- So, this is our flash, one of our flash walls here in the shop, and it is all Mike Malone stuff. This is mostly from his 1999 set where he, if, whoever bought the first, I forget how many sheets, er, the first however many sets you got an original with it. And, a flash is just super interesting and it's something that's always spoken to me cause it's just, like Ed put it so well, it's just a distillation of everything in life. Drama, to sex, to love, uh, bravado, faith. And so, Malone being one of the best designers of flash, he would always come up with really interesting sheets. They always said something, they had some type of wording. There was always something on these sheets that was for everybody, you know? Uh, not each sheet was like, for men only. I mean, there was always some little, cute rose, or, you know. But it got people looking around. It wasn't like a single sheet of tigers, or a single sheet of bats. It was like, it was just a spread out idea source. And so it just got you visually looking through the whole shop. And that's what I really like about it. It's all done in watercolor, you know? So, now-a-days people come in, they say they want a watercolor tattoo, and it's like, I know what they're referring to. They want that smeared outside the line business, but, these were all done in watercolor. And, uh, that's traditionally how all flash was painted, and still is. So, this is a great wall.
Aloha Monkey Shop Art : Battle Royale
- This is a Battle Royale depiction based off an Ed Hardy Battle Royale that he did. But this piece was created by me that same summer that Richard was staying with me in 2009 Uzzy was coming through to do a guest spot. And so me and Uzzy were gonna work on this Battle Royale and just have a little painting party but Richard comes in and hates the way that we're doing the snake and so he just kinda over takes it. And so that's what was wrong with our entire snake drawing and so eventually he took out the snake Uzzy took out the eagle, and I took out the dragon. But it was fun, little collaboration between us three.
Josh Arment Tattoo Artist Interview - Last Sparrow Tattoo
The mission of the Last Sparrow Tattoo Forum is to help preserve the craft of GOOD tattooing and to serve as an educational resource for those who want to learn the difference between good and bad tattoos. There are more bad than good tattoo artists out there, so it is more important than ever to do your research before getting tattooed.
Be sure to watch our LST Tattoo Artist Interview Videos, connect with other tattoo fans in the Tattoo Forum, browse through thousands of tattoo pictures in the Tattoo Picture Gallery, follow your favorite Member Blog, or read some Tattoo Shop Reviews.
Interview with Aloha Monkey Piercer Tara Boyd
Tara has years of experience piercing, and her enthusiasm for the trade shines through in all aspects of her conduct. Her bedside manner and knowledge provides the best experience for clients of all ages. Tara's passion for education leaves all of her clientele with the knowledge needed to properly care for their new piercing and ensures a successful healing process. Whether you've had numerous piercings or if it's your first -Tara's expertise will put any client at ease. Stop by and meet her, you're guaranteed to leave with a smile and hopefully something sparkly!
Tattoo Aftercare Instructions
Josh Arment: Hey, I'm Josh Arment. Thank you for coming to The Aloha Monkey and getting your tattoo. I appreciate it. I might not be the person that tattooed you, but I'd just like to give you my two cents on how to take care of your tattoo. Attached to this email is going to be a PDF. It's going to spell it out all for you, but what I'm going to provide you right now is a little bit more in depth.
So basically your band is just going to come off in like three to four hours. You're going to take it off. You're going to wash it real good with soap and hot water. When you wash it, I just want you to use a skin to skin contact. I don't want you to use a wash cloth, no sponges, nothing abrasive, but just good skin to skin contact and don't feel like you have to ginger around with it. You can actually push on it and get the lymph off. The lymph is the white blood cells that are trying to create a scab. We don't want scabs here. Scabs equal bad healing tattoos.
So, you use the hot water. It's going to sting, It's going to be like sunburn. Soap; the soap, I would say, like a antibacterial soap, like a Dial, a Palmolive, some kind of dish soap is a really good soap. I like to use liquid soaps. So, you're going to wash it real good with soap and hot water. Press on it and then you're going to blot it dry. Something with a clean towel or paper towel, not something you've used in your house all week. You get a nice fresh hand towel out or a paper towel. You're going to blot it dry. You don't want to scrub it again; no abrasive contact with the tattoo.
Then what I want you to do is put a thin coat of Aquaphor or A&D ointment on it. Now what that's going to do, and when I say thin, I mean super thin, like you don't want to look like John Candy at the beach with a bunch of sunblock on the top. You want to have it rubbed into the skin. We're looking for a matte finish, not a gloss finish.
So when you rub that into the tattoo, I want you to make sure that it doesn't have a reflective nature or any kind of sheen to it. It's got to be worked into the skin and then what I would like you to do is, if you're going to be wearing clothing around this thing or sleeping on this thing, I personally, this won't be in the PDF, but I personally like to see somebody wash it, put the Aquaphor or the A&D on it, and then put Saran Wrap on it.
Now the Saran Wrap is kind of a situation that keeps it from sticking to your sheets, keeps it from sticking to your articles of clothing. You know, you're a business person, you're trying to go into the work the next day. So what I recommend is having a nice layer of Saran Wrap over that tattoo and just ignore it while you're at work. When you get home from work, then you're going to take the Saran Wrap off. You know, you've got like your evening time, you want to take the Saran Wrap off, wash it immediately with soap and hot water, and then just let it air dry throughout the evening. Maybe you're washing it like every two hours as you start to see it sweat almost like an upper eyebrow or like your upper lip sweats during exercise, when you see it to start sweat like that, I want you to wash it again; soap and hot water. That's the lymph coming to the top and that's what we don't want. We don't want the scab.
So you're going to kind of monitor it that way throughout the evening and then right before bed, you're going to wash it one last time with soap and hot water. Again, skin to skin contact, and then you're going to wrap it in Saran Wrap.
Now here's the deal about the Saran Wrap. If you just wrap it in Saran Wrap, you're creating a bacterial situation. It's like a hot bed for infection. You don't want that. What you do want is to wash it and then put the Saran Wrap on it. Then you're creating a clean environment where it's not going to stick to your clothing. It's not going to stick to your sheets. Another thing just to know about tattoos is that you don't want to touch something and then touch the tattoo. Most people are like trying to pull lint off of it. No, your hand is touched. Your belt is touched, your jeans, that's bacteria. You don't want to have that happen. So the only contact you make with it, touching the tattoo, is when you're washing it.
So in the morning, when you get up in the morning, after the Saran Wrap evening, you take the Saran Wrap off, you immediately wash it. It's going to have a bunch of ink in there. You're not losing your tattoo. It's going to be fine. The ink is just the excess that's coming out of you and let it go; like wash it off. It's going to look like a black mess, but wash that off. When you're washing it, the hot water opens the pores, so you don't want to use cold water. If it does feel swollen, it's around an elbow or something, you might ice it over the Saran Wrap, but you don't want to just make contact with it with any cold nature substance at all; no water, no ice, no nothing. Everything that you touch it with should be hot because that's going to open the pores up and create the ability to let it release.
After about three days of that, washing, Saran Wrap, washing, Saran Wrap, then you can just have your tattoo out and air-dry. Now most people are going to tell you to use like a Lubriderm substance or some kind of lotion. I personally don't believe in toxic lotions. I would use a coconut oil. Coconut oil is amazing because it's antibacterial and it absorbs into the skin. Most lotions sit on the surface of the skin and so I want you to use the coconut oil because it's going to go into your skin. It's going to draw the ink inward. You can use coconut oil through the duration of the tattoo, through two weeks of it, and it'll just be the the number one lubricant that you use.
We thank you again for coming to The Aloha Monkey. We hope you enjoyed your tattoo experience and we look forward to seeing you again. Thanks.
Aloha Monkey Anniversary Video Too
Another awesome video from the Aloha Monkey Anniversary. Thanks to everyone that came out!
Storied tattoo shop stakes claim in Burnsville
Burnsville tattoo-shop owner Josh Arment was a little overcome when friends, city officials and Chamber of Commerce members came out April 26 to help him cut the ribbon on his new building.
The lineage of two world-famous tattoo artists runs through his shop, the Aloha Monkey. Its insignia proclaims Arment and his seven artists “Keepers of the Flame” and “Protectors of Tradition.”
After nearly two decades occupying rented space in a Nicollet Avenue strip mall, Arment staked his claim by buying and renovating an abandoned gas station next door. On April 26, the community helped him celebrate.
Thanks to everyone that attended the Aloha Monkey 20th Anniversary!
Thanks to everyone that made it out to the 20th Anniversary Event! If you missed it or just want to relive the weekend watch this short video from our good friend Austin.
Tattoos, Piercings, Beer, Food and friends (old and new). What else is there?
20th Anniversary Weekend
The Aloha Monkey is turning 20 and we request that you join us for Tattoos, Piercings, Food and FREE DRINKS from Surly Brewing Company and Sailor Jerry! Tattoo Supplies provided by Saltwater Tattoo Supply.
April 26 and 27 from 12-8P
April 28 from 12-5P
Guest Tattoo Artists: Nick Colella, Josh Palmer, Uzi, Javier DeLuna, Tim Beck, Frog, Jeff Symperd, Matt Arriola, Melissa Baker, Gordie Jones, Stephen Costello, Slim Brown, Doug Hardy
Aloha Monkey Artists: Arthur Zitka, Kenny Ford, Brian Basabe, Matt Zirbes, Mark Landis, Josh Arment
Josh Arment “HMIC”
Josh Arment took the reigns of the Aloha Monkey, transforming it from a great tattoo shop into one of the greatest tattoo shops, first in Minnesota, then eventually in all of North America. Tirelessly working harder to continually improve his skills, as well as making the Monkey into one of the tightest run ships in the industry, he has surrounded himself with a great crew and a constant flow of amazing tattooists from around the world. His hard work and dedication has allowed “The Aloha Monkey” to grow from a shop in an area that was formerly known as ‘nothing special’ to a shop where tattooists are now clamoring to come visit.
Josh Arment still keeps the Monkey in ship shape, bringing world-class tattooing to the Great State of Minnesota, proudly decorating the fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters of the Gopher State. We look forward to ensuring that the traditions carried by Sailor Jerry and Mike Malone are still strong and continue to move forward. We invite you to join us at keeping Minnesota beautiful, and to get tattooed at The Aloha Monkey!
Written by Doug Hardy