February 2025 - Tattoos old and new, and some studio shots.

 

Hi, Welcome to my blog.  If you're new here, my name is Bram, and I'm a tattooer based in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.  I specialize in Traditional black and grey tattoos.  You can find me at my studio, Ritual Winnipeg, 420 - 70 Arthur Street, Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5pm.

Here are some tattoos of mine I made or saw across the last couple weeks:

Healed swallow and wild rose tattoos, part of a large collection of work by me across the last six years or so.

Big custom chest tattoo of deer antlers.

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Tattoo, recently healed.

Black Capped Chickadee on a pine bough tattoo, a couple years healed.

Rose and butterflies forearm tattoo, four years healed or so.

Cherry Blossom tattoo. 

A healed Parrot tattoo.  I held onto a big book for years just waiting for someone to ask for a parrot tattoo 'casue this drawing was in it.   I'm glad i held onto it!

A fresh tattoo of Bunchberries.  I'm so glad to have these in my repretoire.  Bunchberries are the low growing plants you see along hiking paths with either these four petaled flowers surrounded by six-fold leaves, or they've got red berries instead of the flowers.

Big Custom Eel chest tattoo.  It's nice to have been around long enough to have clients like this that I tattooed ten years ago come back and get a big amazing tattoo like this all these years later.

"The Thinning of the veils" Flash piece.

The Peony, Bee, and these Cherry Blossom Tattoos are on a wonderful new client of mine, Bless your soul Rob!

If you'd like to come get tattooed, or bounce an idea off me, shoot me an email at bram_adey@hotmail.com

I'm always taking new clients and my books are always open, I'm happy to do all sorts of black and grey tattoos.

It always starts like this:  nut butter and honey toast and a coffee, 5am.

Then it gets messy!

I love doing custom work, plants/animals/objects of all types, flames/water/clouds

A custom orchid design.

And I have tons of available designs, if you look back in my posts you'll find one called "Available Designs" and it'll have tons of designs and design ideas for your perusal.

Some flash designs of wolves.

I own a studio called Ritual Winnipeg, you can find me there Tuesday-Friday

We're in this lovely building in Winnipeg's historic Exchange District.

My Apprentice Myes's artwork.

My Current Flash wall.

We've got all the creature comforts!

All around it's pretty lovely.

There are six of us at the studio these days, we're all mostly on instagram, check us out at @ritual_winnipeg

@zefvun 

@ladymyes

@boreal.cowboy_

@bramadey

@doxthrasher

@alyssamayart

Thanks so much for taking the time to check out the blog!

-Bram

Late January - 2025 - Tattoos, Studio and Winnipeg Winter Streets

Hi, welcome back to the blog.  I'm going to keep with the format I've been using for the last few posts, tattoos, studio, then street stuff to finish it off.

This heron tattoo is a few years healed now, four or five I recon.

On that same client we did this set of knuckle tattoos a while back as well. Looking back, this is such an iconic set for someone from these parts; Cattail, Wheat, Feather, Pine tree.

Then I did this full set of knuckle tattoos on a new client.  We reworked an old, pretty busted piece they already had, then put on the full set.  Some of the notable symbols include the "ma" and "pa" syllables that resemble a stylized hammer and butterfly, A table, meant to invite prosperity "that you will always have to eat". a seed, and a sun, that could also symbolize many other things including the inner and outer lives, or a woman bearing child.

details

This one is quite dark, please do click on the image to expand it to see the details.

A recently healed elbow.  Peonies.

Some wild roses from my book of available designs.

I'm proud to have freehanded this snake tattoo on an old client.

I have tattooed this client many times, this lettering might have been the first time, the rabbit head is more recent, a couple years ago or so I recon.

And another healed one, a snake from some years back.

The only way.

Ten years ago or so, I was spending a bunch of time researching signs and symbols, early languages and pictographs.  I put together a big set of them, and made a 'zine.  Unfortunately, I was really struggling with chemical dependencies at the time, and the zine came out completely incomprehensable.  Finally, I am feeling well enough and have started the work of revisiting and expanding the set.  Here is a little preview:

These and many others are available to be viewed and adapted to tattoos at the studio.  You can stop in and see the work Monday-Friday, 10-5 at Ritual Winnipeg: 420 - 70 Arthur street.

I made this design in 2020 or so, and it has been a really successfull one, I've tattooed it many times.  It is meant to represent abundace, and to bless the wearer with divine protection, that they may never want for water.  I'm posting it now because I just gave the design a once-over, based on the lessons learned tattooing it the first few times.

If you'd like to be tattooed, please email me at bram_adey@hotmail.com 

And if you'd like to come see the studio I work at, you can visit Monday-Friday, 10-5, though I am only there Tuesday-Friday.  The Studio is:

Ritual Winnipeg

420 - 70 Arthur Street

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Canada

Here are a few images from around the studio

I've repaired these so many times...

By Lady Myes

By Alyssa May

By the Boreal Cowboy

By J.R. Harper

I'll never not photograph these cranes by DoxThrasher

On friday evenings, I say goodnight to the studio.

I've been walking to and from work lately, it was a tough sell, I don't generally like walking, but with this new camera of mine, I'm inspired to shoot the way I've always wanted to.

Like all skateboarders, I love seeing evidence of skateboarding, this waxed up parking curb near my house reminds me that even though kids have these phones in their pockets, they're still driven to go out and create the world that suits them.  

My first foray into street skateboarding happened when I was twelve or so, I took my board over to the Snak Shak near my house, where they had parking blocks, and I didn't know much about skateboarding, but I knew i wanted to go over it, and that it was possible, so I just rocked up on that curb under the streetlights night after night, and eventually figured it out.  

Now that I'm writing this, I wonder how much that experience of being under the streetlights informed my entire aesthetic.

Kenneth Lavallee's "The Square Dancers" 

Out with the old:

These Ave II's were cool, I liked them.  It took a while to get used to the cup sole, and the toe seam was super uncomfortable, but once they got broken in and I got used to the narrow sole, they were sick.  They're all mesh all over, and that did make them way more comfortable sweaty-foot-wise than sk8-hi's. 

In with the new!

But ultimately, I like the sk8-hi's best, they just are really durable, and the vulc-sole is really wide and stable.  I really recommend cutting in the lace protectors, I just nick the stitches between the suede and the canvas liner and run the laces through the canvas and under the suede, then super glue the remaining stitches.

Another thing I'll never-not photograph!

I was finally out with the 105mm f2.5 lens and shot these great shoes that have been hanging in the hood for a while.

Casualties of snow removal are always interesting to me.  The streets can get to looking pretty rugged during a big snow year.

I forced myself to block off a day last week to visit my Alma-Matter and make use of my library card.  The symbols project I was mentioning earlier was mainly made up of material I found in the various libraries at the University of Manitoba.

The Familiar doors of the Architecture building where the Fine-Arts/Architecture library is found.

Legend

I stopped in and walked around the new Fine-Arts building and found this little gem... So good.

This photo is worth looking at large.

Thank you so much for stopping and checking out the blog, I hope you enjoyed it.

-Bram