With Covid-19 pretty much wrecking the entire world over the last year it’s a wonder we haven’t done more of these Plague Doctors. Performed by Matt Steele, the simplicity and straightforward nature of the artwork is intense, without being overwhelming. Way to go Matt!
Steven came to Lighthouse Tattoo as a referral from another great client of ours, Nick, who had gotten quite a bit of impressive work from Will himself. A few months later and this sleeve dedicated to Steven’s love of ancient Greek culture was complete.
(We have to apologize for some of the photo quality, as a couple of the shots pale in comparison to the actual work when viewed in person, but hey, we’re tattooers, not photographers, what’re ya gonna do?
The sleeve begins with portraits of the Greek philosophers Socrates and Thales of Miletus; descending through an Ouroborus on his elbow (not pictured) on to a depiction of Altas (his son’s namesake) on the top of his forearm. His bicep is covered with the sculpture of Perseus with the head of Medusa, completing the piece.
Steven’s not finished there however, as he has plans for building his body of work with copies of some of the greatest Renaissance and contemporary artwork in the world. Such a joy to work with a fellow connoisseur! See you again real soon Steven!
Our resident realism artist, founder, and fearless leader Will completed this lion portrait the height of an entire calf in under five hours a few weeks ago. His work has been the stuff of legend for some time, but we still stand in awe when pieces this good and large are completed so quickly. His ability to perform excellent work efficiently has made it possible for Lighthouse Tattoo to offer some of the best artwork around at affordable (not cheap!) prices. That’s also what keeps him busy, so please, if you’re interested in getting tattooed by one of the very best artists around, schedule your appointment with Will early!
While on his apprentice journey here at Lighthouse Tattoo, Matt Steele has taken a liking to developing his skills at performing blackwork tattoos. A growing trend in the culture, Blackwork uses the simplicity of line and negative space to create a delicate balance of style and mass. It’s easy to see why such a striking style is taking the country by storm!
Bush League: Not of the highest quality or sophistication; second-rate. Simple as that. You have a choice to make and Lighthouse Tattoo has made it easy for you with competitive pricing and custom, high-quality artwork. Don’t put something second best on your body forever. We have the best artists around, hands down. All it takes is one visit to our online portfolios or swing by the shop and see for yourself.
Now, we don’t mean to disparage our associates in the business, that happens too much in this business and that’s not what we’re trying to do. Bright Ideas does excellent quality, professional work and we recommend them to people if we’re too busy to get to them all the time.
But we’re the best.
We mean it.
No joke.
See for yourself: More than 60 years of combined experience; more awards for out-of-the-ordinary, time-tested quality artwork, from across the nation, than you can shake a pointy stick at; the best accessibility, open seven days a week, 10 hours a day; great customer service (unless you’re a jerk, we don’t like those); and we throw great parties. Plus, the goldfish are pretty awesome.
We’ll stand in comparison to any shop in the state. See it to believe it.
Lighthouse Tattoo
It’s not at all unusual or strange for people to walk into Lighthouse Tattoo, stick a cell phone in our face and ask us ‘how much for this?’. It often helps things move along really quickly and efficiently. People know what they want and can show us without being vague because of internet technology.
However.
Also due to internet technology people are being exposed to pretty advanced forms of body modification without taking the steps to educate themselves on the unintended consequences of pursuing such extreme artforms. It makes for a slippery slope of inexperienced tattoo and piercing collectors skipping very important educational and experiential steps and finding themselves in the realm of extreme body mod with no one to help them avoid some major pitfalls.
No one except us, that is.
Lighthouse Tattoo has strict policies against performing tattoos or piercings on individuals who either do not understand or do not care that they could be unduly harming themselves through the process. Prohibited practices include: Hand, neck, and face tattoos on people who haven’t weathered the crucible of experience with regard to tattoo and public perception (people who are convicted felons and the independently wealthy are excluded from this group, as making a dicey tattoo choice is less likely to negatively affect them); Smiley piercings or any other piercing deemed unsafe by the Association of Professional Piercers; sexually suggestive piercings on minors (no genital or nipple piercing under 18; no tongue piercing under 16); finger tattoos are included in this, especially delicate or intricate work on fingers or pieces that are too small to hold up well over time. We also won’t do any ‘hate’ tattoos or gang affiliation tattoos, including confederate battle flags or racial pride tattoos of any kind.
We don’t do these things for good reason and you would be well served to listen to us, we’re professionals, after all.
If, in your infinite wisdom, you should decide not to listen to our more than 50 years of combined, award-winning tattoo experience, well, please don’t come into our shop. We won’t get along at all.
We ask two questions of ourselves before tattooing anyone: does this person know what they’re asking us for? and will it cause them undue harm? The first question is because some people approaching with ideas without fully understanding the symbolism being used, something that can result in a very unintended message being displayed, a real nightmare scenario. The second question is more nuanced. The idea being that getting your first tattoo will almost certainly create some sort of negative reactive somewhere in your life by some ignorant asshole or another. Most of us know that however, and we have all agreed not to let those people have power over our lives. The trouble comes when people take this too far, or too far too quickly and set themselves up for a level of difficulty that we at Lighthouse Tattoo don’t feel comfortable participating in.
Like the 19 year old girl who want her first tattoo to be a lotus flower ON HER FACE. No joke.
Or every burgeoning Soundcloud rapper who thinks they have to have face tattoos to ‘hit it big’.
Or anyone, no matter the age, who doesn’t understand that you can cause yourself a lot of harm by claiming so much ‘ownership’ over yourself that you completely disregard social mores and end up almost entirely unemployable.
Uh-uh, not gon’ do it.
We’re not judging you, we just understand that some people definitely will. We also understand that without a certain amount of experience navigating life with a significant amount of tattoo coverage you can’t possibly understand what it’s like. Talk about cultural appropriation!
Tattoos are awesome. We love them too. While they can hurt, they shouldn’t harm. We feel that tattoo regret is the single largest problem facing this lifestyle today and we don’t want to contribute to the problem. If you can’t understand this or don’t care how we feel, please go somewhere else.
If you understand what’s being said in this post and can appreciate that we won’t tattoo something on you unless it’s appropriate and won’t cause you harm, we welcome you into our growing family. Here’s to seeing you soon!
The photos pictured above are a cover-up of another tattoo. We published these shots in order to show that cover-ups don’t need to be overly dark blobs to cover some old regret. The most successful cover-ups are the ones who utilize the concepts of focus; color temperature; and contrast to camouflage the tattoo underneath. Now proud new owner of this Egyptian god Ra tattoo couldn’t be happier.
Lighthouse Tattoo is home to some of the best cover-up artists around, having dealt with so many unfortunate souls who have crossed paths with unsavory artists who would rather mutilate their unsuspecting customers for a few dollars rather than just tell them they’re not able to properly perform the tattoo of their choice.
Don’t be fooled by cheap imitations! Lighthouse Tattoo is the real deal! Visit us at 328 N. Cumberland St two blocks off the Lebanon, TN square across from David’s Pizza.
Here’s the results of the second session, and that session healed, respectively, of this H.P. Lovecraft-inspired work done by our resident maestro of the macabre, Will Wood.
Interested in some dark art tattoos? Contact Lighthouse Tattoo at info@lighthousetattoo.net, by calling 615 784-4500, or swing by the shop in person to speak with an artist between the hours of noon and 10pm at 328 N. Cumberland St. in Lebanon, TN.
The Doors song People are Strange says it all:
‘People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are uneven when you're down…’
Jason brought this idea to bear when contemplating the overall feel of the sleeve he was planning: The dark and foreboding sensation we all feel when faced with unfamiliar new places, and faces. For some it’s exciting, many people love to travel and make new friends. For others, the anxiety the unfamiliar poses is almost unbearable, and the longer we avoid these very situations we fear, the worse the anxiety becomes.
An homage to the way we must challenge ourselves in order to grow and an acknowledgement of the Jung-ian description of the monster within we must all embrace in order to fully realize our potential, this piece promises to challenge it’s owner, the artist, and the viewer at once.
Having added the most recent ‘hear no’ piece to his ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ composition, Jason gets to realize the satisfaction of having a vision of his completed. The tone set by the piece is indeed a dark one, but the level of detail and density of the work create an exciting starting point for his sleeve of the macabre. The darkness within ourselves and each other being something we must all consider and come to terms with before realizing how much good we can be capable of and how choosing that goodness isn’t always easy.
This photo was actually taken a couple of weeks after the tattoo was finished, as Jason came in to get the next installment of his Darkness Within sleeve started. Stay logged in to LighthouseTattoo.net for further updates on this challenging (in many ways) piece!
Though some may not recognize him from this photo (certainly not due to the quality fo this fabulous tattoo, but the age of the man at the time the photo was taken), you will definitely be familiar with some of his characters: Mork from Ork; Mrs. Doubtfire; Peter Pan from Hook; the Fisher King; and many, many more.
Robin Williams is like so many of us who struggle to put on a brave face when dealing with adversity. But unlike so many of he, he succeeded in bring joy to huge swaths of the world. Films like Jack and What Dreams May Come lifted us up and brought us to tears, while Good Morning Vietnam made laughter give way to anger. His fans all have their favorite and Will chose to share his with us- “Mork on Happy Days, gotta be the best. I loved Mork as a kid, still do.”
What’s your favorite Robin Williams incarnation? The Genie from Aladdin? His standup years? His relationship with Christopher Reeves?
Rest in Peace Robin, Nanu-Nanu.
Well, it’s tax refund season again.
Annnd stimulus check time…
Plus Matt finally hit his stride tattooing a few months ago.
In short, just like every other tattoo shop in the country, we’ve been busy. We get calls from clients wanting to know our walk-in availability daily. As hard as we’ve tried, we still get frustration from people who are either ignorant, too impatient, or generally rude regarding how walk-ins are supposed to work. We will take a bit of time to explain the way we and a lot of shops do things here:
The actual definition of a walk-in tattoo varies somewhat depending on who you ask. Some people think that a walk-in means that you can get tattooed right when you walk in. That’s usually not the case. The term Walk-in refers to any tattoo client who doesn’t have an appointment who wants to get tattooed that day. As such, if we have walk-in availability, it might not be for hours, but we can still get you in sometime that day, so that would be considered a walk-in.
Walk-in tattoos differ in complexity from tattoo appointment tattoos. Walk-ins tend to be simple, relatively quick affairs that can be done in a single, usually less than a couple of hours long session. Most tattoo shops, especially during this time, won’t have any availability longer than that any way, and then, usually only in a case where someone failed to show up for their appointment.
Call-ins are not walk-ins: This is probably the biggest point of contention we have with people (re: jackasses). People who call and ask if we have availability for walk-ins are told the same thing no matter what: YES. The reason we do this is several-fold. First, we have no idea what is going to happen during the day. People miss their appointments; tap out early; sometimes the artists overestimate the time needed to do a piece; sometimes artists are willing to stay late to accomodate people; tons of things can happen during the course of the day to change our availability. Some days are busy with lots of walk-in business, some days involve only tattooing our scheduled appointments and going home. Our boss tells us to tell everyone the same thing when they ask about walk-ins: Tell them to come in.
It’s simple mathematics: If we tell everyone to come in, only some of those people actually show up. Of the people that do show up, we can get some in, others will need an appointment Of the ones who need appointments, some will set an appointment and other will not. Of the ones who do not set an appointment, some will get angry and leave us a one star review on Google, which we will hilariously clown via this website due to that person’s rote ignorance.
If you get angry with us for telling you to come in and what you want requires us to schedule you an appointment in order to give you the best possible outcome, simply put, you’re a moron. You’ll also get barred from coming back to the shop. Ever.
Will threw three young ladies out yesterday because they all wanted to get tattooed as walk-ins, it took them over an hour to get here between the time they called and the time they arrived, and we were only going to be able to get two of them in that day for sure. The young ladies immediately expressed their displeasure about the situation, instead of thanking us for taking the time to take care of them. While Matt was drawing up the first piece another one of their group was calling other tattoo shops from our lobby. I’ll explain why this is a terrible mistake: It was obvious to us that if those girls found a shop that said they could all get tattooed that day they would leave, after having Matt already begin work for them, and go get tattooed together, without offering to pay Matt for his time. It’s happened before. WIll asked the girls to leave. They asked why and he couldn’t find the patience to explain to the girls the offensive nature of their actions and for those of you who don’t know Will, his bullshit tolerance has gone entirely to hell. The conversation wasn’t going to go well, so Will asked them to leave, again. They didn’t move. It was getting tense. This author can’t remember the next exchange but Will rather loudly expressed his distaste for these ladies and politely asked them to leave the fucking shop. Some people’s kids.
This amusing anecdote hopefully serves to explain that we have very little control over what other people are doing; when we are busy; what happens between the time you call and the time you came in; and any of a million other things that can impact when we can take walk-ins and when we can’t. Our solemn promise to you is that we will do our best to get everyone in that we can. Really. It’s also our contention that not everyone who calls or comes through the door is a good client and if you choose to mistreat us you’ll be asked to leave and not return. If you don’t understand these things you’re probably part of the problem.
To the rest of you who have cooperated so beautifully with us during this busiest of tattooing seasons: Thank you, we love you, and once it slows down a bit we will be announcing a big party to show our appreciation for you!
Those of us at Lighthouse Tattoo are doing our best to serve you. Please be patient with us and we promise not to let you down! Please remember the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated, and we’ll get along just fine!
Jennifer came to Lighthouse Tattoo for a portrait of Marilyn Monroe a few months ago. She has no intention of getting more than that singular piece. Six hours after she sat down to get started, she’d decided she wanted more. This portrait of Frank Sinatra is fresh, showing some of the changes that occur during the healing process when compared to the months-healed Marilyn Monroe. Jennifer has already decided on another tattoo from Will, a portrait of the late, great Dean Martin! Stay logged in to Lighthousetattoo.net for updates on this evolving artwork.
This slightly H.P. Lovecraft-inspired skull was born after a late-night viewing of ‘The Lighthouse’. What can we say? Will loves watching movies and he easily finds inspiration when you bring up anything skull-rific! This session got cut a bit short, so stay tuned to see how the finished product unfolds… we expect great things from it.
If you’re interested in all things Lovecraft, feel free to swing by Lighthouse Tattoo between the hours of noon and 10pm seven days a week and let us help you realize your dreams…or nightmares!
Lighthouse Tattoo has had a long relationship with the Full Moon Tattoo and Horror Festival, as presented by Lone Wolf Bodyart, since the building where Lighthouse Tattoo calls home used to be a Lone Wolf location! Will even worked at Lone Wolf for the first five years of his career and as such, he has made a commitment to supporting the Full Moon show. We’d like to say this year was no different, but with Covid, everyone knows that couldn’t be true.
Still, with a lot of hard work and dedication by the owners of Lone Wolf, Ben and Stacey Dixon, the show would go on. Limited tickets due to occupancy restrictions resulted in a sold out venue; artist booths were limited to only 20; and the tattoo contest categories were reduced to a fraction of their former number. The consequences were somewhat unexpected: with less-dense crowds there were no lines to see your favorite horror celebrities so everyone got more time with their favorite horror stars; shopping at the vendor booths and concessions stands became seamless, and though limited, the contests were distilled to those categories which mattered most.
How did Lighthouse Tattoo fare? We didn’t have our usual army of loyal clients in attendance, as we hadn’t planned on a sold-out show, so we only had three people enter the contests. Would we be able to continue validating our reputation for the highest quality artwork in middle Tennessee?
Lighthouse Tattoo took home 1st; 2nd; and 3rd place for Best Black and Grey Portrait; and 1st Place for Best Sleeve. We won everything we entered, once again proving what so many have already come to know: Lighthouse Tattoo is the pre-eminent tattoo establishment for Realism in the area.
We would like to extend a warm thank you to Ben and Stacey Dixon, as well as the entire Lone Wolf crew for their hard work and dedication to our industry, during this awful pandemic, and through the years. We would also like to thank those clients who planned ahead to be able to attend the show with us, you know who you are!
Half the time it sounds like an accusation: ‘Where are your priorities?’, sounds like something your parents would ask after you failed to get your chores done or flunked a test. Not here. This is the tattoo shop, when we ask where your priorities are it’s a straightforward and honest question we need answered in order to give you what you want. So, what are your priorities?
Saving money?
Getting work done sooner than later?
The quality of the finished work?
These aren’t the only questions we need answers to, but they are the most common priorities that determine what clients get access to which artist. We’ve got it all: Apprentice and novice-level artists who will work for less; artists who can usually do your tattoo within a day or two; and we have some of the best tattoo artists in the state, maybe THE best artist in the state, depending on the style of work you prefer. So when we ask ‘what are your priorities?’ we just need to know what you want.
A breakdown of our artists, their rates, skill levels, and specialties:
Crystal: Crystal is a novice-level apprentice who will work for a significant discount in order to develop their skills and build their portfolios. Crystal prefers Japanese floral motifs. While she is eager to improve her skillset, she has express orders not to attempt any work she don’t reasonably believe she can execute well. Apprentices basically charge half price all the time. So, while they are a great way to save a buck for those of you for whom that is a priority, Crystal may have to turn over your idea to a more experienced artist.
Matt Steele: A journeyman artist, tattooing for three years now, Matt has really come into his own. He does clean lines and bright color. Matt specializes in blackwork and dotwork tattoos, as well as smaller-scale color pieces. He is a tier above Crystal with regard to what he is allowed to do. He charges $400 for a 5-hour session and $600 for an all-day. If you’re interested in getting a nice tattoo and helping this young artist along his journey, just ask him what sort of thing he’d like to work on. Due to his shorter time in the business, Matt has a smaller (but growing) established clientele and thus tends to have more availability. If getting tattooed sooner is your priority, Matt’s your guy.
Deuce: Deuce is a veteran tattoo artist with over 15 years of experience in the industry. Having come from the world of ‘street shop’ tattooing, where a large portion of the work is walk-in based, and thus quite varied subject-matter wise, Deuce has a more diversified portfolio. He charges $400 for a 5-hour session and $700 for a 10-hour all day rate. These prices are outstanding for the high quality of work you can expect to receive and thus Deuce tends to be a little on the busier side, usually booking about a month out, so plan accordingly.
Will Wood: Widely regarded as one of the better tattoo artists in the state and possibly the best black and grey realism artist, Will has been tattooing for 17 years. He has won every tattoo trophy there is, including multiple Tattoo of the Day and Best of Show categories. He has beaten some of the best tattoo artists in the world with his black and grey and color portraiture. This level of expertise and consistently high quality doesn’t come cheap, with Will charging $160 per hour and the wait is usually in the 3 month range, as Will doesn’t accept appointments farther than 3 months out. He also takes 100% creative freedom with his pieces, so you tell him what you want and he works with you to come up with the best idea. If having the best tattoo money can buy is your priority and you’re willing to wait for it, Will is your guy.
All told, Lighthouse Tattoo has your bases covered no matter your tattoo needs. Cheap and available apprentice and novice-level tattooers; Solid and creative journeyman and veteran tattooers offering great rates; and a master tattoo artist leading the way are all at your disposal! Call Lighthouse Tattoo at 615 784-4500 to schedule your appointment or consultation today! We are open from noon to 10pm seven days a week, so visiting the shop is also an option any time your in town.
On February 2nd of this year, Cassius Hunter Quinn was born. Our resident Matthew Mcconaughey lookalike, Colton, will never be the same again.
You see, in order to be able to be in the delivery room while his son was being born, Colton had to test negative for COVID-19 and while we take precautions to prevent transmission, the only way to be certain you won’t come into contact with someone who’s sick is to avoid EVERYONE. Colton did just this for the last few weeks before his baby boy was due. Well, he’s back now, as is Miss Crystal, which means we finally have the human resources to reinstitute our 50% off Tattoo Sundays, which we only started back in November, but had already received tremendous feedback from!
So, for the foreseeable future, every Sunday, Lighthouse Tattoo will be offering 50% off select tattoo themes. Just go to the little navigation arrow or bars on your phone, click the EVENTS tab, and check out what we have to offer in the coming weeks. Also, feel free to come by and leave us a suggestion and it may be selected for one of our future specials!
In the tattoo business we get to meet a lot of characters. Not bad people mind you, but some interesting folks nonetheless. But some people take the cake and not in a good way. We call those people Knuckleheads. We had previously discontinued the Knucklehead of the Month award out of a desire to promote positivity, what we discovered was that we were only removing a positive public service by reminding people what real assholes look like. So, without further ado:
Joe got tattooed by Deuce back in August-ish. He swung back through for a touch-up in November and liked the finished product so much he scheduled to have another cover-up done in December. But Joe had some issues with his lady you see, and while she showed up for her appointment that they booked together, ol’ Joe no-call, no-showed. SMH. Well, with that sort of behavior comes the forfeiture of the deposit that was left to hold the spot, which is the entire reason we take deposits in the first place, some people just can’t be trusted and since it’s impossible to know who can and can’t be by looking at them, we take deposits from everyone. Just in case.
Here’s where it starts to get asshole-y: Two months after missing his appointment good ol’ Joe saw fit to leave us a negative review online talking about how we aren’t clear on our deposit policy and we’re unprofessional. First, everyone who books an appointment at Lighthouse Tattoo has to read and sign paperwork disclosing our entire deposit policy and how someone can lose that deposit (being a no-call, no-show is at the top of that list), and second, professionalism is a spectrum. This is a tattoo shop, not a mortuary.
Since Joe wasn’t on time to his appointment, Deuce (his artist, try to keep up) called him twice with no answer or call back, and emailed him wondering if he was going to be able to make it. Good ol’ Joe didn’t respond. For that, Joe’s deposit gets paid entirely to Deuce to help offset the $120 he just lost because Joe didn’t show up. You try going to work and making $120 less than usual and see how you feel about it, it ain’t good.
The lack of professionalism Joe is referring to is the fact that Deuce and Will, his fellow artist, had recently taken a motorcycle trip to Key West FL, got pretty smashed every night, and were reminiscing about their recent once-in-a-lifetime vacation together. The conversation at the time was light and entertaining, with Joe commenting about how cool such a trip was (and it was, we strongly recommend it). However, we would contend that this wasn’t unprofessional at all, it was just something to talk about to take our clients’ minds off the discomfort of getting tattooed. This same thing occurs in every tattoo shop everywhere all the time.
It should be clear by now that good ol’ Joe is only mad because he forgot to call us when he knew he wasn’t going to be able to show up for his appointment and is mad because he lost his deposit. Obviously, right?
Here’s the stupid thing: Joe says he missed his appointment because he got the ‘Rona. Well, that gets you an exception with regard to our normal deposit policy, so even if he forgot to let us know (due to getting really sick really quickly) we would have worked with him so he didn’t have to lose his deposit. It’s something that we’ve done on a monthly, if not weekly basis since May. It’s a damn pandemic people, we’re in this together.
The other stupid thing is that instead of contacting us and speaking with us directly, good ol’ Joe just decides to go online and try to hurt our business by publicly talking shit. Even though it’s been TWO MONTHS since he missed his appointment, we could have worked with him. Until, that is, he decides to publicly disparage our business. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, y’know?
We have enclosed his recommendation as left on Facebook, as well as Will (posting as Crystal Roberts Wood, his wife’s account) and Deuce’s responses. Joe mentioned he is a member of the Iron Order, a group of guys who ride motorcycles together who have a reputation for not understanding how the world works and generally aren’t respected by other bikers, so Will mentions that as well, whilst referring to good ‘ol Joe as a pussy, which it’s Will’s personal belief that’s exactly what he is. A decent person would have called and let us know that they wouldn’t make it. A decent person would be fine with forfeiting a deposit if they forgot to contact us, in order to help cover the artist’s losses due to their own oversight. A decent person would have contacted a business directly in order to negotiate some sort of mutually beneficial deal to continue the relationship. But Joe did what a full grown pussy would do: He cried about it on the internet, all the while re-writing the narrative to absolve himself of any responsibility for his own actions.
That behavior is why he is permanently banned from Lighthouse Tattoo.
Way to go Joe. What a knucklehead.
All single-hole, above-the-waist piercings are $30. Dermal anchors are $40.
