Parting is such sweet sorrow... Shakespeare

August Moon finally took off at the end of September from Delaware back to Florida. His game plan for now is a bit of a mystery but it will be either he stays in Florida or plans on returning to Delaware in the winter or spring to set up shop here once again. I am hoping for the later because this gal loves his work, his smart ass way of doing things HIS way, his humanity and not pretending to be something he is not. What you see is what you get. M.I. greatly respects independent and creative folks like that. Makes the world a much more interesting and fun place to be.

Naturally I had to have one more piece from August before he left. (No not a piece of that..... talking about INK! Get your filthy minds out of the gutter....we only talked briefly about ball gags one time...OK maybe swapped some restraining techniques, but that was it!) My birthday was at the end of September and my beloved hubby was gracious enough to give me some new ink for this blessed occasion.

I wanted ravens, bad. I have Native American roots as well and Irish and Scottish. Ravens are my Native American Totem or like an astrological symbol which is very similar to my Libra sign. And it also represents freedom in the Celtic world. But I didn't know how I wanted to represent the raven. I went on a search for ravens and ideas on the web. It was a bit tough, as it is hard to get a lot of detail or a desired pose with something that unless stuffed and mounted constantly moves, flies and is completely black. Then I came across this picture above. I immediately loved the concept of the birds escaping the cage and their more abstract look. I sent it over to August and told him to see what he could do with it, but to ditch the bitch and explained to him the significance of all the symbolism it represented for me. This recent event and post on my blog explains some of it, if you are interested. How ironic it would all come up so harshly less than a month after receiving my ravens. And believe me, looking in the mirror at my ravens over the past few weeks has been helpful to me, healing...a reminder of how far I have come and the strength I still have in me.

Needless to say my master of pain delivered as promised. He replaced the girl with just a few small links of chain that was broken, indicating this was a message of freedom. And he went with the abstract birds except for the large one on the bottom that had more detail to it.

When I arrived he had all of the elements drawn up. He cut out each bird and we began (should I say he did cause I get spanked if I question his judgement!!!) :) He carefully placed each bird until it was "just right." And damn if he didn't get it just right. This was my largest commitment to skin I have made yet and he did an incredible job!

So here it is, the ravens for the raven haired one. I cannot begin to tell you how many compliments I have had bestowed upon me thus far. I have no problem in sporting a spaghetti string tank top whenever possible to show off the treasures on my back with pride.

I already mentioned the chain, which August threw in because he "gets" me. The abstract birds escaping one at time represents the many different oppressions in my life and that to free yourself you never get out in one whole piece, but in stages as we are much more complex than one bird, but many. Such as the common analogy of an onion with many layers. You cannot get to the next until you peel away the first and so on.

I should be hearing from August soon with his new location and adventures (trust me, everything with August is an adventure.) When I hear from him, I'll post the news. I just hope the move back went well and that things are starting to settle for him. It is never easy to move, especially with the way the world and economy is right now.

The plan is eventually to have August's wife to start feeding me information and desires for this blog and help to maintain it or whatever it is they want for me to do. It is my pleasure to do so. It is strange how you develop a bond with someone who permanently alters your body for life. He and his wife are very lovely and unique individuals who I do hope to work with personally again and not just through the Internet.

And Gus...I really do hope we see you back up here. I am addicted, and you are to blame. How can one settle for less now??

Meet the Web Mistress, M.I. (A very satisfied customer)

Welcome to August Moon's new home on the net! I am Malicious Intent and will be serving as the Web Mistress or Goddess (pick yer poison) to the talented and colorful August Moon.

This blog is about August Moon, but I am sure you are going to be meeting some of his friends and clients (in some cases both.) This will be a place for him to share his thoughts, his art work, and his location, as he is somewhat of a traveling salesman or gypsy of sorts right now. I thought I would take a few moments to introduce myself and share the dreadfully boring story of how we met and how I ended up here, managing a blog for him and show off my new prized piece of artwork from August.

So, 38, re-married, mother of 2 boys (10 and 15) the eldest having severe autism. The autism part gives you a rather wicked sick and twisted sense of humor. Also makes you tough as nails. You sink or swim in this business of "disability" and I am not known for my wall flower skills.


I started to get ink when I was 36. I figured I was grown up enough to decide if I should make permanent marks on my body by then. Besides, the two pregnancies of giving birth to two gorillas already did the damage. I find it rather amusing when folks say, "Ain't you afraid of what yer tattoos are gonna look like when you are 80 years old?" SHIT! Do you honestly think I am going to give a cows crap what my body looks like when I am 80 years old? I will be amazed if I lived that long! Honestly, folks are so hooked on what is on the outside and not what is on the inside.

I am a graphic designer, and as my hands gave out years ago and I found the joys of computer graphics. I especially love to take photos and mutate them into something completely different. Photos are merely a canvas of color for me to play with. With that being said, I love art of all kinds. I especially love the surrealists, the rule breakers, the rebels. I like different and unique art and individuals such as August Moon fit right into my idea of "normal." (Whatever the hell normal is.)

So me and the family packed it up and headed to the beach for the 4th of July holiday weekend just like 300,000 other folks. We stay at my in-laws so we have a lot of freedom and move around more like locals than tourists on vacation. I read in the local paper about a new tattoo shop that opened up just down the street called Bewitched. Nice! I thought I would take a few minutes of time for myself (I know, I am a horrible mommy for doing that) and ask about a dragon fly on my foot that had faded and needed some sprucing up.

The owner John Minka was busy inflicting pain, er I mean art on another client when I walked in, but in the back was a unique looking gentleman who seemed available. Bright green crocs, an equally bright green Hawaiian shirt, hat, long white hair and beard and glasses loaded with rhinestones (which I secretly coveted.) I have a saying "If it sparkles, it is good."

Anyway, I started to talk to him about my foot. He advises me to go back to the original artist and gives advise on how to fix the issue. Well, I gotta tell ya. I liked the guy, he was easy to chat with and very interesting, and for some strange reason, I really wanted to get some work done buy this Moon man. I ran back to my in-laws, went to my site, printed out a photo of my original and first tat and doodled a few ideas I had been thinking about for some time. As I said, it was my first, so it was a bit conservative as I was new at making my own skin a canvas for art. Being a graphic designer I am use to handing in "ready art", so I work up the art and just hand it to the tattooist expecting him/her to produce as shown. (I know, major control issues....therapy takes forever!) Each part of my butterfly meant something to me, so I didn't want to loose those elements, but I definitely wanted to spruce it up. I really felt like I could just let this guy go nuts and do his thing and I trusted him. Believe me, that is not something that happens every day in my world.

I told him what I liked, he drew right on me. The first one didn't fly,but the second one did. It was just a matter of talking it out and him getting to know what I wanted. "Swirls, stars, color, I love the word Imagine, yeah I like water too!" Doesn't sound like something you could put together and make much sense of. So I sat in his
chair, pulled up my hair and let him do his thing, his way. I didn't look to much while he worked on me. I had a sense of peace and calm and my gut was telling me this was going to work out just fine. It was also telling me I was hungry but the bitter sweet pain of of getting tattooed subsided that for a while. After the first 5 or 10 minutes, this little freak actually likes the feeling of getting inked. I think folks just get themselves all psyched up about it and make it bigger than what it really is. An old saying is "The anticipation is usually greater than the event." and "Pain in inevitable, Misery is optional." I love quotes, in case you have not gathered that by now.

So this is the finished product. I stood up, looked in the mirror and I am pretty sure my jaw hit the floor. (Really sorry about drooling on your table dude.) Wow! I mean WOW!

So I go home, glowing. I post my photos and immediately start having folks asking me if they can see more of his work on-line and where do they go to see it. Gee, I don't know! I start looking around myself and he was a bit of a trick to find. Finally I give in and just call him. After a conversation or two this blog is born. So here it is and hopefully this will prove to be a nice home for August and his clients to talk, share, show and brag about the wonderful and often misunderstood world of tattoos.

Be sure to visit August Moon and shop owner of Bewitched Tattoos John Minka in Rehoboth.
19478 Coastal Highway (Route 1), Shoppes of Camelot, Rehoboth, DE 19971 (302) 260-9751

Thanks August!

An Introduction

Aricle from Prick Magazine - 2003
AUGUST MOON the boldly clad gentleman
by Joy Treacy

I first met August Moon at the 2001 Meadowlands Tattoo Convention. We were at the hotel bar when this gentleman walked past us, almost glowing, wearing a bright mustard hat and suit. This boldly clad gentleman was August Moon. He wore a solid 14 karat gold tattoo machine necklace, that he himself designed.

Charismatic and a delight to talk to, I sat down with August recently and got to know him a little better. August started out in the tattoo business in 1993, working with Philadelphia Eddie. With his artistic background, he picked up the skill quickly and in 1995, he decided to branch out on his own, opening his own shop in Delaware. He has since expanded to a larger studio, one of the largest I have ever seen. In addition to being a well-respected artist in the tattoo community, he is also a very revered businessman.

The respect that he has gained does not come undeserved. His good business sense and participation in helping with the new rules and regulations that govern the tattoo business, have helped establish legitimacy of the industry as a whole. He has worked with the health department and shed new light on current tattoo practices and safeguards in the industry. He credits Cliff Raven and Ed Hardy for taking the first steps to get the tattoo business out of the basement and give it a better image. "The business is more about the art and not just about being a freak," says August. He attributes the success of the tattoo business in the last 10 years to the the collaborative efforts of the community as a whole.