We just got into beautiful Cobh in County Cork, Ireland for the Traditional Tattoo & World Culture Festival this weekend, and the artists are all artists pouring in. Just saw the wonderful Colin Dale of Skin & Bone Tattoo in Denmark, whose Nordic dotwork is spectacular. We also got to hang with Cammy of Divine Canvas on the flight over from Edinburgh, Scotland. [Air Lingus unintentionally(?) grouped the tattooed freaks together on the plane, so the party has started early.]

Brian and I decided to fly into Edinburgh, Scotland for a couple days of sightseeing before the fest and on our itinerary was Red Hot & Blue Tattoo, Paul Slifer's shop, which is home to a number of stellar tattooists. [Paul's work is shown above]

Ok, when I visit tattoo studios and I'm not getting tattooed, I never want to take artists' time away from work and nerd out on them, but the Red Hot & Blue crew were so gracious with my geekiness. Jason aka Zig Zag, had just finished a piece, so he had time to chat and we got to look through all their great portfolios, so I wanted to give a shout out to the shop and say thanks for the hospitality.

Here are just snippets of work from the Red Hot & Blue artists.

Hand tattoo by Jason, aka Zig Zag, of Red Hot & Blue Tattoo.

Backpiece by Ian McAlister, Red Hot & Blue Tattoo, Edinburgh.

Sarah Schor tattoo, Red Hot & Blue Tattoo, Edinburgh.