SPIKES TATTOO & PIERCING

I'm a pro Tattoo artist an have been for as long as i can remember! But the calender tells me about 23 years,lol. I live in the midlands with my wife and two children. First and foremost i live life to the max, full throttle all the way. Tattooing has been my passion since early childhood, the fascination was so strong that i got my 1st ink @ 14, ive been an ink junkie ever since.I specialize in one of a kind custom Tattoos either freehand drawn directly onto the clients skin or pre drawn to spec .my prefered style is black and grey but quality work of all styles is seen leaving my studio on a daily basis !

SPIKES BIO..
Spike was born in Shropshire England in 1964 to a German mother and Irish/English father and he grew up in Wolverhampton. From a very early age he dreamt of becoming a tattoo artist . He first got tattooed at the age of 14 and despite his mothers attempts to remove them with a scrubbing brush continued to get more. As tattooing was unavailable as a career option, on leaving school in 1980 undeterred, he pursued his ambition and learnt alone. He gained knowledge from books; magazines; purchased information and was sometimes given advice from friendly tattooists. As he could not afford machines he studied traditional Japanese methods (the start of a life long love for all things Japanese) and fashioned his own tebori sticks, by 1981 with a little knowledge and now with the tools to practice he proceeded to tattoo by hand anyone who was willing, even then wishing to make each one as perfect and unique as he could. Tragically in 1984 Spikes mother passed away and left him a small inheritance He had at last the means to buy electric machines, within a few months he had a part-time job with an already established studio and in less than a year had bought the business. He was now in a position of being able to have his own high standards in place and start to put a studio together that reflected this. Spikes first convention was in 1994 where he won his first trophy, he went on to work at many conventions in the U.K including Birmingham, Wales and Dunstable During 1995 he moved from a small upstairs studio into a spacious three story building, and established the current studio It was at this time he was approached to put on a solo photographic exhibition of his work at The Wolverhampton Art Gallery, something that had never been done before in the UK and after two long years of hard work, bureaucracy and red tape ART SOUL SKIN opened its doors to the public in August 1997. During its eight week run it attracted 60,000 visitors and gained praise both nationally and internationally in serious publications. Spike at this time also appeared on many TV productions from topical debate shows to educational and youth culture programmes Due to a catalogue of personal tragedies Spike had very little choice but to concentrate all of his available time and energy on his studio work until 2001, so during this period he focused on developing his own style of custom work. When his old friend Ernesto Kalum invited him to work at the Borneo convention 2002. He came back from Borneo with renewed energy and enthusiasm and started to experiment with painting using Ink on canvas and within a few weeks of arriving back in the U.K he had been approached to put on a solo painting exhibition in Manchester UK entitled FROM THE HEART a collection of life size back pieces on canvas, this exhibition also bought rave revues. In 2002 the opportunity arose for Spike to work his first European convention, this was in Belgium, and he is now a regular guest artist at Evolution Tattooing in Charleroi. 2003 bought invitations to work many more conventions both home and away including Le Havre, Luxembourg, State of the Art and Lausanne and Spike was also a guest artist at Tattoo Laboratory Goa and Hori-Hiros Viennese studio KingPin Spike was again on the convention circuit in 2004 working at Manchester UK, Le Havre, State of the Art UK, Luxembourg and Charleroi. In 2005 Spike has again been focusing on his studio work . His love for the Japanese Culture has continued to develop and has spawned over the years into a passion and vast knowledge for eastern, tribal cultures and their philosophy as a whole, which is born out in his work ethics and the way he plans his pieces.Spike will come out of convention retirement in 2007 to workin Borneo again @ The 2nd International Borneo Tattoo Convention to be held in Sibu Sarawak check it out @ www.borneotattooconvention.comFor the future Spike wishes to push his personal work standards and to continue to develop his own style of Oriental black and grey work

The Cream of British Tattooing - Skin Deep