Tattoo 42

John did a wonderful memorial piece for me today and I love it. I went to other shops and met with artists, but when I met John, he had a great casual vibe and I felt really comfortable. His skills are mad amazing!!! I couldn’t be happier, and wouldn’t go anywhere else after this experience.

I walked in, four people in back, two working and the other two may have been cleaning up shop. Got one bit of eye contact and I said hello. Although I spent ten minutes up front flipping through the artists’ portfolios, no one ever spoke or approached me. I have numerous tattoos, but they were mostly covered because it was cold and rainy. I’m also in my sixties so perhaps I wasn’t «cool» enough or they thought me a looky lou? I’ll never know, no one cared to learn. I’ll never go back. I know great artists in Portland but thought I’d support an artist in my new hometown. They probably lost a $ 400– $ 600 sale that day.

I came in over the weekend to get a complete rework of a tattoo I’ve had for years that I’ve been unhappy with. I always felt that the tattoo was unsalvageable and it made me extremely self-​conscious. Zach told me he could fix it and came up with some great ideas. He turned one of the worst tattoos I’ve ever seen into a masterpiece, and he did it all free hand. A true artist. Always professional, made me feel comfortable, reassuring, and everything you could possibly want in an artist. I would definitely recommend coming here!

I will always recommend Zach. I’ve been getting tattoos from him for about 2 years now and every time is a great experience. He has a bold, traditional style, does amazing work in both color and black/​grey. I get so many complements on his tattoos. He has became a great friend which you can’t say for a lot of tattoo artist. He always makes sure you’re comfortable and listens to exactly what you want in your tattoo. If you have a basic idea he’s always great at filling in the blanks. Some how he ends up getting your ideas exactly how you describe even without a complete picture. I always feel awesome when I leave, not only with my beautiful tattoo but the good vides from him and the shop.

I went here once before to get a Tat and luckily i got John who did an amazing job and was real reasonable with price and even hooked it up since me and hubby got matching tattoos. Well i went in today asking for him to get a new tat or at least described him because I couldn’t remember his name and the guy there said there was a guy quitting and he was the only one that was going to be in so i went ahead and continued with him instead. Well i asked for a quote and he gave me a price so i said ok lets go for it. Well i somehow i ended up having to pay double of what he quoted. This tattoo was alot more simple and straight forward than the previous tat i had done by John. Which btw ended up walking in ½ hr later. I’ll stick to one guy from now on. I like this new tat but for the price i do regret not waiting for John and being assured he wasn’t going to be in like the guy had said.

Unhappy!!! Any suggestions? The only thing I can think of is putting white ink on those two lines in question to try and faded out so the letters look like a z and an i. (even worse it is all blown out I couldn’t understand what was wrong with it when I got home but I have since learned what it is and the entire word has blow out bummed.

Kaitlyn did my microdermals and belly button and she did a proper job. She went above and beyond to make sure my experience was a great one. I highly recommend her she’s awesome:)

I recently got my 8^th piece done here. I’d been batting around what I wanted to get, with some vague direction. I ran into a girl at Fred Meyers who had some really vibrant ink and she mentioned Tattoo 42. Having driven past this place a billion times (theyre down the road from me) somehow, I just hadn’t visited. I came in one nite with some ideas, but all the tattoo artists had left, the piercer was closing up. She took the time to get my ideas, look at my pics and get a sense of what I wanted and had me look at John S’s portfolio. Immediately I saw a lot of skulls, machinery, hot rods… exactly my kinda thing. Turns out John is a gearhead and hotrodder so considering that my art would be car-​themed she steered me right.
I dropped in the next day, and even though John was tattooing another client he still took the time to get a sense of what direction I wanted to go in. He checked out a few pics I had stored in my phone I described some ideas and he seemed enthusiastic about taking it on. All the while, he’s doing work on another client… never once acted like I was interrupting or distracting him. I set up another time to come back when he’d be free (didn’t want to abuse his patience) and also sketched out a few basic concepts that evening so Id have something more direct to show.
I re-​visited the next day with a more solid direction. We went back and forth on the details as he started drawing out what I was getting at. He took my cues and put his own spin on it, and basically took the idea out of my head, tweaked it so it would work and put it to paper. Turns out there was time to go right to the needle, so the same day I got he tattoo. Between John, Rich, and Katelynn (I think that was the piercer’s name) the staff at Tattoo 42 are a down to earth, friendly bunch. True artists who take their craft seriously. I had a good time
with these guys about cars, rock music, etc the whole time too. And the ink? Looks fantastic! I tend to heal very rough with many tattoos but between John’s technique and my own learning curve on the healing process I can honestly say that now 3 days in, this ink has been the most easygoing of all my work as it heals up. Everyone who has seen my piston/​combustion chamber/​fire ghost skull tattoo has immediately said its BADASS!!! Except my mom… she’s not crazy about my other 7 and wont even LOOK at my sister’s back piece. Either way, I will absolutely be back! You just cant go wrong here.
*disclaimer*
Ive read some other reviews on here and I see a handful of negative or mediocre write-​ups. The overwhelming majority of those aren’t even complaining about the actual tattooing, but whining about someone having an ‘ego’ or being ‘mean to them’. Grow some balls! This is a tattoo shop, not a support group! Theyre here to stick needles in you and make you bleed… after the fact, that work is expected to still look good years from now. They’re here to do their job, not kiss your candy ass. If you show up with no idea of what you want, or you want professional work for cut rate prices, or some other form of unrealistic expectation then expect to get looked at like a noob. One such customer came thru while John was doing my ink. He gave a brief description of what he wanted, John quoted what I thought was a reasonable price and the guy suddenly got all mealy-​mouthed. I wouldn’t say John’s response was rude in any way, but he was definitely direct and to the point. That’s preferable to pussy foot b.s. any day of the week where I come from.

I just got my first «big» tattoo there that spans from top of shoulder to the elbow. As soon as I walked in to schedule an appointment there was nothing but a good vibe. I checked out their work first and I went along with my gut feeling and was not disappointed!
Rich was the artist who worked on me (and he truly is an artist). He really knows what he is doing!!! And I trusted him completely. I am not sure why other people with their own designs had a bad experience because mine was excellent. Rich was super respectful to the design and really made it come alive. It took 4 hours with breaks and at no point had I experienced rudeness or egos. In fact, for the talented guys (and a girl) that they are (check their flash and examples of finished work if you don’t believe me), they are all incredibly down to earth. They took a great care of me! I love this little place and I will not go anywhere else but there for my next tat. Rich, I cannot thank you enough!

If you want a tattoo done by an artist with an inflated ego this is definitely the place to go. Owner is the rudest person I’ve had to deal with and the other artists basically choose their own work to go on your skin. Other than the piercing lady who is extremely professional, Clean and very friendly. I would not recommend this place for a tattoo. Piercings definitely.

John is great… Just got my forth tattoo. From him yesterday. My favorite place to get ink around Portland.

I went in awhile ago for a tattoo and saw Rich. He was rude from the get go by greeting me with «What» as I walked through the door. I wanted a Buddha tattoo so I showed him the picture I had printed out and he said it was a crappy picture so he printed out a different one. This would’ve been fine but I didn’t get to have any say in what picture he chose. I also wanted words and he laughed at how many I had cause it would be bigger. (Mind you, the bigger the tattoo, the more money he would get.) When he typed the words on his computer he spelled the words «no matter» as one word with one t (nomater). When I told him it was spelled wrong he replied «I don’t know how many t’s are in that» in a very condescending tone. When I finally got him to put another t in the word, he still wouldn’t put it at 2 words. (Again, it would’ve been just a little bit bigger and he could’ve charged me more if he wanted.) When he printed it out and started to trace it, he traced quite a bit out of the lines. I decided I didn’t want him to do my tattoo and told him today wasn’t a good day money wise (I lied) and he said, very rudely, that I wasn’t gonna get a better deal anywhere else. Well I did. It was cheaper at Canyon Body Art, the artists are nicer, the words were spelled correctly, the art was drawn IN the lines, my picture was used and I got to pick my own font.

I had an okay experance, they kept wanting to change my tattoo andni kept refusing but somehow I came out with it bigger, than I wanted and it doesn’t look at all as I wanted. I even showed a picture but he printed out a different one. So ehh. There go 90 bucks for nothing and now I need to remove it. Not pleased with my first tattoo.
His work was solid though. Just go in and do whag YOU want not the artist.

I love this place. Rich is awesome! I just had my second tattoo by him and very pleased with his work! Everyone there is very friendly. Very relaxed atmosphere. Thanks Rich!!!

I came in and got some work done. I forgot the guys name though. He did a good job on my arm and I am not upset with the work in there. I just think that he should have not started bashing Police for the entire 2 hour session he did with me when he didn’t know that I was a cop. lol.
When after about an hour he asked me what I did for a living, At that point I had to lie and just say I did maintenance work for Multnomah County. lol.

this place sucks and is unprofessional .
I got my tongue and belly button pierced here. my taste buds got inflamed and I can no longer taste certain things my tongue is now bright red and I get weird white circles it looks like I have herpes it’s embarrassing !! The jewelry they give you sucks my belly button turned green and. Yes I take good care of my piercing I rinse my mouth each time I eat and I clean out my belly button at least 3 times with sea salt. I do not recommend coming here.

Great place and nice guys, their work is the sh*t I’ve been there for three tattoo’s and am mos def going back highly recommend them to anyone! Oh yeah john did my work.

I went in last Sunday for a tattoo of a design some of my friends back home in California and I were getting as kind of a group memento type of thing.
I called ahead to ask about artist availability and the like, and the gentleman who answered the phone was polite and cordial. I’ve been to four different tattoo shops (this one included), and half of the time they have a bit of an attitude — not so with Tattoo 42, which was refreshing!
I arrived later that day to get my tattoo started. Doug and John were friendly, casual, and made me feel very welcome to the shop. The shop itself is clean, well set up, and I felt very comfortable getting a tattoo done there. John was my artist, and he was awesome — his work is high quality and he is also very efficient. He’s also genuinely nice guy that will make you feel very comfortable, whether it is your first tattoo or you’ve lost count!
All in all, very happy with Tattoo 42. Will definitely be going back soon for more tattoos!

I know this is a tattoo shop but they need a new piercer, or a «fill in». I got my septum pierced a few months ago and the piercing fell out. ive been back several times and this girl is never there. She’s either running late, sick, at a funeral, and today she’s in San Diego for a wedding. Seriously? I know I can go anywhere else but the location is conveniently close to home. Ill stop trying to catch her at work and just go else where. It’s just frustrating how unreliable they are.

First, lol at that negative review. Why so jaded bro?
Anyway… I’m not going to try and dazzle you or sway you into making a definite decision on your tattoo shop, should you want to get some ink. Deciding on a tattoo artist is serious business, don’t go into it with haste. EDUCATE YOURSELF on your artist and their work before making a decision, AND before you make an ass of yourself on a review site. Otherwise you look like an amateur.
But if you do want some ink, and you’re in the suburbs, go to Tattoo 42. I’ve had the pleasure of sitting for many hours in Doug’s chair. And contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to sleep with anyone here to have you skin statements made. Tattoo 42 boasts a lot of talent within their shop, including a piercer who goes the extra mile to make sure you’re comfortable and educated about your aftercare.
They’re clean.
They’re concise.
They hold NO pretense.
Overall, this is a group of hard working individuals who are living their dreams and doing what they love. Go in for a consult, they love original ideas… Trust me, my roommate and I are walking billboards of originality from this shop. Tell em’ the leg lamp girls sent you. :]