Conspiracy Inc.

Client's view

2012-02-02T18:33:00.000+01:00

Our shop has come a long way since we moved in here almost two years ago (... really? has it been that long??), but since we're not in the construction phase anymore, thank god, we don't often get around to taking pictures of our progress.

So i was really happy when Luba and Roman from Russia sent me pictures from their visit earlier this month.

It's nice to see the shop from a visitors perspective, and can i just say, it looks pretty good.

Of course we always see what's missing, and notice all the little things we'd like to improve, but all in all, it's not too bad!

No more talk, see for yourself!

Front room

Front room/office view

Pretty Lucifer

Work room

Uncle Allan

Electric Pick at work

Hallway instax wall of fame

And Luba's free handed tattoo, stolen from Allan's instagram

Native Americana

2012-02-01T14:22:00.000+01:00

Are you one of the people who, unlike me, wasn't lucky enough to get tattooed by Nick on this trip?
Well, that's a sad story and we feel bad for you, cause he's all booked up and leaving soon*, but there is still a chance to own some sweet Electric Pick artwork for your wall. That's a small consolation, right?

Nick has two versions of the same print available to buy at the shop, right now and here's the deets:

"First set is of a limited run of 50
pretty sweet matte yet untextured super paper
size: A3 (11" 3/4 x 16" 1/2 for you non-metric folks)
Hand signed and numbered and as usual will never be printed again.

Second set is of a limited run of 10
also pretty sweet yet different matte/fancy smooth paper
size: A2 (16" 1/2 x 23" 1/2)
Also hand signed/numbered"

The big one, A2 is 500 dkr and the small one, A3 is 230 dk.
There are 20 left of the A3 and only 4 of the A2.
And did we mention they're hand signed and numbered?

Og så lige en hurtig gang på Dansk, fordi denne post jo trods alt mest henvender sig til folk i Kbh og omegn:
Nick er fuldt booket og har ikke tid til at tage flere kunder, men tilgengæld har han taget nogle fancy flotte prints med sig fra Hong Kong, som han sælger her i butikken.
Der er to størrelser at vælge imellem, det store print koster 500 kr og det lille 230 kr, og du kan komme forbi butikken indtil Lørdag hvis du vil købe et.

The prints!

I'm just gonna include my new tattoo for your viewing pleasure (in case you haven't seen it on any of the other blogs!), not only cause it's super awesome, but also since it's the first time Nick has gotten to tattoo one of his indian chicks!

Hello gorgeous!

*I can't say how soon, cause that would compromise my ability to stay in complete denial about him leaving us at all.

A moose and his centaur friend

2012-01-25T19:19:00.000+01:00

Here's a couple of sweet pieces Sarah did at the shop this week.
She did one on Saturday too, that i didn't get any pictures of, and one on me on Monday, that you can see if you click here.
It was a pleasure having her at the shop, as usual, and we hope it won't be her last guest spot of 2012 (don't worry, it totally won't)!

Fancy gentlemen... they're probably Lords or something...

If you're one of those people who check the travel and guests section regularly, you may have noticed that i've added some new Adam Hays dates to the March calendar, so if you don't wanna miss out, go send him an email right now.

Ps. Our other German bff, Chriss Dettmer, just stared a blog, and i think you should all go follow it.

No, seriously, he did, go see for yourselves!

What not to write

2012-01-19T18:15:00.001+01:00

Winter is on us like a big, heavy, grey blanket and it seems to be suffocating my need to blog.

But we're good, don't worry! The shop is doing great, and since it's not nearly as cold as last year, we're not even freezing our asses off inside like we usually do.

I believe our often partially dressed clients appreciate that too!

Allan is busy working on his art show and his book, Nick is tattooing almost every day as well as working on his new web comic, and Eckel... where is Eckel anyway? I believe he's in Hamburg today, actually. And also tattooing a lot, when he is around. And next weekend he'll be moping around Brighton, mumbling about some vegan burger joint that no longer exists.

So yeah, all is well at the Conspiracy, gloominess aside!

Me and Allan's trip to Japan is moving closer and closer, and just to emphasize how much we friggin miss that place, we've already bought tickets to go back in April, which should be good news for all the people Allan won't have time to tattoo on this coming trip.

Speaking of clients and booking, i do have a bit of practical info, possibly in rant form, that i could squeeze into this post!

You see, i have started to book from the Uncle Allan waiting list, and all in all it's going ok.

Except for a couple of things...

1. Some people still don't seem to understand that you shouldn't write a bunch of questions to the waiting list. I will not email you back, and you will not be added to the list.

If you have any questions, ask them before submitting your ideas to the waiting list, and ask them via our regular mail.

2. You will also not be added to the list if you don't include tattoo ideas and placement.

Also, it's up to you to think of something interesting for Allan to do. Try to make it fun.

If i'm going through the waiting list and the choice is between someone with an awesome, well thought out tattoo idea, pictures of placement and reference, all wrapped up in a polite email, and a dude who's whole email goes something like this; "hey, i wanna get tattooed, i don't know what i want, so just do whatever, i don't care", well... it's not a super hard choice, is it?

3. Lots of people apparently only read the part of this page that has the email address in it, and so again, those people, who don't read the whole thing (yes, i know it's long) and leave important stuff out, they won't be added to the list.

4. If you get impatient and decide to go get tattooed somewhere else, at least have the courtesy to send us an email, so we can take your name off the list. If you sign up for a service of any kind, anywhere, and decide to back out for whatever reason, you let people know, right?

This especially goes out to the people who couldn't wait for Allan and decided to get tattooed by Eckel instead. It's fine if you don't have the patience to wait, but for christs sake, let us know so i don't waste time writing emails offering you dates to get tattooed!

5. You don't get to chose the date you get tattooed, another thing that's explained on this page, so if you write an email saying "i'd like to get tattooed in June 2012", that's probably not gonna happen. Once we book you, we'll do whatever we can to find a date that works for everyone, but until then, you shouldn't assume you can get tattooed whenever you feel like it.

Whoa, with the angry teacher-type ranting, sorry about that, but seriously, a good third of the mails i get for the waiting list are either missing information or missing the point.

But the rest of them, those who get it right, we're so grateful that they take the time to read all the rules, come up with fun projects and wait patiently for Allan to have time to tattoo them!

If you read Allan's blog, you already know that he has claimed the month of March for his book project, but as soon as that's done, it's back to regular booking!

Ok, if you've read this far, you deserve some friggin tattoo pictures.

And even if you've only skimmed this... whatever, you still came by to read the blog, so you deserve some pretty pictures too!

Here's a couple of newer Eckel tattoos, one from 2011 and one from 2012. Enjoy!

Tattoo by Eckel

Ps. Sorry for the obvious iPhone pictures... ahem...

A reluctant return to the internet

2012-01-03T16:16:00.000+01:00

Oh hi, i trust you all had a great new years?
We sure did!
Eckel spent his in Barcelona and me and Allan spent ours at home. Good times!
I think i speak for all of us, or at least Allan, when i say that while it's good to be back, we sure could have used just one more day on the couch, watching Star Trek or playing xbox, and eating delicious new years leftovers. Just one more day... sigh...
But it is good to see the shop again, it always is!

I have a bit of early 2012 news for you, so let's start from the top, shall we?

-Nick aka Electric Pick is here! He arrived yesterday and he's already working today.
He is however, pretty much booked solid, so i hope everyone who wanted an appointment with him already got one! You can, as always, drop by to give him the gift of double espresso in a takeout cup if you wanna talk to him about future projects or just say hey.

Tattoo by Electric Pick

-Sarah B. Bolen (check out her fancy new website!) is coming back to work with us later this month.
The exact dates are the 20th till the 24th of January and if you want to get tattooed, email her at blackmirrorparlor@googlemail.com.

Tattoo by Sarah

-James Kiley (check out his sweet new blog!) is also coming back, this time to keep Eckel company while me and Allan are in Japan.
He will be at the shop from the 13th till the 17th of February and you can book with him through thetruesoul@hotmail.co.uk.

Tattoo by Kiley

I will hopefully have some more 2012 guest artist news for you soon, and lots of general conspiracy awesomeness too, of course.
If you wanna read a little about some of our plans for this year, go check out Allan's post of not-new-years-resolutions (yeah, right!).

Ok, that's it for now, i gotta get back to scrubbing dumb tubes and writing emails like i'm three years old (seriously, vacations make me retarded, apparently)!

To all of our clients...

2011-12-24T15:50:00.001+01:00

Merry Christmas, guys, we love you!!!

Not so winter-ish, but a wonderland no less

Cats, cats, all about cats

2011-12-02T13:34:00.001+01:00

As you may already know, Eckel isn't leaving Denmark after all!

At least not right now. I know, so confusing, but good news nonetheless.

And in very related news, it's Eckel booking time again, but things are gonna be a little different for new clients this time around, as Eckel has made a list of designs that he would like tattoo, and if you're a new client wanting to get tattooed by him, you should pick something from this list of ideas. Don't worry, they're all awesome!

If you already have a piece in progress by Eckel that you wanna continue, this obviously won't affect you at all.

Booking procedures have also changed a bit since last time and to keep things simple, we've decided that all bookings should go through one email instead of two, so from now on all booking will go though: grifzzfizz@gmail.com.

However, i will still answer any general questions and concerns you might have on the conspiracy mail after you've booked in with Eckel.

From Eckel's blog:

"and here we go again.

as i said a few days ago(read post below for further information)here is a list of ideas that i would like to do:

small,one session pieces:

-small animals with wings(such as:cats,rabbits,mice/rats,frogs...)

-black cockatoo

-a worker bee carrying a factory

-bird getting its wing cut off with a scissor

-girl face with ONE eye(as in cyclops)

-zebra head

-a guillotine

-stagbeetle with a castle for a head

-frog on a girlshand

-an old,ugly witch

-girl wearing a burkha(ideal for cover-ups,and i am not even kidding,see painting above*)

bigger projects(such as sleeves/ribs/chests and stomachs)

-girl riding a polarbear

-a black and a white cat

-hammerhead shark head with a deer's body

-a rat king(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king_(folklore))

-bird with a surveillance camera for a head

-crazy cat lady

-the young woman and the death(as in grim reaper)

-a hornbill

big projects(backs)

-a raging or dying horse

-large bird of prey with dead rabbit or smaller bird

-womans face with fancy hair and jewellery

-a sphinx(as in the egyptian woman with a lions body)

-a harpy(as in bird with woman's head)

-cat and bird/cat fighting cat/whatever CATS

the ideas and placements do not have to be combined in the way listed above,although some ideas categorized for big placements might be difficult to do on smaller areas.

note that the suggestions on this list are the only new projects and clients i will take on in this period of booking.

other than these i will just carry on with projects that have already been started.

in case you are interested to book appointments with me as a new client,i need all your contact info,even though i prefer communicating via email.pick one of the ideas from above for whatever placement,and a variety of dates that work for you if you have to travel to have an appointment with me.in case you want to get most of your travel,i have done two sittings on following days with a few customers in the past,and it works great that way as well if the piece allows working on different areas. in case you are up for a torture like that, let me know about it in your email as well.

that should be it.

thank you"

* or in this case, below

So there you have it, now go book!

Balloon-moth-thingie

2011-11-26T20:19:00.001+01:00

You know how i always let you know well in advance when we have a guest artist coming so you have a chance to book in with them?

Yeah, sometimes i don't do that.

I already knew a while back that our friend Sarah B. Bolen, who lives in Berlin, was coming for a visit and we'd arranged for her to work at the shop for a few days, but since she'd already booked her weekend a good while back, i didn't wanna post about it here and make it seem like she had time for more tattoos.

And now i feel bad!

But she's already making plans to come back soon, and i promise i'll let you know when she does.

All official like and everything.

This is what Sarah did today

If you wanna see what she worked on in this goofy picture, you should look her up on instagram (@eraserbits)

And speaking of everyones favorite app obsession; Allan tattooed Sarah yesterday and both their pictures went popular at the same time... what a bunch of nerds!

Coming soon: a screen printing update!

That there church, that there church is on fire

2011-11-15T19:10:00.001+01:00

Oh look, a tattoo!
That is all, i just wanted to show you that they still happen around here, and that i'm occasionally lucky enough to capture one on my phone.
This one is on Martin.
Don't worry, he asked for it.*

*If you're one of those people who feel the need to include "no satanic stuff" in your email when requesting an appointment with Allan, that one was for you.

The random friday post

2011-11-11T22:03:00.001+01:00

It's been a while since i've remembered to sneak a photo of a finished tattoo.Allan usually posts his on instagram right away, and Eckel has people out the door before i can say "excuse me".*
So here, this is as close as it's gonna get today: a picture of Allan's line drawing.
I know, lame, but at least they didn't finish, so maybe i'll get an actual tattoo picture next time?

We're pretty stoked to be back from our staycation and to be at the shop on a regular basis again.
We love our shop all the time, but autumn at the shop is especially cozy, and even more so now that the heaters in the shop work!
(Seriously, remember last year? That wasn't pretty...)

Besides (hopefully) tattoo pictures, i'll be posting pictures of our finished photo lab soon!
Yes, it's finished and i'm now working on getting the other back room ready for screen printing.
It's gonna be a cold winter i think, but at least we'll have lots of fun projects to start!

Dias de los muertos goodness

Also coming soon, a post with some practical information regarding booking and travels and boring shit like that!

*Not cause he's mean, it's just the good old German efficiency thing.

Prepare to be SPOOKED!

2011-11-01T16:50:00.001+01:00

I was just about to give myself a hard time for not having had the time to take more pictures on Saturday, but now that i'm uploading the ones i did take, i'm almost glad i didn't!
I'm not gonna get too much into details about Halloween Walk-in Day, cause if you wanted to know, well, then you could have just dropped by, couldn't you?
But i will say that we me, Allan, Chriss and our guests had a wonderful day.
The shop looked awesome, pretty much everyone who came were dressed up in great costumes, we ate a ton of snacks, the mood was nice and relaxing, and everyone who wanted to get tattooed got tattooed.*
But if you missed it, don't worry; this will definitely not be our last Halloween event.

Welcome!

Spooky shop detail

This is what my hair actually looks like; i just wear a short wig to not make people all jealous and stuff

Uncle All... ehm, i mean King Diamond!

Chriss the Cow tattooing Björn (sorry, didn't get a picture of that one)

Part of our spooky pumpkin collection

Undead cheerleaders needs tattoos too

As do cockroaches and elephants (although they came a bit late, so they got theirs on Monday)

Wookie didn't think he was getting tattooed, so it's good that he brought an evil nurse for moral support

King and Cowboy (i'm kinda bummed that i didn't get a picture of the stormtroopers... yes, there were stormtroopers!)

By Chriss Dettmer on Wookie

Christel's amazing pumpkin muffins

By Chriss on Martin

And a second one for Martin; Helle makes sure he isn't too exhausted from that first one

Eeeevil clementines

A close-up of my last minute horns... not too bad, right?

Lucifer was dressed up too (but only for a little while and mostly so my parents, who aren't pictured cause they weren't in costume, could see him)

Wednesday Addams and her sailor (lifted from Martin's instagram)

The Creepy Conspiracy Crew (also lifted from Martin's instagram)

Halloween flowers from my parents

The tattoos Allan did on Saturday and Monday (click image for a bigger view)

Update: Allan had a picture of the troopers in their size 8 years old costumes!

Whoa, that turned out to be quite the giant post after all!
See you again for more spookiness next year, i hope!

*Except yours truly, but really, who's surprised?

Time and place

2011-10-23T17:55:00.000+02:00

So, Allan just posted this on his blog, which means that i'm allowed to do the same, so feast your eyes on this flash sheet of pure, spooky awesomeness!

Want to get one of these out of this world pieces tattooed on you?
Come to the shop on Saturday the 29th!
We start at 1 pm and end around 9 or 10-ish.
All tattoos will have a fixed, very reasonable price, and if you want it even cheaper, all you have to do is dress up, as people in fancy costumes get 50% off!
There will be treats and beverages and spooky music, and we hope to see lots of you there!

Get one of these tattooed by Uncle Allan, or wait and see what Chriss Dettmer has to offer... or get tattooed by them both!

Update, now with sneak peek

2011-10-21T18:02:00.000+02:00

With only little over a week to go before Halloween Day at Conspiracy Inc, i figured it was time for a little sneak peek of the designs that will be available. Don't you?
Allan is painting his sheet as i write this, so it will be done soon... maybe even today?
He will post more previews on his instagram and twitter, so go stalk him there if you would like to see more.
As for Chriss Dettmer's sheet, you will just have to wait until the 29th to see that!

More details in the following days, like what time to show up and stuff, but i hope you already have your costume picked out, and you're ready to hang out and eat snacks and get tattooed... and be spooked, of course!!

Epic flash epicness

I'm probably gonna end up saying this again, but since the last flash day was for the London flash, which was fancy-semi-custom-not-to-be-reproduced-flash, it's worth mentioning more than once: the Halloween flash is just that; actual flash. That means there are no limits to how many times a piece can be done, so there will be no need to fight over that sweet Dracula, or whatever you have your heart set on. You can all get it!*

*In theory, but in reality, that would be super boring, so please don't all get the same thing!

Halloween guests, part one

2011-10-11T19:13:00.001+02:00

Halloween update time! (Isn't this exciting?)
I just got confirmation from Mr. Chriss Dettmer that he will indeed be joining us for Halloween-Super-Spooky-Fun-Day on the 29th of October!
Chriss will draw up some scary flash you can choose from on the day, which no doubt will be awesome, so go ahead and get excited about that.

More updates coming soon, so check back often!

Ps. I'm getting a lot of mail these days about purchasing the metal and Halloween flash (no doubt they're mostly from people who stop reading our posts about halfway through, so this might not help at all!), so just to try and clear things up:
The London Flash has not been printed and is not for sale.
Same goes for the Halloween flash, which isn't even done yet.
This post on Allan's blog was about an opportunity for those who missed out in London, and anyone else for that matter, to come to Copenhagen and get one of the pieces from the flash set tattooed.
You can still come get the London flash tattooed on Saturday, so feel free to email me about a price quote or just to check if your favorite piece is still available. Walk-ins are welcome too, although those who are already booked in will be tattooed first.
Ok, rant over!

Halloween at Conspiracy Inc.

2011-10-08T13:12:00.001+02:00

This is just gonna be kind of a quick announcement since we don't have all the details in place yet, but we do know enough to tell you all not to make any other plans on Saturday the 29th of October, cause on that day, we're gonna have some Halloween fun!!

First of all, there'll be tattoos.

Allan will make some Halloween flash (and we're not talking custom-one-per-person-flash like with London, just the regular kind) and you can get tattooed all day.

And the fancier your costume, the cheaper your tattoo, but more on that later!

There'll be some special guest appearances by other tattooers, but i'll post more about them once we get it confirmed.

So for now: tattoos, costumes, pumpkin flavored stuff, spookyness and good times all day!

We hope you'll join us, so stay tuned for more info!

Ok, i får den også lige på Dansk, bare for god ordens skyld.
Lørdag den 29. Oktober holder vi Halloween dag i Conspiracy Inc.
Der vil blive lavet spooky Halloween tatoveringer fra egen flash (altså ikke custom, husk det) hele dagen, med særlig rabat til de flottest udklædte.
Der vil være gæste tatovører (håber jeg, vi skal lige have det bekræftet!) og græskar og (u)hygge og forhåbentligt er der en masse af vores kunder og venner der har lyst til at feste med os.
Så sæt kryds i kalenderen og hold øje med denne blog for nærmere detaljer!

Flash previews will be posted here and on Allan's blog once he gets started on it (which may be as soon as today), so check back soon and often!

Ps. There's still some time available for those who want to get in on the London leftover action on the 15th of October. Write me or just show up to see what's left. Prices are set like in London, so you can email me for a quote. See the flash here (note: mystical reaper and cross/candle where taken yesterday and three others are reserved).

Der er stadig lidt tid tilbage på vores London leftover dag den 15. October, så enten skriv eller bare kom forbi på dagen og se hvad der er tilbage. Priserne er faste, de samme som i London, så skriv hvis du vil høre prisen på et bestemt design. To designs røg i går og yderligere tre er reserveret.

A couple of tattoos and some news

2011-10-05T14:18:00.000+02:00

Ok, so after London (still trying to catch up here!) Ryan Mason came to work with us.
His stay was a little hectic cause he got in later than planned, so he was super busy all week.
Which is great, of course, i just wish we'd had more time to hang out and show him around our city.
Maybe next time, if he decides to come back!

I didn't get pictures of all the tattoos he did cause i was a little preoccupied by my work in the darkroom (i've practically lived in there since we got back!) but luckily Ryan posted most of them on his blog, including the ones he did at the convention, so when you're done reading this, check his blog out.

But here are the two i did get pictures of; a large lower arm piece... and an even larger one!

Kasper's magpie

Rebecka's lower arm... she got pretty much all of it done in just one session!

I know this doesn't say much about the darkroom, but i wanted to post our progress anyway... those shelves were a bitch, but luckily Allan helped me out with the heavier table!

Just so this doesn't turn into a million posts in one day, i'm just gonna put this in here too: most people seem to already know this (people would even come up to us in London and offer their condolences!) but for those who don't; Eckel is leaving Denmark in December.
He's gonna travel around Asia for a couple of months, and while he doesn't know where he'll settle down after that, we already know it won't be Denmark.
However, don't despair, he'll still be coming back to do guest spots, much like that other guy, so your chance to get tattooed by him hasn't passed you by.
But he is booked for his last months here, so for those who didn't get in, you'll just have to wait till he comes back, probably in the spring sometime.
Keep an eye on the travel section of this blog, and on Eckel's personal blog too.

What his departure means for the shop, we still don't know.
But rest assured, Allan isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and neither am i!

We're obviously really going to miss Eckel, but we're finding it hard to put our feelings into words... so we'll leave that up to one mr. Axl Rose! Enjoy!

The London post

2011-10-05T12:33:00.001+02:00

Arrrghh, i feel so terribly behind on posts right now!
I shouldn't be, it's just that a lot of stuff is happening right now, and it's hard to keep up.
Oh my god, i sound like Nick now...
But fear not, this is what staycations are for. I will catch up with myself!

First up; London!
I am trying to divide pictures between my two blogs, so they both get a piece of the convention action.
Not that i took a lot of pictures; i was generally too busy, tired, bored or stressed to do that, but i got a few.

Allan's flash project was a huge success. Or at least to us it was, but i'm hoping the people who got tattooed liked it as well.
We've tried the walk-up/line-drawing concept before, but this time, with the flash actually painted, people really seemed to respond to it, so that was great.
And Allan got to work more and do way more tattoos than usual (his goal, not mine!), so i think this is what's gonna happen next year too. I don't have a lot of finished tattoo pictures, but Allan already posted them all on his blog, so just go check them out there.
Maybe next year he'll start painting a little sooner than a week before?
Just a thought....

Setting up on thursday... our banner came out a little (read: a lot) bigger than intended

BBMF (best booth-mate forever) Chriss Dettmer's half of the table

Awkward tattooing

SOLD

Allan and Kevin being all "grrr, metal"

Hand tattoo by Chriss Dettmer

Partying at the hotel means braiding Allan's hair!

Lies, straight from my instagram

Convention family having a tattoo party

Thanks to everyone who got tattooed, and to those who wanted to but didn't get in as well.
And thanks to our friends and clients for coming by the booth and hanging out when we didn't have time to come to them.
See you next year!

EP in DK

2011-09-20T14:47:00.001+02:00

I know this blog has more guest artist posts than resident artist posts these days... and it's gonna stay that way, at least for now!
Because we have more exciting guest news!
Or, "guest" is such a weird word to use about our bro, our BFF, our favorite human, our man in Asia...
Yes, Nick, or Electric Pick, as the world has come to know him as, is coming to work at the shop, and soon too!
He'll be working here from the 2nd till the 31st of January 2012.
Regular clients with unfinished pieces in progress will obviously get booked in first, but he'll be booking new clients in for one shots as well (think pieces that can be finished in 8 hours max).
As always, you can write to him at pick@electricpick.com and he'll get back to you in a timely fashion (totally just kidding about that last part, but he will get back to you eventually!)

Here's some example of recent work, to see older pieces click here or use the labels to your right.

Hello, fancy lady

2011-09-14T22:52:00.001+02:00

A quick and slightly blurry update on Joseph's fancy backpiece.
Obviously he has a few more sessions to go, but it's definitely starting to look like something!

I can't wait till this is finished, and i'm sure Joseph can't either!

Ryan Mason guest spot, pretty much booked already

2011-09-11T18:57:00.000+02:00

As readers who check every aspect of this blog often (including the tabs below the header) will have already noticed, we have another guest artist coming in September.
I know, it's crazy around here these days, it's almost like we're a real shop or something!
Anyway, Ryan Mason will be coming to visit after the London convention, and he finally got around to sending me some pictures for the blog (ahem).
He's already booked for the 27th, 29th and 30th of September (again with the attentive readers!), but if you wanna get tattooed on the 28th, there's still time.
Send an email to ryanscapegoat@gmail.com, and remember, fun custom stuff only!

Here's some recent work, click here to see more.

Nothing but pictures (almost)

2011-08-29T13:52:00.000+02:00

Remember this post from a few days back?Sure you do, it was an exciting post with lots of words, interesting information, and very few pictures.You all love those, am i right?
Well, you're gonna be really disappointed cause here's the opposite; a post of many pictures and few words.
See i just wanted to post these pictures that Kiley sent me of his work, cause that other post didn't have any.

So again, if you wanna book with Kiley, send him a mail at thetruesoul@hotmail.co.uk to set something up. Oh, and he'll be at the shop for a week from September 12th.
That's all for text, please scroll and enjoy!

So... you wanna get tattooed or what?

2011-08-20T17:56:00.000+02:00

Like i mentioned in the last post, Adam Hays is here tattooing this week, and it looks like he's gonna stay around for a few more days, so there's still appointments to be had!

Send me an email, or come by the shop monday to talk to him in person, and we'll work something out.

Below are examples of the work he's been doing since he got here.

Good stuff!

Og så på Dansk:

Vore gæste tatovør, Adam Hays, har besluttet sig for at blive i København et par ekstra dage, og har derfor tid til at lave flere tatoveringer mens han er her.

Så hvis du er interesseret skal du sende os en mail, eller komme forbi butikken mandag med dine bedste idéer, så finder vi us af noget!

Scroll ned for at se eksempler på det fine arbejde han har lavet de sidste par dage.

Max's greedy Greedo

Ole's oni Dunny

This is happening right now, so there'll be pictures of that on the blog some other time!

And we're back

2011-08-17T16:27:00.004+02:00

Oh hi, it's been a while, huh!?
We came back from our awesome, amazing, sunny* yearly vacation on monday, and we've spent the last two days working on getting back into, well, working.
Yesterday was rough, too many emails and too much mess, but today it's starting to seem easier, and i'm almost excited to back at the shop. Almost. We'll get there.

Well, i didn't just start writing a blog post just to tell you about my day, although i'm sure you find it thrilling, i do actually have a few announcements and stuff.

Adam just arrived today, like minutes ago, and we're already putting him to work on fixing our thermofax. But he will be tattooing as well, and he is actually booked for the days we announced here on the blog, but since it looks like he'll be able to stick around for a few more days, there are still a few spots available.
If you're interested, send me an email (address in in the sidebar to your right) or come by the shop, and i'll see what i can do to fit you in.

Also, in other guest related news; our buddy Kiley (i don't actually think he has a website, but here's a facebook link for now) will be coming by to work at the shop for a week from September 12th.
He already has clients here in Copenhagen, so if you're one of them, or would like to be, send him a mail at thetruesoul@hotmail.co.uk to set something up.

Oh, and i wanted to write a little something about the Red Cross prints, how awesome that whole project went, and obviously how much money you guys helped us raise for them, but since i don't have the exact figure here, i'll save that for a future post.
But i will say that while the Red Cross has closed off the part of their fundraising that goes straight to Japan, we are still selling the rest of the prints and donating the money to another worthy cause, but we will let you know about that later.

Ok, i think that's it for now, but more updates are coming soon!

I don't really have any exciting new tattoo pictures cause we just got back, but here's a sneak peek at what Allan is working on right now

*To be read in sarcasm font

2011 London Convention

2011-07-31T18:38:00.001+02:00

Just a quick announcement about the London Convention, since i'm starting to get a lot of mail on that subject:

Yes, Uncle Allan will be working there, but no, you can't book an appointment.
Allan will show up with a bunch of line drawings ready to tattoo, and if you like on of them, and there are no other people in front of you, you can get tattooed.
So if this sounds like something you'd be interested in, get to his booth early.
If you want a custom design, please sign up for the waiting list to get tattooed in Copenhagen.

Eckel will be at the convention, but he'll be there as a visitor only.
If he chooses to do a guest spot while in the UK, i will put the dates in the "Travel and Guests" section.

Questions? Post a comment here.

Ladies for sale... wait, what?!

2011-07-29T21:41:00.000+02:00

I'm not really in a blogging mood today... or an anything mood really.
We're actually off for our summer vacation (ha!) but as in most of Europe, the weather in Copenhagen is crap.

But when summer depression (it's a thing now) is getting me down, so far down i don't even feel like blogging over here, that's when i'm happy i started this blog.
Cause when it comes to the shop, and our little shop family, there's always something good and positive to be said.

Right now, Nick just posted some brand new sketches and some new originals for sale on his pickturebox blog.
I know, exciting stuff, right? But wait, that's not all!
No, he's even offering free shipping from August 1st till October 1st!
So, get an EP original for as little as 128 USD and get free shipping worldwide.
Yeah, you're welcome, internet!

The Great Outdoors

A Tomahawk In Your Pants (a personal favorite of mine...)

Yellow Sneakers

Lilly Apacheee

Oh, and while you're there, don't forget to check the older 2010 originals too!

Tiger style

2011-07-18T02:15:00.000+02:00

On Friday Allan did this sweet tiger on our very old client Peter.
Old as in "got tattooed by Allan 10 years ago", not as in "whoa, that's an old dude!".
I'm tired.
Anyway, expect to see a nicer photo of this one, or at least one that's taken with a real camera and not my phone, some day in the future, if and when Allan decides to blog about tattoos again!

Grrrr!

Hail Satan... and birthday cake!

2011-07-14T20:37:00.003+02:00

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.

Like it is today.

Come back, summer... please?

Adam Hays at Conspiracy Inc. next month

2011-07-10T22:53:00.001+02:00

So, it looks like my last post here was a costume post of sorts, and actually this one was supposed to be one of those too (apparently we dress up a lot in the summer? I'll post those pictures real soon!) but as it turns out, i have more important news to share.

You see, next month we're having one of them guest artists at the shop, and i thought it was about time to tell you who, and to show you some of his work.
From August 18-20 (and possibly a day or two more, if his travel plans work out that way), super swell guy and fellow Star Wars geek, Adam Hays from Red Rocket Tattoo in New York will be working at our shop.
If you'd like to book with him, here's how to do it: send an email to conspiracyinctattoo@gmail.com with your ideas for the design and placement, possible budget and dates you are available. Remember that it must be custom, as always, and unless you're planning a trip to New York in the near future, it should be something that can be finished in one session.
After recieving your email, i'll get back to you with a possible date for the tattoo, and give you specifics about deposit and stuff.
So pretty much the usual.
Serious inquiries only, and i can't stress that enough.
It's bad enough when people cancel at the last minute with Allan or Eckel, but doing it to a traveling guest artist is completely unacceptable, so please think before booking.

DK: Fra den 18. til 20. August kommer Adam Hays fra Red Rocket Tattoo i New York og arbejder i butikken.
Hvis du kunne tænke dig at blive tatoveret af ham skal du sende en mail med dine idéer til designet, samt placering til conspiracyinctattoo@gmail.com.
Som sædvanligt her i butikken tilbyder vi kun custom tatoveringer, og husk også på at tatoveringen skal kunne laves færdig på en session, med mindre du snart skal en tur til USA.
Når jeg har modtaget jeres mails vender jeg tilbage med et bud på en tid, og diverse detaljer ang. din mulige aftale.
Vær venlig kun at kontakte os hvis du er 100% sikker på at du vil tatoveres, og du har tænkt dig at overholde din aftale. Da dette guest spot er så kort som det er, vil det være et stort problem for vores gæst og os, for ikke at tale om at det ville være synd for folk der måske gerne ville tatoveres men ikke kunne få en tid, hvis der er nogen der booker en tid bare for at aflyse i sidste øjeblik, så kun seriøse henvendelser, tak.
Se flere eksempler på Adam's arbejde på hans hjemmeside eller i hans portfolie der snart skulle ankomme i butikken.
Spørgsmål? Læg en kommentar her eller send os en mail!

Happy 400 to us!

2011-06-25T01:08:00.000+02:00

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!

Buying myself some time...

2011-06-04T17:46:00.000+02:00

Really real post from Hong Kong coming up right here on the blog, as soon as we're not here, enjoying our vacation, anymore!
Sooo, later this week.
Hope y'all are well!

From our hotel

Still not answering emails, by the way.
Because i am on vacation.
It's something people do sometimes, or so i've heard, and in our case we actually don't have access to internet at our hotel.
So yeah, it'll all have to wait until i get back.
Also, sending me the same email twice, or a reminder after just a few days of no reply, will not make me answer your mail faster. More like the contrary.
(Sorry if that sounded a little harsh, but really, what's so important it can't wait a friggin week? Not much.)

The buy of the century (probably)

2011-05-15T20:43:00.000+02:00

Buying a grill for the shop is something we've been talking about doing ever since it started to get warmer in Copenhagen, and on Friday we finally bought one.

Me and Eckel went to the hardware paradise known as Silvan to look at the selection, and found the Dancook 7400 to be both reasonably priced and sized.

This is one of the (many) test pictures we sent to Allan

And here's our fancy new purchase

I may have also bought this giant toolbox that fits almost all of our tools (and a ton of stuff for the garden)

The weather wasn't all that great, so we ate in the kitchen, but it was awesome and delicious nonetheless!

(Sorry for the crappy picture!)

Shop barbecues are so my new favorite thing, and i hope we'll be able to do this all week until it's freezing outside again!

Ps. Don't forget we have a guest artist coming soon, click here to read more about him and see some of his work!

Just the right amount of cute

2011-05-09T23:29:00.001+02:00

I don't actually have time for a real, proper post right now (although i do believe i owe you one), but i had to post this tattoo that Eckel did on Rasmus today, cause it's pretty much the sweetest thing ever.
Don't you agree?

Insert sound of me sneezing

2011-05-03T19:36:00.000+02:00

It's Tuesday, and we're back to work after a long and surprisingly unproductive break.

I'm not super bummed about being back to work, but that's not saying that today couldn't have been just a little easier.

For the first time in what seems like a very long time the weather is cold and wet, i have a vicious cold that makes me sneeze every 5-10 seconds, and there's a mysterious draft coming from somewhere in my office (most likely the very old window, although i can't feel anything when i'm standing over there?) which is not helping with the whole sneezing situation.

But it could be worse. At least we have a work-from-home day tomorrow already.

Yeah, we're easing back into it for sure.

But although we've had time off, Allan did tattoo for a couple of days last week.

Max came from Russia to get his lower arm done, and to give us some sweet Russian souvenirs, and Martin came down from Norway to finish his frontpiece (something he wasn't quite prepared for) and to start a new piece on his lower leg.

A couple of brutal days, for us and the troopers.

Russian souvenirs!

Martins frontpiece of doom

I was taking a picture of this fancy gentleman werewolf Eckel did on Brian, and i somehow managed to fit everyone in the picture!

Allan tattooing Martin, day two

Oh, and in case you missed it, we have a guest artist coming in the end of the month, and you should all get tattooed by him (well, not all, but some of you should)!

Joey Ortega at Conspiracy Inc.

2011-04-30T22:03:00.003+02:00

So, it's been a little longer than planned since i've posted anything on this here blog, but at least i'm back with some exciting news!
Joy Ortega from Triple Crown Tattoo in Austin, Texas is coming to Denmark and will be doing a guest spot with us from May 24th to 27th.
During those days he'll be getting tattooed himself, so appointments are obviously limited.
If you'd like to book with him, here's how to do it: send him an email with your ideas for the design and placement. The email address to write to is gothix45@hotmail.com and remember that it must be custom, as always, and unless you're planning a trip to Texas real soon, it must be something that can be finished in one session.
After you get an appointment, you must contact me at conspiracyinctattoo@gmail.com to set up a date where you can drop by the shop with a deposit.
To see more of Joey's work, check out his website and facebook.
Any questions? Leave us a comment!

DK: Fra den 24. til den 27. maj kommer Joey Ortega fra Triple Crown Tattoo i Austin, Texas og arbejder i butikken. Han skal selv tatoveres mens han er her, så det er begrænset hvor mange kunder han har tid til.
Hvis du kunne tænke dig at blive tatoveret af ham skal du sende en mail med dine idéer til design og placering til gothix45@hotmail.com. Som sædvanligt her i butikken tilbyder vi kun custom tatoveringer, og husk også på at tatoveringen skal kunne laves færdig på en session, med mindre du snart skal en tur til Texas.
Når du har fået en tid af Joey skal du sende mig en mail på conspiracyinctattoo@gmail.com så vi kan aftale en dag hvor du kan komme forbi butikken med dit depositum.
Vær venlig kun at kontakte Joey hvis du er 100% sikker på at du vil tatoveres af ham, og du har tænkt dig at overholde din aftale. Da hans guest spot er så kort som det er, vil det være et stort problem for ham og os, for ikke at tale om at det ville være synd for folk der måske gerne ville tatoveres men ikke kunne få en tid, hvis der er nogen der booker en tid bare for at aflyse i sidste øjeblik, så kun seriøse henvendelser, tak.
Se flere eksempler på joey's arbejde på hans hjemmeside og facebook.
Spørgsmål? Læg en kommentar her eller send os en mail!

Bird tattoos (and a tiny little rant)

2011-04-14T17:11:00.000+02:00

Man, it feels so weird to be in Copenhagen and not at work 24-7.
And by weird i mean fantastic!

Eckel is still in Thailand and Allan doesn't have to tattoo until next week, so we only go to the shop once in a while to hang out and ship out prints.
More about them later, since there may be a deadline coming up.
Anyway, i had some pictures uploaded from weeks ago that i just forgot to publish.
So here, surprise, tattoo pictures!

Here's Martin, a shop regular, who on this day forgot his comfy pants and had to wear, uhm, alternative leg-wear!

Fancy gentleman by Eckel

Me taking a picture of Eckel taking a picture of the fancy gentleman!

A good old Danish "skarv" by Eckel (that's a cover-up, by the way)

Peacock by Uncle Allan, started years ago and finished in March

As you can see, i've started watermarking our pictures again.

I'm getting so sick of seeing the guys' work floating around the internet, on various tumblr's in particular, uncredited.

There are too many people reblogging this shit to begin with, and mindless reposting of other peoples work is annoying in itself, but when they start to remove links and credit, well, that's when i get mad.

If you see any examples of this, please feel free to snitch and let me know so i can have them removed.

And if you, or someone you know, wishes to use our pictures, all you have to do is ask and make sure the image links back to this blog.

Easy as that.

Soft serve

2011-04-09T18:45:00.000+02:00

Our friend Ai, who is a wonderful blogger and photographer, is selling a few of her photos in support of Red Cross' relief work in Japan.
We ordered one, and it arrived at the shop yesterday when we were busy shipping our own prints to support the same cause.
Her photos, and others, are for sale here, so go check them out.
Prices are reasonable, quality is high, they are well packed, and you can even choose between two sizes.

Ours is the 8"x12" print in Lustre... so delicious and it fits our photo wall so well!

Worth the wait

2011-04-07T21:50:00.004+02:00

One of our clients, Innina from Switzerland, did a lovely post on her blog about her and her husbands recent visit to our studio where they got their long-awaited tattoos done.
Such nice pictures!

This is her tattoo

The Red Cross print is selling really well, and i'll be shipping out the first batch tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who bought one, retweeted for us, mentioned us on their blog and facebook or told their friends about us.
We really appreciate your support and we can't wait to send the money from the sales to Japan.

Uncle Allan for Japan

2011-04-01T00:05:00.005+02:00

Alright, they're finally here, the Uncle Allan prints we've been talking about for almost three weeks (well, mostly on twitter, but we have been talking about them!)
The prints are limited to 100 signed and numbered A3 sized prints on 300 gram fancy card stock, and we're hoping to sell them all.
All the money will go to the Red Cross' relief efforts in Japan, a country we love so, so much, and that was devastated by an earthquake and following tsunami on March 11th 2011.

If you scroll down to the end of this post there's a button that'll take you to our paypal.
Please pick the country you wish to get it shipped to in the dropdown menu, we will ship anywhere.
If you have questions, please write us before purchasing!
The prints are, of course, also for sale at the shop, just remember to call or write before coming by!

If you are interested in purchasing any of Uncle Allan's other prints, check them out here and please send us an email at conspiracyinctattoo@gmail.com before buying, and let us know which other prints you are interested in purchasing, so we can give you a separate shipping quote for the whole thing.
For this occasion only, we will offer a discount on all prints and flash (except the collaboration set with Hunter Spanks) and all the money from those prints will of course be donated as well.

We will ship once a week until the prints are (hopefully!) sold out and the first shipment will go out a week from today.

Please let us know if you have any questions, and thanks for your support!

Uncle Allan for Red Cross, 2011

(Watermark obviously not included)

All signed and ready to go

Please visit these links for other ways to support japan: All for Japan, Yellowblaze Webshop (proceeds from prints and t-shirts will go to relief efforts), I Stand with Japan, Tattooers for Japan, and our buddies at Progression Tattoo in Adelaide, Aus. who are having a walk-in day for japan on April 16th.
The TAM blog has links too, so visit them as well.

Ps. We're still planning on finding more ways to help, so check back later!

All booked up!

2011-03-22T15:57:00.000+01:00

Just a quick little post to let you all know that Eckel is booked up for April, May and June.
That means we have closed for bookings for now.
So, what does that mean to you if you're a person wanting to get tattooed by him asap?
It means that you'll need to write us from June 1st. to book appointments in July, August and September.
As usual, we ask you to include your ideas for the design, size and placement, any relevant pictures of yourself or design reference, as well as a list of dates in July, August or September where you'd like to get tattooed.
And as usual, if you live in the area, we will ask you to come by for a consultation prior to your tattoo appointment.
If you are interested in an appointment later in the fall, do not write us yet.
In June we will only be booking for those three months.

That's all, we look forward to hearing from you in a couple of months, and remember, if you'd like to know more about booking, read the tabs named Eckel and client info.

Og så på Dansk:
Eckel er fuldt booket de næste tre måneder, og vi har nu derfor lukket for booking.
Det betyder, at hvis du gerne vil tatoveres af Eckel, skal du sende os en mail i starten af Juni for at booke en tid i enten Juli, August eller September.
Som sædvanligt vil vi bede dig om at inkludere alle dine idéer til design, placering og størrelse i mailen, eventuelle billeder, samt en liste over dage i de følgende tre måneder hvor det vil passe dig godt at blive tatoveret.
Og som sædvanligt vil vi bede dig om at kigge forbi til en konsultation inden din tatoverings-aftale hvis du bor i nærheden.
Hvis du ønsker en tid senere på efteråret skal du ikke skrive til os endnu.
Vi booker kun de tre måneder ad gangen, så hvis du vil have en tid senere, må du vente.

Vi håber at høre fra dig i Juni, og hvis du vil læse mere om booking kan du gøre det her på siden under Eckel og client info.

OPIN DA DO!!

2011-03-21T15:14:00.002+01:00

>>>>>>> Postcard from Africa!

Recent events

2011-03-18T23:51:00.003+01:00

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!

Thinking of home

2011-03-16T01:42:00.001+01:00

Today we canceled our trip to Japan.
The government here finally started advising against non-essential travel, and so we decided to call off our trip.
It was a hard decision to make, one we've been struggling with since Fridays earthquake and tsunami, but in the end it didn't seem worth the risk.
We had friends and family here at home worried sick, and going started to seem both unnecessarily risky and a little selfish too.
We're not exactly the praying kind, but rest assured, Japan is on our minds all the time.
We've been in contact with our friends in Japan who are all unharmed, but due to the continuing problems at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, we still worry about their safety.
According to Hata from Inkrat, the power is out on and off, there's no water in the super markets, shops and restaurants are closed down and Tokyo is basically a ghost town.
We're feeling pretty helpless, or useless even, over here, doing nothing, so we decided to do something.
Last night i asked Allan if he had some painting or other lying around that we could possibly make prints of and maybe sell to help out, and it turns out he did. So we talked to our printer guy and it's happening, and hopefully soon too. They'll be limited and they'll be awesome and we'll donate all the money to an emergency relief organization, probably Red Cross since they seem to be the ones who get in there and do the most good the fastest.
So stay tuned for updates!
And until then, please donate if you can, and if you're in Tokyo, go get tattooed and support the tattoo artists over there who, like everyone, are in for some rough times.

Sweet Kōenji

I don't know exactly when we'll be back in Tokyo, but hopefully things will get better there soon, and we can get back over there.
And when we do i hope we'll be able to reschedule the clients who had already booked in with Allan.
ごめんなさい, we will be back!

Ria's birds

2011-03-06T21:09:00.001+01:00

Allan did these pretty birds on regular client Ria on friday.
See bigger and better pictures of hers and Richards tattoos on Allan's blog.
Good stuff.

Matching thighs are awesome

You know what else is awesome? Clients who fly in via Paris and bring us these:

Happy birthday to us!!

2011-03-01T12:41:00.001+01:00

Yes, you read that right, it's our birthday!
Today it's been exactly a year since the big move from Nansensgade to Schleppegrellsgade.
I would have liked to do a huge month-by-month post documenting the last year and all the progress we've made, but, as usual, i don't really have the time.

One year ago i would have laughed if anyone had told me that we still wouldn't be completely finished with working on the shop on our first birthday, but at that time none of us knew how many things could possibly go wrong.
And considering the amount of crap we've been through, i actually think the shops current condition (which is "almost done" and "totally awesome") is pretty impressive.
I don't even mind waiting a few more months with the opening party!

Like we have for the past year, we're still going to flea markets all the time, this is one of our latest finds

And this is what it looks like in our amazing new work room

And just so ya'll have something pretty to look at, here's the worlds most giant armpit tattoo, by Eckel

Alright, i'm gonna go celebrate our big day by scrubbing some tubes...
Yay?

Zissou would be proud...

2011-02-28T13:49:00.003+01:00

... Cousteau too!

>>>>>>> Postcard from the South Atlantic!

Stolen diamonds

2011-02-22T00:25:00.002+01:00

Ok, this is embarrassing, but i have actually been working on this post for a week now.
Not constantly, of course, but on and off.
So much keeps happening at the shop, so every time i'm about to hit "publish" i remember this one thing i need pictures of, and then i decide to wait.
Well it ends here!

On Sunday, and that's last Sunday, not the one we just had, our glorious new wallpaper was put up in the work room.
That room never really became what we'd hoped for the first time around, and in comparison to the other rooms it just seemed a little too... not us.
And with Nick leaving we needed to do some major remodeling anyway, so we decided to go all out.
We sold the old desks, ordered some wallpaper from our favorite wallpaper pushers, bought wood for the paneling and convinced our painters and carpenters to do the actual dirty work for us.
Morten already did the paneling on Thursday, so everything was ready to be painted and wallpapered up.

Fancy

Poor Morten, trying to tame the crooked walls

Me, Allan and Eckel started the day by going to the flea market to get some new, old furniture and while we did that, our two trusty painters got started on the wallpapering and painting.

There was quite a lot to be done, and at one point it looked like there wouldn't be enough wallpaper for the whole thing, but you know our painters; even when they're wrong they're right!

So they made it with only scraps to spare and it looked amaaaazing.

In progress

Stolen diamonds... no, really

We put our marks on the wall before the wallpaper came up...

... this will be there FOREVER!

Everyone joined in

Remember this?

The following Sunday, yesterday (or day before since it's technically Tuesday i guess) the painters finished the black panels and the red wall.
It looks so amazing and i can't wait to get stuff on the walls and make the room come together.
Epic is not too big a word.

The red wall

Eckel started on his corner today

The other rooms are getting small makeovers as we go along too, here's what the office looks like now

The small orange couch now lives in the drawing room... off limits, as it should be

Oh, and tattoos still happen here too, here's one that Eckel did of Danish national treasure, Lars Von Trier (i'm sure you're all very nice, but if you don't know him, we can't be friends)

I'll be back with more work room pictures as soon as things are looking a little less chaotic than they are now!

And we're selling stuff again...

2011-02-18T14:08:00.000+01:00

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.

As good as it'll get

2011-02-05T17:18:00.001+01:00

I finally got around to fixing the laminator (that i am perhaps, maybe also responsible for breaking) so we now have a sign!
Well, almost.
It's more of a sign than the handwritten Rilakkuma note was anyway.

It's the same size as the handwritten note, only slightly more official looking

For the locals...

2011-02-03T16:40:00.001+01:00

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!

Friends 4eva

2011-01-30T23:28:00.003+01:00

I wish i could say that this Sunday was just like any other Sunday spent at the shop with two of my favorite people, and not the Sunday before the Monday that i have been dreading for so long.
But it wasn't.
It was, and is, the day before Nick leaves us*, and while thinking about that sucks, sucks, sucks, we spent it just the way i'd hoped we would; hanging out at the shop and getting stupid tattoos together.

Before this, Nick hadn't been tattooed in about 7 years... no, really!

Aaaand, by the looks of it, he hadn't missed it much

Viking?

A viking indeed!

So, Nick got the viking tattoo he'd been wanting for so long, but the party didn't stop there.

We needed buddy tattoos as well.

Of course we did.

Nick did the drawing and Allan did the stencil that was used on all three of us.

Magic.

Nick went first

Next up was Allan (Nick is concentrating hard on trying to figure out Allans machine, and the whole "stencil" concept too)

I was the last one up

Well, what else could it be?

Happy nerds

As a special treat for Nicks clients, i hereby give you a video of your tormentor being tormented... you all earned it!

*I wanna say more on the subject, cause lots more needs to be said, but i think i'll leave it at that for now.
I wanna be able to stay in denial just a little longer.

More butt roses

2011-01-25T21:19:00.002+01:00

I was just about to post something on my personal blog, when i realized that i didn't really have anything to blog about.
It's a real problem for me these days; either we get home super late and i'm too tired to blog, or nothing new and exciting really happened.
That's winter for you, i guess.
Just lots of work and lots of xbox playing.

But back to this blog, where i actually have a little update on a really cool piece.
Anne got another session on her... well, her ass, mostly, last week.
Still only lines, but now there are thicker lines, thinner lines and yeah, basically just a hell of a lot more lines.

The fanciest butt in town

Hopefully i'll have another update on this epic piece soon, so stay tuned!

Sad, but true

2011-01-23T21:21:00.001+01:00

Today was Nicks last workday at Conspiracy Inc.
In like, ever.
I mean, it's not like he's never coming back to visit, he totally will, but as of today, he doesn't really work here anymore.
It's strange to think about, after all these years. Too strange really, so i actually prefer not to.

... and his last official piece here was a touch up too... what!?!

Check his blog to see all the finally finished pieces, and one shots, he's been working on for the last few months.

More projects

2011-01-12T20:42:00.004+01:00

Yesterday my parents drove in from the country with our new dark room.
Or, everything we're gonna need to put in it, that is. The room itself has yet to be built, but we're working on it.
And we're wondering why the shop is never gonna be finished?
Maybe we shouldn't.

I have no pictures of the back room, because it's a total mess, but i do have a picture of my new custom made granny blanket!

Thank yous

2010-12-31T12:07:00.007+01:00

It's the last day of 2010 and we've had quite a year.
Anyone who knows us, or follows our blogs, knows that 2010 was the year that we moved to our new home in Schleppegrellsgade. And although the decision to move to this particular location looked like a terrible idea at first, it actually turned out to be a good one in the end.
We love our new home and couldn't imagine being anywhere else.
But that doesn't mean that it didn't nearly kill at times. It's been a rough path, getting to where we are now, and not just for us.
Without the help and support of our team of carpenters and painters, the shop simply wouldn't have happened. There was only so much we could do ourselves, so if they hadn't decided to go all-in with us, we wouldn't have made it, and the shop wouldn't be the magical place it is today; a place we actually look forward to going to every day.
They basically worked two jobs for months and got even less sleep during that period than we did, and trust me, that wasn't much. Some day oil paintings of their handsome faces will grace the walls of Conspiracy Inc. Or we'll write a nice song about them or something, but for now they just get a blog post dedicated to them.

Our friends and family have also been a huge support throughout the year. Whether they helped us paint our new walls, loaned us money when our most valuable equipment broke down, gave us crap to put in our empty new shop, or loaned us their car so we could go to a million flea markets, it would have been hard to get to where we are now without them.

I know this is turning into a lame blog version of the Queens new years speech, and that really wasn't where i was going with this, but i have to give one last thank you. To our clients.
In the beginning, around March when we first moved, there was no furniture for them to sit on, no real entrance, and in some rooms, no floor. In the winter time there was (or is) very little heating and some days they'd be lying almost naked in a freezing room for hours and hours, and afterwards they'd give us money.
They keep coming up with awesome ideas for the guys to tattoo, and rarely complain when they get something completely different from what they initially asked for. And sometimes they bring us cake too.
Thanks guys, i hope you know that we appreciate the crap out of you!

Last tattoo of 2010; Jon's death metal swallow

We hope you all have a super happy new year, wherever your are, and we hope to see you at the shop or around the globe in 2011!

Not this shit again...

2010-12-28T23:04:00.003+01:00

Four weeks. We had out perfect, awesome, beloved kitchen back for four weeks, and now the ceiling is leaking again.
I don't know what kind of retard they got to "fix" the leak, but obviously he didn't do a very good job.
We got people on it already, and luckily it doesn't seem to be dripping constantly, but holy shit was it depressing getting back to work today.
Oh, and Allan had a no-show too.
And it's not even Monday!

Bye bye, perfect white ceiling, it was nice knowing you

I'll be back in a few days with a post that's less of a downer. Maybe i'll even post some tattoo pictures, who knows!?

Guns & ammo

2010-12-22T12:00:00.004+01:00

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

Allans pile

Ready to settle it with the Canadians once and for all?

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!

insert sound of crickets and tumbleweed

2010-12-18T13:03:00.008+01:00

Uhm, so, it's been a while, huh (*stares awkwardly at feet*)... anyone still here?
Lots have happened since we got back from Japan, but the truth is, i've been too busy to blog about it. Sorry about that.
Everyone at the shop is super busy these days, and the upcoming holidays isn't making it any better. But we're good, we're enjoying hanging out again, and returning to Denmark wasn't nearly as bad as i'd feared.
I think one of the main reasons we're actually enjoying being back, is the fact that we finally got our kitchen back.
Yeah, that's right, the water damage, and the mayhem that followed, has been fixed. And it only took them 7 months too!
There are still a ton of things that need fixing, like our heating for example, but there'll always be stuff like that, and for now i am just happy that my favorite room in the shop is back.

Christmas hygge in the front room

We were gonna go to the Swedish embassy today and get a rug to really tie the room together, but Allan is afraid to drive in this weather, so that's gonna have to wait (can't blame him, everything is covered in snow right now)

Present from a Russian client

A pretty bad picture of a pretty great room
What this kitchen really needs is more food related art work (hint hint, guys)

Apparently this is called a colander in English? Blogging is constantly teaching me something new!

Eckel put the photos back up on the photo wall while we were away... that could not have been easy!

Allan has been tattooing pretty much non-stop since we came back, but i haven't even really had time to beg him for blog photos.
But last night I did manage to snap a few pictures of this black and gray beauty he started last week, and continued on yesterday (that's why the angel is still a little scabby looking).

One more session and some touch up and this should be done
As you can see, Rasmus is now the proud (i assume) owner of two rare b&g Uncle Allan tattoos!

I promise (sort of) to post a little more regularly... or at least more than once a month, as soon as things start to slow down.
In the meantime, i suggest you go check out this sweet feature Marisa did about our beloved shop over on Needles and Sins.
And while you're there, do yourself a favor and browse the archives too, i guarantee you'll love it.

GOD HATES DENMARK !

2010-12-01T14:35:00.003+01:00

There's just no other explanation, really!

-4 million celsius, 5000 km winds and they predict it to get much worst gradually until the end of time itself!

All we can hope for now, is that the people who predict this unnatural weather are the same that usually have a hard time predicting what the weather will be like tomorrow!

A+A go to Yokohama and get tattooed

2010-11-25T07:01:00.002+01:00

For those who like to read about our tattoo adventures in Japan (mostly mine, since it's my blog), i just posted a few pictures here.
Go have a look!

Allan's back, done for now

My leg, also done for now

Two more sessions for both of us in April.
Who knows, maybe they'll even be finished.

It only took me 13 days to get it!

2010-11-23T02:30:00.006+01:00

The darkness ... The darkness ...

Even though the town's been plunged in the dark like a canary no one wants to hear, from 3 in the afternoon till 10 in the morning, the lights have been on and bright pretty regularly down at the HQ for the last 2 weeks! Eckel and I, freshly back from our very own British adventures and busy as ever (well me more, he hardly does anything actually)! Someone's gotta work around here! Not everyone can take a never ending, nose picking and ceilings staring Japan-acation!!! Shop's got to keep going, ya know!? Work work work! We've had to do lots and lots of overtime lately (directly because of the above described missing staff situation) so I've decided to share the extra hours evenly! Eckel's taking the 1st shift (8 to 5) I'll be taking the second (5 to 8) just so it's fair! No one likes to be the boss but someone's got to do it anyway! I've also decided that until the missing staff are back everyone visiting the shop will have to:

A): Start and/or resume smoking.

B): Love doom stoner metal.

C): Have a minimum of 3 double espressos per visit.

D): Bring us gifts (expensive ones would be best)

E): Be ready to convincingly explain, in detail, their perfect plan of exactly what they would do (step by step) in the tragic case of a zombie invasion!

That will be all for now but please check back regularly for new updated rules and regulations of the Conspiracy inc. in the days to come!
-Because without rules ... There is chaos!

Here are the more general free tips of the week...

Spontaneous visits: Go towards the right, towards the light!

Weather report: It's gonna get much worst before it gets better!

Health report: Being vegan does not make you immune to Ebola!

Health report 2: Eating meat doesn't either!

Awesome report: Yes it's true!

EP-out!

Greetings from Tokyo

2010-11-10T09:29:00.003+01:00

The A+A has arrived in Japan, in case anyone hadn't noticed!
Actually, we got here a few days ago, but they have been busy days.
Allan has tattooed a bunch already, and it looks like the next couple of weeks are gonna be busy as hell.
So, where are the tattoo pictures, you may ask yourself?
Well, normally, i'd have to either manipulate Allan into giving me some for the blog, steal them from his card before he has a chance to transfer them, or compromise, like in the last post.
But Allan seems to think that since we're in Japan, and not the shop, i have no claim to tattoo pictures here.
The nerve of that guy, right?
So you'll have to visit his blog for tattoo updates, or my blog for all the other things we get up to (like our own tattoos for example).

I may post here too once in a while, but really, for the next month, our own blogs are where all the action is.

Almost there

This lucky walk-in had no idea who Allan was!

(Full story here)

Seeing as i'm not at the shop, wouldn't it be great if maybe someone else who is there, and who is a co-author of this blog, could post updates if anything shop-related should happen?
I sure wish i knew someone like that...

Wrestlemania

2010-11-03T19:06:00.000+01:00

So, it would seem that Allan already posted a teaser on his blog yesterday, so i better hurry up and post the whole thing before we leave for Japan tomorrow.
That's right, we're out of here, so the next post is likely to be something Inkrat and Tokyo related.

Ok, without further ado, Ole's magnificent wrestler tattoo

And a quick iPhone shot from our farewell dinner last night

Mate ne!

A finished backpiece

2010-10-22T01:47:00.000+02:00

After that last post i figured you guys needed something less... wordy.
I know i did!
So here's a picture of Sanna's finished backpiece, taken right before her final session, which was about 20 minutes worth of touch up.
Easiest session she ever had!

Done and done

Even though her back is all done, you probably haven't seen the last of this trooper yet.
From what i've heard, she has some killer ideas for her lower arm, so we hope to see her back at the studio as soon as her and Allan's schedules will allow it.

Will the real Conspiracy please stand up

2010-10-22T01:41:00.001+02:00

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...

The green room

2010-10-13T00:22:00.003+02:00

Here's a picture of the shelves i put up yesterday.
We found them at a flea market this weekend, and although i paid more than i should have (everyone does at that market) i still think they were good finds.
Now we just have a few books out front, and most of them are just there because they're decorative.
I'm so glad we moved the IKEA bookcase into the drawing room/library, it never did belong in our lovely front room anyway!

Cozy corner

Mr. Owl

A lamp we also found at the flea market

Some day i'll get someone else to take some real shop pictures for you.
But we have to wait until the kitchen is done... soooo, around the time of not-in-a-million-years, would be my guess?
Yeah, the optimism is long gone!

I-am-a-musical-robot

2010-10-11T22:02:00.004+02:00

I think i'll take a quick break from wasting my time looking at gorgeous apartments that i'll never be able to afford, and post this sneak peak of what Nick has been working on today.
You'll most likely be able to see the whole thing in a much fancier format, tomorrow on the plog.

Not just any robot, no, this is in fact a musical robot

I have been doing some redecorating in the front room today, but i just can't seem to get any good pictures of that room.
I'll keep working on that.
Hey, maybe my new online-apartment-hunting obsession can teach me a thing or two?

Uhm...

2010-10-10T23:49:00.002+02:00

That just happened.

Naturism

2010-10-09T01:07:00.005+02:00

Ah, Friday, you're the best.
In spite of still very runny noses, and increasingly chilly weather, we had such a nice day today.
Me and Allan came in late and studied Japanese while the boys worked in the other room.
We got caught up pretty good on Hiragana, and it would have been even more efficient if we hadn't decided to take a detour from our dog walk, to go visit our sweet neighbors at The Sailors Grave.
Relaxed days like this one are few and far between, and i appreciate the hell out of them!

Another use for the drawing room

Nick finished the "Four Seasons as told to you by Hot Naked Chicks" sleeve today, but because it's one of those half healed/half fresh situations, you only get a sneak peek

See the finished piece in all its naked glory in about a month on the Electric Plog

Under the cherry tree

2010-10-07T22:26:00.003+02:00

There may be a few people out there who thinks that it's all about doom and gloom here at the shop, but i'm here to tell you that it ain't so.
Sometimes even Allan gets his kawaii on.

Louise got one final session on her back tattoo the day before moving abroad... bon voyage!

Speaking of kawaii, this cute little devil likes to steal my chair

And take a nap on it

Rosy cheeks (pun totally intended)

2010-10-06T22:52:00.005+02:00

Today Anne had her second session on what is turning out to be a rather large backpiece (see pictures of the first session here).
Anne was not expecting this thing to include neither butt nor ribs, but that kinda just happened anyway!
But i think we can all agree, at least the three of us did, that it's staring to look pretty damn awesome.

It's always so nice and chill when friends get tattooed.
Lots of time for coffee and cake, and chatting about random shit.
And lots of time for Allan to complete his rose-stencil puzzle without feeling stressed!

Bird-lady, or lady-bird?

Butt rose 1

Butt rose 2

Next time, whenever that will be, Allan will add some more lines, and hopefully some black too.
I personally can't wait to see this one finished!

のうみそください

2010-10-05T00:06:00.005+02:00

Saxe from Germany has a way of sneaking in and getting small monster tattoos when his friend Björn comes to get tattooed by Allan.
And since Björn was only getting touch-up on his now finished sleeve today, the tattoo even got a bit bigger than planned.

Something tells me this fella enjoys eating brains...

I was planning on taking an in-progress shot of the huge thigh piece Eckel started today, but before i knew it, the customer had put her pants on and was out the door.
Don't you hate it when that happens?
Ah well, maybe i'll have better luck tomorrow.

Art & updates

2010-10-03T13:49:00.000+02:00

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!

Click here to see a preview of Allans paintings!

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!

The fox and the ratter

2010-10-01T00:54:00.003+02:00

Today we got word that construction is gonna start on the kitchen in about 8 days.
I however, am not gonna get excited because, as regular readers may have already noticed, not a damn thing happened the last time someone told us "within a week".
Whatever, it has to happen some time, right?

Anyway, tattoos!

Here's what Eckel did on Zule today.
Oh, and Lucifer is back home after an extended weekend in the country with his human grandparents, and he was so excited to be back that he snuck into the forbidden zone, and managed to get in the picture too.

A fox and a Prague Ratter (who appears to be very interested in whatever Eckel is telling him)

Here's a majestic piece of embroidery that Allan bought for my office while i was sick

And, uhm, i actually bought this guy for the apartment (don't judge me) but i haven't figured out a safe way to bring him home on my bike yet

My parents brought us apples and pears

And Allans client Morten brought cake!

Allan posted the tattoos he did in London, so go check those out!
And also, go check out some pictures a friend took at the shop not too long ago.
Her blog is awesome, by the way, so stay and check out her work while you're there.

Back at work, and happy about it too

2010-09-29T22:14:00.004+02:00

Oh hi, how are y'all doing?
Us? Well, we're back from London and we couldn't be happier.
The convention was a bit weird this year, and none of us had a truly great time, but i plan to rant about that on my personal blog tomorrow, so i'll spare you for now.
But Allan is gonna post the three tattoos* he did while there very soon.

In the meantime, i had a rare opportunity to get a sneaky shot of a tattoo he hasn't gotten any decent pictures of yet.
See, Nicolai came in to get some robot-spacechick-madness done by Nick last night, and while he was just sitting there, i got a few classy iPhone pictures of his penguin!

Penguin awesomeness, real pictures will pop up on the blog of Uncle eventually

More news, dates, updates, and that sort of stuff coming soon.
Right now i think i'm gonna try to convince Allan to watch some more Bored to Death with me!

*Poor guy had a terrible cold and couldn't work at all Friday.

Sake maki

2010-09-16T00:14:00.000+02:00

It's always difficult for me to get Allan (or any of the other guys for that matter) to give me pictures for this blog.
Understandably, they'd rather post them on their own blogs, and i can't exactly blame them, but in order for this blog to have the occasional tattoo photo, so it's not all about me whining about broken kitchens, i have to demand tattoo pictures.
As i did with this one when i said, "i'm taking the sushi and that's it!"
Or something along those lines...

Anyway, here's Kim's flying maki

And here are all those battles i did not win.
Until next time, Allan...

Vampires and water leaks

2010-09-14T15:15:00.001+02:00

Ok, since Allan already posted a sneak peek of this one on his blog, i better hurry up and post the whole thing.
Keep in mind that it's one of those half healed/half fresh situations that are so damn hard to photograph without glare.
But not to worry, we'll get a healed shot when Stefan comes back to get his backpiece started!

Grrr, argh

In shop news, it seems like we may get our kitchen back in the not so distant future.
After much delay, shit is finally starting to happen, and the water damage that broke out in May, and has left us without a kitchen and therefore with a very messy shop, for over a month, could be fixed within the next week or so.
I'm hopeful, but not optimistic; shit has a way of going wrong for us just when we're about to reach our goal.
The goal, in case you all forgot, is of course not only to have a completely finished shop, but a shop that is so finished that we can finally have that opening party we've been talking about since March.
Personally i think we might as well wait until our one year anniversary is coming up.
I know that sounds a little crazy, but we've waited so long already and now that fall is rapidly approaching with its rainy and windy weather, none of our foreign friends will want to come visit anyway, and who can blame them.
So yeah, maybe it won't happen until March, but it will eventually happen and when it does, there will be an abundance of 80's hors d'oeuvres for everyone!

Supplemental

2010-09-07T00:16:00.001+02:00

Here's another view of the horse tattoo Eckel posted on his blog a few days ago.
Yes, on his blog.
A picture.
Of a tattoo.
I know, right?

Side

Front

Aaaand a whole different view, that you maybe didn't wanna see

Sorry for traumatizing y'all, i'll make up for it with more pretty tattoo pictures in the near future, and maybe even a finished shot of this!

Open!

2010-08-23T12:29:00.005+02:00

I was actually gonna post this on my personal blog, because it's a craft project, and i've been posting progress pictures over there, but since it's very much shop related, i decided that it belongs here.
So what am i talking about here?
The shop open/closed sign, that's what!
I finally finished the sign that i have been working on for months.
We still don't have an actual shop sign, and we really don't plan on getting one, but now people will at least be able to see when we're open.

In progress

Nick got the idea for the bird cages, clever right?

Almost done

Open:

And closed:

It took me a while, but i finally found two antique frames in the exact same size, that fit the signs too (thank god we're smack in the middle of an antique neighborhood)

Bird detail

Deer detail

Voila!

In the beginning i used a pattern, but the closed sign i pretty much made it up as i went along.
And considering that this is only my second cross-stitch project (the first finished one is this), i think it turned out pretty well.
Hope y'all like it!

Greetings from Transylvania

2010-08-10T20:30:00.003+02:00

Here's what Allan did today; a second session on Stefan's vampire chick.
The first session looked a little something like this.

To be continued...

Some Uncle Allan booking info

2010-08-10T00:30:00.001+02:00

No, we're not booking new clients for Uncle Allan just yet, but we have decided that telling people to check back later isn't exactly working out either.
So, we have decided to start a waiting list for new pieces.
An official one for new and old clients alike.

All you have to do is send an email to the new email address (i will reveal that address later in this post) and you'll be on the list.
Simple, right?

In your email you should include your name and contact information and an approximate size/placement/general idea for the tattoo, so we can book the right amount of appointments for you.
Foreign clients wanting a bigger piece should let us know how often they can make it to Denmark, and those of you who have already gotten tattooed by Allan (or Eckel or Electric Pick) should let us know what you've gotten done here in the past.
If you don't include your ideas, we probably won't contact you first, so please don't forget that part.

When you have sent us the mail, you will get an auto reply in return, and when we have openings, we will contact you.
We cannot give you any idea of when you'll be hearing from us regarding an appointment, so if that's not something you're ok with, please don't submit your name to the list.
Also, this is not an email-back-and-forth type deal, so if you get impatient and decide to write and ask when the hell you're getting tattooed, you won't get a reply.
You can have your name removed from the list any time by sending us an email saying that you're sick of waiting, or that you just don't like tattoos anymore or whatever, and we'll take you off the list immediately.

If you have any questions to this new system, feel free to leave a comment below and we promise to reply here.
If you think you have all the information you need, go ahead and send your most fun tattoo ideas to:

uncleswaitinglist@gmail.com

Thanks for reading this (and for following this blog, of course), we look forward to hearing from you!

Og så en hurtig opsummering på dansk:
Vi har nu oprettet en ny venteliste for folk der gerne vil tatoveres af Allan.
Dette gælder for alle nye projekter, så det er både for nye og gamle kunder.
Du skal bare sende en mail med dine idéer og kontakt information til den ovenstående adresse, og så er du på listen.
Hvis du er blevet tatoveret i butikken før må du gerne inkludere en kort beskrivelse af hvad du har fået lavet.
Du vil modtage et auto-svar, der bekræfter at din mail er modtaget, og når vi booker igen vil vi kontakte dig.
Hvis du bliver utålmodig kan du til hver en tid blive taget af listen, bare send os en mail.
Vi håber at høre fra dig!

Dinner is served

2010-08-06T00:39:00.007+02:00

Sorry for the blog silence lately, but as you may know, Allan and myself took a much needed week off in the country.
Too short, but good nonetheless.
But now we're back... in fact, we're all back.
Now, i don't wanna get all sentimental on y'all, but i can't tell you how good it feels to have the whole gang back together again, for the first time since we moved.
It's fun and awesome and... magical.
Like, unicorns and rainbows and Zorgon magical.

The following pictures are from Wednesday.

Yes, Nick really is back (see more here)

I can't say for sure, but i think we might be the only tattoo shop in the world that produces our own coriander (and it's good too!)

Allan started this lovely laaaady on Jens

Here's what's happening on the other side of that leg... to be continued soon

Nick bought a rice cooker and made dinner for everyone

Ta-dah!

Tuna surprise!

Geeks, geeking out

More geeking, and a sleepy Lucifer

We all stayed at the shop till around one am.
Who wants to go home when being at work can be so much fun?
It's probably a good thing we only have two sofas and no shower.

We saw this on the way home: a tea party on the middle of the road, in the pouring rain.... Copenhagen, what will you think of next?

EP in CPH

2010-07-29T21:39:00.001+02:00

The only reason to take a break from our vacation and go back to the city for a few hours?
Picking up someone at the airport.

Welcome back, bestest buddy, you've been missed!

Happy b-day Eckel

2010-07-16T23:50:00.000+02:00

Hope it was a good one!

(To explain the controller; we got Halo 3, but it won't let you play co-op for three people, so i'm stuck watching... boo!)

Sanna is done, you guys

2010-07-14T00:53:00.003+02:00

I know the label of this post says "In progress: Sanna" but don't let labels fool you, dear readers, this backpiece is in fact... finished.
Yes, you read that right, a finished backpiece.
A rare occasion indeed, and we're grateful to the always cheerful trooper, and bringer of Swedish strawberries, Sanna, for not being an Adolf Quitler!

This is actually her second session in less than a week, so this picture is a bit of a half healed/half almost healed/half fresh mess

Fully healed pictures coming in October

The whole thing took about a year, almost to the date, and by choosing the before mentioned Sanna label in the dropdown menu to your right, you can see the the progress from drawing to finished tattoo.
I tried to document it as good as i could, and i only missed a couple of sessions.

Anyway, congratulations to both Allan and Sanna, you guys rock!

Non-news

2010-07-05T20:32:00.001+02:00

So, here we are.
It's July and we still haven't set a date for the opening party we were supposed to have back in May.
I don't know exactly when it's gonna be, but i can say that it's not gonna be this month either.

We've long accepted that the shop is never gonna be completely finished, so we shouldn't wait for that to happen, but there are a few more things we'd like to see done before we invite everyone to come see our new home.
There are still lamps that needs to be fixed and hung, and stuff that needs to be painted.
And then there's of course the big, gaping hole in our kitchen ceiling that's about to get a whole lot bigger.
I almost can't handle the thought of more construction dust, but water leaks need to be fixed, even if they aren't technically our problem.

I wanna say that the party will be in late August-early September, but since shit seems to happen a lot, i'm not making any promises!

So instead of an exciting news post, or even one with tattoos in it, you get a plants-and-random-crap-around-the-shop post!

Office window

Last week i planted sunflowers and poppies, and today i planted carrots, radishes and peas (not pictured)... all the unnamed plants in the back were there before, i just moved them a bit

More herbs and veggies, if i don't manage to kill them, outside the kitchen window

My birthday flower is still alive!

While digging in the garden i found several buried treasures, this one even made it inside

This one wasn't found in the soil, but it in an antique shop for 10 kr.

It never friggin ends, does it...

Ok, more garden related posts coming soon*, and some tattoo stuff too i guess.

*Yes, i'm aware that i'm the only one who cares about project carrot, but it's my blog, so the vegetable posts are happening whether you like it or not!

Roses, roses, always roses

2010-07-04T13:06:00.000+02:00

I wanted to do a US post here, but Allan has been blogging quite a bit about our trip, as have i, so i guess it's not really necessary.
Allan even posted most of the tattoos he did there, but i do have one that he didn't get a picture of, just one!

A spontaneous rose!

I'll be back soon with some new shop photos and news!

E.P. NEWS >>>>

2010-06-24T22:00:00.000+02:00

>>>> Postcard from "slowly but surely-on my way back" land !

Eckel info...

2010-06-23T14:48:00.005+02:00

This is for everyone who's been writing us lately about booking with Eckel:
He is back in Cph, and booking the next three months.
That means no late fall/winter appointments just yet, so if that's the only time you can come get tattooed, you'll have to wait a bit longer to book.

Please email conspiracyinctattoo@gmail.com and be sure to include ALL relevant info:
Your ideas, the placement/size, what dates you're not available if any, your budget if you have a limit on how much you wanna spend and whatever else we could possibly need to know.
If we already have an email conversation going, please reply to the most recent mail instead of sending a new one, so i have all of our correspondence in one mail.
Thanks!

Update:
Only few appointments left.

Liverpool

2010-06-07T20:00:00.001+02:00

Want to get tattooed by Eckel at this years Liverpool Tattoo Convention?
Click here to find out how!

Vampir

2010-05-31T17:17:00.001+02:00

Here's another in progress piece, a fancy vampire lady on Stefan from Germany, who was raised in Transylvania.
For reals.

To be continued in August...

We're going to the States in a few days.
And there's water damage in the kitchen.
Our timing is great, as always!

Ha!

2010-05-30T22:53:00.001+02:00

I did it, i conquered the storage rooms!

These were the last two rooms of the shop that still had "construction" written all over them, but now they're finally ready to be used for something other than storing tools, paint and yellow dust.
Maybe in the future this will be a screen printing room?
For now there's still a bunch of stuff in there that we have nowhere else to put, but it looks a hell of a lot better than before.*

It's taken me days, a lot longer than expected, but i finally sorted through everything, threw out a bunch of stuff, and organized and cleaned the rest

The Star Wars toys got their own corner

And the decks finally have a home too

The chandelier on the floor is going in the front room, by the way.
Pretty, right?

*There are no pictures of the second storage room, because *someone* hasn't put up any lights in there yet.
But i swear i cleaned that room too!

Lady bird

2010-05-30T13:14:00.003+02:00

Allan has been working on some really fun projects lately, but since they're all pretty big, it'll be a while before we see the finished results.
So for now you'll have to settle for some in progress pictures.
It's better than no tattoo pictures at all, right?

Here's our homegirl Anne, getting comfortable in the rather cold shop (i swear, it's like friggin November here at the moment...)

Fancy bird lady has some fancy leg chains

Another very late night at the office...

Very much in progress as Allan still needs to add flowers, so i'm afraid Anne hasn't seen the last of the liners yet

Solutions

2010-05-22T18:45:00.002+02:00

Thursday was a weird day at the shop.
A good day, but very long and weird.
We had a bunch of clients and a bunch of people who dropped by, it was almost like a real tattoo shop, and i guess that the sudden rush of people was a bit overwhelming because we've been alone down here for so long.
But we did get stuff done; Allan did three tattoos on three friends, and i put up a bunch of shelves for our toy collection in the (current) storage room.
Now, you may think that it's a strange place to put all of our pretty toys, and in a way it is.
But somehow we accidentally built a grown up shop (it wasn't on purpose, i swear) and the toys just didn't fit in anywhere.
So i figured, the storage room won't be a storage room forever, so they got their own wall in there, and by some amazing coincidence, they all fit (but just barely!)
And i think putting them all in one place looks kinda cool too!

Our rather impressive collection of delicious junk

The rest of the room still looks like hell, but once all the painting work is finished, i'll clean this up in no time

Ps. We couldn't get good pictures of the tattoos, so you'll just have to trust me when i say they where nice!

Pocahontas?

2010-05-20T11:51:00.002+02:00

Morten-the-carpenter got tattooed on monday.
He wanted a traditional indian girl, based on some flash made by some sailor named... Joey? Jimmy? No, Jerry! Maybe you've heard of him?
Apparently he's kind of a big deal.

It's very unlike Allan to stay this close to the flash, but i think he does super traditional really well

After a few hours, Morten wasn't having so much fun anymore...

... but he made it, and got himself this fine looking lady!

That's one wacky kimono....

2010-05-17T18:21:00.001+02:00

Finally, it's tattoo time!
Ok, only one tattoo, but at least it's a big one.
On Friday Sanna came across the bridge for another session on her back piece.
It wasn't the last session, as some people may have thought or hoped it would be, but it's so close now.
Just a bit more kimono and fan action, and that's it.

Kimono pattern done

Allan went nuts with tiny Kyōsai monsters

Frogman is my personal favorite

This guy is cool too

Monsters here, there and everywhere

So pretty and colorful, i can't wait to see this one finished!

We gots fridge!

2010-05-13T21:03:00.000+02:00

Oh, hello!
If you were hoping to see some tattoo pictures here... today is not your lucky day.
However, if you were wondering if we finally got a regular sized fridge to match our new kitchen, this is the post for you.

On Sunday we borrowed a car and started moving some of my stuff, as well as a sofa, from our apartment to the shop.
We also took a ride to the 'burbs and picked up a fridge at our friend Ulla's parents house.
They gave it to us a long time ago, and have been very patient with us and our lack of transportation.
The fridge is used, but works just great, and it was free.
We like free.

Fully fridge-magnet-ized, but pretty much empty inside!

We've changed a lot in the front room too, but i'm gonna wait with pictures from that room until we've gotten a little more work done.