FROM 11AM-6PM ON 31st OCTOBER WE WILL BE DOING A HALLOWEEN WALK-IN FLASH DAY!
These are some of the available designs and there will be more available on the day too.
Come on down and get something creepy for the collection! No appointments just walk ins. You may be given a time to return on the day.
The League Against Cruel Sports aimed to ban fox hunting, stag hunting, otter hunting, hare hunting and coursing throughout the whole of the United Kingdom, back when the organisation was first founded in 1924.
Since then, sadly The League are still having to campaign many of the same issues today but despite this, their work has been essential in helping to bring about more protective laws with the backing of cross-party political groups, which to name a few include otters having full protection from hunting, the hunting act 2004 which banned hunting with hounds, they helped change the law on badger baiting to strengthen the law for badger protection. Not to mention their undercover investigations, leading roles in liaising with police and private prosecutions to help enforce the law in hunting activities, even persuading travel agents to stop promoting trips to the Pamplona Bull Run. Not only does The League Against Cruel Sports campaign and gather evidence of the cruelty involved, they also provide woodland and fields in the West Country that provides much needed sanctuary for hunted animals.
One of The League Against Cruel Sports many key crusades is dog fighting. After it being banned in 1835, these cruel activities still remain prevalent today. Project Bloodline was set up to protect dogs from being exploited, investigating participants and to educate and therein lies The League Against Cruel Sports motto: Investigate. Educate. Protect.
Here at Black Moon, we can’t think of a single reason why we shouldn’t be backing such a remarkable cause! So with this in mind on Friday 13th July Black Moon Tattoo Studio will be holding a fundraising event, whereby 30% of all the profits raised from the Friday 13th tattoos will be going straight to The League Against Cruel Sports.
The event will be starting at 11am and will last all day!
We pride ourselves on having a comfortable and friendly atmosphere, so bring your friends and family along to see what we have going on. We will have snacks and drinks available, kids are more than welcome! If you don’t fancy getting a tattoo we are more than happy for you to come and take a look at our beautiful studio, maybe even pop in a donation while you’re here!
Hope to see you there!
For more information on The League Against Cruel Sports visit: https://www.league.org.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-ZCQip-I3AIVybHtCh2vPgGtEAAYASAAEgIp2vD_BwE
I wanted to just address something that we are asked regularly by clients. The question ‘Do you use vegan inks?’
The answer in short is yes we do. Most tattoo inks are now vegan and certainly all the brands we use at Black Moon are.
So, we could just leave it there and let people make the assumption that because we use vegan friendly ink, that means that the tattooing process is vegan also.
However, tattoo artists do also use many disposable items such as Vaseline, cling film, carbon paper, various plastic items such as our disposable razors, cartridges, soaps and balms as well as products that contain things like beeswax, lanolin and honey or occasionally even glycerine which are not technically vegan. Additionally, some products in the process may be made by companies that do not produce items in a manor which is not strictly vegan.
Some of these things are items that many of our Vegan customers (and there are a lot) are happy to ‘overlook’ because they are necessary in order to do a tattoo, however some vegans seek out studios that make an effort to source alternative ‘vegan friendly’ versions of these things. However, they are often very difficult to get hold of and much more expensive so many studios cannot maintain this ethical standard 100% of the time.
If you are searching for strictly vegan studios there is a really useful site here:
So you see it isn’t a simple yes or not, really it isn’t just about the inks, there are tons of products to consider when deciding if the studio you use is a completely vegan one.
There is some really good info on line about the various products we use on a daily basis which are not necessarily completely vegan, we do source products that are cruelty free, from ethical companies but sadly ‘strictly vegan’ is not always possible in this industry.
https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/lifestyle/fashion/vegan-tattoos
As a studio, we are happy to discuss any concerns you have about products we use and would also be completely happy for anyone wanting to replace any of these products with a vegan alternative to get in contact, so they can purchase these items in advance and eliminate anything that isn’t strictly vegan such as Vaseline or razors etc.
We look forward to helping you to make your tattoo exactly what you want.
You can email enquiries@blackmoontattoos.com or call us on 01373464699 for more info.
CHRISTMAS VOUCHERS AVAILBLE IN THE SHOP OR VIA EMAIL TO ENQUIRIES@blackmoontattoos.com
Minimum £50 purchase. Postage costs apply for vouchers sent via Royal Mail.
05/07/2017
It’s been a fruity week.
We let Amy loose on a grapefruit to get to grips with using a machine.
We are often asked ‘how do you learn to tattoo?’ And this method of using fruit skin is not an uncommon starting point for most apprentices.
(Myself, I actually jumped straight into my own thighs but that was pure stupidity and desperation to learn as fast as possible)
And as such… grapefruit, bananas, oranges etc are all common starting points for apprentices to get to grips with holding a machine whilst it runs. There are several brands of ‘fake skin’ usually in the form of dismembered body parts, skulls or sheets of flat skin. This is good, but hard to apply a stencil to and less like human skin than you would imagine from the look of it. It doesn’t move, feel or flex like skin, nor does it take the needle and ink as easily.
After several attempts to apply a stencil in the ‘normal’ manner we came to the conclusion that the waxy exterior of the grapefruit needed to be washed and powdered to remove the residue and allow the design to stick. Scrunching up the stencil to allow it to become more flexible, on turn making it easier to apply to a spherical shape, we were able to get a fairly good carbon copy on the flesh of the fruit.
Amy flew into concentration mode, tattooing a peony flower, and we hardly heard a peep from her for the whole afternoon except to tell us how much she was enjoying it!
Proud mentors we are, myself and Yoji watched as she created a very beautiful piece of floral art, or food, or art food. Whatever it was it was gorgeous!
Keep checking in to see more fruit art! 🍊
Jodie and Amy are quite the ‘pear’ two in a melon and I wanna say that I love them ‘from ma head tomatos’.
What. The. Fuck.
JB
04/07/2017
As I mentioned in the previous update, one of the weekly tasks I have set for our apprentices is the ‘classic tattoo re-draw task’. Where I ask then to recreate a classic Sailor Jerry tattoo design but in their own style. Check out this BEAUTIFUL snake Amy did this week.
I am in LOVE with this and would totally have it tattooed on me!
She’s also been practising some more lettering:
I’m not neglecting Jodie this week, she’s having a well deserved trip to NAS festival. These young kids, I am still recovering from last weekend and it’s Wednesday! 😂
Growing old is compulsory, growing up is optional.
JB.
30/06/2017
So… as you know we have two apprentices at Black Moon. Mad you say? Berserk? We say no… just twice the clean, twice the laughs and twice as many chances not to fuck them up completely 😂
To me having two is a really useful tool in encouraging the drive and ambition in them. It is obvious to me already that they consciously compare themselves to one another and encourage the best out of each other.
Jodie has been apprenticing longer, whilst Amy has a longer history in creative industries, Jodie favours colour and Amy favours Blackwork, Jodie is tall Amy is short… you get the picture. They are different, and this is GREAT! Neither seems to resent or feel threatened by the other, at least they don’t let it show if they do feel that way, but I can sense the fire that each lights underneath the other. The competition. It’s exciting to watch them… And I couldn’t be more proud of these kids.
As a mentor you need to always be thinking of ways to develop your little seedlings, sprinkle them with miracle grow, encourage and nurture them into strong, sturdy and mindful artists. That ain’t always easy. Sometimes just trying to think up your own creative ideas is a stretch…
BUT… On this occasion I think I have nailed it.
After the daily cleaning, shopping, setting up, researching artists, coffee fetching and watching vice documentaries about the tattoo industry is done, the girls have three additional tasks to complete.
For now, this is keeping them busy and they both seem really inspired to produce great artwork.
JODIE:
AMY:
I will be setting new challenges for them as their apprenticeships go on and making things harder and more exciting each time. Keep checking in to see what they get up to next!
Make tea not war.
JB
This month we officially moved into our new beautiful 17th Century building, and in true Black Inc style, or Black Moon as we are now called, we threw a party!
It was a roaring success and a perfect way to celebrate the change. Look out for the video we’ll be uploading soon documenting the whole process.
We do however want to thank everyone that came and everyone that’s helped us open our dream studio, we couldn’t have done it without you.
Yesterday, with the upcoming move just around the corner, Jo and Alex showed James Woods round the new shop, look out for the full article in the next Somerset Standard.
Click the link below to check it out.
Last week Black Inc went to Tattoo Tea Party in Manchester. We love doing conventions as its a great way to meet new clients and artists from other areas and the after parties are fun too!
Unfortunately Verity was taken ill and had to go home early but the rest of the gang had a great weekend!
Here’s some tattoos that Jo did.
We aren’t planning on doing any other conventions at the moment, but we are thinking about doing Ireland so keep your eyes peeled for any announcements.
To book in with Jo, Verity, Merry or Yoji, visit their pages!
February has been a busy time at Black Inc, and every month we will be posting our favourite tattoo’s that we’ve created.
Jo has been spending a lot of time adapting her style recently to bring a fresh perspective whilst including her strong occult influences.
Merry has as per usual been leading the South West in some of the best and versatile blackwork this side of the country has to offer.
Verity has been carrying on her exceptional black and grey work and also won ‘Best Overall’ and ‘Best Black and Grey’ at Frome’s very own Tattoo Convention this past weekend.
Yoji has been busy with our walk ins and has had time to sneak in some of his own preferred style of tattooing, tribal.
