My first experience of tattoos I guess you could say curiosity killed the cat; this was at a time when tattoo parlours were behind blacked out glass and held an air of mystery to me. I walked into a dingy little shop, looked around at the designs, too frightened to leave, got inked paid and left, I have to say though the tattoo was fantastic, great work, so much so six weeks later I was back. I guess like a lot of people get after a first tattoo, one just wasn't enough, I had the urge for more, and after several tattoo's I decided that i wanted to be a tattooist. I started drawing up tattoo flash, and in the search for more references towards tattoo designs ended up at a supplier of tattoo equipment, he gave me a catalogue and away I went.
The drawing of flash stopped and the pricing of the stock I needed started. So there I was in '91, at the age of 18 in the front bedroom of my house, which I had converted to a studio, with everything a tattooist needed from the autoclave to the machines. I took my art seriously, and before long a regular queue of guinea pigs formed on my stairs (thanks to all those who trusted me to practice on them in the early days).
Eventually I opened my own shop in Dudley, I was there for about eight months when better premises came up in Netherton, I then worked for a short while in Rhyl. Soon after a tattoo studio opened in Spencer's Instores in the Merry Hill centre where I stayed for six and a half years until the lease was up and it was time to move on.
Now you can find me here at the ultra modern Body Art Studios in Dudley, I specialise in all kinds of tattoos, from custom work to portraits, tribal, celtic, almost anything the customer requires.
View Carl Zambra's Tattoo Art Portfolio...
Visit www.tat-2.co.uk...
; "Carl - Tattoo artist, Dudley")