Great experience at Voodoo Monkey with Dave. As professional as they get! This place is super clean and has a very relaxed environment.
I emailed Dave my tattoo idea and he communicated with me via email and gave me a price quote. Super friendly and made me feel at ease the entire time. I would highly recommend Voodoo Monkey and Dave Stalter if you're looking for a tattoo. I'll absolutely be a repeat customer.
I've gotten tattooed at Voodoo Monkey three times so far - two originals and then an addition to my very first the last time. Doug, Eric and their newest artist, Lauren, are all awesome. Doug and Eric were both very nice while offering their expertise and inputs about both pieces. Lauren was simply amazing and put me at ease right away. Her painting ability and knowledge of color is very evident in her tattooing.
For my second one, Eric initially told me that he wouldn't be able to fit as much detail as I wanted into the tattoo from the sketch, but I was amazed when he was done that he had included every little delicate detail.
All of the artists do quality work regardless of size or complexity and I would definitely recommend Voodoo Monkey. Walk in with an open mind though, because if they think your design isn't quite right, impossible to do well, or just dumb, they'll tell you.
They had a sign that read "open at 1 p.m." Â I went about 2 p.m....still not open. Â Called number on the door and left a message. Â Noone even bothered to call me back. Â Wish I was cool enough to not have to roll out of bed till after 1 in the afternoon. Â Guess mommy and daddy must pay their bills cuz ya cant make money if your not open!!
Review Source:Dropped in to Vodoo Monkey to talk about getting my first tattoo. Although the artist I spoke with wasn't willing to do the design I wanted on my foot as it was my first one and would probably be too small, he was willing to work with me over e-mail with some other ideas that might work.
But when I emailed the artist I wanted to do my final idea, I was told it was too simple to schedule with that artist; I should have another artist do it.... well I did, just not an artist at Vodoo Monkey.
I was recently visiting the Cleveland area from New York, and decided to stop in and check the place out with a friend. I already had in mind what I wanted if I ever decided to go ahead with it, but only if I felt very comfortable with the place and artists. Well I had a tattoo done by Eric, so needless to say it fulfilled my criteria. I felt very relaxed the entire time and am very pleased with the work. Oh and the pricing was also really reasonable.
Thanks Eric
I got my tramp stamp done here for my 30th birthday in 2008. Â It's a butterfly (yes, I know very stereotypical but my cousin designed it and the symbolism of the butterfly and the colors in it have personal meaning to me) and Eric did the tattoo and I was pretty pleased. Â A friend went with me and got a tattoo of some stars covered up on her foot after I got mine done. Â Over the course of the next couple of months her new tattoo completely rubbed off and you could clearly see the stars that were the original tattoo. Â She wasn't pleased... I was pretty happy with mine though and I would recommend them.
Review Source:I visited Natalie for my last tattoo. Â I had two before I found Voodoo Monkey. Â The comparison between my first two and the one Natalie did are like night and day. Â Her colors and vision were fabulous. Â I simply gave her an idea and she drew it. Â Then turned it into a tattoo. Â I will definitely be going back.
Review Source:Went here because of the proximity to my hotel. Was a great idea! Â Eric was my artist and accommodated my walking in and had a great price for a pretty good size tattoo. Very professional, very clean, very modern parlor that is very welcoming. I will stop in again if I'm ever in the area.
Review Source:This is my 2nd tattoo at Voodoo Monkey Tattoo. This time was lightyears better than the first.
Upon arriving, the guy working the front desk looked confused when I said I had an appointment with Eric. Awesome. Did I mess my appointment up? No. He mumbled his way through the official things he needed to say. Â He was definitely hard to hear so I had to ask him to repeat himself numerous times. Not very hospitable if you ask me. He didn't even tell me his name, or at least that he wasn't the guy going to give me the tattoo.
Once that was over, Eric, Â the actual artist, came over and we discussed the location and price of the tattoo. I quikcly felt at ease - that he cared about what he was doing.
The tattoo itself took about an hour. Eric did a great job. He wasn't overly chatty or awkwardly silent. I felt cared for as he asked every now and then how I was doing. Everything was clean and he was very careful.
I loved what he did - it looks exactly how I hoped it would. I would totally recommend asking for Eric when you get an appointment.
I wanted a tattoo over a burn scar I got some years ago. They were very nice in giving me my options, and looked at my sketch to see what they could do, how big it had to be, etc. Their schedule was pretty full, but somehow they fit me in the next day for Eric. The next day, I received a call that Eric got very sick, so they wanted me to come in a little earlier and get it done by Doug. I appreciated the call letting me know what was up.
Although I got there when they told me to, Doug still didn't get there until my original appointment time (another hour later) but it was fine for me because I didn't eat yet. When he got there, he took my idea and started sketching. It didn't come out exactly how I wanted it, because he took out some features that he didn't think were necessary, like my Grandmother's name. Lucky for me later though, I remembered that my grandmother HATED tattoos and probably would've been mad.
When he got the design down and made a stencil, it didn't cover the whole scar but it got the important parts. His booth was clean and cool and he was very nice to me. He did change his mind about some colors that he initially thought my darker skin wouldn't take, but when he mixed it, it came out nice.
All in all, I would go to this place again. I just didn't like the misinformation about who was doing my tatt or when to come in.
UPDATE:
I went back here 2 years later for my second tattoo and finally worked with eric...he's the best! He was the ONLY artist I could find that took what I wanted seriously and made it epic! The colors he chose to use went well with my skin and he's super friendly! I told my bf to go to him, and he's gone to him twice already for a half-sleeve! He's going to do my half-sleeve too..you give him a tiny idea and he can make anything out of it. Highly recommended!
Only thing I would be wary of though, is that I've noticed ALL the artists there try very hard to talk people out of their ideas. I realize that they are just making sure you actually want it, but there's a line between a small suggestion and completely trying to change your idea. Stick to your guns if there's something you absolutely want. Most of the problems were size-related.
Sometimes what makes a great tattoo shop isn't the quality of the work they do but the quality of the work they don't do. Case in point: me. Over the years he has talked me out of a lot of tattoos that would have really sucked to be on me forever.
There was the eight inch "Uncle Bucky RIP We'll Never Forget You." for my chest that never happened. Good thing too since Uncle Bucky wasn't really my uncle and we did in fact forget him almost right away. He was always jamming me for money - kind of a dick. Anyway, there was the Chinese symbol that would have been stupid and the little stars near your crotch which I think is for chicks and the knuckle thing which I would have had to scrape off with a pocket knife and the Shaquille O'neal and the love America thing and well, you get the point. I am a better person for these guys not doing every tattoo.
And I don't care what anybody says LeBron James tats are awesome and who knows maybe he'll be back in a Cavs uniform some day.
A great place. Ask anyone who has a tattoo from there.
I was tattooed at Voodoo Monkey by one of the co-owners, Dave, in 2006. Â
I wanted an image off the cover of a Leonard Cohen album but tweaked a little and also "This too shall pass" on my wrist. Â
Dave was very polite and professional. Â He was also very quiet. Â I remember joking uncomfortably with him, saying something like "Aren't you suppose to interview me about my life like they do on Miami Ink?"
I'm such a dork sometimes.
When he first laid the stencil on my arm, I said I thought it was a little too small but Dave didn't mind making it a little larger to my liking.
Dave did a beautiful job on my tattoo. Â I pretty much let him do whatever he wanted with the coloring and fortunately for me he did a kick ass job. Â The colors are very bright and vivid. Â Everyone always comments on how pretty it is. Â Oh, it's on my right forearm. Â I have had the tattoo for 5 years and the color is still amazing. Â I don't think it has faded much, if at all.
I think the tattoo cost $150, but I don't really remember.
I will try to upload a picture to my page or this page so ya'll can check it out.
Over all it was a great experience.  Dave even met me and my friends out for drinks afterward at the Garage.  I remember  he was very concerned that I was happy with the tattoo and kept examining his work.  That was cool.
Word of warning: Â When you get a tattoo, you should probably eat before hand. Â I know you will probably be very excited with the anticipation of it all, but really, you should eat. Â Also, maybe it is not such a good idea to pound a bunch of beers on an empty stomach immediately after you get said tattoo. Â You MIGHT end up kissing some guy you don't know, fall asleep on the toilet in a dirty restroom at a hipster bar, throw up at the feet of the guy you kissed as he hands you a rose he bought from the street vendor and pass out in your car in the parking lot behind said hipster bar on west 25th while your dickhead friends continue to drink and never once check on your safety. Â You also might have to get a ride home from the strange man that you kissed because you are too drunk to drive, but you almost die on the way home because he was just as drunk as you were but you didn't know it at the time. Â Also, you might wake up in your friends kids' bed and realize that you left your keys in the strange guy you kissed car. Â Luckily your friends somehow got his phone number and you were able to track him down and get his address so you could go pick the keys up. Â But then when you ask your dickhead friends to drive you to get your keys and pick up your car that is still parked behind the bar, your dickhead friends refuse because they are too hungover. Â Then you have to suck it up and CALL YOUR MOM to come to your dickhead friends house with her spare keys for the car and drive you to the bar. Â Then you go and pick up your keys from that strange guy you kissed last night, that gave you a rose as you puked at his feet and then almost killed you on the way home. Â The meeting is brief and awkward but thankfully he does not ask you out.
Just sayin'. Â It's not like that actually happened to me or anything.
Had a great experience with Doug, and an okay experience with Sean. Â I was surprised at having just an okay experience with Sean because he is 'da man according to everyone else. Â With the design I chose I don't think it inspired him enough..he likes to do big, artistic designs. Â I highly recommend Doug, though. Â They take walk-in appointments which is great, and they are very friendly in there. Â Cash only.
Review Source:love this establishment and those who work here! Â so happy to support cleveland artists in this way and walk away with exactly what i want- a great tattoo that looks great years later! Â it is what people who collect tattoos should think about, collecting art! Â cleveland is lucky to have voodoo monkey and the people that work so hard there. Â i wouldn't think of going anywhere else!
Review Source:I've been pondering with some seriousness the idea of getting a tattoo for a while now.
Thursday I took the plunge.
Actually, I guess I took the plunge a few weeks ago when I had the consult and made the appointment. Thursday I just followed through with said plunging. Whatever.
What I went with was based on Daniel Johnston's semi-famous mural at the record exchange in Austin, TX. I've long enjoyed Johnston's music and appreciated his outsider art, and even had the opportunity to interview him once (in his living room, sharing generic orange soda and menthol cigarettes) for some on-the-side journalism I did to help pay the bills in grad school. That was a morning among mornings in my own mental scrapbook.
Anyway, I had the work done by Natalie. It was really an enjoyable experience. She's super professional and also super charming, and despite my ordinary low tolerance for pain, it wasn't all that bad. Just sorta irritating, as she described it would be before we got started. Before I knew it, she was through.
I got it on my right inner fore-arm, and it is technically upside-down. Natalie pointed this out when I told her how I wanted the stencil positioned, but I said the tattoo was more for me than for anyone else to check out. So, right now, as I type this, I can look down on it and it looks like a reasonably happy frog looking back at me, though when I walk down the street passers-by see something else entirely different.
PS - They are cash only, but they have an ATM with reasonable surcharge on the premises, in case you forget.
Go see Eric, Sean, really any of them. Â They are all really great artists. Â I got one of the first tattoos Eric ever did and I still fly home every once in awhile to get a new one(they are better than nearly all of the work I see done out here and better priced). Â I just got two at the beginning of June and they are rad. Â They're all pretty down to Earth, unpretentious people, whether it is your first or fiftieth they will take good care of you. Â
p.s. Â If you get a tattoo from Eric, ask him about how he almost killed me in Boston.
I had some tattoos done by Sean a few years ago and they still look great! I will be back in Cleveland soon and look forward to getting some more work done by him! He was so cool and creative, he did a cover up freehand using a sharpie to outline his idea on my back and it came out awesome!
Review Source:Voodoo Monkey is the best and when I say that I freaking mean it!
I hadn't gotten a tattoo in over ten years, so I was a bit nervous, especially getting one on my sternum area.
I called ahead and requested Dave after reviewing his work on their website. I talked to him and let him know what I wanted and then went in the day of my appointment with a picture and ideas. He was very polite, professional, clean, and funny. He worked on me and took his time, kept checking on me and when I felt a bit woozy and needed a drink of water, got me some water and a cold paper towel and let me have a few minutes to recoop.
The end result was a beautifully done tattoo that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
The rest of the staff are very nice, laid back and very accomidating. The shop itself is clean and beautiful.
I suggest calling ahead and getting a consult instead of going in the same day as you want to get a tat. My friend did this and could not get Dave or another person she had in mind because she waited last minute. She ended up with a great tat regardless, but if you want to have a specific artist do their work on you, call ahead and consult with them.
If you like Miami Ink, and all those shows and want an atmosphere close to that- I suggest Voodoo Monkey- actually, they are better than Ami and them ;)
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