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The Flower Priest

  • Posted by Carl Hallowell
  • On October 16, 2015
What to say of this, a piece I worked on for years, on a great friend and a great artist, who’s strength is equal to his talent… Over and over what impresses me is the ability of my customers to stand up to the intense physical pain of tattooing… This pain is especially excruciating when […]
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Peacock works for a cover up

  • Posted by Carl Hallowell
  • On October 8, 2015
Sitting up late working, maybe its not tattooing, not painting… Strangely, its writing, one of the first art forms I ran to, after I had read the lyric sheets for everyone from 7 Seconds to The Smiths, even as I recoiled from the reading assignments in english class… school sucked. I had my friend draw […]
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Autumn Mix Irezumi

  • Posted by Carl Hallowell
  • On September 21, 2015
Every customer is just as important as the next one. “You are only as good as your last tattoo.” And yet, there is an added pressure when you know the tattoo will be seen more than others, or, when you know that you will see the tattoo more than others. But it is a pressure […]
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Tenka Gomen; Kabuki Kumadori

  • Posted by Carl Hallowell
  • On August 10, 2015
Rememberin’ back when i knew every tattoo shop in town… Next came the era when I actually knew most of the tattooers… Of course i started tattooing in Amarillo, and spent the bulk of my career tattooing in Ft. Worth, and am now tattooing in Dallas, the big city, the Big D… But then again […]
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Sumi Botan

  • Posted by Carl Hallowell
  • On July 28, 2015
This will be my last shared post from Carlhallowell.com to Facebook, for a while at least. I want to keep all content exclusive from site to site, including my instagram feed @featherhand and the shop feed @elmstreettattoo. The purpose of all of these accounts is primarily to showcase my traditional tattooing and traditional japanese tattooing, […]
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Peony sketches for HR

  • Posted by Carl Hallowell
  • On July 15, 2015
The old way is tired. The new way is fresh. The old attitude is jaded, the new, exuberant. Clinging to old ways, old habits prohibits renewal. Renewal is natural, renewal is springtime, renewal is vital. Renewal is not stopping the mind. Not stopping the mind allows it to be everywhere at once. This is the […]
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Tenka Gomen

  • Posted by Carl Hallowell
  • On July 7, 2015
Ohayo gozaimasu! Sujibori irezumi today. I am practicing the japanese language now, in addition to studying it’s great images, which I have been pursuing for over twenty years. I am also studying Yamato’s written languages, and the calligraphy practice of shodo to write them. It is a slow journey, but it is a passion that […]
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Liberty School

  • Posted by Carl Hallowell
  • On June 27, 2015
Liberty Electric Tattooing was my tattoo parlor I opened in 2002 and ran until 2009. I was run out of my hometown of Ft Worth, Texas by city planners, gentrification, and big business. I fought like the samurai the tattoo business had taught me to become. But my two swords were no match for the […]
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Mikiri, The Japanese background

  • Posted by Carl Hallowell
  • On June 14, 2015
Japanese tattooing is king. In the tattoo above, you see Mikiri, a Japanese tattoo background pattern that is an essential part of traditional Japanese tattoo design. It spreads across the body like water and like the wind it so often depicts. It is vast, large, and limitless like the void. It is challenging, deep, and […]
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East and West: A Tattoo Story

  • Posted by Carl Hallowell
  • On June 2, 2015
Slowly, I prepare my station for the tattoo to be done today. There is only this tattoo, there is only now. The future is nonexistent, the past is void. There is no hurry, there is no pain. There are only the materials to be prepared. Stainless steel needles and rich, thick black ink. Barrier bags […]
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