I would like to thank everyone who has been tattooed in recent months and will in the days ahead. I've got to do a lot of really fun designs and have begun the treacherous trip down the road to developing a style of my own. Artistically, in every medium from paint on wood to ink in skin, I hope to never stop learning, growing, changing, and pursuing that elusive thing that is style, identity, and purpose. I can't do any of that without my awesome clients to inspire me and push me to try new things or the people who purchase and support my artwork. So, thank you, thank you, and thank you!



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There have been a few changes around the shop, some good, some are just changes. We lost our long term resident piercer and shop manager, Jay Williams, to his personal business pursuits. Be sure to stop by Indiana Laser Tattoo Removal and setup a consultation to get that scratcher homemade tattoo lasered off or taken down a notch for us to cover up. We now have Alan Vedge piercing full time and my wife, a.k.a. Bruisey Ricardo of Cornfed Derby Dame fame working the front desk part time and keeping things organized. Stop in and take a look around, we still love you.


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It's Christmas eve and the shop just closed for the Holiday's. We'll re-open on Tuesday the 27th, but I will not be in until Wednesday the 28th. Have a happy and safe Holiday!


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The collaboration design for a new Savage's Ale House T-shirt by Jay Williams and myself is now available. Sizes S-XL are $12, larger sizes and hoodies coming soon. Printed by local screen printers Abercrombie Ink.


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My painting show is now down to make way for Janell's work. Should be a good show, so if you are in the Muncie, IN area, stop by Savage's Ale House tonight for the opening alongside the Arts Walk!

Savage's Alehouse



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The T-shirt I designed for Lucky Rabbit is now available online HERE.


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Thanks to all who made it out to my painting show last night. I had way too much fun and I hope everyone else did as well. The paintings will be on display all month, so be sure to stop in a take a look. And don't forget to eat some food, drink some beer, and be merry!

Savage's Alehouse



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Hey all, Muncie's First Thursday Arts Walk is tomorrow. This is the biggest one of the year with ton's going on. YART will be having the art yard sale, 111 Tattoo and Art gallery will have live music, art, and live sculpture, there will be openings at The Artist Within, Gallery 308, Gordy's Fine Art and Framing, Blue Bottle Coffee, live music, artist demonstrations, a soup walk benefiting Second Harvest Food Bank, and much much more! Oh yeah, I have an opening at one of the raddest bars in town, Savage's Ale House. They have been kind enough to put The Muncie Burger on special and as always, PBR and Hamm's are only $1.



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Every year it seems we get Ball State students interviewing us for a class. This student had pretty good questions, and I enjoyed answering them. So, in case anyone was wondering some of this themselves, I'm posting it here.

Name: Joshua Chatwin

Age: 26

What led you to tattooing?

Luck I suppose. I guess I kind of fell into it. It's something that has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I used to see the old sailor tattoos, the dingy, faded, blown out, almost illegible designs that were real crude and crooked on the skin, and I thought they were the coolest things I'd ever seen. A lot of my real early drawings as a kid were of Conan the Barbarian type muscled up action figures and monsters, superheroes and such, and they usually had tattoos. So when I turned 17 I got my first tattoo and then another, and then another. I was finishing up the art and creative writing programs here at Ball State when I began doing extensive cover-up work on some of my first tattoos with Dan Stewart here at Lucky Rabbit. Every two weeks for five or six months I was getting tattoo work done on the coverups so I got to know Dan pretty well. After awhile I worked up the courage to ask for an apprenticeship. I had no idea how to draw tattoos, coming from a fine art background, so by the time I actually brought in a really crappy tattoo design portfolio almost a year had passed. I suppose Dan saw potential in the drawings and took me on as an apprentice. I started in December of 2009, did my first tattoo in February of 2010, and quit my crappy customer service job the next week on Valentines Day. I haven't looked back since.

What inspires you?

That changes quite a bit on a regular basis. I slowly came to realize that tattooing, at least the type of tattooing I like to do, is at heart a form of Folk Art. Primitive, raw, decorative, and usually humorous. So lately American Folk Art has been a big inspiration. Antiques, old photographs, old illustrated field guides and Sears catalogs from the turn of the century, advertisements, and so on all kind of filter in. I've been doing a lot of folk art inspired paintings that really have nothing directly to do with tattooing but have affected how I approach tattoos. I still draw from the fine art world to. I stop by the Ball State Museum of Art on a regular basis and try to peek into the galleries downtown every so often. A lot of times I get more inspiration from going to a play or hearing the right song with the right people at the right bar with the right beer. Everything just filters in and comes out somewhere. In a painting, in a tattoo, in a poem or short narrative. Of course other tattoo artists inspire me. The guys I work with are awesome, but I also draw a lot from contemporary greats like Uncle Allan from Denmark, all the guys at Fifth Street Tattoo in Brooklyn, Kowhey from Japan, Tilt from Champaign, IL, and so on and so on. Getting tattooed is also inspiring and always a learning experience.

What is your favorite style of tattoo to do?

I guess I sort of touch on this above, but I suppose it would be called American Traditional a.k.a. Old School (a term I really loath). I like tattoos that look like tattoos. Thick outlines, lots of black shading, and solid color. Tattoos that will look great even after years of abuse, sun damage, aging, etc. There is this amazing photo realism movement happening in tattooing right now that I sincerely respect and admire technically, but it just does not float my boat. Realism has never been my thing, in any medium, so I guess my mind just doesn't work that way. I enjoy the more illustrative qualities that can be pushed with American Traditional, and you know, if a style of tattoo can survive over a hundred years of cultural shifts and fashion changes, I think that says something.

What do you know about the history of tattooing?

I guess I've never sat down and really thought about the history of tattooing. I know a blurry, self educated version that is probably not accurate in most ways, sort of like what they teach you about American history in High School. So I suppose I know this: It's one of the oldest rituals known to the human race and has been done for spiritual, medicinal, hierarchical status-quo, fashion, and identifying purposes. Thomas Edison invented what would become the first tattoo machine, an electric pen used for engraving. A tattooer by the name of Samuel O'Reilly modified Edison's design for tattooing and patented the first tattoo machine.. Much of the western, American Traditional is heavily influenced by traditional Japanese tattooing. Tattooing was outlawed in most of the county in the late 30's, only to become legal again in the 90's ('97 for Indiana), and responsible tattooers are largely the reason why. We self regulated and then invited Health Boards to regulate and inspect. It is still very much illegal to tattoo outside of an inspected shop, so don't go to tattoo parties and end up with Hep. B or C, or worse. Reality TV shows about tattoos are far from the reality and should not be trusted.

How would you describe tattooing? How do you think of tattooing?

Intimate, but slightly masochistic in nature. The closest thing to shamanism left in a culturally vapid world. I mean, no matter what the design is, a loved one's name or a snake and eagle fighting, a person comes to me for one reason or another and wants this image, this symbol, put permanently on their body. I am just a means to an end. A way for that person to express themselves. But I get to put a little of myself into the design, make it my own. So in a way they get a piece of me as well. It's one of the last real human exchanges. I'm seeing some part of a stranger's body, touching it, and causing them pain for an extended amount of time. You get to know someone, even if there is no conversation. You have to be comfortable with that kind of contact. For however long that tattoo takes place we are both physically and mentally tried and connected.

Is there a down side to tattooing or tattoos? If yes, what?

There is not so much a downside to tattooing or tattoos for me. I live pretty comfortably, drive a decent car, pay my bills, have fun, get to spend a lot of time with my wife and daughter, have time and inspiration to make art outside of tattoos, and tattooing pays for and allows for all of that. The only major issue is an over saturation of tattoo artists who are only in it for a quick buck. People who can't really draw, don't know how to properly use a tattoo machine, and have no interest in making the best tattoos they can. The assholes who tattoo in their kitchens, scarring people up and spreading disease because they think anyone can tattoo. Not everyone can do it. Not everyone in 'legitimate' shops can do it. It's a tough, physically and mentally demanding job. We see and hear so many horror stories and have to fix so many hack job tattoos because some kid ordered a Chinese kit on ebay and thought he was a rock star. So personally, no downside, but on a wider scale, the 'scratchers' of the world undercut and drag the artistry of tattooing down.

Anything else you'd like people to know?

Like that I enjoy the feel of wool socks, or my favorite author is Tom Robbins? In all seriousness, I guess I want people to at least think about who tattoos them. No matter where they go, check the portfolios, look around and judge how clean the place is, make sure they have an ultrasonic and autoclave for sterilization, look for sharps containers for used needles, check for health board and blood borne pathogens certification. Sadly, just because they have a store front does not mean they have all of this. I've seen it with my own two eyes. Also, make sure it's a design you want for the rest of your life, and yes, it is ok to get a tattoo that does not hold a special meaning for you. Sometimes it just looks aesthetically pleasing and that is enough!


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I have created a Twitter account specifically to feed the facebook fan page. If you are privy to Tweeting, jump over and follow me:

Joshua Chatwin on Twitter
@JoshuaChatwin



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I designed a t-shirt that ended up a shop shirt. It can be found HERE and purchased at the shop for $20.


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More information can be found on the Facebook Event Page

Savage's Ale House is kind enough to showcase some of my recent paintings during the October 6th Arts walk. Come on out, drink some beers, eat some Muncie Burgers and have a look at what I've been doing for the past couple months.

These paintings are heavily influenced by American folk art, myth, snippets of my own poetry, everyday life, distant, foggy memories, and indirectly, tattooing. I would love for you to look at them.

21 years of age or older only.


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I have a painting exhibit in the very near future at Savage's Ale House. This show coincides with the First Thursday Arts Walk in downtown Muncie, more details to come.


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Just spent the weekend at the Tattoo City Underground convention in West Indianapolis (Plainfield). Had a good time, met some good folks, did a tattoo trade, tattooed some Indianapolis area tattooers, and had the chance to celebrate Oktoberfest with some long-time friends of mine. All weekends should be so kind.

Tattoo City Underground
Oktoberfest


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