Fresh Ink Tattoos

Popped my first tattoo cherry. Walked in at noon with some questions and inquiries, Tommy was friendly and helpful answering them.

Gave him an image of what I wanted off my phone. A simple lotus outline about the size of my fist. Tommy fit me in before his next appointment that day and I was done in within the hour completely satisfied with the work.

I felt completely comfortable and at ease. Tommy knows what he is doing and does it well. He was also very adamant about keeping the integrity and originality of the design I wanted.The atmosphere was relaxed and chill.

First tattoo done, but defiantly not the last.

This review is split into two parts.  The first part is 5 stars, for Tommy.  The second part is... no stars for Vince.

I have a lot of tattoos, and I'm always on the look for a new, amazing artist.  When I saw that Fresh Ink was doing a huge promotion, I examined every photo on their yelp, their website and facebook profile for samples of work.  I was impressed, to say the least.  It looked like Tati and Tommy were amazing artists, and I was excited to have work done there.  The deal certainly appealed to me, even though I know the old expression, "A good tattoo ain't cheap, a cheap tattoo..." you know the rest.

Anyway, the first moment I walked in, I was greeted by Vince.  I said I was interested in having work done, and that I had seen every photo they had online, so I was comfortable with whomever working on me.  I did not know that Vince's work was not on the websites (for whatever reason).  He grabbed on instantly and said, "I can do it."  At this point he hadn't actually given me his name, so I wasn't sure if he was Tommy or what.  So I went along with it, and said sure, just draw me up a sketch of the tattoo so I can see what we're dealing with and I'll put down a deposit.

It took about 10 minutes for him to draw a simple sketch.  Then Tommy had to come over and ask him where he was going to place it, to which Vince literally said, "Umm..." and looked at him.  Tommy had to do all the work.

I ignored my gut.  Do not ignore your gut.  Ever.  My gut was telling me to take back my cash and say  no, thank you.

This was, sadly, not the end.  Because I was an idiot.

I was satisfied with the sample he drew, and came back for my appointment that week.  I should have left when Vince drew on my arm with a marker and erasing it over and over again with a rough paper towel that actually started to irritate my skin.  He didn't shave the skin (the first time I have ever seen this).  He then said to me, "I've never done this type of tattooing before!" really excited.  I held my breath.  I couldn't look.  I wanted to get up and leave, but I didn't.  He assured me the tattoo would take 2-3 hours.  I wanted to believe.

6 hours later, I had to miss an important appointment, and I looked down to see my new tattoo... and hated it immediately.  Giant blobs of black, warped shapes, uneven lines, no continuity... and I sat through that for 6 hours without stopping him.  Yeah, MY FAULT.  My fault, I know.  This wasn't my first time getting a tattoo.  WHY I let him work on me, I have no idea.

I emailed Fresh Ink that night and told them I was unhappy.  Tommy immediately set aside time for me to come in a few weeks later and offered to try and fix it.  He did the best he could with what was already done to me, and even asked about the giant black blob.  He spent about 3x longer on me than I expected, trying to fix a number of things wrong with the tattoo.  He wouldn't let me tip him, though I insisted.  He really tried to make me happy with my work.  

Unfortunately, it's so bad that my options are to laser it off... or completely camouflage it with a solid piece around it, which is what I'm going to do.  Probably with my main artist at another shop.  I would go with Tommy, but I really don't want to be in the same shop with Vince.

I checked in on Fresh Ink recently, and noticed that Vince is doing a $30 an hr deal.  I certainly didn't pay that little for my jacked up tattoo.  Beware, guys.  Remember that a good tattoo isn't cheap, and a cheap tattoo ISN'T GOOD.

Went in with my  husband to finish his leg.  We've had Tommy do our work for years now and don't trust anyone else.

Beautiful detail

He'll even tell you straight up if the tattoo you're getting is a bad idea.