Story Title
More to come later on when I get motivated.
Here are some of my tattoos.
The Power and Magic side.
I had this dragon done by Bobby Thorton of BOSS Tattoo in Perth WA. January 2005
It took only 4 and a half hours from start till finish. What an ordeal! Bobby is one of the living legends of the Australian tattoo world. He came highly recommend to me and I am so pleased that I got him to do some body art work for me. After spending over 2 hours looking through every dragon design in their folders I was about to leave when I spotted a half finished, hand drawn sketch stuck up on the wall behind the counter. After having a closer look I saw it had no tail but was the sort of original dragon I wanted. Something no one else had. I booked in for the following day (after haggling on the price. Bobby wanted to charge me $650 at first but I talked him down to $450.
In While Bobby was doing the work I discovered he was an old mate of Bon Scott's. Bobby and Bon knocked around together in Perth before Bon joined ACDC. I was treated to some really cool stories on them as wild boys growing up in WA. During the tattoo we listened to Steve Earl and chatted to some regulars that popped in to see what was going on.
Since the sketch had no tail Bobby decided to freehand it. I originally wanted the tail to go up my neck but Bobby in his wisdom ignored that and put it over my shoulder instead. A wise man indeed. I probably would have regretted having it up my neck later in life. After about two hours Bobby had finished the black outline and shading. Man! It looked awesome! We had a five minute break then straight back into doing the colouring. Poor Bobby, who is getting on a bit in age was having bad hand cramps but being the legend he is soldiered on and didn't make a single bum line. When it was all finished Bobby played one of the nastiest tricks on me, the tattoo was still bleeding a lot and he sprayed it with pure alcohol! Holy shit! You think four and a half hours of tattooing is painful, you should feel the sting of alcohol onto the raw wound! I couldn't breath! Bobby just smiled at me and said "stings a little don't it' What an understatement! It fucking KILLED!
The Family and Pride side
I had my 'Wolf' done January 2002 up in Townsville in Far north Queensland by Leon Bowen of Second Skin. Leon is the son of another living legend of the tattoo world, Les Bowen. I was back up in Townsville visiting my then business partner Danny. I wanted to get another tattoo but was done with small tacky ones. I wanted a REAL tattoo I could be proud of. I spotted an air brushed wolf in the rack and knew right away that was the one for me. I had my doubts that it would turn out as good as the picture but Leon is so talented. The photos do not do it justice, it truly is an awesome piece of work. I might be slightly biased but every tattooist I have shown it too has been blown away with the detail and quality of workmanship.
Leon had been doing the wolf for about an hour before Danny came back inside to have his 'Eternity' logo tattooed on his upper arm. I have a matching one on my back (see below) This was part of our business plan. If we were still in business after 18 months I would come back up and Danny would get his first tattoo. Danny's was over and done with in about 30 minutes. Matt did it as he did mine 18 months before. I was still 'on the table' for another two hours. All up it took about three and a half hours. I was so stocked with the end result, so was Leon. He had to get out his camera and tripod and take a photo of it for his collection.
During the tattooing we listened to Faith No More. While I was being done Leon's brother was doing a 'Bundy' label on the back of some guys head! They had only done the 'bar code' before we left but man the dude's head was SO RED! It must have been drilling him.
Wolf watching Eternity
These two were also done up in Townsville by Mad Matt at Les Bowen's Second Skin in September 2000. This was done during the Sydney Olympics. Air fares were so cheap and I wanted to just 'get away' Matt had quoted me $100 for the celtic Eternity symbol but I have to get a great deal where ever I go so I talked him into doing the wolves head as well for the $100. Danny and my business was called Eternity Unlimited. So I had the Eternity symbol tattooed on my back as a sort of binding contract. Since I was the wolf of the partnership the tattoos represent 'The Wolf Watching Eternity' since I was keeping an eye on business.
The other one....
My first tattoo was sort of a joke. My father is a little bit on the 'straight' side and hates tattoos, sorry hated tattoos.. We used to have this conversation from time to time about people that had tattoos must have a low self esteem and needed tattoos to get attention and feel better about themselves. I would usually come back at him about the big tough truckies and sailors with 'Mother' in a love heart on their arms. I'd ask him if that showed they were in need or attention or if it showed they loved their mother? Dad would usually agree. So after a long time I decided I would have a joke on dad. I went and got Mal from Body Art in Taree to put something on me that dad couldn't ever be disappointed in. I had told myself for years that my first tattoo would be something that meant the most in the world to me. So I got a love heart with 'Mum & Dad' tattooed on my butt. Mal who knew my girl friend at the time did me a good deal and only charged me $45 for it. Usually no tattooist will do a guys butt for anything less then $150.
I had showed my little brother what I had done and he said it was a cool idea. I did not tell mum and dad about it at all. I had to wait... Then as usual dad was talking about tattoos and his dislike for them so I asked him "Hey Dad, remember those big truckies with the Mother tattoos? What would you think if i had "Mum & Dad" tattooed on my butt? He said "well it would show that you love your mother and me." So I said "so you wanna see it now or later then? He was lost for words.. He ran away before i could drop my dacks to show him. He had a change of heart about tattoos ever since then. Now that I have some good tattoos he seems to be very proud of them, old friends of his come i from out of town and dad always says "Hey Jas, take your shirt off and show them your tattoos" I just smile and know I have done my little bit to change an old straight guys opinion of tattoos and those that have them. 
