Reforged - 4 Years Later

A lot happens in a short amount of time, and part of getting older is realizing that 4 years is a very short amount of time. The last time I made a blog post I was living in an apartment by myself waiting to see what the pandemic was going to do to the world. I ended up getting a job roasting coffee for a few years and it was a pretty good creative outlet. I wont go into it very much but I was able to keep busy and learn a lot of things. In that time I found myself opening back up to art and seeking an artistic outlet. I was getting tattooed a lot at the time and making close relationships with said tattoo artists and entertained the idea of trying it myself.

I always wanted to be a tattoo artist since I was a child, however I was very convinced that it was completely out of my capabilities, there was no doubt in my mind that if I tried that I would fail miserably. But my friends weren’t convinced, they told me that I absolutely could and that I would probably be very good at it. Even though I disagreed, I figured I could give it a shot, at least for me to tattoo myself. So I got the equipment and started practicing, eventually the same friends who encouraged me to start wanted work by me. This continued and very quickly snowballed.

Some art colleagues of mine approached me with an idea, they wanted to start a grassroots tattoo shop and do it like no one else had. All three of us were self taught and we knew that it would be very hard for us to prove to the community (especially the tattoo community) that we were able and ready for such a feat. But we decided to jump in and try it anyway, we found a spot and after a few months of renovations and hard work, we got certified to tattoo in NC. We called it Iron Orchid Studios, and it was our baby. For 6 or 7 months, we all worked our full time jobs and tattooed on the side as much as we could. We would tattoo after work at night and on the weekends, and even though it was very hard to keep up with, we loved it so much.

I have never experienced anything like tattooing and the feeling I get after finishing a piece. To be able to help someone feel more comfortable and confident in their own skin is such an amazing feeling and I never thought I could make an impact on someone like that. With that said, I believe that if I was able to do it full time as an occupation, I would be a much happier person. So I decided I wanted to pursue a dream, a dream of doing art full time and helping people feel better about themselves. It was scary, but it was worth fighting for.

I then found myself doing my first guest spot, it was at my favorite tattoo shop in the world, Ravensgate. Not only was it my favorite tattoo shop, but it was also owned and ran by two of my very good friends Jordan and John Cunningham. While I was tattooing there, I was offered the opportunity of a lifetime, Jordan asked me to come tattoo with her in Phoenixville full time. So I decided to jump in with both feet, and now I am writing this very blog post in Ravensgate as one of its full time tattoo artist.

I am so immensely grateful to be able to do this, and I am currently preparing for my first solo exhibition titled “Reforged” all about my transition from metalsmithing to tattooing and how the former informs the later. I still plan on continuing to practice metalsmithing when I find the time and space to do so, but until then, I am going to pursue tattooing as my full time craft. As I write this, I have been tattooing for just over a year, and I have been living in Phoenixville for two weeks. I’m hoping to keep this website and blog a little bit more up to date, we’ll see how that goes. Thanks to anyone who took the time to read this, they’re mostly for me but I hope that someone else can get something out of it. Godspeed.

Best,

Adrian