Knock, knock, knocking on tattoo doors

In 1998 I was living on the Oregon coast one hour west from Portland.

I was introduced to the manager and owners of the local tattoo studio in seaside Oregon Kimbra Schlater and Tony "thunder Guts" by a mutual friend.

I had been looking into getting tattooed and the studios that I went to in Portland and the Oregon coast were so different to the dirty tattoo parlors of my childhood in New Zealand . Places like Atomic, deluxe and lucky dog had a rockabilly vibe influenced with art and hot rods, they were the whole package when it came to tattooing , cool people cool shop and cool cars out the front and most important AMAZING art which is equally the most important aspect of tattooing with hygiene , they held a large appeal to me.

I had an obsession with hot rods and American muscle cars from the 60s and 70s, so the seamless transition into tattooing in an environment influenced by something I loved and was apart of became a large driving factor in my decision to chase my dream of tattooing.

I remember when I first spoke with "thunder guts" the reason his was nicknamed this was that he had these huge lightning bolts tattooed down both sides of his stomach and he was walking along the beach one day with his shirt off and a little boy about the age of six asked a rhetorical question as to why he had lightning bolts tattooed on his stomach " is it because you've got thunder guts?" so the name stuck.

I was hanging out to get a tattoo apprenticeship , and approached thunder guts about how I would start this process , what was needed and how did it all work? Thunder guts said " straight up you pay me $10,000 (usd) , I teach you to tattoo, period." so I asked him what he would teach me for that investment in his knowledge, how long it would take to learn to tattoo.

all I got in reply was uuuummmmm........ if you want to learn to tattoo , you pay me $10,000 (usd) . So needless to say the first meeting wasn't smooth, I then started going to some of the other studios asking questions about how the apprenticeship works and all I got was doors slammed in my face, no one wanted to give me any information regarding tattooing, all tho in 98 there was the Internet, it wasn't what it is today. In order to find info about tattooing there were two ways to do it , one was befriend someone that was willing to give you a small amount of info or you paid someone alot of money for the information. When I first started tattooing I would need a letter of recommendation from my boss in order to buy equipment , if you didn't have someone to vouch for you , you were not getting your foot in the door of tattooing.

Tattooing has always been a dark art with lots of secrets and a club for the last of the pirates.

every where I turned the answers to my questions were answered with a firm NO, but I was determined to reach my goal of tattooist.

During this time of searching for a apprenticeship "thunder guts" headed south to California and I

befriended Kimbra the manager of Lucky Dog tattoo in seaside Oregon. after a while I asked if she would apprentice me again I received a "No not going to do it , everyone all ways asks but they never want to do the work it takes ." so I asked what I needed to do to prove that I was willing to do the work. Kimbra said that she had seen my paintings but that she needed to see a portfolio of tattoo designs that I had drawn , to see if I had what it takes to be a tattoo artist.

I had a lot of drawing and coloring ahead of me .

At last someone had opened the door to tattooing . Even if it was just a crack , it was the first light in a long line of darkness.

In the beginning

People often ask me how I got into tattooing , I generally answer with a light hearted quip

" in jail ." which brings with it a number of reactions from a uncomfortable little laugh to dead silence. The real truth is quite bit longer to answer, I remember being the age of 9 when I first reali

sed that tattooing was a job that one could have , when my older sister was doing an art assignment about the jobs you could have as an artist and she mentioned that you could be a tattooist. up until that point all I knew about tattooing was that the gang members in our town that I grew up in had them on their faces and that I would get in a large amount of trouble every time I would draw on my arms or hands, with a quick scolding about how I was NEVER to be tattooed as I would end up in jail or worse!

Fast forward a few years and I found myself heavily involved in skateboarding , a great sport for creative adventurous rebellious youth . I would say that this was the first time tattooing became a reality into my small world, some of the pro skaters of the time where starting to get tattooed with the graphics from their skateboards, which made me realize that tattooing didn't have to be about skulls and biker motifs and that you could do what ever you liked with your tattoo.

I was involved with a group of outcasts and misfits at this time , and I remember the first one of us that was tattooed at 14 gave him self a peace symbol on his deltoid , and I was impressed with how well the the circle turned out considering he did it by hand with a needle .

From this point on tattoos where cool in my book, members the bands guns n roses , metallica, motorhead, misfits and suicidal tendencies had them , the pro skaters I looked up to were tattooed , it was wearing your heart on your sleeve and telling the world you knew who you were and lived your life to the fullest, the ideals that I placed on my 14 year old hero's ( I later discovered its not the best to meet your hero's, but to keep them at arms length).

Art has all ways played an important role in my life . I have loved it since kinder garden the colours the flow and challenge of creating something from nothing, the art of skateboarding, snowboards,movies, graffiti , comics and toys have all been an influence in my art.

My love of skateboarding lead to snowboarding which lead me to desire a pilgrimage to the united states of America, the home of all the culture I loved . From the age of 15 I wanted to go on a solo snowboard trip to the u.s., my parents said that was fine but I needed to save a set amount for it ( secretly they knew I was too young and the funds would slow me down until I was old enough for such a trip). I spent the next 5 years dreaming working hard an saving for my trip to the u.s. all spare money was placed in my bank account so while my friends where getting tattooed and wearing nice clothes I was budgeting . I finally made it to Canada just days after my 20 Th birthday , I had made it.

I had planned to stay in Canada for 6 months, I spent 2 months in whistler riding, it was amazing , i decided to head to the U.S. for the weekend to ride at the legendary Mt Baker resort for the weekend , 4 years later and I was still in the U.S. having lived in Washington, Colorado , Idaho and now Oregon state I was loving it.

I had kept drawing and started painting I was working as a restaurant manager and had attempted to illustrate for some skate and snowboard companies which didn't pan out . I did have moderate success with my painting career but realized it was a very hard way to make a living.

Tattooing came back into my life in 1998 .

until next time .

Elton Buchanan

Globus

Fainting

this week has been interesting , Tonight I had a client from france who was a merchant marine , I spent an hour drawing a tahitian design across his back , adding on to a tattoo he had started in paris a few years ago.

We spoke about his life and some of the experiences that he has had since he has been a sailor , storms through to pirates, after about an hour of tattooing he asked for a small break so he could have a drink of water, as I stopped tattooing , he undid the lid of his water bottle he looked in my direction and I saw that he was lacking color in his face indicating he was close to fainting . He drew he water bottle to his lips to take a sip but didn't quite make it , he passed out and as I held him to make sure he didn't fall and hit his head on the floor I heard a strange gluging sound , as I looked around I realized although this guy had lost all coniusnes he was still gripping tight to his water bottle and pouring all his water on the floor.

As I placed him on the floor in the recovery position he kicked over the stool and his leg landed on the foot switch turning on my tattoo machine at the same time as getting tangled in the stool, what a mess.

I got him on the floor in the recovery position , unplugged the tattoo machine and untangled my client from the stool and puddle of water , this whole experience took about 20 seconds at which time my client awoke and was pretty freaked out as can be expected , he recovered and we finished his 3 hours of tattooing. So if you getting tattooed make sure you eat before hand., generally after some one has past out I ask them if they had a dream , which most people do yet they cant remember what the dream is, other than it was nice.

thats it for tonight , back to the grind tomorrow.

Introduction

Hi my name is Elton Buchanan, I started in to the world of tattoo in 1998 when I went searching for an apprenticeship , over the years I have meet some very cool people and had some interesting experiences . I have always talked about writing them down and doing something with them , so I have decided to finally get down to the nitty grit of writing about my life past and present and sharing it with you . I am currently living in rotorua new zealand and running GLOBUS gallery and tattoo with my wife and business partner Kellyrae.

Until next time .