As promised in the last post: costume pictures (or a sort)!
For Allan's birthday last month Eckel got the great idea to surprise him with a black metal themed barbecue. Allan and our friends had thrown me a surprise party, my first ever, a few days earlier, and because of that, it all of a sudden seemed kinda lame to just have a barbeque like he'd asked for. So, he already knew of the barbeque part, but i (cleverly i must say) got him to stay home a little longer while we "decorated the shop", while in fact, as you can see, we where decorating our faces with some sick-ass corpse paint... and cow paint... and pentagrams... and skulls... and Peter Kriss...!? Anyway, when he arrived we were barbequing in the street outside the shop, all dressed up, and yes, he was surprised!
Me, Anne, Corey and Thomas
Corey, Rasmus and Eckel
You'd think Eckel had previous experience with this, right? He claims no, but i'm not convinced...
As soon as Allan arrived, we got him working on his face
Done! A few instagram pictures of Allan, me and a very un-metal birthday cake (what? I like them sugary and cheerful!) The Wookie and the Eckel
Young and Rabu looking gloomy as hell Hotdog... of DOOOM!
Mille was a cow... a very viscous one!
A present (i didn't get pictures of all of them, but they were all great)
Another one... bubbles!!
Happy birthday for life, yo!
Allan had a great birthday, and he enjoyed the corpse paint so much that he even kept it on for the bike ride home (ok, i did too... it's super fun!)
I don't think we've even used the Dancook 7200 since this wonderful night, but in our defense, we've been out of town on the sunny days, and the rest of the time, the weather has been shit.
I just noticed we reached 400 followers on the blog, and what better way to celebrate than posting pictures of two dudes looking really smug about their hair... wait, what?
Anyway, this is what happens when you let Eckel play with extensions and Allan be, well, Allan.
Wait, did i just spend our celebratory-400-follower-post praising the two people who have never once posted on this blog?
When we reach 500, it's all about you and me, Nick!
In case you were wondering, we're still a little bummed about not going to Japan this spring, and a little bit in denial too. I'm sure it'll hit me around the 29th, but for now i feel ok. Honestly, i was a little worried about leaving our pretty shop home alone for so long anyway. What if it wouldn't recognize us when we came back? That would be bad.
We're missing so much by not going, but hopefully we'll be able to go to some birthdays, concerts and events that we'd otherwise have missed. So there's that. There's actually a convention going on in Copenhagen in the beginning of April, the first one in years, and i think we might drop by. We're not working there by the way, even though there has been some speculation about that. Ahem. But we were never meant to. But i think it could be fun to check it out because, really, how often do we get to go to a convention and NOT work and NOT stay at some crappy hotel afterwards? It's even close to our place, and we do know some people working there and it'd be nice to say hi.
Chriss Dettmer was here visiting us this past weekend, and with the earthquake happening, i totally forgot to blog about that. I didn't announce his mini guest spot on the blog either, and i am sorry for that, but he was here for such a short time, and we wanted to have some hangout time too. He did do a couple of tattoos, but i promise that we'll get him to stay longer next time, so you guys get the chance too. Anyway, it was wonderful to have him here. He's such a good friend and an easy house guest, both at home and at the shop.
Like i wrote in the last post (by the way, sorry that this post is all over the place, but it's Friday and it's late and i'm in no mood to write anything coherent right now, so you'll just have to bear with me) we're working on making some prints to sell for Japan and that's still happening for sure. We got some test prints today, so hopefully we'll have the finished product sometime next week. They'll be limited, as usual, and we'll sell them alone and with other prints/flash at reduced prices. More about that when i actually have a product! I already started raising a bit of money for Japan, so if you like hats and animals, and hats with animals on them, check out my etsy shop. If you don't, just ignore that last sentence and scroll down for some tattoo pictures! Pictures! Yes! More of those and less of... me ranting.
The orchid in the office came back from the dead, maybe thinking it's spring? Poor, dumb bastard...
Anne got another session on her backpiece, this time in color
Clients from Geneva brought us delicious chocolate
Young brought us cake
So did Tom and Ellie (the A is for Amalie, there was one for Allan and Eckel too)
Eckel and Lucifer plotting world domination, as usual
Chriss finished this one that he started a while back
I cleaned up the back rooms for god knows what time, so the dark room is just waiting for our carpenters now
Today on the way to work i rode my bike through the old hood.
We needed Dettol and the grocery store that i usually buy it at has closed down. So i went by Nansensgade cause i knew they had it there, and boy, did that street blossom since we left!
I mean, really, when we were there all the cool stores were always closing down and in their place hair salons and coaching cults or new age-y massage places would open. You know, boring shit.
But now, i spotted a bunch of new shops and at least two new café's.
One of them was even called "Amalie's Kaffebar" so it's obviously a coffee shop for people named Amalie.
And it opens right after we move out? Oh, the irony.
Anyway, it was weird to see the street looking alive again, and it made me wonder; did we kill it?
I hope not.
At least there are no shops to kill here in Schleppegrellsgade!
I'm trying to make room in the back for all the new photo equipment, so stuff has got to go. Today i'm selling the mini fridge from the old shop, and since you probably won't buy it unless you live around here, i'm gonna switch to Danish again.
Vi sælger vores 40 liter mini køleskab for at få plads til at bygge vores mørkekammer. Hvis du kan bruge det, eller kender nogen der kan, må du endelig gi' os et kald! Se annoncen her.
This one is mostly for the readers in Copenhagen, so i'm afraid it's gonna be one of my rare in-Danish posts. But if you're terribly curious, there's always good old google translate!
Vi er (igen) ved at rykke om og små-renovere i butikken, denne gang i hoved arbejdslokalet. Siden vi nu pludselig har to i stedet for tre tatovører siddende derinde, besluttede vi os for at give (eller rettere, for at få vores trofaste håndværkere til at give) rummet en velfortjent overhaling. Vi skal have lavet paneler, sat fancy tapet op, og lavet nye arbejds stationer, så vi har nu hele to store skriveborde som vi skal af med, nemlig Allans og Nicks. Jeg har derfor sat dem begge i den blå avis (se annonce her og her) og håber selvfølgelig på at der er nogen der kan bruge dem, da jeg hader at smide gode møbler væk. Hvis du skulle være interesseret i at hjælpe os af med et eller begge, kan du ringe eller skrive til butikken, eller lægge en comment her, og så giver vi dig en sweet deal!
In other more tattoo related news (hence the switch back to English); Eckel has a few unexpected openings in February and March, so holla if you're interested!
Sunday we had our (first) annual Conspiracy Christmas party. Or Christmas hangout you might call it, since four people in a kitchen does not a party make... but close enough! Nick and me made some pretty amazing food while Allan tattooed Martin. Our friend Suzy came by, with Lucifer's best friend Palma, to sew some doggie clothes and i made Christmas presents. After dinner we listened to jazz and then converted the basement into a shooting range. That's just how we roll.
Our BFF came by to get his Christmas present (a portrait of his mom)
The Conspiracy library is both educational and entertaining
The tards getting ready for dinner
Beuf Veganoff (Get it? We thought it was hilarious!)
Presents for some, post-it's for others (what? I've been busy and i totally am gonna get them stuff, so back off!)
This is what "WTF?!" looks like
Don't worry, it's not real, we ain't THAT crazy*
One of the perks of having a tattoo shop; easy access to script books and stencil paper
Lucifer wasn't a fan, but the rest of us had a great time! The next day, me and the ninja went downstairs again to kill something
Only this time it wasn't innocent plastic bottles, but a terrible beast (possibly from outer space) we had to deal with
We're only gonna be at the shop some days during Christmas, so if you really need to get in touch, don't call or drop by, just send us an email. But if there's any chance it can wait, please wait to contact us until after new years.
Happy holidays, everyone!
*If anyone should be interested in an explanation, and i'm sure that some of you are; Nick decided to get rid of some of his most priced possessions since he's moving to Hong Kong where everything is dirt cheap, and that's why Eckel is now the lucky owner of a bb gun!
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...
As you may have already seen on Allans blog, three of his paintings will be in a show in San Francisco opening in just a few days. He has been working his ass of to make the deadline, and we just got word a few days ago that his works finally arrived. Phew. Anyway, the show is called "Scream With Me" and the venue is the 111 Minna Gallery. We're pretty bummed that we can't be at the opening on the 7th ourselves, but we hope that it'll be a huge success. If any of you lovely readers are in the general area, please go check it out!
In other news (or what passes as news on a lazy Sunday) i have been working a lot on the blog layout for the past few days, and besides just making the blog look all pretty, i've been trying to make the booking, waiting list and general info easier to find. So to do that i've added a top menu, where you can now find info on how to book with each of the artist that works here, as well as examples of their work. There's also an updated FAQ with links to hotels, directions to the shop, and some newer frequently asked questions, and a Travel tab with our current travel dates.
We are also on Twitter now, so click here, or click the pretty little bird in the right-hand menu, to follow us there. Not much has happened there yet, but i promise to use it regularly to post lost of pictures and random Conspiracy goodness!
Since we'll soon be getting a lot more room (*insert excited squeal here*) we can finally get into doing some of the things that we've talked about doing for years, but never had the room for. Like printing our own t-shirts and stuff like that! But i know nothing about these things, so i thought i'd ask your advice, oh wise blog readers.
We went to the shop yesterday, on our day off. We were actually just going to pick up some important mail, but since both Eckel and Nick were working, we ended up staying for hours, chatting and drinking coffee.
Eckels clients were a bit tired
And as if going to our own shop on a Saturday wasn't enough, we decided to ride down the street and check in on the Ripleys too. They've been in Australia, so it'd been a while since we'd seen them, and even longer since we'd seen their shop.
Marija and Judd have just about the nicest shop you could ever imagine, here's a tiny little part of it:
Allan and Lucifer watching Judd work
Oscars area, Lucifer is so getting one of these in the new shop!
Back at Conspiracy, Eckel had moved on to the second client of the day
This is what Nick did yesterday, if you wanna see Eckels work... well, go bug him about that on his blog!
The Wookie and the Eckel
The Wookie and the Eckel
