Closed for the Holidays

Chrome Gardens will be Closed for the Holidays from Thurs Dec 24, 2009 until Tues Jan 5, 2010. We will be checking phone messages and emails over that time, if you need to contact us for any reason. Emails would be checked more frequently then phone messages.

All of us here at Chrome Gardens would like to wish our clients and friends a wonderful holiday season!! Remember that winter months can be very drying to your skin and your tattoo, so moisturize every day to keep your colors bright.

Happy Holidays everyone and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year!

Congratulations Jim!

We'd like to congratulate Jim for winning Tattoo of the Day on Sunday at the Meeting of the Marked with his adorable portrait of client Jackie M.'s dog Izzy!

Jim won a tattoo machine from Chris DeWitt @ Amoeba Designs, a Critical Tattoo CX-2 digital power supply and a one year subscription to Tattoo Artist magazine courtesy of TAM.

Jackie won a $100 cash and a hand crafted trophy from Jeff Gogue .

We'd like to give special Kudos to Jackie, who was getting tattooed by Stacy at the same time!!! That's right... 2 huge tattoos by two artists at the same time! Our hats are off to you, Jackie.

Mandy & Stacy showed up in an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, you can read that article here: Tattoos Mark Weekend

Thanks to everyone who showed up at the convention to say hi to us and to all the folks who got tattooed. We'll see you all back in Pittsburgh next year!

Meeting of the Marked

Just a reminder, Chrome Gardens will be closed this weekend as our artists attend the 17th Meeting of the Marked in Pittsburgh.

Meeting of the Marked Tattoo Arts Expo

If you are anywhere close to the event, come down and see us!!

We'll be back open Tuesday, Nov 3.

Broken Photo Galleries

The latest Adobe Flashplayer update has thrown a monkey wrench into Chrome Garden's Tattoo and Piercing galleries, causing them to crash your browser when loading them. I have the fix in hand but it's going to take a little work to clear everything up and get things running again so please bare with me.

I'll update when the problem is solved.


8:31pm

Ok I think I have the tattoo galleries fixed for now, the piercing galleries will have to wait until Tuesday. If you are still having issues with your browser crashing when you try to view the galleries, please clear your browser's cache and refresh the page you are trying to view... that should solve the problem.

Party People

Our friend Matt of Digital Ephemera Photography has put up a Gallery of some of the photos he took of Chrome Gardens clients at our 15th Year Anniversary party.

You can check out all the pretty party people here:

Digital Ephemera Photography»Chrome Gardens
On a personal level, looking through the gallery is very poignant for us; there are faces in there we have seen since the week we opened our doors in 1994, as well as new friends who's faces we hope to be seeing for decades to come. We know we'd be nowhere without you, loyal friends, and we are grateful for your support over the years; Thank you all!

Chrome Gardens at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Marked

The Chrome Gardens crew will be attending this year's 17th annual Meeting of the Marked in Pittsburgh. This will be Jim and Mandy's very first time at the Halloween event, although Stacy has a handful of awards from the M.O.M convention over the years (as far back as 1994!)

Stacy's schedule for the event is booking up quickly so if you're hoping to get some work done by her there, you would want to contact the studio asap. Jim will also be tattooing at the convention and Mandy is excited about attending some of the seminars.

All in all, it should be a great time so if you are in the Pittsburgh area or want to have an extra reason to visit Andy Warhol's old haunts, come out to the Meeting of the Marked!

Convention info can be found at the following link:

http://tattoopgh.com/mom.html

Mandy's Apprentice Journal - The First 2 Months

My first 2 months at Chrome Gardens have gone by so fast, I can't believe it! It has been so much fun. Since I started here I have been working side by side with two of the coolest people out there, Jim and Stacy. Both of them are helping me in every way they can to ensure I become a good tattooist with good habits.
Of course I have to do the usual apprenticeship labors, IE: sweeping, mopping, scrubbing tubes, and cleaning stations, but that's a given. Jim and I have spent many late nights at home drawing. He's shown me tricks of the trade and inspired me to go outside of my comfort zone and develop the confidence to come up with a solid tattoo design on the spot. I am still working on that, but making good progress.
Stacy and I have spent a ton of time together. I watch her work whenever I can and she gives me pointers and explanations for everything she's doing. She also worked on my vigilante justice leg piece and walked me through the whole process.
After about two weeks I was given my own tattoo equipment, which was way better than even Christmas or my birthday! Jim and I worked together to soup up my little shader and it's puuurrin like a kitten. He showed me the breakdown of a tattoo machine that night and I broke down and reassembled the machine with my own two hands.
I started working with the practice skin one-on-one with Stacy's guidance. The first time we did this I layed out some stencils from flash and worked on holding and controlling the machine. From there Stacy let me practice different things on my own. I did some black shading, and then colored a flower Stacy had drawn up. It's been a great way for me to get familiarized with the equipment and techniques.
The last time my mom was in getting tattooed, Stacy even handed me her machine and let me lay in some solid black, which was awesome and scary all at once. Yesterday I went off on my own and did a black and gray portrait of an Olivia painting on practice skin and it came out great, if I do say so myself. At this point I am hungry for real flesh! So bring it on!!