Blue Rose Tattoo Shop, Thornton, CO
I started my 1st Tattoo Apprenticeship back in March of 1991. I was mentally, not prepared for what awaited me. At that time, tattooing was only recently legal in New York City, and so, shops still had to claim alleagence to either the Hell's Angels or the Pagans, where I lived upstate in Woodstock, NY.
My early lineage comes from Pat Sinatra via Shotsie in North Haledon, NJ.
I tattooed for about 3 years after that apprenticeship but was not stable enough to commit to it back then.
The school of hard knocks, called life, here in corporate federal Colorado has brought me back around to see the error of my ways. I needed to figure out a trade that I can do that pays me some cash so that I can spend most of my time doing what I want to do - and I can live low - I don't need to make a ton... so after about the last 5 years bouncing around retail from Home Depot to now - caregiving - I have decided to go back to groveling for a tattoo apprenticeship. It's no worse than what I am doing in these stupid jobs...
this is a calf-piece I did back then
In this apprenticeship, I just need to practice my line-work and get my color-packing back up to speed. I will get a bunch of guinea pigs together to work on. It should take between 3 months to a year to get back where I want to be. I will have to tolerate a bunch of BS as that is the nature of a tattoo apprenticeship -egos... so that will likely be the most aggravating part of it. I will be posting about my experience with this...as I go.
