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"Aggressive Patience" My dream of being the first artist to use a tattoo machine on ceramics

I have been doing ceramics ever since my sponsor in AA told me to get a new hobby after I got sober July 7th 1995. I was playing pool for a living at the time I got sober. Not very conducive to maintaining a sober lifestyle. He directed me to go get a toy potters wheel at Michael's and see if I liked pottery. I followed his direction, asked for a real potters wheel for Christmas that year and it has been on since then. 
I am a self taught ceramic artist. I have read hundreds of books on how to make pottery... I took one college class for about 2 months and that was about it. It has been a wonderful journey, a hard one as well. With being a ceramic artist that also does wood turning for lids and bases on my urns it takes an incredible amount of tools and space to do my art. 

Inside my Ceramics Studio

Outside the Ceramic Studio

I currently live in Paso Robles California in a 1 bedroom apartment with a one car garage and I only own a bed and 2 bean bags... The rest of the house is my Ceramic Studio.

Dragon Urn

Ceramic Tattooed Tile in Box Frame 

Custom Bonsai Pot 

I was homeless living in my van and my Dad was dying in the hospital in southern California after being there 31 days straight. I was at one of my lowest points in life around this time. While I was going through this I did not have my art going of course. I was so surprised to see that Skin and Art Magazine did a full page spread on me about me tattooing on ceramics! They called me "The Clayslinger". 




I first had the idea of tattooing on ceramics when walking through a tattoo convention in Pomona California about 13 years into doing ceramics. I was walking through and I spotted a vendor selling tattoo kits out of the corner of my eye. If you are a ceramic artist you will know that we are ALWAYS on the lookout for new tools to use and to put into clay. I bought the kit for $100.00, took it home and started using it on clay. It was at that moment that I knew I had something and that I had found my THANG... I love tattooing on ceramics... It is so relaxing to me and it creates a wonderful relief carving in the clay. I do just what a tattoo artist does but on clay instead of skin. I draw a design, make a copy and put it on the piece and then outline it with as bic pen. I then take a v-tool and carve the outline. Then take the tattoo machine and carve into the clay in certain spots I want taken out. I fire the piece and then use different inks, enamels, water colors to fill in.  

Tattooing a dragon custom cremation urn


A piece I did for Hailin Tattoo in Hollywood

Cleaning off the ink with a jewelery tool

Laying black ink in the tattooed areas

Another custom cremation urn for a special client

Me! Throwing Pottery in the studio...

Another really hard time in my life came up recently and I did not have my ceramic studio once again - FUCK! All I could think of to do is to color something. I was wanting to do my art so bad but was not able to do it. I just started making some original designs that I could take to my AA Meetings and color. Coloring I found out is VERY therapeutic and really puts you in the moment for sure. looking back it was God giving this to me and preparing me to further my artistry by being able to play with color and draw my own designs. I really enjoy making the designs and try to make a new one once a week now. I ended up  making a full coloring book of original designs and having it published on Amazon. You can also purchase one design at a time on my Etsy Store

Some of my original tribal designs



Aggressive Patience:  I have had to endure a lot with this dream of mine... It has all been worth the personal struggle to get me to this point I am right now today. The best video I have ever seen on dreams is this one below by Tyler Perry. 


He says on the video that the dream actually begins to take on a life of its own. I feel like that with my dream today. It is time to make it happen and bring "Captain Love and Light" to the world. 
Onward... 
My Websites

Social Media
Homeless Resources Blogger Blog
Handmade Art Urns Blogger Blog
Ceramic Tattoo Art Blogger Blog
Color for Balance Blogger Blog



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