Nowhere to Work
Thursday, August 07 2008 | Comments (0)
In Season 1, Episode 2, the LA Ink shop was finished and the High Voltage family celebrated. Kat asked Pixie to join the team and she accepted. Kim, Hannah and Corey worked from Corey’s shop and created some amazing tattoos.
Kat Von D met with Hannah Aitchison and Kim Saigh to tell them about the progress of the shop. Kat said that the shop wasn’t ready yet and it would be impossible to work in there at that time. The girls were disappointed because they’d already left Chicago and moved to LA and needed to work. Kat said, “Even though the situation sucks its good to have you guys here for support.” Hannah mentioned that she already had a client lined up. Kat promised that she’d get her a place to work.
Kat picked up her buddy Steve-o (Celebrity Prankster), who wanted a tattoo for his birthday. She had a driver take both of them to Corey Miller’s shop, an hour away. Steve-o is part of the Jackass gang and does all kinds of crazy stunts. Steve-o said he can’t stand birthdays because last year, on his birthday, he got on a stage and peed in a bottle and drank it. When they got to Corey’s shop Steve-o pulled out a picture of himself as a child. He said it was taken in Rio De Janeiro. Kat asked why he was there and he said because he was a spoiled rich kid. They both laughed. He said he wanted this tattoo because it was goofy and stupid and it would make people laugh. He relaxed on the yellow couch and got comfortable. Kat said, “You’re really lazy right now.” He said, “Hey baby, I got an idea, how about we do this tattoo next week some time.” Kat said, “No.” and laughed. Steve-o left to let Kat work on her stencil.
A client named Anthony met with Corey. He said he wanted a chest piece done. He requested a tattoo that was old style, like sailors got back in the day. He wanted a skull in the center of his chest, surrounded by roses and wings coming from both sides. He wanted it to reflect his free nature.
Steve-o returned to the shop to get his tattoo. He laid down on the table and was very sleepy. Kat started his tattoo and Steve-o told her about his time spent at Clown School. He said Clown School was statistically harder to get into than Harvard. Kat said, “What?” like she was shocked. He said he was the only Jackass college graduate. He mentioned that he had worked as a clown on some cruise ships. Kat said, “That’s so rad. I love that!” They talked about his trip to India and Kat said that Steve-o called her from that trip and said, “Babe, I just put a leach to my eyeball.” Then Steve-o said, “I was just thinking about when you told me that you like the way I stink.” Kat cracked up. Steve-o said, “That’s like, my favorite.” Kat couldn’t believe he just said that. Kat showed Steve-o his tattoo and he loved it. He said it was his best birthday ever. Kat walked him outside to the car and wished him a happy birthday. She led him to the back door and when he opened it, 3 girls in bikinis, clown wigs and make-up jumped out and sprayed him with silly string. They screamed, “Happy Birthday!” He laughed and got into the car with the three clowns. Kat said she couldn’t let him have the last laugh on his birthday.
Hannah went to Corey’s shop, Six Feet Under, to work for the day. She was excited to see Corey and couldn’t wait to work with him. People found out that Hannah was in LA and she had clients already lined up. She met with a server named Kathryn. Her client brought in a picture of a peacock and said that she wanted it on her arm. It was to represent her mother’s recovery from a two month coma.
Since Kim didn’t have a shop to work from she met her client, Evelyn, at a coffee shop. Evelyn was with her young daughter. She said she wanted a tattoo of her daughter’s hand prints. Evelyn mentioned that her boyfriend got testicular cancer at age 21 and wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to reproduce and when she got pregnant with her daughter Lisa they both felt that it was a miracle. Evelyn gave Kim the pictures of her daughter’s hand prints and Kim told her that she wasn’t sure where she’d be tattooing her, but she’d keep her posted.
Hannah met with Kathryn again and put the stencil of the peacock around her arm. Kathryn talked about her mother’s enlarged heart and mentioned that her mom was in the hospital for eight months after her heart stopped and she lost oxygen to her brain for 11 minutes. That caused her to go into a coma for two months. She mentioned that her mother lost her memory and had to re-learn who her children were. She said that the doctors originally said that her mom would be a vegetable, but now she’s able to stay at home alone and is pretty much self sufficient. Kathryn said that she’s learned to take what you’ve been given and be grateful for it. Kathryn loved her tattoo and said that when she looks at it she’ll always be reminded of her mother’s strength and also her own. Hannah said that Kathryn was a wonderful person to work with and she’ll remember her for a long time.
Kat, Hannah and Kim went window shopping and Kat and Hannah sat down while Kim checked out some items in a near by store. Kat asked Hannah how she was doing and Hannah said, “I’m ok, but I am worried about our girl over there.” Referring to Kim. Hannah mentioned that Kim had talked about whether or not being in LA was going to work out for her. Kat called Kim over to sit down and expressed her understanding of how people can get home sick some times. Kim said, “Yah, because we’re not really doing anything.” Kim said that she thought she wanted to live in LA, but there were things about the city that just weren’t jiving with her. Kat asked her to hang in there for just a little while longer.
Corey’s client Anthony came back in to get his sailor inspired tattoo. He loved Corey’s drawing. He mentioned that he has a nick name, Too Sweet, and wondered if he could add that to the tattoo. Corey laughed. While getting tattooed, Anthony told Corey about his love for drumming in his band called Los Abandoned. Anthony made some groaning noises as Corey inked his chest and Corey said, “Is it narley?” Anthony said, “Its very narley.” Corey said, “From this end it all feels the same.” Anthony laughed. Anthony finally sat up and thought that the tattoo was done, but when Corey looked at it he said he wanted to add some water around it. Anthony said, “When a tattoo artist wants to add more you just go with it.” He sat back down and Corey got to work. Anthony loved his tattoo and felt like he joined the old school sailors and pirates that he looked up to. He said, “It’s the best tattoo by the best tattoo artist.”
Kat, Hannah, Kim and Pixie Acia all went to the beach. The talked about being excited to work together. Pixie said she’d be bringing them all coffee on a regular basis just so she could stop by to see them all. Kim said she is used to working six days a week and hasn’t been able to work in LA yet. Hannah suggested she work out of Corey’s shop for a while. Kat said she thought they should all check out the shop after their day at the beach.
Everyone went to the shop, including Corey. The walls were pink and stations were starting to come together, but it was far from finished. Kat, Kim and Hannah were fairly pleased and could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but Pixie was angry because she felt that her dear friend Kat was getting a raw deal. She felt that the shop should have been done. Pixie said she wanted to jump in and help. Kat told the contractor that once the shop was finished he’d be her first. Corey said, “First what?” Kat said, “Tattoo, dummy.” They all laughed.
A girl named Patty met with Hannah at Corey’s shop. She brought her friend along. She showed Hannah a drawing of two circles connected in the center with water and suns in the circles and a design in the center and said it represented her recovery from cancer. She said it also signifies her new life, her new world and living and celebrating life every day.
Evelyn met with Kim at Corey’s shop. Kim placed the stencil of Evelyn’s daughter’s hand prints on her back. The picture also included flowers floating below the hands. The client was excited about getting her first tattoo and Kim was happy to have a place to work. Evelyn told Kim about her husband’s bout with Cancer. She said that his Testicular Cancer had spread to his lymph nodes before the doctor found it so his chemotherapy was rough. She said she had to be the positive one and constantly remind her husband that he had something to live for because he felt like he was physically dying. She talked about her daughter Lisa being a wonderful surprise and how she and her husband felt she was a miracle baby. Evelyn loved the finished product and said that it would always remind her of how fragile life is and how happy she is to have learned that lesson.
Patty returned to the shop and was thrilled with Hannah’s interpretation of her original design. Hannah mentioned that its hard to draw circles on the human body, but she planned to rock this tattoo and make it awesome. Patty talked about her long fight with Cervical Cancer. She said she thought it would be a quick thing, but ended up being a drawn out process with surgery after surgery. She said it was hard because people always wanted to talk about her illness and not just things going on in the world. Her marriage also failed because of her having a disease. She got tears in her eyes when she saw her tattoo and loved it. Her friend said that it’s as if the tattoo was meant to be on her skin.
The crew went out for drinks to blow off some steam from their stressful week. Kat mentioned all the stuff Pixie had done that week to help her with the shop. Kat asked Pixie if she’d consider being the Shop Manager. Pixie was blown away and said she’d have to think about it. Corey said she’d be the cutest helper he’s ever had. Kat said, “You help me anyway so at least you’d get paid for it.” Pixie downed a shot, but the glass on the bar and yelled, “Yes!” They all cheered and hugged.
The next day, Kat met her carpenter, Jeff, at the shop. She was so excited to see that the shop was done and said that the shop looked better than her drawing. She gave Jeff a huge hug and told him he was the best. She said, “This feels like home.” He told her she could start business that day. She said, “I’m gonna tattoo you today.” He said, “All right!” Kat and Jeff set down and Kat drew up a picture of a sexy woman. Jeff wanted his tattoo on the lower half of his arm. When he saw the placement of the stencil on his arm he said, “Dude, it’s sick! I love it!” Then Kat got to work. He loved his tattoo and was proud to say he was the first to get tattooed at LA Ink. After Jeff left, Kat sat in a chair and admired her new shop. She told cameras she was scared about owning her own shop, but excited at the same time.
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