Tattoo artist recommendations

Stay away from Dublin Ink

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

You wanna explain that, or should I just delete it?

Do what you want.

The owner, ****ed my arm up before he opened up DI. He bailed on many appointments that he made and he messed up a lot of guys tattoos. Left them in bits, half done, bad lines, poor quality work.

6 years I was waiting for him to finish what he started, in the end I had to get it finished by someone else. A good few studios in Dublin wouldnt finish it for me as it was so bad that they did not want to be associated with the previous work.

They were shocked when I told them the whole story about him.

Delete these posts if you want but tbh if you do, then someone else will be getting messed up.

DamoElDiablo wrote: »

Honestly, there's no need for any attitude. We just don't allow posts slating studios when they offer no explanation why! Trust me, we have had enough of that in the past, and in order to avoid any problems, simply getting an explanation of why you advise against the place covers it.

Sorry Damo,

The post comes across as having attitude but that was not the intention.
I understand about not bashing studios without due cause. I just hope people dont find themselves in my position.

Just dropping my own two cents in here as I've been tattooed and pierced in a good few shops at this stage.

I wouldn't go near Dublin Ink. For piercings or tattoos. How their piercer got her job is just beyond me, she's made a mess of my sisters helix and a friends lobe (HOW do you f*ck up a lobe piercing) she should give it up before she really tries something she's not able for and leaves someone with a serious problem. Some of their tattoo work is okay, nothing incredible, unfortunately on the people I know with work from Dublin Ink, two are currently in the process of covering them up/fixing them. It seems crazy to me in this day and age that a tattoo only a few months old would be so poorly done it needs to be fixed. I can't speak for their artists as people, but I've heard on here and from people I know that there's some big attitude problems in the shop too, take from that what you will.

I used to get all my piercings at Wildcat when I was 15 to 17. I never found the people there particularly nice, especially those on the desk but I stuck with them for a long time, until the British woman (who I would gladly shame if I knew her name) messed up my bridge piercing and told me I'd moved during the procedure. The piercing was not only crooked but shallow with a lot of blood. She then said she'd repierce it for me but I would have to pay another €70. I told her no way and she'd be piercing it again correctly for no extra cost which she did after a lot of huffing. That left a bad taste in my mouth and I haven't gone near them in about three years. A shame because Greg (who seems to have vanished into thin air?) and the American guy (Patric?) were both brilliant piercers and a pleasure to deal with. Since then I've gotten all piercings done by Steve at Snakebite and I can't recommend him highly enough, one of the soundest guys I've met in the piercing community. Paddy from Bodyshock is also a gentleman and great piercer, but I only went to him once.

Spilled Ink are fantastic and I hope to get Paul to do some Japanese work on my right arm when I'm finished the left. He's done one tattoo for me so far and it looks brand new still, healed up perfectly and he was great to deal with before, during and after the tattoo. The owner seems like a very nice guy too, as does the other tattooer Anto, and I've seen a lot of his work on a friend and it's all good. Classic Ink are my other studio of choice, where I've gotten a lot done recently. Great shop and always a good energy in the place, great for anyone who's nervous about a first tattoo or just in general. Lots of flash to choose from if you're looking for reference, or just to choose a classic design. All the lads will also modify any existing flash however you like. I got my first tattoo at Golden Cat when I was young and knew no better, and will be having it covered up soon. It's not the worst, but it's far from the best. Can't speak for them now as I've not been in, but from what I've seen on Facebook the quality of work is still average at best. Got my second tattoo from someone in Snakebite two years ago and for what the tattoo is they did a fine job, but they were far from pleasant to deal with, no interest in naming the artist because everyone has their off days and I only met them once, it just made for a bad experience and an uncomfortable atmosphere, no good when you're getting a six hour tattoo. I've also seen some lovely stuff from Colourworks and Skin City but never been in myself.

Anyway that's my experience of these shops. I know it's a long post and I'm sure I repeated myself a few times in other posts but I think it's better I give all the details rather than just praising one studio and bashing another. There's a few more I've been into and walked right out of again, a lot of places don't last very long or change their name or artists, so it'd be unfair to say x was a kip last year when it might be putting out incredible work now. I have no connection to any studio nor am I in any way involved in tattooing or piercing others, so I hope this post isn't a problem, just sharing my 5 or so years of experience with Dublin studios.