1990, 27 Pages. Book Meassures 5 1/2 X 8 1/2" Inches
Bill Jones was born in Wilkes-Barre PA in the year 1898, was a Veteran of WW-I and his obituary lists him as a U.S.Army Veteran. Bill Jones could have accepted a pension for his hearing loss from the military, however he declined, one might assume that he was not inclined to accept such charity when others had paid the ultimate sacrifice.
A well known tattooist "Sailor West", wrote in a letter to "The Tattoo Historian", that in the year of 1917, Bill Jones was working with the most famous and most photographed and publicized tattoo artist at the turn of the 20th century, Pof. Charles Wagner in New York City. There, Bill Jones worked building tattoo equipment for Wagners tattoo supply business, this is where Bill Jones began his reputation as one of the best tattoo machine builders of all time. Bill Jones built the only machine with the reputation that "Its as if the color jumps into the skin", thus making the work easier for the operator and the time spent on the customer equally gratifying.
These machines demand upwards of 2500.00 today from collectors all over the world. The machines themselves are found all over the world and copied today by many distributors, supply houses and independent manufacturers.
Bill Jones was also an accomplished tattoo artist and skilled painter of tattoo designs, but preferred the area of the construction of tattoo equipment, casting machine frames from bronze and brass, wiring coils and constructing power supplies. His work was genius and legendary as, the dawn of the electromagnetic coils and the conversion of direct current and alternating current were in their budding years in the history of the United States. His creations were not just ground breaking improvements on the Edison points and coil effects in the science of electricity, but works of art in the beauty of the design and construction of the equipment.
Bill Jones worked in New York City and traversed until his move to and employ with Nicolas S. Picaro Tattoo Supplies (est. 1927) in Hartford CT., this would be in the years of 1949-50, and Bill worked building equipment for Picaro until Jones death on July 19th 1969 at the age of 70 years of age from heart failure.
To this day, all forms of William "Jonesy" Jones memorabilia are very sought after by collectors all over the globe, his combination of a kind, warm and generous human being and master machinist has never been surpassed by any other builder of tattoo equipment, it was his calling and he changed the field of the tattoo profession in such a way that it remains virtually unchanged from his creations to this day. Many, if not most, historical tattoo artists owe much of their reputation through his creations, as his machines alone were very much the Stradivarius of all machine designs.
Bill Jones has been the subject of many historical writings of the tattoo culture of the era, and much like a paintbrush that never wears out, his machines still apply art upon those who traverse the world today and most certainly for many generations to come.
May William "Jonesy" Jones Rest In Peace and his memory live on forever". -Submitted by James "Hawk" Hawk of Hawks Tattoos est.1979
Lyle Gilbert Tuttle (October 7, 1931 – March 26, 2019) was an American tattoo artist and historian of the medium, who had been tattooing since 1949. He tattooed Janis Joplin, Cher, Jo Baker, Paul Stanley, Jeff Scranton, and many other American musicians, actors, and celebrities.
Early life
Tuttle was born in Chariton, Iowa on October 7, 1931 and grew up in Ukiah, California. He described his parents as "conservative Iowa farmers, living in California, but they really allowed me to have my own head." At the age of fourteen on a trip to San Francisco, he purchased his first tattoo for $3.50 (equivalent to $60 today) of a heart with the word “Mother” after seeing it on the shop wall.
Career
In 1949, he began tattooing professionally. In 1954 he opened his own studio in San Francisco; this first shop was open for 35 years. Tuttle tattooed Janis Joplin, Cher, Jo Baker, the Allman Brothers, Peter Fonda, and Paul Stanley, among others.
He did work on all seven continents, was tattooed on six continents, and never knowingly tattooed a minor. His fame within the U.S. tattoo world was somewhat controversial, as many tattooists of his day disliked his statements to the press and "shameless self-promotion". When Tuttle was on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in October 1970, Sailor Jerry put the picture inside his toilet.
Tuttle taught seminars in "Tattoo machine maintenance and machine building" at tattoo conventions throughout the United States. When asked what made tattooing gain in popularity during his early career, he responded:
"Womens liberation! One hundred percent womens liberation! That put tattooing back on the map. With women getting a new found freedom, they could get tattooed if they so desired. It increased and opened the market by 50% of the population–half of the human race! For three years, I tattooed almost nothing but women. Most women got tattooed for the entertainment value ... circus side show attractions and so forth. Self-made freaks, that sort of stuff. The women made tattooing a softer and kinder art form."
His first shop when working for Bert Grimm was at 16 Cedar Way, Long Beach, California on "The Pike". After tattooing in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska and California, Tuttle opened up shop in 1960 at 30 7th St., in between Mission and Market Streets, also referred to as South of Market, San Francisco. Tuttle worked for 29 and a half years, until the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused the building to be yellow tagged. The shop reopened soon after at 841 Columbus Street and operated as a studio and museum for a time.
Retirement and tattooing in Antarctica
He officially retired in 1990 but would often appear at tattoo conventions around the world and occasionally tattoo his signature on a friend or acquaintance.
On January 21, 2014, Tuttle became the first person to tattoo on all seven continents, once setting up an impromptu tattoo station in a scientists guesthouse at the Russian Bellingshausen Station where he inked his signature tattoo, his autograph, on project assistant/tattoo historian Anna Felicity Friedman. A long-standing “bucket list” item of his, this accomplishment fulfilled a personal mission. He said of the endeavor: “Because I was lucky to have the greatest time slot that any tattoo artist ever had in tattooing, it wound up that I had tattooed on six continents. So I had an opportunity to tattoo on seven continents. Well, I’m not out to break any records but why not do it? It’s there!".- Wikipedia
