South Seas Tattoo

I approached Kristing with several ideas about a larger chest tattoo that would also pull together some other work on my shoulder.

What she created is a beautiful piece of art and it not only tied together my other tattoos, but enhanced and pulled out more energy and beauty from them.  In her composition she also used my body shape as part of the canvas.

So far beyond my expectations!

Lastly, this was the fourth piece of work I have had since South Seas opened their doors.  Kevin, Simon (x2) and Kristin have all worked on me.  I have always been listened to, considered seriously, and the artist has realized my intention exceeding my expectation.  A joy!

Came to south seas on my last day in Hawaii, Rob was super nice and a absolutely incredible artist. I was wanting a colorful piece, a hibiscus flower and a orchid to tie in with my art I already had on my arm and he did exactly that. He's got that super gentle touch making the experience very relaxing throughout the whole five hours of my arm piece. Loved all the great artists and vibes at south seas, I'll defiantly be returning for more artwork soon!!

I'm giving this place two stars due to poor customer service.  After doing a bit of research, I was looking to get a tattoo in Hilo during my vacation.  My grandfather and both my parents were born in Hilo so it's always been a very special place to me.  

I found South Seas via Yelp and when I checked out their webpage, I found a perfect example of a simple script tattoo that I loved.  I called the shop and they recommended that I email the store's email address to speak directly with the artist.

I was hoping to schedule an appointment with her the following Saturday and she told me she was booked for Saturday but recommended her co-worker.  I booked my appointment with her co-worker and spoke with him a day or two later.  He mentioned that he was going to get a sketch to me but was fairly busy.  I told him not to rush but was looking forward to hearing from him.  I never got a response.  

I wasn't feeling super pumped about this place and decided to cancel my appointment when I walked by the day before my appointment and the studio was completely empty.  

What upset me was that on Saturday morning of my appointment, I saw the original artist I was interested in walking around the farmers market and then passed by the studio twice...both times she was standing at the front counter with NO clients.  She explicitly told me she was "all booked" on Saturday when that was clearly not the case.  

Maybe it was just that my the tattoo I wanted was too simple?  Or maybe she had another reason, but pretty frustrating to know that she lied about being booked when she was open.

I ended up going to another studio, the tattoo took 5 minutes and I couldn't be happier.  Yes, it's a simple tattoo as it's just my last name but it's meaningful to me and I had been looking forward to going to this studio.

It's a bummer that I had such a negative experience as number of people seem to love this studio.