to asian, and even a filipino inspired arm sleeve. Much mahalo to all of my clients both new and returning, you guys are awesome!

In closing I'd just like to announce that starting August 18th, my new residence during the school the 2011-2012 school year will be in Frear Hall on Oahu at Manoa. Haven't quite figured out how or if I'm gonna be able to tattoo out of my dorm room yet  but rest assured my machines will be with me.

Enough talk, enjoy some pictures.


Josh

Andrew D.

J-Lei

adding on to her previous tattoo(done by someone else)

The 12 hour tattoo

Kiley K.

Haku's Memorial for Maka'ala

Lei's Ear

Keha Aiwohi


Check out my tattoo page to see More of my work

Hope's Redemption

So for those who follow me avidly, and don't worry if you don't, I understand because I probably don't follow you either. For those who do however, you will remember my cousin Hope whose foot I did back in November over the thanksgiving holiday. Well, Hope finally decided to finish her foot but shading in the flowers as well as cleaning um some lines. This process took a grand total of 11 minutes, and by the end Hope was itching for more. She wanted originally to get a scripture on her wrist, and not just the scripture and verse number, she wanted the whole thing. We went back and forth on this idea until I finally convinced her out of it and we went with her shoulder blade instead.
Once we decided on what and where, it was time to draw it out. Let me tell you something, when you're dealing with a number of words in the double digits, it's easy to miss a thing or two along the way. Good thing my other cousin Lacey(also got her foot done in November) posted a picture of the stencil and posted it on facebook because if she hadn't, poor hope would've had the word "stength" on her back rather than "strength". Thanks to the attentive facebook users out there we fixed the little mix-up and got the tattoo done without a snag.