Black Lotus Tattoo

The summer of 2009 my momma, sister, aunt Tami and I were sitting at the coast having a few yummy beers enjoying time together. I suggested that in the future we should all get tattoos that remind us of each other. Everyone agreed. Although later that summer my Aunt Tami told me that the only reason she said yes was because she knew my mother would never go through with it ;-)

We are a very close family and my Momma and Aunt Tami have always been friends and sisters. Their nickname for each other was sweet pea. Sadly in September of 2010 we lost my Aunt Tami to cancer.

Flash forward to March 2012. My family and I were in Eugene to visit other family members for a birthday. When we arrived at our hotel I opened the curtains and saw Black Lotus Tattoo across the street. I said,
"Well Momma, here's your chance, let's do our tattoos now!"
Without hesitation she said yes and after doing some research online about Black Lotus and other tattoo parlors in Eugene we gave them a call. They had a cancellation and were able to get us in a half hour later.

Mom's tattoo was a three part sweet pea flower with stem and leaves. It turned out amazingly beautiful with sharp detail and created shading and multi level color. I've seen many half-ass flower tats, especially sweet peas because of their natural form, but Felix did a wonderful job creating a lovely tattoo that my mother will cherish forever. That day was like filling the circle for us and Felix helped make the possible.

Pros:
Large, open facility
Clean
Everyone was friendly and helpful
Many books to flip through, although we brought our own art.
Momma's tattooist was Felix. He did great work and had a great attitude. He became part of the fun right away. ;-) He also advised us on a few other tattoo options that I was wanting advice on and it was extremely helpful. Thanks Felix!

Cons:
Honestly, over the entire trip, we didn't have one con. 6th street isn't the best side of Eugene but we stayed in the area for the weekend and didn't have any issues.

I was tattooed by "Dr." Julien a few years back. At the time he was the only tattooer there. Now, he has a few others working there.

I had to make an appointment about a month in advance. I hear he has a much longer wait now. He also charges by the piece, not by the hour so keep that in mind and expect to pay a lot.

He does pretty excellent work and is a fairly personable guy but you can tell his notoriety has given him a bit of an ego. As far as Eugene goes he's one of, if not the best. If he were in L.A. though, I think he would be considered good, not great.

I gotta admit though, he does some of the most amazing flowers ever. But still charges too much.