Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink - Hardcover

A behind-the-scenes tour of the fabled tattoo industry on the arm of a swashbuckling insider and natural-born storyteller.

Jeff Johnson, a master tattoo artist and co-owner of the Sea Tramp Tattoo Company, has a blazing personality and a surefire management philosophy: Protect your people, make them feel safe enough to be brave, help them grow, and always learn from them. And for God’s sake, pay attention to the toilets!

In this sharp, funny, and fascinating memoir, Johnson takes readers backstage at the Sea Tramp, Portland Oregon’s oldest tattoo parlor, where art, drama, and commerce come together in highly entertaining theater. Founded by the legendary Bert Grimm, tattoo artist to Buffalo Bill and Bonnie and Clyde, it’s an old-school street shop with a rich and colorful past.

TATTOO MACHINE reveals all the things that a TV show or a visit to your local establishment can’t capture. There are the bloodbaths, the scams, the customers from hell. And then there are the friendships, the practical jokes, the surprising acts of tenderness. At the center of it all is Jeff Johnson. Welcome to his world, where there are no do-overs, everything is written in permanent ink, and a picture lasts a lifetime.

JEFF JOHNSON has been tattooing professionally for eighteen years and is the co-owner of The Sea Tramp Tattoo Company, Portland Oregon’s oldest tattoo shop. This is his first book.