Anyway, this is another cover up work done by Dimas Praja in July. The client himself is one of our coming-back clients, especially in covering up, lol. Well, he got his first tattoo touched up by Dimas, too. Since then he showed up few times to get more works done, but he always choose the design few hours before he showed up at CarpeDiem TattooStudio. We have carefully told him something we all should know about tattoos – that it lasts forever – and he has to choose carefully, both the design and the tattooist. He worked well in some sittings with Dimas, but apparently his ‘primal urge’ to get tattooed every time he see something cool to get inked is stronger than what he should remember about being a bit picky.

The client spent his summer holiday back in his hometown and came over a ‘reputable’ tattoo shop in town. This time, he got a pair of…broken wings.

the wings were asymmetrical, with faded-everything: faded lines, faded shadings.

The client’s girlfriend said that he can’t asleep for almost three days after the tattoo healed, then decided to fly straight back to Jogjakarta to pay us a visit. The picture above shown Dimas’ sketch effort to fix the tattoo.

Then there it went, this was done in July. He then added another collection around August:

Around October, he showed up again with his brother – this time, it’s his brother who wants to get tattooed. But he also sported his half-sleeve which he ‘regret’, now it’s a half-sleeve done in dark grey and black, so there’s nothing can be done about that. hmm… don’t we all should learn something from this kind of thing?

"Darah Juang" tattoo

This tattoo were made a year ago, but its meaning is memorable (and that’s why it’s worthy to get a tattoo of this). It’s a lyric of “Darah Juang”, a hymn composed by John Tobing, and written by Dadang Juliantara and Budiman Sujatmiko. The hymn is a reflection of the social condition in Indonesia at the time (in the New Order era, which might prolongs until today). The song was first sang in The 1st FKMY Congress in 1991, and until today, most Indonesian activists know this song well and it’s a hymn on every social demonstration/protest occasion; expressing the spirit of social-awareness in Indonesia.

more info about this song here.

The Lion of Judah, done by Dimas Praja on Marthin Lumingkewas

The Hebrew lettering below the lion is ”yehochanan”, which means god’s grace or god’s favor (god’s supplication)

After this was finished on his right arm, he wanted to add another lettering on his left arm as a pair for “yehochanan”. The other one is in Latin.

Semper Fidelis, the Latin for "Always Faithful", often shortened to 'Semper Fi'

CarpeDiem TattooStudio's official t-shirt...its for sale, n more details are coming soon!

stroberiHITAM was there too! check her stuff at her etsy shop!

this is our booth on Venue B...do you know what's read on the front banner?

it reads 'Beer Here!' but absolutely, not for under-ages!

Haba symbol tattoo, done by Lois. On the first day, Lois joined the pack who tattooed 'Haba' (the symbol of Jogjakarta palace) for free to 10 people. Lois tattooed Joanna, a member of Gadjah Mada University's marching band.

Lois and Joan

On the second day, Dimas Praja joined the tattoo war in color category. He tattooed a Javanese dragon head on Rori's right chest

Sadly the tattooing must done under the hot sun T_T

the dragon head by Dimas Praja, done in 4hours

the beautiful afternoon. On the right are Ari and Jophine, our friends from Jakarta..and on the far left is Widiana Widie. Widie just got a nice big-piece from Dimas Praja, we will tell a story about the project after this post

Too much things happened at the festival. Sure thing is, we meet old and new friends, all skins beautified with ink! You can see more pictures on our facebook fan page here. Thanks!

There will be three tattoo events before Ramadan, and the nearest date is July 1-2, Festival Tattoo Istimewa 2011 Yogyakarta. Everyone seems wanting to have new tattoos to be shown off at the event, so now both Dimas and Lois is pretty busy with appointments and walk-ins; while also designing some merchandise too! Yeah, we will have T-shirts and some sketchbooks in the shop

CarpeDiem TattooStudio will be on booth 2, Venue B; joining with stroberiHITAM and her freaky friends

we'll be at booth 2, Venue B

On Day 1 (July 1, 2011), Lois will be participating in Keraton logo tattoo performance with 9 other tattooists; while on Day 2 (July 2, 2011) Dimas will join the tattoo war in color category with 35 other tattooists (!!). The tattoo studio vendors are coming from various cities in Indonesia, so it will be a crowded weekend! Anyone who interested in joining the tattoo contest on the 2nd day is able to register your name at our studio in Jl Janti Baru no 18, Jogjakarta. The fee is IDR 25.000 for one tattoo and person; and this includes one day entry ticket for the event. Call or text us in +62274-9198282 for further info. The tattoo contest is open for anyone with any citizenship See ya around!

Luke 19:10 ("...For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”), done by Lois

After this tattoo was finished, he showed his other tattoo on his right arm. It’s a cross with a kinda bad 3D perspective and he wanted it covered up. Dimas then did the sketch to start the cover-up, turning it into a black lotus with skull.

the cross which wanted to be covered up, and the preliminary sketch by Dimas Praja

the final result of the cover up: a black lotus with skull, done by Dimas Praja

so on the same day, Adip got two fresh tattoos, done by both tattooists we have at CarpeDiem TattooStudio. Hope to see him soon again!

custom Frangipani design for Sina; Dimas Praja as a guest-artist at Eka Waves tattoo, Bali; April 2011

custom Frangipani design for Lea, Sina's sister; Dimas Praja as a guest-artist at Eka Waves tattoo, Bali; April 2011

Balinese scripture: Love, Peace and Wealth; Dimas Praja as a guest-artist at Eka Waves tattoo, Bali; April 2011

Ernest's feet tattoo pair, Dimas Praja as a guest-artist at Eka Waves tattoo, Bali April 2011

More works are going to be captured For you guys who in Bali n want to get tattoos from Dimas, just hit him at 08122722843.

CarpeDiem TattooStudio in Jl Janti Baru no 18, Jogjakarta is still open while Dimas is away to one month ahead. Lois is now working fulltime too for tattooing. Walk-ins are accepted, but we still recommends design consulting cuz it’s free, n custom tattoo works are always fun thing to do! see ya around!

For your information, our master tattooist, Dimas Praja, is on the road again. He was in Bandung to tattoo in Fourspeed Metalwerks, and currently he is in Bali. Hit him up on 0812 2722843 for tattoo appointments

This is one of his recent works in Bandung, where he tattoo an epic tale, Ramayana, on one of Fourspeed Metalwerks family, Eros. The tale Ramayana itself is  a Sanskrit epic, actually, which forms an important part of the Hindu canons (for a brief description of the tale, check this out). Since Hindu was one of the early religions/believe in Indonesia, Ramayana has its Javanese version.

This is Rama,  hero of the tale. Portrayed as the seventh avatar of the God Vishnu, he is the eldest and favorite son of the King of Ayodhya, Destarata, and his wife Kausalya. He is portrayed as the epitome of virtue. Destarata is forced by Kekayi, one of his wives, to command Rama to relinquish his right to the throne for fourteen years and go into exile.

This is Shinta, the beloved wife of Rama and the daughter of king Janaka. She is the avatar of Goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu. Sita is portrayed as the epitome of female purity and virtue. She follows her husband into exile and is abducted by Ravana. She is imprisoned on the island of Alengka until Rama rescues her by defeating the demon king Rahwana.

This is Hanoman (Anuman), a vanara belonging to the kingdom of Kishkindha (Kiskenda). He is portrayed as the eleventh avatar of God Shiva (He is also called Rudra) and an ideal bhaktaof Rama. He is born as the son of Kesari, a vanara king, and the Goddess Anjani. He plays an important part in locating Shinta and in the ensuing battle.

This is Rahwana, a giant (raksasa), the king of Alengka. After performing severe penance for ten thousand years he received a boon from the creator-God Brahma: he could henceforth not be killed by Gods, demons, or spirits. He is portrayed as a powerful demon king who disturbs the penances of Rishis. Vishnu incarnates as the human Rama to defeat him, thus circumventing the boon given by Brahma.

Here’s some peeks for the overall look

The custom tattoo work itself is inspired from wayang golek – a Sundanese wayang (puppets), one of the so many traditional puppet show in Indonesia. This was done in two sessions n also a fun work to do!

Around 20 tattoo studios from all over Java island gathered in Dafam Hotel, Semarang for this event held by STAR (Semarang Tattoo Artists). CarpeDiem TattooFamily were roadtripping again! Rory was coming along, wanted to join the tattoo contest; and Rio/Koplo from Rejeki Tattoo and his partner, Fredy, too. Rio’s home is in Banyumanik, it’s about 30minutes from the venue, so we stayed there. His family is super nice! Thanks a lot for his parents and twin brothers for letting us stayed for 2 nights there

First day – Feb 26, 2011

The first day, Feb 26, was quite quiet. The first show was the pairs of canine fitting on Hendro Dewisurah; then our beloved host, Mr. Freddy Mock, collaborated with Hendro, tattooed Putche’s back. Some tattooists friends were tattooing their customers, while some others prepared for the tattoo war on the next day, or still hanging out and say hi to each other. This event is only a day after Magic Ink’s tattoo event (Magic Wave’s anniversary) in Bali, so obviously there were lotsa chit-chats about the event here and there

the pairs of canine fitting

Hendro Dewisurah (left) and Freddy Mock (right), tattooing Putche

the collaboration result...Freddy Mock's (left) and Hendro's (right)

lunch time! Soto Lamongan

Dimas Praja studying foo-dog for Rory's upcoming tattoo

Lois and Rory. Sketching everywhere

Then around 7.30 PM, the extreme tattoo performance begun. Every booth sent one of their tattooists to tattoo one model. The main imagery is a star, to represent STAR (Semarang Tattoo Artists). With various tattooists, there would be various style of stars. If there were 20 booths, there would be 20 tattooists at once, but since some tattooists were still tattooing on their booths, not everyone participated. But with 12 tattooists, it’s still a gangbang

Extreme Tattoo Performance

Lois represented CarpeDiem TattooStudio

Lois' star for Wawan, the model

Friends were everywhere, old and new. Ucha, the president of Indonesian Sub Culture (ISC) sang Soldier of Fortune for the rest of us who still stayed in venue after the first day’s over.

friends everywhere

Indonesian Sub Culture's Soldier of Fortune

Second day – Feb 27, 2011

It was the day for Tattoo War and Tattoo Contests. From the start of the event, everyone’s busy preparing designs for the tattoo war.

Dimas Praja preparing the design

few minutes to the tattoo war, guys!

Dimas Praja was doing a dragon-koi tattoo on Fredy Nurdiansyah’s leg. Five hours in fact is not enough to finish the tattoo perfectly, but shortly Dimas Praja won the second place (runner up) for the Oriental category. Congratulations, Dimas!

Dimas Praja working on the dragon-koi

the dragon-koi, still half-way to go, 2nd place at best oriental category

congratulations!

The trophies....and yaaayyyy CarpeDiem got one!

There were tattoo contests too. One of the contests was Queen of Tattoo, for a lady who has the best back piece tattoo. And the Queen is Mrs. Mock! She’s a beautiful, charming lady, and she deserves to be a queen

the Queen of Tattoo

Lois with Mr. and Mrs. Freddy Mock. They're the sweetest couple in every tattoo show

Dimas and Mr. Freddy Mock

Tattooists who participated on the tattoo extreme performance

So, after every trophy and certificate went to the owners, the event finished. That’s wrap! And then it’s time to relax a bit and had some fun!

in front of Dafam Hotel, the venue

in Tugu Muda park, Semarang

We planned to have the after party in Lawang Sewu. Lol. For anyone who don’t know what place it is, it’s one of the scariest old buildings in Java island (or Indonesia, maybe?). We arrived there at 10PM, but the guard said the gate won’t open for visitors til 1AM (duh!) so we decided to wait til 1AM inTugu Muda park, across Lawang Sewu.

It’s fun to meet old friends, and finding new friends! Equal in passion of art, and having the equal pride in tattooing! See you in the next event!

PS. We picked random pictures from our own collection (CarpeDiem TattooStudio), Mock Tato, and Cindy Bond dJAP. There are tons more pictures on their facebook account.. Thank you!

the dragon-koi freehand sketch

Dimas Praja on tattoo war

still working on it!

The tattoo war will last for 5 hours. It’s been going in about an hour an a half… The categories of the tattoo war are Oriental tattoos, Old school tattoos, Realism tattoos and Tribal tattoos, with about 20 tattooists participating.

And how is the event?

With a simple sentence: it’s so fun to hear tattoo machines buzzing all day long!