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The 4th Annual Redding ink Tattoo and Piercing Convention, held on the weekend of September 19th, met and exceeded all expectations. Nestled in the heart of Hella Far Northern California, Redding played host to what has now become a great big party of a weekend. “This was only my 3rd year doing this,” said event promoter Billy York. “And this was our second year in the convention center. We learned a lot last year and made some necessary changes.” The layout to the Convention Center was radically altered from last year and local marketing efforts produced a dramatic improvement for everybody involved. “I made it a goal that all vendors and artists leave happy. And I can honestly say each one left very happy and wanting to return next year.”
Many tattoo contest awards spread out over each day were up for grabs. Wonderful artwork was produced and photos can be seen in these pages and soon on reddingink.com, which has a list of all attending vendors. For the first time, massage therapists were on hand the entire weekend to provide massage therapy to all attending artists free of charge. This year’s Art Fusion projects were as impressive as last year’s and everyone appreciated the original artwork which was created in front of their eyes. For these projects, 4 artists rotated to 4 different canvases and were given about an hour to create 4 original pieces. The pieces were auctioned off to raise donations for local charities that benefited tremendously.
On Saturday, reggae band Dubwize cruised through a couple sets as they performed for Redding Ink for the 2nd year in a row. Legendary punk rock band, Channel 3 had everybody cheering for more. Redding Ink typically holds its suspension performances on Sunday and on this particular year, hundreds flocked to see what was arguably the most dramatic performance to be viewed by the general public. For the first time ever, Constructs of Ritual Evolution (CoRE) was enlisted to put on a show. And put on a show they did. Utilizing the entire convention center, their finale ended with howling applause.
Tebori hand-tattooing by Horisuzu and scarification by Kustom Cuts returned again this year to complement the tattooing. Quality piercings were performed by Pat Tidwell. Many of the attending artists are known on an international level. Belly Dancers were playing with fire and dj’s spun the most appropriate tuneage. The after-parties were, as the kids say, off the hook. Redding Ink has proven it is going to get better every year.
