Interview with Ella Bell, tattoo artist.
28 January 2021 • ella bell, interview, tattoo, tattoos
I am so delighted to have had the opportunity to chat (virtually) with my beautiful friend and favourite tattoo artist, Ella Bell. This queen has been a huge inspiration to me for a good few years now, after I stumbled across her Instagram page back in 2016 (I think??) and fell madly in love with her style and ink work. Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to have her ink me up a good few times, and each piece she’s designed for me has been perfect. Seriously, for those of you who want to get inked someday, I cannot tell you how important it is to find an artist you truly love, and have so much confidence and trust in that you can just email with a vague idea and rough measurements, then leave them to work their magic.
Anyway, let's get to the questions...
My darling Ella! You may just be one of the most beautiful artists, ever. When did you discover your creative spirit?
Hi Grace my angel! Thank you so much, I love you. Thank you for being such a fantastic client and friend! So I can’t really remember a moment of discovery as such, it was always just there, a familiar and integral part of who I am. I always loved making things as a child, and that creative spirit has only grown as I have. As I got older the spirit got a bit more drive and I really, really wanted to pursue my creativity more seriously, which is what led me into looking for a creative job. Making something you love into “work” has its own challenges, but being able to be absorbed in creativity is what my spirit needs, and I’m very grateful to be able to pursue it.
Photo by Erin Veness, tattoo by Ella.
How did you get into tattooing? I hear it's a pretty tricky industry to find your feet in!
God yeah, I always felt like the doors were sealed shut and I literally didn’t know how anyone ever did it, it felt like such a distant dream. For a few years before I got my apprenticeship I spent as much time as I could getting tattooed, which made me realise how much I loved tattoos for a start, and also gave me lots of valuable one on one time with tattoo artists. If they were happy for me to ask questions whilst I was getting tattooed, I did, and I ended up learning a lot about the industry and about how they themselves got into tattooing - I heard lots of stories and gained really valuable insights that helped me to build up a pathway in my mind of how I might be able to do it too. I then spent about another year working on my portfolio, improving my drawing and painting; and finally I began researching all the tattoo studios and tattooists that were in my area, to see where I could go first and ask about an apprenticeship. I was living in Plymouth at the time, and the tattoo studio Attica was my first choice. I took my portfolio in very nervously - they asked me to improve on a few aspects of my work and come back in a month or so, which I did, and luckily after that they took me on. I felt very lucky to get an apprenticeship at a studio I had chosen. I predominantly learnt under Steve McKenzie, but Martin Tay and Paige Spurdle who were also tattooing there at the time inspired and taught me a lot too, and I’m very grateful to all those guys for their support at the start of my career.
If you *had* to pick... what kind of tatt is your favourite to do?
Oh man I don’t think I can choose! I absolutely love tattooing ornamental and botanical work in equal measure. Some days I feel like doing one more than the other, but I love them both so much for different reasons. Ornamental work is more stressful to do because of the emphasis on symmetry, there really isn’t much room to fuck up, but the finished piece is always so beautiful, it has such a high reward factor for me, and I just love how timeless and gorgeous it is. On the other hand, tattooing plants and flowers feels really organic and fluid to me, and I love making those pieces flow with the body. Nature is always my first source of inspiration and tattooing natural imagery feels like making a homage to it every time.
You travel around a lot, to different studios (y'know, in a normal year). Do you have a favourite place? Is there anywhere else you wanna go?
I miss guest spots so, so much. I just love it, I love going to different studios and meeting different artists, and being able to work and travel is amazing. It always makes me so anxious but I manage to get through it somehow! I love returning to places, it’s like getting to know someone - Edinburgh, London, Brighton and Amsterdam will always be some of my favourite places to guest. In future I would absolutely love to tattoo in Germany, and closer to home I’d really like to return to my dear friend Meg Langdale in Leicester - she’s opened her own studio now, and I can’t wait to visit.
Photo from Ella's portfolio.
Soooooo, how was your 2020? How did you find the lockdowns?
Mate, it’s been unlike anything. Time has gone so fast and so slow. I feel totally stagnant, like things have really come to a halt. I miss my friends and family SO much it breaks my heart, I miss hugs and spontaneous plans and mundane normality, I feel like I am craving for community and belonging. I’ve felt so disconnected from tattooing, and consequently from my sense of purpose and meaning. There’s been a lot of days spent literally atrophying into the sofa. Some personal hurdles were made extra hard to navigate because of the pandemic, which was very tough. I feel so fucking angry and bewildered at our decision makers and at the wider political landscape, and so sad for what’s unfolding around us. And I also feel incredibly lucky to have been able to spend lockdown isolating safely at home, with a lot of time on my hands to pursue creative projects. I’ve loved getting into lino printing and having more time to make art for myself, I’ve been painting and drawing, knitting, making weird little clay sculptures, reading books, playing Animal Crossing. I really enjoyed those sunny days in lockdown last year, I spent weeks just perched on our fire escape landing (aka our “garden”), painting and sunbathing. I feel very grateful to my boyfriend for his company and support, we’ve kept each other relatively sane! But yeah man just fucking all over the place really lol. I think the general overall flavour is a spice level 10 mix of “God I am lucky”, “when will this end”, “total lethargy” and “eternal Twitter doom scroll”.
I hope your 2020 and lockdown were okay too Grace, you’ve been a beacon of relatable honesty and positivity throughout.
What is a life/career dream you want to pursue someday?
Oooh, okay! I’ve been trying to get my mojo back and think about the future again recently, it feels very wafty and vague atm, but I keep coming back to the idea of somehow co-operating a community art space, with some other people. And it would be a place to tattoo from, and it would function as a studio in that regard, but also it would be a place for people in the community to gather and run art workshops, or do painting evenings, or exhibit artworks. A print-making space and a place to sell flowers. To make music in and also do knitting evenings. Literally just like, a hub, a heartbeat, something heavily community orientated and also private enough that you wouldn’t get loads of daytime drunk walk-ins or people enquiring about laser removal. I have no idea where it would be or what it looks like exactly. I just love the idea of working in a multi-disciplinary space, where creative people feel at home and where we support each other. So that’s my quiet dream, just bobbing along in the background of my mind. I’m sure that’s a way down the road but it’s something I think about a lot. I’d love to travel more as well, for leisure and work. And my boyfriend and I really, really, really fucking want a cat and a garden, so moving house would be incredible too.
Thanks so much for your lovely questions Grace, it’s been a pleasure to sit down and answer them, and I hope you are well and safe ~ wishing you loads of love for 2021! xxxxxx
Thanks so much for chatting with me via email, Ella. Maybe someday we can go for coffee/gin again…
Ella is an angel, readers, and a genuinely wonderful creative soul. Check out her portfolio now, and her super cool art projects. Then follow her on Instagram, obviously.
Self-isolation, Part ??? who knows.
17 January 2021 • grace's isolation, isolation, lockdown
10 days ago, I was instructed to self-isolate because I'd been in contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid. I was aware of who it was, which was good - I would have gone mad wondering, otherwise - but that didn't make the pill any easier to swallow. I was suddenly overcome with flashbacks to my shielding days, and could almost feel the freedom I'd been reveling in being pulled out from under my feet. All the seafront walks, takeaway coffees, waving at friends as I passed them in town, my safe boyfriend bubble - gone, in an instant. Because I'd spent 20 minutes one Tuesday morning in the same room as someone (both of us socially distanced, wearing face coverings) who had tested positive the next day.
I am so happy and relieved to share that in these past 10 days I have not noticed any symptoms, and am currently waiting on the results of a second test (the first was negative). I plan on going for a walk with my partner (who has also been isolating, as he was in contact with me the day after I was in contact with The Positive Person) along the seafront tonight at 00:01, to celebrate our freedom. Romantic and adorable, no? Like some kind of dystopian indie movie.
Photo by the wonderful Sophie Mayanne, for Getty Images.
I'm almost sorry I haven't written anything on here since this latest isolation was invoked. When I had to isolate/shield early last year, I documented it pretty well, I think. That was partly because I had nothing else to do, and the creative block hadn't quite kicked in yet (that happened in lockdown part deux). I wrote about all the reading I'd been able to get done, I answered some sex questions, I did some more reading reviews, I took on a new social media job at Eggtooth and started working with them as a creative writing mentor for referred young people.
I wrote a few sponsored posts during that first lockdown, too! The brilliant Helena Traill let me write a piece about the wonderful launch event for her 100 Stories book, which was so fun to do. I wrote on the blog about distance learning, a lovely Dorset staycation, the different definitions of ability, even a lighting company! I remember being a little apprehensive when I volunteered to write these posts because the specs were a little out of the ordinary for me and my little corner of the internet. But I took on the challenges, and my confidence in copy/content writing really grew from there.
I joined some creative writing workshops on Zoom, and published one of the pieces I wrote, which I was especially proud of. And in this latest lockdown I'm going even bigger, and actually trying to write up that book I have stuck in my head. Wish me luck.
And when I came out of lockdown (part one) I wrote a hefty post detailing almost everything I'd done.
I'm definitely less hyper-emotional this time. I've actually felt super happy! How wild is that? I suspect the alone time is what's doing it; I needed to take myself away from the hectic outside world and make some time for me. I reckon my new evening routines have also given me a boost, and a gentle shake. Most evenings I will usually spend lazing in front of the TV, eating everything within reach (nothing wrong with that, folks, but it does make me feel a bit blehhhh after a while) and endlessly scrolling on my phone. This changed a few nights ago when I decided to skip my morning shower and leave it till the evening after I'd stripped and re-made my bed; I washed my hair and body, covered myself in Sleepy body lotion, put on some fresh pyjamas and tucked myself in with a hot water bottle and a book, at 9:30pm. It was an absolute dream. I slept well, I felt fresh in the morning, and my super clean hair wasn't fuzzy and tufty as it usually is right after a wash, because I'd slept on it and made it softer. It sounds so simple, but this little switch up changed the game for me. I don't know if I can keep it up, but I'll try. It was also really helpful in the mornings not to have to shower and put my face on, because that can actually take me a while and mess up my timings. This would be especially inconvenient these days, as I have started a new job.
Photo by the wonderful Sophie Mayanne, for Getty Images.
Oh, what's that? A new job? Yep. For the time being, while I'm not with the team in my lovely shop, the wonderful company I work for offered me the opportunity to work with the Customer Care team for a few weeks. So, until potentially the end of this lockdown, I will be working 10-6 (very civilised) Mon-Fri answering customers' emails and queries, checking up on their orders, sending them goodies, and also doing shifts on the brand's social media account. I do miss chatting and bonding with people face-to-face in the shop - and hanging out with my team of queens in the staff room, all of us munching on bourbons and drinking only the best looseleaf tea (okay fine, it's instant coffee for me), but this is the best situation to be in right now, to be honest. I am so grateful to not be furloughed because my rent isn't getting any cheaper, plus this work is definitely keeping me busy, and it's so good for me to actually have a routine for once in my life. I'm so lucky. I appreciate how fortunate I am. I hate that so many people have lost work since the lockdown(s), and I am raging at the government for letting the first round of furlough run out before they revealed there would be more, because so many people I know had to be laid off once the scheme 'ran out'.
I do wonder what will happen, after all this madness ends. Obviously I know there will be no 'going back to normal', because really, normal isn't possible now. I know we'll probably never go bowling again. Or be allowed to test out mattresses in the store. Or try on clothes in fitting rooms - or return them, after they've been in our households. And I know it will be a good year at least before we can go out-out again. I wonder if hand-shaking will finally be scrapped. I won't miss it much. I will miss the theatre, and the cinema. They weren't just shows and films, they were experiences, the most romantic dates and exciting gatherings. Sigh... what do you think will happen?
49.
8 January 2021 • about me, facts
Hi, I'm Grace. But you know that by now, don't you?
I'm starting to write blog posts *in* the Blogger box again instead of copying and pasting from Google docs, and it's taking me right back to my days at college, when I'd write frantically between lessons then hit 'publish' without proofing anything.
I always do these Facts posts, and they get mad attention. Maybe because they're short and sweet? Maybe because you lot are nosy, and want to know every weird thing about me? I do sometimes worry my attention span is really poor, these days. I used to be able to sit and colour in a picture, or read a book, for hours on end. These days I get antsy when I'm doing the same thing for an extended period of time, and find myself grabbing my phone every few minutes - then I scroll, scroll, scroll, like, like, like, and don't really achieve anything but it's the quick-paced engagement my brain seems to prefer these days. Ugh. Wow, this turned into Something, didn't it? Apologies, gang. Let's get back to the quick and quippy facts...
I am really obsessed with making things like soup and porridge. My friend told me recently that's because it's essentially a brewing spell.
I got a 2021 planner, and don't feel foolish about it at all.
I hate English breakfast tea. Unless it's being served to me in a hospital bed.
I can't wait to go sea swimming again in the warmer months; it was so healing and magical for me last summer.
I'm getting eczema on my hands from washing them so much, again.
It's a tough call, but I think Pilea Peperomioides are my favourite houseplant. Don't tell my aspidistra.
I met Greg James once. He told me he liked my voice, and I should start a podcast.
I've unintentionally started a booze-free January... and I am now considering it a challenge, especially with all these awful news stories emerging every evening. Wish me luck.
One of my simple but serious life mottos is: 'Never be without a pen' - Richard Gilmore, 2003.
I've finally started watching The Office (US version). I'm three series in, and only just starting to warm up to it. Stay tuned for more developments.
I've never written a Facts post with complete sentences like this... I quite like it. Do you? Let me know.
I received a negative Covid test result this morning, and it was honestly the nicest thing to wake up to. (the drive through self-test pop ups are SO weird, but an amazing feat of engineering)
I recently had a wild moment and ordered myself two dresses online, and when they arrived I remembered why I never order clothes online.
I start a new (temporary) job next week.
I'm really bad at keeping gratitude journals, or sticking to Miracle Morning-style routines.
I am really missing shoots, in lockdown. Not just the big snazzy magazine kinda ones in obscure locations in London, but the wacky ones with my creative friends that would often include trekking through muddy woods, dipping toes into the freezing sea, hanging spooky things from trees and doing a very quick and un-glam costume change in the shopping centre car park.
I don't miss sitting in cafes as much as I thought I would. Shocking, I know. I am actually really loving the fact that if I want to see someone safely right now, one-on-one, we have to go for a walk together. I realise, yet again, I am very fortunate to live right by the sea.
I've been in my little flat for a year now, and I am still so grateful I was able to move out and start my journey living alone in what turned out to be a most unfortunate year for everyone. I have to move in the summer, and I'm choosing to see it as an exciting opportunity to find a new happy space for me and my plants.
But enough about me. How are YOU?
Did you ear the news?
7 January 2021 • Auris, ear care
When I was in Year 5, I got bored during Story Time (here meaning: our terrible teacher telling us every detail of what happened in Eastenders the night before) and spotted a lump of thick solid glue on the floor. It had obviously been a drop from a glue gun, when we were doing crafts earlier in the day. It was like a perfect teeny marble, about the size of a 5p coin. I started fiddling with it, and eventually (don't ask me how), it ended up in my right ear. Then, somehow, it stayed comfortably lodged in my ear for 3 years. I had it removed when I was in Year 8, via syringe in my GP's surgery. It was the stupidest thing I've ever done, but oh my goodness it was totally worth it for the feeling of relief in that moment. I could hear again! My ear felt so free! I remember thinking 'I must take better care of my ears, from now on.'
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
Cut to nearly 15 years later (ouch) and I haven't given my ears any proper care since. I do that awful thing of sticking a bud in after a shower now and again, while I still have some water in there, but that's about it. A friend of mine told me they went to an ear clinic (pre-pandemic) and it was a life-changing experience, having their ears well and truly doted upon. It seems like such a luxury, but it doesn't have to be! Seriously. Put down the towel, the olive oil and the spoon, and let's go through some super fun facts about your amazing ears...
Y'know your outer ear? Well, it never. stops. growing. How wild is that? And we laugh at babies that have huge ears - I think we should be super kind to them, the poor things.
Here's one you probably already knew, but if you didn't, be prepared - it may ruin a bit of childhood magic for you. Okay, ready? The 'sound of the sea' that you hear, when you press a shell to your ear? That's actually the sound of blood rushing through your veins. I mean, that may be the science of it, but I personally prefer to cling on to the magical mermaid stories...
This one is a bit gross, but I think it will help some people... wearing a pair of headphones for just an hour can give you 700 times more bacteria in your ears. Yep. Sit with that for a bit.
Last one is kinda cool; your ears never stop hearing, even when you sleep. I feel like I heard this years ago on come CBBC show - or actually maybe I didn't hear it, I probably had glue in my ear at the time. So, your brain makes a conscious decision to ignore sound when it goes into sleep mode, to make sure you aren't disturbed (any more than usual, anyway).
How do we feel about these facts? They're pretty amazing, if you ask me. And there are so many more, but I'll leave you to listen out for them... I think we can all agree our ears are incredible, and definitely worthy of the highest standard of care. I'll be making it a resolution, when we come out of lockdown #26 or whatever, to treat myself and book in an appointment with Auris Ear Care, the ear wax removal clinic in Harley Street. My ears deserve the very best treatment, after the absolute nonsense they've had to hear in the past year! Check out Auris now if you feel the same, or maybe want to treat a loved one who struggles with their hearing.
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