Current Tattoos and Crime - Show us ya tatts

[Kurve]

I ended up with a hand tattoo after a few too many bintangs as a young idiot at schoolies in Bali... still living with the job rejections to this day. Almost finished lasering it now, but it was a $3 tattoo that will cost about $800 to get rid of once I'm done. Not a criminal, but do have a major in Criminology, so i guess that counts haha

Cousin did similar but had his earlobes done. Before laser, he had plastic surgery to remove the lobes it looked pretty good made his ears look small though.

Is yours black or coloured? I've read different lasers are used for black ink and colour.

 

[Kurve]

The only well known Freo tattooist around that time was Bobby Thornton who died years ago thanks to Hep C from dirty needle using. I'm guessing this is the tattooist you're wondering about who hung out with heroin junkies

Shocking. Tattooists are supposed to be regulated and have regular health inspections.

 

[Willow weeps]

Shocking. Tattooists are supposed to be regulated and have regular health inspections.

They are now, not so much back in the early 80s. I've seen the setup in one of the tattoo shops in freo & it is all monitored & very clean. No reusable needles, they all go in hazard bins. Just because he was well known, didn't mean he was working in a tattoo shop. Half the time he'd just waltz in & collapse on a chair in the waiting rooms of stores after a hard night of drugs. They let him because he was well known & because he taught most of the newer ones at the time. He was from early days so they respected him. None were using but they had a lot of respect for him

 

[Willow weeps]

Shocking. Tattooists are supposed to be regulated and have regular health inspections.

oops, just reread what my original post said & looked like, Bobby Thornton didn't get Hep C from a tattoo needle, he got it from using drugs & the shared "dirty needles" used to administer those drugs

 

[Melsy]

Shocking. Tattooists are supposed to be regulated and have regular health inspections.

Not at the time I believe. I had a teacher who was ex AFP. He said people get tattooed, but large proportion of tattooists in WA (he gave the percentage) were intravenous users.

Is it state legislation ShellyG? Do you know when it started?

 

[Kurve]

Not at the time I believe. I had a teacher who was ex AFP. He said people get tattooed, but large proportion of tattooists in WA (he gave the percentage) were intravenous users.

Is it state legislation ShellyG? Do you know when it started?

Regulated under council I think as far back as the 90s to my personal knowledge in Victoria. They were all having regular screens for alphabet hepatitis, it's a good tattooists worst nightmare really because the virus is far more easily caught than HIV and it's mutating so quickly. They wouldn't get any work or a chair in a studio if known to be an IV user over here.

 

[Melsy]

Regulated under council I think as far back as the 90s to my personal knowledge in Victoria. They were all having regular screens for alphabet hepatitis, it's a good tattooists worst nightmare really because the virus is far more easily caught than HIV and it's mutating so quickly. They wouldn't get any work or a chair in a studio if known to be an IV user over here.

Which is odd considering my AFP lecturer claiming a more than 50% of tattooists in Perth at the time were intravenous users. Personally, I think he would have his facts straight.

I'd be interested to see what the WA legislation is.

 

[Kurve]

Which is odd considering my AFP lecturer claiming a more than 50% of tattooists at the time were intravenous users. Personally, I think he would have his facts straight.

I'd be interested to see what the WA legislation is.

There weren't actually that many tattooists around in the 80s working out of studios. He might have been talking about boob heads and back yarders. Where would he get his stats from? Prison probably.

There were two tattoo associations and there are rules to register. The AFP wouldn't have got any information from either of the associations about IV drug users.

 

[Melsy]

There weren't actually that many tattooists around in the 80s working out of studios. He might have been talking about boob heads and back yarders. Where would he get his stats from? Prison probably.

There were two tattoo associations and there are rules to register. The AFP wouldn't have got any information from either of the associations about IV drug users.

I wonder where an AFP officer would get this data? Maybe one of their conferences? A straight down the middle type of guy.

 

[Kurve]

I wonder where an AFP officer would get this data? Maybe one of their conferences? A straight down the middle type of guy.

An AFP conference? Or a tattooists conference? Any tattooist that registers with either of the associations certainly wouldn't let it be known anywhere they were an IV user, if they were - gossip travels fast within the industry.

Most of them won't even take an appointment with anyone they suspect of being an IV user. Not because of HIV but hepatitis. To my knowledge of the industry in Victoria.

 

[Melsy]

An AFP conference? Or a tattooists conference? Any tattooist that registers with either of the associations certainly wouldn't let it be known anywhere they were an IV user, if they were - gossip travels fast within the industry.

Most of them won't even take an appointment with anyone they suspect of being an IV user. Not because of HIV but hepatitis. To my knowledge of the industry in Victoria.

I would say he had taken the statement based on Perth data in the 90s.

 

[petedavo]

https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/N_R/Notification-of-infectious-diseases-and-related-conditions

Occupation is a field upon the form.

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[Willow weeps]

Which is odd considering my AFP lecturer claiming a more than 50% of tattooists in Perth at the time were intravenous users. Personally, I think he would have his facts straight.

I'd be interested to see what the WA legislation is.

No doubt he was counting all of the backyard tattooists in that lot. They were full of drugs but I think Bobby Thornton kind of woke them up about doing drugs. He was the master back in his day & to see someone you admired & looked up to, made them realise even their own idol wasn't bullet proof. I have no clue if he used until he died but I'm thinking he might have. By law in W.A. you have to be regulated with a clean shop. They do get random searches to keep them on their toes but everyone old enough, who were around Freo areas knew of Bobby Thornton. He was so old school, some tattoos were shocking because of the thick once black but later green outlines. The guy was all about partying with drugs but he was oneof the very first tattooists in W.A. sohe held respect

 

[Willow weeps]

There weren't actually that many tattooists around in the 80s working out of studios. He might have been talking about boob heads and back yarders. Where would he get his stats from? Prison probably.

There were two tattoo associations and there are rules to register. The AFP wouldn't have got any information from either of the associations about IV drug users.

SNAP! beat me to it. Plenty of backyard tattooists back in the day. Bobby Thornton did one of my mum's (she's got no diseases) before I was born. It was old & the ink had spread. She was getting it covered up with a flower & told the tattooist in the shop that Bobby had done the one getting covered up. Next thing she knows, the lump on the lounge with their head covered with a hat moves quickly & asks "he did? let me see, I'd remember my work anywhere & sure enough, that lump on the lounge was Bobby Thornton & he laughed because even he admitted how s**t his tattooing was back then & the lack of better ink they have now to use. The other old school guy who is well known has a shop in Freo. The studio used to be an old nurse studio. Everything is very clean. He did my Dad's back, again before I was born but he remembers my dad still to this day. These guys are in their mid 60s now

 

[Melsy]

No doubt he was counting all of the backyard tattooists in that lot. They were full of drugs but I think Bobby Thornton kind of woke them up about doing drugs. He was the master back in his day & to see someone you admired & looked up to, made them realise even their own idol wasn't bullet proof. I have no clue if he used until he died but I'm thinking he might have. By law in W.A. you have to be regulated with a clean shop. They do get random searches to keep them on their toes but everyone old enough, who were around Freo areas knew of Bobby Thornton. He was so old school, some tattoos were shocking because of the thick once black but later green outlines. The guy was all about partying with drugs but he was oneof the very first tattooists in W.A. sohe held respect

Id say he is talking about the 90s. Its not that long ago.

Anyone have some WA legislation about tattooist testing?

 

[Willow weeps]

Id say he is talking about the 90s. Its not that long ago.

Anyone have some WA legislation about tattooist testing?

https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/S_T/Skin-penetration-procedures-and-the-law

 

[Melsy]

https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/S_T/Skin-penetration-procedures-and-the-law

Anything about testing tattooists for transmittable diseases?

 

[Willow weeps]

Anything about testing tattooists for transmittable diseases?

I don't know, I just googled the above. By law, anyone with an STI can still work in their profession. Drs and dentists who have AIDS can not be discriminated against. I think by law though, you need to disclose if you have any STI's before you get a job

 

[Melsy]

No doubt he was counting all of the backyard tattooists in that lot. They were full of drugs but I think Bobby Thornton kind of woke them up about doing drugs. He was the master back in his day & to see someone you admired & looked up to, made them realise even their own idol wasn't bullet proof. I have no clue if he used until he died but I'm thinking he might have. By law in W.A. you have to be regulated with a clean shop. They do get random searches to keep them on their toes but everyone old enough, who were around Freo areas knew of Bobby Thornton. He was so old school, some tattoos were shocking because of the thick once black but later green outlines. The guy was all about partying with drugs but he was oneof the very first tattooists in W.A. sohe held respect

Some of Bobby Thorntons work. Are you certain it was Bobby Thornton??

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wa...eaves-mark-on-fremantle-history-ng-b88848975z

 

[Kurve]

Which is odd considering my AFP lecturer claiming a more than 50% of tattooists in Perth at the time were intravenous users. Personally, I think he would have his facts straight.

I'd be interested to see what the WA legislation is.

How would he know though Melsy? PeteDavo has found how we can tell how many self described tattooists have been infected by a bloodborne pathogen but that doesn't tell us how they became infected or how many are IV drug users.

 

[Willow weeps]

Some of Bobby Thorntons work. Are you certain it was Bobby Thornton??

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wa...eaves-mark-on-fremantle-history-ng-b88848975z

100% certain. There's a difference of painting a wall to putting ink in skin. My mum's tattoo by him was done in the early 70s when the tattoo guns were crap. The black outline ink would spread over years making them look a dirty, thick green. If you look at any prison tattoos & how they are thick? that's what happened with old school tattoos. The man could draw amazingly well, just look at this picture. Doesn't mean that you could get the same perfection of the painted wall as you could on a body part. He did get better much though.
Ricky Snr is the person who did my Dad's back in the 70s but Bobby Thornton did a few of my dad's early tattoos. This man's shop is the shop that is highly above standard & regulations. He is NOT a user & nor would his employees be. He'd fire them if he found out they were into drugs.
I don't know what you want me to do to prove it to you as there's nothing I can do unless you want to call my mum & ask her yourself? (sarcasm).
I can't prove it for you but I do know Bobby was a heroin user & died from Hep C. He also taught the tattooists that became better than him with new ink & tattoo guns. Either you can choose to think I'm pulling names out of my arse just to look good but you'd be wrong. All I did was answer a question about the well known Fremantle tattooist who hung out with heroin addicts.
I could easily turn it back on you & ask you to prove it wasn't Bobby Thornton huh?

 

[Willow weeps]

An AFP conference? Or a tattooists conference? Any tattooist that registers with either of the associations certainly wouldn't let it be known anywhere they were an IV user, if they were - gossip travels fast within the industry.

Most of them won't even take an appointment with anyone they suspect of being an IV user. Not because of HIV but hepatitis. To my knowledge of the industry in Victoria.

back then, anyone with a tattoo that could be seen was automatically labeled a "drug act", "Dole Bludger", "criminal". It was not as accepted then as it is now. So, your AFP teacher was no doubt judgemental & used his own opinion to the numbers

 

[petedavo]

I'll indulge a slight diversion. One of my Grand uncles spent 4 years in German POW camps (when he wasn't escaping - he wrote a book about his escapes). But anyways, he took up tattooing to pass his time between escapes, and he had more tattoos than a yakuza. From wrist to ankle.
He certainly wasn't a druggie nor a criminal, nor a dole bludger. Although he did get caught selling his home made Mead in Dwellingup and copped a fine from a magistrate, who then became his best customer, but that's another story.

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[Willow weeps]

I'll indulge a slight diversion. One of my Grand uncles spent 4 years in German POW camps (when he wasn't escaping - he wrote a book about his escapes). But anyways, he took up tattooing to pass his time between escapes, and he made more tattoos than a yakuza. From wrist to ankle.
He certainly wasn't a druggie nor a criminal. Although he did get caught selling his home made Mead in Dwellingup and copped a fine from a magistrate, who then became his best customer, but that's another story.

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we could be related. My great, great uncle was made POW in WW1 4 times but when they caught him again, it was to tell him the war was over & he could go home. He never wrote a book about it but I think his daughter did & was in Corrigin not Dwellingup. I met him once & was petrified of him because my grandmother got us grandkids together for my Greatgran's 90th & told us "don't you dare ask Uncle Aub about the war". I was about 9 at the time & like I said, scared of him thanks to my Grandmother

 

[Willow weeps]

Melsy this is also him https://www.ozbike.com.au/bobby-thornton-remembered/
If you really are in Melbourne, you might know of Australia's best tattooing family, Nutz Robinson could certainly clear this up for you as would Ricky Luder Snr
Not sure how I feel about him tattooing his 9y/o Granddaughter though