Well this week at the Idle Hands (<----pet peeve) was filled with painting, hammering, and tattooing our asses off. Everyone was super busy. Ian finished painting the back room and ceiling which is where Eric, Iggy and I work so we're happy to be able to hang our art back on the walls.

 That arm in the wall is gonna gitcha, Ian!

Adam also finished up the trim and the wall boards (or whatever you call them). I didn't get a picture of him working this week but I'll share with you this one of him in the middle of the construction with a shirt that says "Idle Hand's Killing Me."

Adam, you're the best!

So this weekend is the San Jose Tattoo Convention.   Iggy, Aaron and Jason Donahue will be there all weekend. This is a great convention with lots of amazing artists and it falls on Halloween weekend so I'm sure there will be lots of shenanigans to keep you occupied.

Jason's painting for his new banner

 

JDon also tattooed this really cool moth on Eric

Eric was getting another moth by Cris when I stopped by the shop yesterday and he got a FriendShip tattoo by Jerry the day before. I wonder what he'll get today?

 

Aaron tattooed this on our friend Tiffany who works down the street at  The Vapor Room

 

Eric Jacobsen

Cris Cleen

 

Holly Ellis

This is the 2nd sitting for this tattoo...one more to go

 

Holly Ellis

This is the 1st sitting for David. Updates to come!

I tried to find some pictures from last year at San Jose to share with everyone but I apparently only took 2 pictures...

This:

 And this:

  I put this 2nd one next to a painting it's always reminded me of... Sure, Jason's eating a hamburger in the bathtub, and he's not a martyr, but there are just too many similarities for me to pass this up, right?

And Martin, before you go laughing too hard at Jason, I would like to remind you of this day:

 

You look very handsome

So do you, Captains

 So Eric, Cris and I will be working at the shop this weekend. We get a few trick or treaters in there and I got a bunch of candy the other day for the children but we and all of our clients and friends ate it all already! IT WAS FOR THE CHILDREN! DAMMIT! But if you're in the neighborhood stop by. Maybe Jerry will be giving out haunted FriendShip tatties...

Have a great week and a frighteningly spooktacular Halloween!

-Holls Balls 

Superman Has Killer Weed

When I took over the shop from TJ two and a half years ago, he told me it was like he was sending his baby (the shop) off to college. He wanted me to move forward with it, to help it grow and continue to grow and to change. I thought I understood what he meant but as the years have gone by I think I'm only just now beginning to understand. It seems like I'm just here to help facilitate this entity we call the shop into becoming whatever it's going to become. Like my hair, the shop is ever changing and has a mind of it's own.

I've learned not to push too forcefully or too much with the shop. If something doesn't fit, well, it just doesn't fit. Whether it's an artist or a color I want to paint the wall (Bright Green? What?!). When we started the construction a few months ago I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do...It sounds crazy to think that I would begin to tear down walls without really knowing exactly every aspect of what was going to be done. Or that I would leave the country half-way through it. I can't tell you that it (or any part of the last few years) has been stress-free, or painless. But somehow everything works out in the end.

The construction isn't completely finished and each day someone is in there working on it...whether it's Ian painting or Adam adding more trim to new places we didn't know we'd want to have trim... Each week holds something new for Idle Hand. This week was no exception. As the shop takes on new shape and form, so too do the artists who work within it's walls. And while change can be difficult, sometimes it's necessary. This week Jason Tyler Grace announced he will be leaving Idle Hand to embark on a new journey. It's hard to find words that can sum up working with Jason over the last 4 years at this moment. All I can say right now is Jason will be greatly missed but we are all excited for him to start a new adventure.

And I'm excited about what's in store for Idle Hand. Last week was a productive week as far as tattoos go. I'm so excited about working with our newest artists, Eric and Cris, and also inspired by everyone else I work with, whether it be full time or popping through as a guest artist (Tilt was here this week and I'm going to post about him next week when I have pictures of the tattoos he did). Here are a few samplings of some of the work made at Idle Hand this week:

Here's a big, intricate piece Jason D. started. It depicts the legend of Kiyohime and the Monk Anchin.

Iggy did this tattoo on Ryan Gregg while he was here doing a guest spot. Ryan's a pretty rad dude and we all had a great time hanging out with him.

Ryan and Isaac

Eric Jacobsen

Cris Cleen

Holly Ellis

One last thing I learned this week is that I need to start writing these blogs during the week instead of the day I'm supposed to post. It's after 3 a.m. and my eyes are no longer looking in the same direction. I'd rather be sleeping right now but instead I've been editing photos and trying to figure out how to add video! Also, why are some of my pictures no longer centered? Bleargh!  So without further ado, I will leave you with this little gem:

Love you guys!!

Hope everyone has a great week! See you next Monday ...

xoxo hollyellis

Weekly Tattoo Update #1

Hey Everyone!

There have been a lot of changes to the shop in the last few months and we really want to share them with everyone!

We've done a lot of construction and the shop is a completely different shop...If you haven't been in since June then you definitely should stop by! You won't believe it... we tore down walls, put new walls up, new floor, tore a ceiling out! And we've got more changes coming soon...The layout is much more open and brighter now.

We decided to take the shop in a new direction and on top of the construction we decided to start having more guest artists. In the past few months we've had Krys Noseworthy from Newfoundland, Canada, Brian from Love Hate Tattoo in Rochester New York, Daniel Aranda from Australia, TJ Hernandez from Cicatrix Tattoo in Salt Lake City, Ryan Gregg from Lodi, California... and we've got Bill Falsetta from Name Brand Tattoo in Ann Arbor, Tony DeRigo from Chronic Tattoo in Cleveland and Tilt from Newlife in Champaign, Illinois.... yee haw!!

We've got 2 new artists at the shop, Eric Jacobsen and Cris Cleen. Two awesome dudes and amazing artists. Stop in and say hi.

We've also got a few conventions coming up... Jason, Jason, Aaron, and Iggy are all going to be tattooing at the San Jose convention Halloween weekend. You should definitely go check it out and get tattooed! The weekend of January 15th is the Austin convention and Holly, Jason Donahue and Aaron will all be tattooing there...giddyup!!

Lastly, we'd like to keep y'all updated on the tattoos we've been working on so we're going to be doing this weekly blog with photos of tattoos done during the week...




Here's a rad leaf Eric did this week. He specializes in realistic tattoos and he drew and tattooed this using leaves she brought in as reference.



This was a fun and awesome late night tattoo Iggy did on me. It's one of a couple official Idle Hand logos and Iggy also sports one on his neck!



This was done by our other new addition to the team, Cris Cleen. If you haven't seen his work you definitely need to check it out!



This was taken with my phone so it's not the best, clearest picture. I'm almost done with this Candyland tattoo on Miss Kate and it's been so much fun! She made me the cutest necklace with a little flower pot on it too that I'm pretty stoked to wear!



I also started this tattoo this week (and took this photo with my phone)...I have a few more hours of work to do on it so you'll be seeing a finished photo in the future... This was originally going to be placed on her back but her shoulder blades distorted the image so much we decided to go with the ribs...Not only is Natasha a really cool chick but she sat like a rock!

Hopefully you enjoy the photos and check back next week for another update!

xoxo
Holly