Tattoos Archives | Koala-T Ink Studio

Spring time magic

Colt Obst — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 01:28:13 +0000

Finishing of a busy April, I was heading to Fredericton New Brunswick , for the fist time in my life. It’s kind of funny when you underestimating the land mass that is between cities, realizing that it takes 6 hours of flying to get there; Regina to Toronto from Toronto to Montreal and finally Montreal to Fredericton.Once landed in the Fredericton, I originally thought it was a larger city but in fact it’s just a small city of approx 60 thousand. The city was super cute and had that old maritime charm that I got to enjoy staying there , plus the people were great.

I got to enjoy a week long guest spot at Crystal Head Tattoo along side MacPherson and Crystal. Both were so welcoming and accommodating , extremely helpful with getting to and from the convention. I also got to enjoy a week long guest spot in Edmonton Alberta, at Bombshell along side mind blowing artists like, Liz Venom, Jay Freestyle, Razor Shapes and many more (Those are their instagram names so make sure to follow them).

KIRBY FOR THE WIN

Fredericton Tattoo Convention was super small but such a fun convention. During this I got to do a couple larger projects like Catwoman/Batman and Kirby/Metaknight Mashups , tattooed Friday respectively Saturday. Friday as I waited for judging with my client we unfortunately didn’t win but after asking the judges we came in 2nd which was so nice to find out , and get their input on the tattoo.

“HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE STARBRITE COLORS FOR THE REST OF YOUR CAREER ? – KIRK SILVER”

These were the words that changed my career. Patiently waiting for judging Saturday night with my Cousin who I got to tattoo a Kirby/Metaknight Mashup on. Judging was slow but worth the wait. We took home Best tattoo of the Day for Saturday , which was my first tattoo of the day award and a very proud moment. Kirk Silver, a pro-team artist from Starbrite Colors was one of the judges that evening and came up to me after I took pictures with my awards and we talked about my piece I just won with. After talking he asked me , if I would be interested in using Starbrite Colors for the rest of my career. I was blown away by this as this is a huge event for any tattooer and 3 weeks later I myself was a pro-team artist for Starbrite Colors.

WHY HAVEN‘T YOU GUESTED AT MY SHOP YET?

This is what I got asked by the famous Liz Venom during the Pile-O-Bones Convention in Regina. She casually came up to my booth and asked me

Star struck after watching her tattoo , and knowing who she was , I remember saying something along the lines of “I didn’t think I was of calibre to tattoo along side you guys yet!” After talking we ended up booking a week long guest spot with Liz at her shop Bombshell in Edmonton. While there , it was so great to see multiple stunning pieces just being created each day , and having such a friendly welcoming vibe at her studio. I watched Liz tattoo one day during my stay at her studio , I recall her talking about Northern Tattoo Supply , a company she owns , and what they do for their sponsors artist , and hints she made during our conversation.

After the session was done Liz just stands besides me and says” What do you think?”. I was just asked at this moment to be apart of the pro-team of Northern Tattoo Supply! I asked if she was serious, her response will always make me laugh , “It’s my team , I can put who ever I want on it”. Proudly I am , since that moment , a pro-team artist for Northern Tattoo Supply. This all has blown me away because just 1 month prior I was a ‘nobody’ in the tattoo world.

From this, I went on to do my first two conventions, in Edmonton in September and Calgary in October. These have started a crazy addiction to conventions, and the drive to do better at my art and start winning awards was the goal. Calgary was such a successful show for me as I got to tattoo many patches throughout the weekend, which was so much fun. I finished the Patch of “The Stitch” character at 4 am Sunday so we could enter it into the tattoo of the day for Sunday and was only 1/2 point away from winning tattoo of the day! This was the closest I got to an award for the 2021 convention series.

The post Spring time magic appeared first on Koala-T Ink Studio.

Convention Circuit Underway

Colt Obst — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 00:37:17 +0000

This year we have planned a huge tattoo convention circuit that will take us all over Canada from Vancouver, BC to Fredericton, NB and lots in between. We start off with 3 conventions in the first 6 weeks of the Circuit. March brings us; to Pile O’Bones in Regina, then little north to the Saskatoon Convention, and lastly we head over to Fredericton, NB for the Freddy Convention.

Summer Time brings us into Alberta for the Red Deer Tattoo Show and Gala, then into British Columbia Okanagan for the Kelowna Tattoo Convention. Couple week break then off to Manitoba for the Winnipeg Convention, then jump back to Alberta for Canadas largest convention hosted in Calgary. Last one for the year we fly over to Ottawa for the Ottawa-Gatineau Convention to finish off the year of conventions.

Guest Spots Everywhere

This year I have the pleasure and honour to be asked to guest spots all over Canada. I try to link these guest spots up with conventions but many times I do travel to a city just for a guest spot. Some of the more frequent guest spots I travel to are; IHeart Tattoos in Prince George, BC, Bombshell Gallery in Edmonton, Low Life Studios and Human Kansas in Calgary, Sage Tattoo Gallery in Ottawa, Crystal Head in Fredericton, Peppermint Hippo in Lethbridge, Boo Radley in Regina, and many many more.

“LIFE IS 10% WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU AND 90% HOW YOU REACT TO IT.”

PILE O’BONES AND SASKATOON

Our first convention of the year was great, we got to go out swinging for the fences with 2 in a row piece of Pokemon Mashup. We had a Star-U Patch, with a pixelated Gloom and a colour Vaporeon. It was so bold and bright and 100% caught people's attention but we still didn’t take home any awards for it.

During this convention, I was overjoyed when a Tattoo master came up to my booth and personally asked why I haven’t tattooed at her studio yet. I am now internally puzzled due to not thinking at all I was at that level of work to be able to work beside her at her very well-known studio. So at that moment, I took the reins and we booked my first guest spot ever. This was with the extremely talented Liz Venom of her own Studio Bombshell in Edmonton. She also is the owner of Northern Tattoo Supply which had my mind going crazy with excitement.

The second convention of the year was the Saskatoon Convention. For this show I had a client come from Yorkton for a custom half-sleeve Mario Piece with stickers, patches, and full-colour realism N64 Mario. This piece we started Friday and Saturday we entered the competition and we won the Best Small Color category (actually won 1st and 2nd but the judges only gave us one to not have any controversy due to it being on the same leg both pieces).

When we finished this piece we got to enter it into a tattoo of the day Sunday and we got 2nd best for the day Sunday which was awesome and 3rd best for the tattoo of the show.

The post Convention Circuit Underway appeared first on Koala-T Ink Studio.

A Year TO REMEMBER

Colt Obst — Sat, 01 Oct 2022 13:37:00 +0000

We bought our place in Theodore, Sask Sept 2020 and after a busy fall and winter, opened up our studio in January 2021. We were both excited and nervous as unsure how people would take to a tattoo artist, new to this area and working out of their home in Theodore with such a small population in the surrounding areas.

It didn’t take long for word of mouth to carry through the area, and soon enough we were super busy booked out every day, and fully booked the first 3 months. We have hosted many 100$ flash days to bring more people to the studio and let them get a feel for the artwork I produce. There was an overwhelming positive response from everyone here, and soon for the first time in my career I had to start closing my books as I had so many people wanting tattoos.

SUMMER TRAVELS

Every year we go on many trips for tattoos to catch up with old clients and projects that were started earlier. We made it back to Fort Nelson and Fort St. John in BC, then down through Prince George, Williams Lake, and Finally Kelowna to Calgary. We are very fortunate to be able to travel so much for tattoos.

“HAVE NO FEAR OF PERFECTION, YOU’LL NEVER REACH IT”

Summer came to an end and things just kept getting better. The Shop was only open for 6 months and we were nominated for Best Tattoo and Piercing Shop out of Regina and Area in that year. We made it through multiple rounds to the final round of judging and ended up winning bronze for best tattoo shop out of Regina. This was our first award as a shop, and it was such a great feeling.

THE PATCH KING IS BORN

On our trip through Prince George in Sept of 2021, I was fortunate to tattoo my sister again, this time with a new style, a patch tattoo.

She was very hesitant to let me attempt this style on her to be able to emulate the threads of a patch. This was the first time me trying to emulate the threads of a patch in the skin, so she was hesitant at first.

After 5 hours, we finish the chibi character of Iron Man. My very first patch ever, and this turned out so amazing and just blew up my carrier.

The post A Year TO REMEMBER appeared first on Koala-T Ink Studio.