I’ve been trying to do Enduring Ink for a few years now. Sometimes life legitimately got in the way - things like moving will disrupt the best laid plans. However, most of the time the problem was me. I procrastinate (I’ll tell you more about that later), and I’m not a good marketer. I’m introverted and not always the most confident. Posting an ad online for someone to be in the book is worlds different than seeing an awesome tattoo on someone out in public and approaching them. That’s way outside of my tiny little comfort zone.
So when 2011 gave way to 2012 I started to put a lot of thought into what would be a really big decision for this project: do I continue or do I pack it in and just stop. There’s a lot of people out there who volunteered to be in the book who must be wondering what the hell is taking so long, maybe I finally just tell them “I can’t do this” and put them out of their misery. Of course, there’s a lot of people out there who volunteered to be in the book who are genuinely excited by the book and want to see this happen, and I’d be disappointing a lot of people, not least among them myself.
Then I got an email from one of those people wondering when she could buy the book. And really it took me 2 more weeks of soul searching, but that email was enough. I decided to stop being a pussy about this and just get it done. I’ve emailed a local tattoo shop about getting business cards in their shop, maybe even shooting the artist for the book. I meet with him tomorrow, and if all goes well I’ll do another post all about it and include the name of the shop. I’m so far outside of my comfort zone on this one that I can even see it from here.
But you know what? That’s just what I needed.
So now I have an increased sense of purpose and a determination to do all the things I need to do for this project that make me want to hide under a large rock.
Wish me luck.
Remiss
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, or looked for participants for the book, or edited the photos I have, or done anything really. This project is a labor of love. That’s code for “I don’t get paid to do this”. That means that certain things come up that often mean putting this aside for a day, or week or month.
I want to be clear: I will see this book through to the light of day if it’s the last thing I do when I’m 99 years old. Having said that, I’d like to make a push to get it done this year, because I really doubt they’ll let me bring in tattooed people for photoshoots in the Old Folk’s Home when I’m 99.
The reason I’ve been remiss in my duties for Enduring Ink the last few months is actually another side project that’s also a labor of love. This one had the fortune of taking off a little quicker than Enduring Ink which means it got more attention. This project is a WebSeries. A supernatural detective story by the name of Dominion, which I’m the Co-creator and Head Writer for. We’re still looking for funding, but we have 6 episodes almost complete and we just did a big launch in NY last week which we hope will generate some more attention for us. In addition it looks like we might be featured at a small film festival, not yet to be named for fear of jinxing it, soon.
If you’d like to check it out, hit up http://www.DominionSeries.com
As of now though I’m back to juggling. Ads will go out, pictures will be edited and people will be shot. With a camera, of course.
As always, if you’re interested in being in the book, or know someone who might be then have them hit me up.
The last shoot was Meg, a really fun person with some awesome nerdy tattoos.
She’s got the eponymous character from The Little Prince book on the back of her neck. Then there’s the robot on her arm, a Super Mario Bros. ring around her ankle, and, of course, the pictured Bobba Fett inspired pin-up girl. That last one alone is worth the price of admission. The Boba Fett piece is one her tattoo artist plans to enter into some contests, so we wish them great luck with that!
Meg’s also got a two wicked cupcakes, and I mean wicked. These little guys look like cupcake versions of the Jolly Roger (arrr!) and speak to her dream of having a bakery. Meg’s also got a phoenix on her chest, and the Vonnegut quote “everything was beautiful and nothing hurt…” on her ribs.
Easily the best part of this project is meeting these wonderful people and talking to them about their stories.
Filed under tattoo tattoos star wars ink little prince Vonnegut The Little Prince Super Mario Brothers Mario Brothers
This one took me a while to process and upload, due to some unexpected trips abroad. This participant has this large dragon on her back. She came by for the shoot with her husband and two kids and we had a blast doing the photos and talking. We ended up snapping a few family photos for her with her kids as well, because why not when everyone’s in the same room and in a good mood.
I have another shoot completed, and will be uploading the photos this week. In the meantime it’s back to CraigsList to look for more participants.
Filed under tattoo tattoos dragon back piece
Two tattoos from the newest participant in the Enduring Ink book, Kav.
Filed under tattoo tattoos quote bubble gun enduring ink
Enduring Ink is very much a labor of love. And as such it sometimes get pushed to the back burner as life gets in the way. It’s like John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
Well other plans or not, life’s little surprises getting in the way or not, I am determined to complete Enduring Ink and get the book published and have this project see the light of day.
To that end, it’s time to strap in and get serious about this again, and get the photographs and stories finished as soon as possible so we can focus on the page design. And to help with awareness we now have a new website design, a Twitter account and a Tumblr account.
Add will run, websites will be updated, photos will be taken, the book will be completed.
Filed under tattoo enduring ink website tattoos ink twitter tumblr john lennon
