Brisbane Tattooer blogs// vegan tattoo, life updates & future plans

Heya!! As you read this, I'm listening to a collection of jerks (otherwise known as construction workers) bang loud shit and operate even louder jerk machines that echo through our whole apartment. Since we originally moved into this apartment (which was a frantic last minute move, after going through the biggest shakeup by life & loss), they've demolished the building opposite us and started building a new apartment building in it's place

They do this over the weekend most weekends and start banging loudly from sunrise onwards most days. At times I feel like I'm blocking it out or getting used to it, but I am also now sleeping with earplugs in most nights to mitigate the loudness of these early rising construction jerks

I mention this all (as in the spirit of keeping these things stream of consciousness, journal-style) because, my partner Jessie & I have really started to have a few wins recently, one of which being we are relocating away from the loud construction jerks while keeping our location ideal. After spending nearly the passed year making a shoebox apartment (of which we emergency moved into) work, we are now getting an upgrade in our peace & space and I could not be f***ing happier :')

I mentioned in my previous blog about wanting to do a blogpost regarding being a Vegan Tattooer, to firstly have some expression on the matter and secondly to have it work some SEO magic in the algorithms to signal myself to other like minded individuals. I've got a lot I want to say in this short little blogpost, so here's more of an introduction of myself as a vegan tattooer;

I never factor or judge people by what they eat, but when I was younger I was always looking for role models & individuality. When myspace was in full effect and Metalcore & Deathcore were my current fixations, I heard of this band, I Killed the Prom Queen. The first photo I saw of them was of 5 of the coolest looking dudes EVER, one of which being Jona Weinhofen, in which he was wearing a shirt saying 'Vegan Straight Edge', I was like whooooa, wtf is that?? It all caught me by my full attention & I knew I was drawn in to the passion by the vegan scene within a scene of heavy music from there on.

Later in life, (after I'd say I'd been tattooing for probably 3 years at this point) I started to get obsessed with a band called the Cro Mags and their frontman John Joseph, as he was making waves at the time outside of his music as an endurance athlete that was completely vegan. After listening to his Audiobook and watching all of his videos, his story really reached me, especially in regards to his malnourishment as a kid. Soon, all I was searching for were stories from Vegans in tattooing, music & other fringe cultures, hearing their viewpoints and taking their advice and then all of a sudden I made the decision myself, I was going to live a completely vegan lifestyle

I've since been vegan for 7 years at this point, other than people messing up my food orders, I've never of my own volition eaten anything that wasn't vegan. I'm sorry to all my friends who had deal with my difficulties in me changing my lifestyle which affected them at times, but I'm grateful for everyones consideration and understanding as well throughout the years

This comes hand-in-hand with how I operate as a tattooer, in having a completely cruelty free setup. I'm lucky that when I first became Vegan, I worked in Brisbane at Trailer Trash Tattoo owned & operated by a Vegan & cruelty free tattooer so many of us are familiar with, Mimsy. I was fortunate that Mimsy had really gone out of her way to nurture her studio as a place that encouraged vegan, cruelty free setups as well as a place that ran vegan events and nurtured vegan artists.

From those beginnings, I've definitely worked in environments where I was excluded from things for being vegan, but I've also worked in places where it's not their normal, but it's shown respect, which I appreciate

That's all I'll really go into now about all that, but I'd love to touch base on all things vegan related in the future. I'm passionate about it, I don't believe it's for everyone but out of the few beliefs I hold dear it's one that means a lot to me.

In saying all that, I do have an opportunity approaching which is really cool & exciting. In the past, I've only ever fundraised through shirts, in which I've been able to raise money to donate. Since that last run, I've been desperately wanting to do another fund raising shirt which is now on the horizon, but will first appear as it's own stand alone art piece which will be displayed in the Animal Kingdoms Art Show (currently being put together by Jem McPherson) which will take place in Newstead at Working Title Brew Co. from August 7th to September 3rd.

I'd first like to focus on this upcoming piece as it's exhibiting debut at this art show, but It soon after it's exhibition, there will be a colab of this art piece appearing as a shirt in which will raise money for a charity working with animals. I'm very keen 😁

I left off in my last blogpost about landing in Melbourne. To surmise on that; if you ever have the opportunity to catch up with friends that you hold dear, whom you don't get the opportunity to see often, put everything aside & take the opportunities when you can! My heart is still very full from this recent Melbourne trip (shouts out the Bennos), it was an amazing trip away full of merriments, good company, nostalgic reminiscing and booking the wrong airport (seriously, unless you are staying in Geelong, don't select 'MLB ALL airports' when booking your flights). On the subject of vegan and Melbourne, it brings tears to my eyes how beautiful a thing Smith & Deli has grown into. I bought all the merch, I ate all the food (not literally but gave it a good whack) and this business has me by my heart for the rest of it's days

Also on the subject of tattooing, I'm taking bookings!! Book now, what great timing! It's flu season, soon to be school holidays, that time of year everyone's broke from EOFY and cost of living getting higher each day, why wouldn't you just drop all of that and come see ya boi for a SICK TATT 💯🔥

In all seriousness though, my books are open, my availability is flexible. I've got lots of flash available and even more time to draw & design that next perfect piece you want to adorn to your body & collection. Just hit me up and let's chat :)

Upcoming for me now, is I'm moving in a month, taking enquiries for tattoos right now, preparing for an exhibition and shirt run to raise funds in August, returning to Melbourne for a bigger trip in September (if you'd like to get tattooed by me in MLB, hit me up🙏🏻) and then it's the final mad dash to the end of 2025. In between I've got a few merch drops on the way, so please keep your eyes peeled for those

On the subject of merch; I've been grinding in the lab with my brother this passed year, figuring out & honing in on the craft of merch printing. Recently, I got to create my first Screen printed run of shirts, completely hand crafted by me on all of my own equipment & developed skills in screen printing thus far. I just finished wash testing them and I'm so stoked to say, this first run was a complete success! I'm back in the lab this week for my next run, which marks the beginning of a new skill in my wheelhouse that will only develop more as time goes on

Lastly; I'd like to keep these blogs going as often as I can, using them to reflect on the approaching events mentioned above as well as  just sharing what I can, when I can. I just recently found my old laptop with all my old photos (since I lost everything on all my old social medias) so I'm keen to dig some photos with accompanying stories out from there, of which would be cool to share on here. Like some stories to go with photos of some truly epic times I've had travelling, or even the story to go with the photo of Lady Gaga & that time she picked and went to purchase my art but never paid for it...... more on that soon

Thanks for reading! ILYSM 🫶🏻🍻