The largest and warmest thanks goes out to: Ruben, Sky, and Ellen of Chameleon Body Arts. Mary Kaplan, Wayne, Katie Shea, Luke Welling, Abbey O’Brien, Jon Blass, Christopher Smith, Tia Cunha, Jason Henriquez, David Lopez, Natan of Witch City Ink & Lightwave Tattoos, the wonderful Jack Mosher, and Jebb of Lightwave Tattoos. And each and every individual who has donated or bought a tee. You are all amazing!

HOPE+ tees are still available at Witch City Ink (186-3 Essex St, Salem, MA). Shirts are $25 each, and 90% of the proceeds go towards Japan disaster relief, and the remaining 10% goes towards disaster relief in the United States. They feature a phoenix design on the front, and a small Boston Tattoo Convention logo on the back.

Happy January! In an effort to help get everyone’s metaphorical ducks in a row, we here at the Boston Tattoo Convention are taking care of business at a rapid pace! For artist, vendor, and attendee’s convenience, we have made it possible for you to reserve your booth, hotel room (at a discounted rate!), AND buy your BTC tickets already.

What’s that, you say? It’s only January, so why you should be concerned about an event that’s happening over Labor Day weekend? Because booths and hotel rooms sold out last year, and we want to give you a chance to reserve yours as soon as possible, without having to worry and scramble at the last minute. And we always recommend buying tickets in advance, as it’s nice to not have to worry about buying at the window.

Here are all the links you need!:

-Click here to purchase your tickets securely online.

-Here is where you can find artist/vendor registration information. Don’t forget to download your registration form too!

-And you can reserve your hotel room at the Boston Back Bay Sheraton right here (you’re going to want to click that if you’re staying in the city for the convention — through this link is the discounted rate for BTC-goers).

If you haven’t had a booth at the BTC before, or if you need a little reminder as to how it works, don’t worry! The registration form explains things thoroughly, and you are more than welcome to contact us with any questions that you may have about the process at info@bostontattooconvention.com, or 978.744.9393.

You can find our registration page right here, and click the image below to download the registration form!

The official dates for the 2012 Boston Tattoo Convention have been set for some time now, and booth and ticket sales will begin very soon!

Artist/Vendor early booth registration begins on December 26th, 2011.
Early booth registration ends June 30th, 2012. We advise reserving your booth in advance as they sold out in 2011. The registration form will be available for download soon, and must be completed and sent to us with your license and info as soon as possible after making your payment. Temporary licenses must be purchased for all attending artists.

Regular booth registration begins July 1st and ends July 31st.

BTC ticket sales will begin on January 1st, 2012. As always, we recommend buying your tickets in advance as well.

Below we have a sneak peak of some faces you will be seeing throughout the convention.

Vanessa DiNapoli, Make Up Artist
Vanessa hails from New Jersey and has tackled many faces over the years from Philadelphia to Boston.  She specializes in photo shoots and fashion shows.  As a new Bostonian, she is excited to be part of the Boston Tattoo Convention and  will be painting the faces of the models in the BTC Fashion Show.  Her creative and classic, yet eccentric style shows distinctively on each face. She believes in tattoos as fine art and has several large pieces on her body.

Tia, Emcee/Tattoo Judge
Tia will be emceeing the Boston Tattoo Convention, as well as stepping in to judge the Tattoo Contest. Tia is from California and has been in the tattoo industry for many years.

Emilee Fitzpatrick, Emcee
This reality TV star is stepping off camera and hitting the Boston Tattoo Convention to emcee the Suck Yeah Clothing bikini contest and fashion show on Saturday and Sunday. Emilee was on MTV’s Real World Cancun and will be on MTV’s Cut Throat, premiering October 6th.

Gillian Maffeo, PR
Gillian is running the media relations for the Boston Tattoo Convention. She has been in the public relations profession for over five years and has secured many media opportunities with national and local television, magazines and online media. Gillian owns her own company LuckySeven PR, which is based out of Boston, MA.

Debbie, Highwave Hair Design
Debbie has over 20 years of hair dressing experience and will be the master behind the hair for the Suck Yeah Clothing fashion show on Saturday, September 4th. Debbie has worked in Boston hairdressing, as well as doing the hair for fashion shows in NYC and Boston. She owns Highwave Hair Design in Essex, MA.

Juli Moon
About: Juli Moon is a pioneer, multi award winning and internationally recognized decorative tattoo artist with over thirty years experience as well as being a leader in the field of cosmetic tattooing. She owns Juli Moon Studio, located in Lynn Massachusetts, which specializes in custom tattooing and creating singularly unique works of tattoo art for the body.

Natan Alexander
About: Natan has over 16 years of experience in tattooing and was also one of the pioneers to legalize tattooing in Massachusetts. Natan is the producer of the Boston Tattoo Convention. Tattooing is his passion, not just his profession. As a tattoo artist, he strictly tattoos custom work, since it challenges him and reflects his interests and those of his clients. Natan loves all types of tattooing and his work has an easily recognizable style that features bold lines and strong color. Natan travels abroad several times a year in Europe and Japan to broaden his knowledge and understanding of tattooing. His goal is to bring this knowledge and commitment to excellence into every tattoo that is done in each of his shops.

Shawn McCarron
About: Since receiving his first tattoo in 1988, he was always a tattoo enthusiast. Shawn has been a student of tattooing ever since he continued educating himself about the history and development of the modern tattoo. He has studied under great artists on both coasts and loves to culminate many styles in his own work. He has traveled to many conventions throughout the United States and values the knowledge he has gained by meeting hundreds of artists of all genres of tattooing. Since 2002 he has been the owner of Kaleidoscope Tattoo in Cambridge, MA. where he tattoos and pierces. Shawn has judged many conventions and tattoo contests over the years. He is dedicated to the progression of the art of body adornment and enjoys sharing his experience and knowledge with other enthusiasts.

Stay tuned for the fourth and final judge!

Anyways, this year we are kicking off the 2010 Miss Boston Tattoo Bikini Competition in hopes the men at the convention can find their future wives…I mean, for fun and great prizes. Check below for details:

Round 1, Saturday, September 4 at 1:00 p.m.
24 gorgeous women will be flaunting Suck Yeah Clothing bikini’s. During the first round, the 3 judges will choose 12 women to advance the the next round.  The contestants will be judged on style, tattoos, attitude, hobbies, special skills and interests.

Round 2, Sunday, September 5 at 8:00 p.m.
The remaining 12 women will strut their stuff for one final time, until the judges choose and announce the winner of this year’s 2010 Miss Tattoo Bikini Competition.  The winner will be showered in gifts from free tattoos to skydiving passes to tons of free stuff. Each contestant will take home their bikini that they will be wearing during the competition.

Meet the Judges

Tonya Lee D’Ambra
Occupation: Body Piercer at Wicked Ink in Riverside, RI
About: Tonya Lee is presently a body piercer at Wicked Ink Tattoo in Riverside, RI.  She also worked  in the adult entertainment , gay and night club indusrty for over 12 years.  She loves life for it’s entertainment value and can find a good time in any situation. Tonya Lee calls herself “the one girl pony show.”

Evan Starkman
Occupation: MTV Reality TV Celebrity
About: Evan is best known as a competitor on the MTV reality game shows Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat, The Duel, The Gauntlet III, The Duel 2, and The Ruins. He won The Duel 2 and The Ruins. He hosted the RW/RR Spring Break Challenge in March 2010 with Paula Meronek. He is a part owner of Suck Yeah Clothing.

Scott Benson
Occupation: Body Piercer/ Manager Pleasure in Pain, Taunton, MA
About: Scott is the body piercer at Pleasure in Pain. He is 27 and has been at Pleasure in Pain for almost 2 years. He enjoys traveling around the country to work with some of the best in his industry.

Forrest Frazier
Occupation: Photographer
About: Forrest’s photographs can be seen in museums, books, and publications world wide. He has shot for various mens magazines, fetish publications, motorcycle and tattoo magazines.

Emilee Fitzpatrick
Occupation: MTV Reality TV Celebrity
About: Emilee is best known as one of the cast members on the twenty-second season of MTV‘s reality television series The Real World: Cancun (2009). Emilee is a competitor on the MTV reality game shows Real World/Road Rules Challenge.

Cliff Dever
Occupation: Owner of Battery Park Bar & Lounge
About: Cliff is one of the owners/operators of Battery Park Bar & Lounge, opening this fall in the Financial District of Boston. He’s been in the Boston bar industry since 2002 and has bar tended all over the City. He’s ran the Boston Marathon for the past 2 years to raise money for Cancer and can party with the best of them.

His name is Gabriel Adam Schmand (G.A.S.).  You would think he’d get some kind of petro hook up, but no such deal. Gabe was born in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine and had his eyes set on being anywhere outside of Maine after high school. Spending two years getting his feet wet in upstate New York’s Pratt @ Munson William Proctor Art Institute (Pratt @ MWPAI), he decided to cut his ties for the debt he gained and move back home to Bangor, Maine. Thinking the next few years were wasted away swinging a hammer, Gabe realized in reality that he had learned A LOT based on his spare time. Mostly things such as, the fact he won’t eat homemade Macaroni & Cheese – strictly Kraft Spirals – how much he loves to eat pizza, not going to the gym, petting dogs, etc… But the important realizations where cutting through all the bullshit art projects for hire that he hated, but potentially funneled him directly into what he loves, as well as how much he loves living in Maine. Since coming to terms with himself and his co-ordinates, things just strangely fell into place for now ….as long as he can stay focused.

You could kind of relate his life to someone who did a bunch of drugs and came out of it as a pretty alright guy. Instead of drugs, Gabe created a bunch of shitty artwork and personalities that one day turned around to him and said, “This is who you are, and this is what you’re going to do.” … well alright then!

Photo Credit: Peter Bissell (www.564productions.com)

Follow My Friend Moomba & see process photo’s of your products on Twitter: @myfriendmoomba or visit www.myfriendmoomba.com

Do you have a rockin’ body and the tattoo’s to go along with it? Then maybe you might have what it takes to be Miss Boston Tattoo Convention 2010!

We are looking for contestants to strut their stuff for our bikini contest, held on Saturday, September 4 at 1:00 p.m. and the finals held on Sunday, September 5 at 8:00 pm. So, don’t be shy, let’s see if you got what it takes to be Miss Boston Tattoo Convention 2010!

photo credit: Sandi Tobias Photography

Please send a head and body shot to rfras@luckysevenpr.com