Absolutely almost no absolutes

Not a week goes by that we don't hear, either via walk-in or phone call, the following statement (or a variant)

"Hey, yeah, so I've gone to X studio(s) and they told me they won't do Z. Will you guys do it?"

In this case:
"X" = the number of different studios the person has gone to or contacted, usually between 2 and 12
and
"Z" = hand tattoos, face tattoos, script tattoos, 'offensive' tattoos, etc.

Rarely, if ever, will we refuse these tattoos that so many other studios or artists flat-out will not do.

This hard-line refusal is confusing to us for the most part.
Our job is not to be the final arbiter of an individuals life decisions.
We facilitate your experience, that's all.

Want a hand tattoo? Get one. Our only rule here is that we won't do this as a starter tattoo- we will insist the person prove to themselves that they're ready to brand themselves an outsider to societal norms. This is also true of face and neck tattoos. Nothing visible until you're already tattooed.

However, there are countless studios (usually the 'cool kid' studios) that won't do these tattoos at all- at least not until you're part of their elitist cliques. Then its game on- sleeve up that neck, Jimmy Hipster!

Another example we've heard of is studios refusing to tattoo the word 'fuck' on someone.
Errr... Why not?

This notion of placing ones own moral or ethical standards as higher than the clients is totally confusing to us.

Now, don't get me wrong here, it's not as if we're exploitative bastards, looking to capitalize on ignorance. You come in asking for say, your name on your forehead backwards so you can read it in a mirror, we'll do it- but only after you get an hour long lecture on every possible facet of how that tattoo will bite you in the ass repeatedly.

Same with getting your girlfriend/wife/boyfriend/husbands name... We'll do it, but only after you hear a repetitious tirade about how each and every time couples do this, it kills the relationship. (My personal record is less than 24 hours after a name tattoo, the couple had broken up.)

To sum up- you want to get something, we'll do it. You'll get an education, whether you wanted it or not, but in the end its your decision.

We'll even toss in how much the inevitable cover-up will cost you too.

S.F.T.S.

A couple of days ago, a last-minute walk-in client came in, he wanted a tattoo of the letters 'SFTS'.

At first he seemed somewhat embarrassed about it, in a self-deprecating sort of way. I think he's used to people not getting -at all- what SFTS means.

Sheepishly, he told us that it stands for "Search For The Stoke". When we pressed him for more details, he warmed up to it and revealed to us that its his (and his close circle of friends) personal philosophy.

Search for the stoke.

The stoke.
What the fuck is the stoke?

Only you can answer that question.

The stoke can be anything.
A surreal mushroom trip, a deeply meaningful tattoo, a superb spread of Sushi, gaggingly cute videos of kittens on YouTube, a mindblowing (haw) blowjob... Anything.

The STOKE.

The more we talked about this concept, the warmer I got to it all- Fuck yes. Search for the stoke.

It's not about -finding- the stoke.... It's all about the search for it.

It's worth thinking about at length- perhaps we could all use a little more stoke-searching in our lives.

One can't help but pick up a little wisdom along the way too. An incidental perk associated with the search for the stoke.

Go forth, good ladies and sirs...

Search.