Positive Message Archives - Matt Hodel Tattoo

Brewington Cemetery

Brewington Cemetery, Iron County, Missouri Have you ever wondered who was buried in those little cemeteries along the back roads of Missouri? My good friend Pat is the caretaker of a small cemetery called the Brewington cemetery. He doesn’t know when it was started but his father took care of it back in the 50s…

Why Discipline Is More Important Than Motivation

Motivation V. Disipline Motivation- the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. Disipline-the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience Now that you know the text book definition of each term, which do you think is more important? Both terms can be beneficial when…

Tattooing my Oldest Daughter

What is it like Tattooing my Daughter? When Emma was little she always wanted a tattoo. She would sit for hours and make me draw butterflies and koi fish and daisies and monsters and even food items like pancakes. I drew on her, with a marker, up and down her arms. I don’t ever remember…

The Grand Reopening of Randy Adams Studio Party.

Matt Van Cura Inherits a Legacy. Technically Matt purchased the shop from the legendary tattooist Randy Adams. Randy is the fellow with the hat on backwards in the photo above. If you got tattooed in the 80’s in Fort Worth, Randy did it. I know Randy from the covers of old 80’s Tattoo magazines. He…

The Arkansas “Little Grand Canyon”

The Ozarks has its Grand Canyon but if you head south to the Ouachitas you’ll find the Little Grand Canyon. The latter is one natural wonder you may have overlooked in Arkansas. This feature off of White Oak Lake is a peaceful spot and not to mention beautiful! Let’s go explore this underrated wonder. From…

Meditation

Benifits of Meditation: What is Meditation Good For? Some reading this may already be familiar with meditation, others not so much. I believe meditation is a practice commonly over looked or ignored. I’m sure everyone has heard of it before, maybe tried it once and gave up? But have you ever really looked into the…

Road Trip with Lady

Thursday, lady and I headed for Texas. It was the first van trip lady and I have done in the van. We have gone camping to test out the features of the van. Those early trips were mostly to see how comfortable we could get in freezing weather. We stopped in Oklahoma for the night…

Randy Adams Tattoo Shop

My buddy Matt bought the famous Randy Adams Tattoo Shop in Fort Worth. Randy is a tattoo legend going back to the 80’s. This changing of the guard is historic and I wanted to see it for myself. This is why I took the dog and church van to Texas. I’m working at the shop…

I had to do this.

I have never met Casey in my life. I joined an online community that focused on personal development. In that group I was introduced to Casey. I’m not sure how, but his energy radiated; even though all the interaction was online. I thought to myself, this dude seems pretty cool. As I am pissing and…

What Kind of Leader Do You Want to Be?

The Question Every Aspiring Leader Needs to Ask Usually I do blog reposts, but not this week. I have an obsession with TED talks and this week I encourage you to take 6 minutes of your time to watch one. This TED talk specifically encourages the listener to think of “one thing you need to…

Church Van Upgrades

van life with Matt Hodel

The Van Build 2022 The Van Build started in May 0f 2022. It was built for my duaghter Emma’s 9 week road trip. This was a down and dirty build. I know some van builds are nicer than your house but this van is built to live out of, not live in. It is made…

Cold Weather Camping.

Great Weekend It is amazing how much you can squeeze into a weekend. Above is just a few things we squeezed into the last few days. We built a platform for the tent entrance, dropped 3 trees, used the shooting range, found some caves, did a cold water bath , hiked a few miles, and …

New Ragtime Shirts!

Ragtime has New Merch! Hey Hey Hey! We are bringing back the Ragtime Flag shirts! This time we are introducing four new color combos, as well as our classic black and white! You will find sizes Small to 3XL, sizes up to XL will be athletic fit, anything higher is a 100% cotton Tee! All…

Choosing Yourself!

What is ‘Choosing Yourself’ Codependency is widly known in most relationships whether we notice or not. It finds itself everywhere from our love lives, to work days. We often forget about ourselves in the mix of things. In the article, “What is ‘Choosing Yourself'” Ellen Nguyen gives a basic layout of focusing on yourself and…

How Much do I Charge?

How much should I save for my Large Tattoo? The cost of a tattoo sleeve can vary widely depending on several factors, such as the size, design, and location of the tattoo. The experience and reputation of the tattoo artist is also a factor. Some artists are in such high demand that they can charge…

Tonk The Tattooist!

Bringing Back Tonk! If you have followed this sight over the past year, you have already met! Back in Febuary 2022 we released the Zine, “Tonk the Tattooist”, ‘the first asshole of skin scribing”. As I noticed Tonks popularity rising again I figured I’d reintroduce him to everyone. I’ve Linked our original article in the…

Memorial Tattoos

Are There Mental Health Benifits to Memorial Tattoos? Experts Say Yes Memorial Tattoos…Lets talk about em’ Whether you’re the artist or the client there are mixed opinions on memorial tattoos. Leigh Weingus focuses on therapists views, in the article ‘Are there Mental Health Benifits to Memorial Tattoos? Experts Say Yes.” The reader will find memorial…

Your Taste is on Display

Your Taste is on Display Have you ever looked at a dude and said, “What in the hell did you do to your arm? Sometimes it baffles me what people choose to openly display on their bodies. Who Am I too judge? Well here is the deal, I tattoo for a living. I study peoples…

Van Life

Get out. Love more.

Professors View on Tattooist

Behind the Needle: Professor Explores the World of Tattoo Artists This week we look at Kara Snyder and Dr. David Lane’s take on the world of tattoo artists! Dr. David Lane Dr. David Lane is an assistant professor of criminal science that grew up in the world of tattooing. Many of his peers pushed for…

Reboot My Career

Rebooting My Career I Am Not Done Yet I’m rebooting my career. I have survived 27 years in an industry that has shaken off a lot of dead weight in the last few years. Tattooists from back in the day are succumbing to age, lack of drive and feeling irrelevant. I have friends in the…

Ryan Uses a Computer

Matt teaches Ryan Computer Ryan and I want to make a YouTube channel. We both do cool stuff and have fun lives. A good friendship is rare and we have been each others yin and yang for a decade or more. We help each other quite a bit. I think the trick to have a…

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Cartoons Inspire Creativity I was born in 1975. The 1980’s world of Saturday Morning Cartoons was a small window of time from 7:30 am until noon. I cannot express enough what an escape those few hours were for me. The fantasy worlds of Smurfs and Dungeon and Dragons and He-Man were a stark contrast to…

New YouTube Channel!

Ryan and Matt TV Ryan and I have been good friends for years. We share a work space tattooing, share a garage, we have cabins next to each other and we have logged over 20k miles traveling together. It was brought to our attention that we should start filming. So here is Spring Break 2022.…

Whiskey Tattoos and No Regrets

My title is a bit misleading. No one was drinking whiskey when we did this handle of liquor tattoo today. My clients last name is McCormick and he wanted a vintage whiskey flask by the distillery with the same name. I’m not too concerned with capturing a photo realistic image of a whiskey jug. I…