Milkshakes and rants

Phew.
After a very hectic, and very, very fun August, we're kinda back to normal here.
We miss all of our buddies, but it's also nice with a little quiet once in a while.
The quiet is not gonna last too long, though, cause London is coming up, and that convention has a way of sneaking up on us, fast!
Allan is working on designs for the convention, and maybe, if they're ready in time, we'll post a little preview. If not, you'll just have to wait and see!

I have some good news for everyone who've been asking ever since it closed; the waiting list will open soon.
Yay!
Not saying how soon, but soon-ish, so start thinking of fun ideas!
Also, since we're on the topic of the waiting list....

Sometimes i'll write someone about finally getting their tattoo appointment, and they're unable to accept due to various circumstances like loss of a job, moving house, or just being plain broke, which is understandable, of course, but also a giant waste of time for us and the other people on the list.
And then there are the people who are super stoked in their mails, but never reply, which is just weird... or my personal favorites; the people who get tired of waiting and go to another artist, but never think of letting us know.

The point is, while most people are more than happy to jump at the chance to get tattooed, and are well prepared, there are some who seem to sign up without considering that they will eventually have to get tattooed!
We do try to give everyone a few months notice, but my point (i have many points!) is: when you sign up for the waiting list, start saving up. And if something happens that makes you unable to get tattooed, like say moving house or getting pregnant, please just take yourself off the list and sign back up when you're ready again.
If you don't, you're missing the point and you're wasting our time.

Whoa, that sounded harsh! But really, i'm just looking to make our system as efficient as possible, and make sure that the people on that list who really want to get tattooed, can get tattooed with as little waiting as possible.
So if you're a person who's on the waiting list but maybe shouldn't be... please send a mail to uncleswaitinglist@gmail.com with the subject "delete me". You can always sign back up later.

Ok, rant over!
Here are some pictures from the Black Metal show.
And some other random shots too.
Most of these are taken with my analog Canon and as you can see, it was entirely too dark at the show for that kind of film, but i had to try anyway!

The dino looking rather blurry... and slightly constipated?

Statue

Another one

Front room goodness

And workroom

I already published these on my blog, but i like them a lot, so i'm putting them up here too! 

From left: Wendy, Allan & Lucifer, Matthew and David

From left: Matt, Davee, random photobombers and Nick

Here's one from the instagrams of our painting night a few days before the Aussies had to leave

A tattoo Matthew Gordon did on one of our coffee shop buddies

Oh, and here's one from that time me and Wendy wore floral jumpsuits and traveled through a wormhole and ended up on the cover of Time Magazine, and that was coincidentally also the time we liked stupid iPhone apps a little too much!

More exciting news soon, and maybe some tattoo pictures too?
I know i've been holding back on the Uncle Allan pictures, but we're kind of enjoying keeping them secret, so we can blow people's mind at the London convention with a portfolio full of never before seen tattoos!

What not to write

Winter is on us like a big, heavy, grey blanket and it seems to be suffocating my need to blog.

But we're good, don't worry! The shop is doing great, and since it's not nearly as cold as last year, we're not even freezing our asses off inside like we usually do.

I believe our often partially dressed clients appreciate that too!

Allan is busy working on his art show and his book, Nick is tattooing almost every day as well as working on his new web comic, and Eckel... where is Eckel anyway? I believe he's in Hamburg today, actually. And also tattooing a lot, when he is around. And next weekend he'll be moping around Brighton, mumbling about some vegan burger joint that no longer exists.

So yeah, all is well at the Conspiracy, gloominess aside!

Me and Allan's trip to Japan is moving closer and closer, and just to emphasize how much we friggin miss that place, we've already bought tickets to go back in April, which should be good news for all the people Allan won't have time to tattoo on this coming trip.

Speaking of clients and booking, i do have a bit of practical info, possibly in rant form, that i could squeeze into this post!

You see, i have started to book from the Uncle Allan waiting list, and all in all it's going ok.

Except for a couple of things...

1. Some people still don't seem to understand that you shouldn't write a bunch of questions to the waiting list. I will not email you back, and you will not be added to the list.

If you have any questions, ask them before submitting your ideas to the waiting list, and ask them via our regular mail.

2. You will also not be added to the list if you don't include tattoo ideas and placement.

Also, it's up to you to think of something interesting for Allan to do. Try to make it fun. 

If i'm going through the waiting list and the choice is between someone with an awesome, well thought out tattoo idea, pictures of placement and reference, all wrapped up in a polite email, and a dude who's whole email goes something like this; "hey, i wanna get tattooed, i don't know what i want, so just do whatever, i don't care", well... it's not a super hard choice, is it?

3. Lots of people apparently only read the part of this page that has the email address in it, and so again, those people, who don't read the whole thing (yes, i know it's long) and leave important stuff out, they won't be added to the list.

4. If you get impatient and decide to go get tattooed somewhere else, at least have the courtesy to send us an email, so we can take your name off the list. If you sign up for a service of any kind, anywhere, and decide to back out for whatever reason, you let people know, right? 

This especially goes out to the people who couldn't wait for Allan and decided to get tattooed by Eckel instead. It's fine if you don't have the patience to wait, but for christs sake, let us know so i don't waste time writing emails offering you dates to get tattooed!

5. You don't get to chose the date you get tattooed, another thing that's explained on this page, so if you write an email saying "i'd like to get tattooed in June 2012", that's probably not gonna happen. Once we book you, we'll do whatever we can to find a date that works for everyone, but until then, you shouldn't assume you can get tattooed whenever you feel like it.

Whoa, with the angry teacher-type ranting, sorry about that, but seriously, a good third of the mails i get for the waiting list are either missing information or missing the point.

But the rest of them, those who get it right, we're so grateful that they take the time to read all the rules, come up with fun projects and wait patiently for Allan to have time to tattoo them!

If you read Allan's blog, you already know that he has claimed the month of March for his book project, but as soon as that's done, it's back to regular booking!

Ok, if you've read this far, you deserve some friggin tattoo pictures.

And even if you've only skimmed this... whatever, you still came by to read the blog, so you deserve some pretty pictures too!

Here's a couple of newer Eckel tattoos, one from 2011 and one from 2012. Enjoy!

Tattoo by Eckel

Tattoo by Eckel

 

Tattoo by Eckel

 

 Ps. Sorry for the obvious iPhone pictures... ahem...

Bird tattoos (and a tiny little rant)

Man, it feels so weird to be in Copenhagen and not at work 24-7.
And by weird i mean fantastic!

Eckel is still in Thailand and Allan doesn't have to tattoo until next week, so we only go to the shop once in a while to hang out and ship out prints.
More about them later, since there may be a deadline coming up.
Anyway, i had some pictures uploaded from weeks ago that i just forgot to publish.
So here, surprise, tattoo pictures!

Here's Martin, a shop regular, who on this day forgot his comfy pants and had to wear, uhm, alternative leg-wear!

Fancy gentleman by Eckel

Me taking a picture of Eckel taking a picture of the fancy gentleman!

A good old Danish "skarv" by Eckel (that's a cover-up, by the way)

Peacock by Uncle Allan, started years ago and finished in March

As you can see, i've started watermarking our pictures again.

I'm getting so sick of seeing the guys' work floating around the internet, on various tumblr's in particular, uncredited.

There are too many people reblogging this shit to begin with, and mindless reposting of other peoples work is annoying in itself, but when they start to remove links and credit, well, that's when i get mad.

If you see any examples of this, please feel free to snitch and let me know so i can have them removed.

And if you, or someone you know, wishes to use our pictures, all you have to do is ask and make sure the image links back to this blog.

Easy as that.

Not this shit again...

Four weeks. We had out perfect, awesome, beloved kitchen back for four weeks, and now the ceiling is leaking again.
I don't know what kind of retard they got to "fix" the leak, but obviously he didn't do a very good job.
We got people on it already, and luckily it doesn't seem to be dripping constantly, but holy shit was it depressing getting back to work today.
Oh, and Allan had a no-show too.
And it's not even Monday!

Bye bye, perfect white ceiling, it was nice knowing you

I'll be back in a few days with a post that's less of a downer. Maybe i'll even post some tattoo pictures, who knows!?

GOD HATES DENMARK !

There's just no other explanation, really!

-4 million celsius, 5000 km winds and they predict it to get much worst gradually until the end of time itself!






All we can hope for now, is that the people who predict this unnatural weather are the same that usually have a hard time predicting what the weather will be like tomorrow!

Will the real Conspiracy please stand up

I'm just gonna get the topic of this post out of the way before i start ranting and creating this huge build up, and then when i get to the point everyone is all "really? that's it? i thought something bad happened!"
So, in order for that to not happen, here it is: someone took our name.
There. That's all i'm pissed about, and i guess the rant could stop right here, before it even becomes a rant, but of course it won't.
So if you already know you're gonna find this pointless and tedious, feel free to quit reading right here.
The next post will contain pretty pictures and little text, and if that's your thing, i won't hold it against you.

Still here? Then let's continue.
I can't even remember how many years we've been Conspiracy Inc.
Maybe 5? Maybe 6? Maybe even 7?
It was before i was at the shop full time, and while Franz was still at the shop too, but i'm bad with timelines, so let's just say it's been a while.
And even if i don't remember when exactly we became Conspiracy Inc., i do remember the time we spent trying to come up with a name everyone could agree to; the notes with scribbles of bad suggestions and the many friends, neighbors and clients who were involved in the process.
But finally we found it, and we've stuck with it ever since.
That's not to say that i'm always happy about our choice of name.
At least a couple of times a week the phone rings and this conversation takes place:
Me: "Conspiracy Inc."
Person on the other end: "Huh? Uhm, who is this?"
Me (thinking): "Who did you call? Yeah? THEN WHO DO YOU THINK IT IS?", (but actually saying): "C-o-n-s-p-i-r-a-c-y-i-n-c, how can i help you"
So you see, it's not the smartest name ever, but it's ours and, up until recently, i thought it was at least a pretty unique one for a tattoo shop.

But then one night while i was checking our blog stats, i ended up on a search engine i don't normally use, and i noticed something.
"Conspiracy Ink."
I've complained about this before, people spell our name wrong all the time, and everyone from friends to magazines have been doing that for years, but this time there was a result for the misspelled Conspiracy.
In fact, there were not one, but two.
Two shops are now named Conspiracy Ink Tattoo.
One since 2008 and one more recently since July this year.
One in Australia and one in the States.
Both obviously have websites, one of them is even on facebook, flickr and twitter.

Now, i know what you're probably thinking and i have thought that myself: "couldn't it be a coincidence?", and the answer is "sure, of course it could and maybe it is".
People come up with the same ideas at the same time all the time, and of course that totally could have happened here too... twice.
But do i think that's the case here? Not really.
These other shops may be located very far away from us physically, but on the internet we're all neighbors, and if you're somewhat active and visible online, which we are and apparently they are too, it doesn't really matter where you are in the real world.
And for years we've been doing conventions, had work in various magazines, participated in art shows, printed stickers and t-shirts, been active on myspace, blogger, twitter, and, for a second there, even facebook.
We represent.
And the tattooers who work at our shop are not exactly unknown, so i'd say there's a good chance that people in the same industry could have heard of us.

So what's my problem? Well, my problem is that it's rude!
And what am i gonna do about it?
Besides this, probably not a damn thing.

I guess this discovery just comes at a time when i've been thinking a lot about respect, or lack thereof, i should say.
When we first moved to our new shop i was so worried about offending people who had shops in the same zip code, including our former partner.
I even worried that our neighbors across the lake felt that waving distance, even if it is across a body of water, was a little too close.
But since we're a private studio, more so now than ever before, on a small, kind of anonymous street, we decided that it was probably ok.

But since we moved in March, two studios have opened in our area, one of them literally around the corner from us.
When i first discovered the one right around the corner i got a little pissed... ok, i got mad as hell and considered bagging one of Lucifer's little poops and lighting the bag on fire outside their door, but i have since calmed down and accepted its location. Mostly due to the fact that i don't actually believe the guy even knew we had moved to that area in the first place, and even our clients have trouble finding us at times, so who can really blame the guy?
But the whole idea of opening up shops really close to other shops, something that was not even a possibility a few years ago, is a reality now, and we didn't get the worst of it.

A new shop opened recently in the center of Copenhagen.
No news there, i'm sure it happens all the time, and we're usually too busy with our own shit to pay attention to the local scene, so it's all good.
Except in this case, it isn't.
This shop opened right next to an established studio.
Not down the street, or in the same area, but right next to it, and when i first heard, i couldn't believe it.
No one could be that rude, right?
Wrong.
Apparently we've entered the age of i-don't-give-a-fuck, and that includes not giving a fuck about common professional courtesy and good manners.
And for a person like myself who actually does give a fuck, behavior like that can be hard to accept.
And this new place is apparently really bad too.
Home-parties-and-staph-infections-bad, or so i've heard.
I have never used this blog to air personal beefs, or write shit about other shops, and that's why you won't find any links to the shops i'm referring to in this post, or names of the local shops here in Copenhagen.
This is because i believe in internet courtesy, and i try not to say and do anything online that i wouldn't be prepared to say to a persons face, and seeing how i hate confrontations, there's a lot i wouldn't say and therefore i don't (that was a ridiculously long sentence, and i'm not even sure if it worked, but i'll just leave it and move on...)
But if anyone would like to know the location of this studio, so they don't accidentally take their business there, i'd be happy to inform them via email instead of a public forum.

Anyway.
Respect.
Borders.
As you may have picked up on, i take internet behavior quite seriously, almost as seriously as real life behavior.
I believe that if we choose to live out part of our lives online, which most of us do, the same basic manners have to apply here as they do in real life.
I choose to let a lot of shit slide, due to the fact that if you get all riled up about every idiot behaving badly on the internet, you'd have a full time job right there.
And a stressful one at that.
So i try not to get worked up about the little things, and i think i'm getting pretty good at just ignoring dumb stuff.
But finding out that someone did what is basically the internet equivalent of opening up a shop right next to ours, and i believe name plagiarism is just that, just pissed me off.

This post is all the attention i'm gonna give this subject.
I'm not even sure it deserved a rant like this and to be honest, i'm already looking forward to posting about cake and tattoos and taxidermy again!
You're not likely to find any words on this subject on Allan's blog either.
He's much better than me at ignoring shit, and when i first told him about the other shops he barely shrugged.
You'll probably never hear him bitch about anything as petty as this on his blog, but there's a lot of shit i choose to care about, so he doesn't have to.
That's a good partnership and that's a good marriage, so there.

In conclusion...
I don't know what this rant was supposed to accomplish exactly.
I think i just needed to vent, and blogs are good for that, aren't they?
I know for certain that i am not looking for for friends to leave angry comments on my behalf, nor will i approve comments about what a dumb bastard i am for even caring, i'm well aware of that already!
More drama is the last thing anyone needs, and i'm already worried about crossing the fine line between a personal rant and a full on internet war on words.
I apologize in advance if this has left anyone feeling bored or offended, but getting it out has certainly made me feel better!

Comments are open (with moderation) and anyone who has an opinion one way or the other are welcome to participate.

On a lighter note, here's Maru sliding into a box...