Every so often we get a client that trusts us enough to give us a larger-than-usual amount of artistic license. Ted is one of those clients. He gave Natan a few ideas, and ended up with a gorgeous Day of the Dead woman on his arm. It hurt, but he was all smiles when he left the shop last night.

In less exciting news, there will be some road closures and parking bans in downtown Salem this Thursday, October 6th, and over the weekend, October 8th and 9th. This does not mean that Witch City Ink will be inaccessible, but parking will be a little less fun than usual. Click here for a list of streets that will be closed, along with the specific times.

Many people associate October with Halloween, general spookiness, and the official start of autumn. Being in Salem, we get a good dose of spooky year round, but somehow as soon as the calendar folds over to October 1st, the number of witch hats, weird masks, and pumpkin goodies vastly increases. And we also do a fair amount of Halloween-related tattoos year round, but it’s no secret that this number also increases during this chilly month. We are always more than happy to give a Salem visitor a permanent souvenir from their trip! In fact, many visitors book their October appointments with us in advance, to make sure that they get some time with one of our artists that they’ve been admiring from afar.

We do still have spots open, but they’re filling up fast! If you’re a traveler or a local that wants to get some work done this month, be sure to give us a call soon! 978.744.9393

Of course, we’re not going to make this a text-only post — your eyes deserve more than that! In honor of our favorite month of ghouls, here are some amazingly creepy tattoos from years past by our artists.

I bet you can guess who this one’s from. Bold backpiece? Black and grey? Fantastically shiver-inducing? Definitely Natan’s work.

Steve created this death dealer piece. You would not want this guy and his horse coming after you.

The flowers don’t make this skull piece by PJ any less tough.

Jack-o-lanterns are a popular choice when it comes to Salem tattoo souvenirs. Not as popular as witches, of course. Molly executed this one so wonderfully, that two future clients from North Carolina scheduled time with her for their visit this year.

Molly also did this next tattoo, which we wouldn’t call SPOOKY, but it’s still darn good and reminds us of fall in Salem.

We’ve also done more than one Halloween sleeve. This is a great example, thanks to Natan. The piece flows with that arm perfectly.

Well there’s your pre-Halloween teaser. We’ll definitely be sharing more with you as the month rolls on!

Every so often we get a client that has a heartbreaking story behind their tattoo idea. It’s flattering when anyone chooses us to put something so permanent on their body, but especially so when it is an image that they hold dear. Natan did a wonderful job on this portrait, and the client loved it. Forgive us for not sharing the story with you, but some things aren’t ours to tell. Let’s just say that there’s a lot of love in this.

I know it seems like we’ve been blogging about everyone but Natan these days. This does not mean that he’s been tattooing less — in fact, he’s busier than ever as of late. Quite a few of his recent pieces are larger and spanning multiple sessions, so we can’t share those with you yet, but trust us when we say they’re worth the wait. His “smaller” pieces are coming out beautifully as well, and we’re excited to share these two with you today.

The first is an eagle on an extremely tough guy’s ribcage/side. He sat for hours without complaint, and then was kind enough to pay Natan a visit so he could take photos after the tattoo had healed a bit.

Second is a portrait of a lovely young lady, done on her father. Now that’s parental pride right there. She didn’t know this was being done, and we wish we could be there to witness her reaction!

Natan has very limited appointments available between now and the end of October, but we are always more than happy to set up a consult for you to get your next piece started as soon as possible! Give us a call any time: 978.744.9393

Any tattooer that knows what they’re doing can tell you that coverups can be tricky things. It truly takes skill to execute a coverup piece that looks good — and not completely obvious.

There are many great things about this piece done by Molly. Including this (words straight from Molly’s fingertips): “This is a cover up of a very large, thick, tribal arm band on Adam’s forearm. The top part is all healed and the lower half is fresher.”

And here is a shot of the healed shoulder, without the (pesky yet occasionally unavoidable) glare:

In between tattoos and even on their days off, the Witch City artists have been cranking out art. They certainly love what they do, and we love that they do it.

Lately, Molly has been inspired by the black plague.
Just kidding. Sort of.

PJ’s preferred drawing surface these days are simple paper bags. This is a very visually pleasing way to recycle!

Steve is becoming more and more ambitious with his painting these days. The below piece is in its very beginning stages, but it’s something like 22×28″.

There is no doubt that Where the Wild Things Are is one of the most classic children’s books. According to author and illustrator of the book, Maurice Sendak, it was at first banned in libraries and received negative reviews. Since then it has received high critical acclaim, and was even made into a live-action film directed by Spike Jonze in 2009.

The book’s latest adaptation was taken on by Steve, and a very lucky lady walked out of our shop last night wearing this on her arm.

Judging by the chill in the air this morning, summer may officially be over, but things aren’t slowing down over here at Witch City Ink. We’ve been plenty busy this week making people happy with their new tattoos!

Molly did this lovely lotus flower on a very nice young lady’s calf. Lotus flowers are often seen a symbol of divine beauty, and this tattoo is no exception.

Steve finished this in an absurdly short amount of time! What’s better than a skull? A crystal skull.

Whenever someone comes into the shop requesting something traditional, we will usually refer them to PJ. Few things make him happier than getting to tattoo in this style.

And last but not least, Natan did this piece on a brave fellow’s side. Perhaps you might recognize it?

We’re already starting to book appointments for October, so if you’re planning on coming to Salem for the autumn/Halloween season and want to get tattooed by us, you might want to contact us in the next few weeks!

When the artists at Witch City aren’t busy tattooing, they’re often drawing. And they churn out some great stuff. Here are a couple of recent bits.

Steve has started two paintings in the last two days. He’s pretty excited about them, and we enjoy getting to see the progress.

We stole this next one from Molly’s Facebook page. She also says, “I like doing flower tattoos, I can do them all day. My heart really lies with Mythological creatures though, get some Mythological creatures people! We can put some flowers in it too.” Sounds like a good argument to me!

If you stopped by the shop last weekend, you may have noticed that we were closed, which is a rarity! We had a good excuse though – we were hard at work over at the Boston Tattoo Convention.

But this post isn’t about ALL of us. This post is specifically about Molly.

Let us explain. There are a couple of little known facts about Molly:
-She enjoys doing Japanese pieces.
-Not only does she enjoy them, but she’s really, really good at them.
-She is a machine.

No kidding. She sat for ten hours at the BTC working on this cherry blossom leg sleeve. Take a moment to read that again. Ten hours. That is one brutal lady.

The above photograph only shows a fraction of how gorgeous the piece was – we hope to snag another one to show you soon. High-fives to her and the woman able to sit still for that long! And here’s some more that Molly did at the convention:

We know, this post has probably left you itching for a new tattoo. Don’t worry, we’re here for you – stop in or give us a call! 978.744.9393