So Michelle and I flew down to Cape Town (in a plane that could not get its flaps down to land, which resulted in a high speed landing, well done Mr. Pilot), to visit with our good mate Milo.
Our trip purposefully coincided with the Southern Ink Xposure (S.I.X) tattoo convention held at the BMW pavilion at the V&A Waterfront. Milo was one of the many local and international artists tattooing there and it provided the perfect opportunity for Michelle and I to get some inking done, while helping Milo man his booth at the convention.
To say we were blown away would be an understatement as neither of us have experienced this kind of thing before, never in my life have I seen so many artists and tattoo collectors gathered in one place.
We had agreed upfront that although this was not going to be Michelle's first tattoo, the placement and size of the tattoo necessitated a more private venue, as such Milo tattooed Michelle at his house on Thursday morning and by Thursday afternoon she was adorned with a truly magnificent heart locket and key tattoo.
Not content with the pain of a four and a half hour tattoo session, the three of us set off on Friday morning to get Michelle pierced by Lliezel Ellick of The Body Architects, Milo had assured us that Lliezel is the only person you want piercing you, especially when it comes to the more delicate areas of ones anatomy. Needless to say Michelle and Lliezel did their thing while Milo Bruce and I grabbed a cup of coffee, upon our return there was Michelle grinning from ear to ear, granted she was a little tender, but I could not believe that she looked so calm. Hats off to Lliezel for an awesome experience!
Friday afternoon rolled on, the convention opened and Milo kicked off with a magnificent tattoo on his long standing friend and client Pippa. Milo had also introduced us to Mandy who is the owner of"Miss Happ" a "rock-a-billy, pin-up" clothing and accessory store, if you're looking for some wicked clothing look her up. Friday night was the after party, Saturday we were back at the show and it was my turn to go under the needle, 6 or 7 hours later and Milo had finished putting a new custom "sailors grave" piece on my left inner bicep and packed in some serious blue sea and waves in to my ongoing sleeve tattoo.
Sunday rolled on with us, going back to the convention for the final day which saw Milo tattoo a "sailors grave" tattoo for Bill DeMichele, who is the photographer for the international magazine "Skin and Ink". Then it was time for a couple of photo-shoots and a couple of well deserved beers. Finally we packed up and finished off later that evening at Mandy's house for Sushi.
Monday saw us all bombed out and chilling at Milo's house before Michelle and I set off back to Jo'burg. We managed shoot some cool pic's while we were at the convention, hope you enjoy them...
