Carl Hallowell Blog | Traditional Japanese Irezumi & Tebori Tattoos

Sujibori, or Outline Stage

Posted by Carl Hallowell
On April 25, 2015

This young man here came in with the right idea. I am very lucky he came to me. Or perhaps I deserved it. Or karma led to this chance meeting. Or the tattoo gods presided over the realm we walked that night. Either way, here we are, and there is nothing left to do but […]

Established 1995

Posted by Carl Hallowell
On April 8, 2015

Before the Sailor Jerry books came out, before the Tattoo tv shows, before the internet, and cell phones, before computers were everywhere, before credit card scanners, before the revival of the rotary tattoo machine, before a tattoo color kit included ten shades of green, before the tattoo internet chatrooms made trade secrets public, before there were ten tattoo magazines, before the death of the […]

Keepers of the Light

Posted by Carl Hallowell
On April 1, 2015

Join me as we head underground into the catacombs past what you thought you knew, leaving familiarity behind for a sense of adventure and allowing the doors of perception to open. True reality can become apparent. Rows and rows of designs, these are the archetypes. Which one will you be today? – Miike Ness… The […]

Posted by Carl Hallowell
On March 9, 2015

Didn’t take Jessica too many trips up to D-Town to get this bad boy wrapped up B. That’s because of the hours and hours she sits each session she comes to town. Did you hear the story of Bodhidharma’s tattoo? The Medusa tattoo who’s wearer had turned to stone? The Sailor who slept with two […]

Posted by Carl Hallowell
On February 7, 2015

Dig the strength it must’ve taken Ess to finish this large tattoo piece in one session. Life goes by quickly, jump on it. Wait a month to heal? No Thanks! Hammer it out, I am the anvil. She was resolved beforehand. Is this not the teaching of the ages? In the middle I had to […]

Posted by Carl Hallowell
On January 22, 2015

Tribal Tattoo This customer came in with a misplaced cross and tribal tattoo that was not too well done. He dreamed of a tribal half sleeve but didn’t know how to go about getting it done. I covered the old cross and tribal with a new design; next, I added on down the arm with […]

Posted by Carl Hallowell
On December 15, 2014

Working that elbow, pounding in the color. Dipping and working, dipping and working. From one color to the next. Instead of swinging a pickaxe, guiding the machine, as it taps out design after design. Instead of shoveling snow at home, I’m shoveling in color inch by inch at my tattoo shop. There may be some […]

Posted by Carl Hallowell
On December 12, 2014

Background Complete At the inception of my website, I was excited to post in-progress tattoos. It really helps to illustrate the progress one must make towards attaining their goal. It also represents the amount of work a tattooer can get done in a session. It is also a badge of honor for those who sit […]

Posted by Carl Hallowell
On December 5, 2014

Detroit the Motor City Rob returns for his second black and gray tattoo sleeve from me, we talked last night about how it was funny that it all started off with one tattoo on the inside of his other forearm. That tattoo? A single needle “DETROIT” done in Old English that we did as a […]

Posted by Carl Hallowell
On November 14, 2014

Five Masks of the World – Part Two Today’s bad tattoos are the ones that are too good. Drawn with every bell and whistle imaginable without any correct details. These tattoos are drawn with a realism more suited for comics, the symbolic representation of tattoo art is betrayed; rendered in a personal style that is […]