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Joe Saliendra in his studio

Fast forward to the present, when I was scouting for the perfect tattoo artist for my first tattoo, I only had Joe in mind.

Since he was the only tattoo artist I knew, naturally, he would be my first guess. But when I asked around about him, everyone said the same thing: masungit. To be honest, I was intimidated. I believe the term one of my friends used was "temperamental". Ok, so I guess I'm not going to Joe.
A few days after I got my first tattoo from Whiplash, I set another appointment with them to get my second tattoo done which I was not able to get because it was too painful (and expensive) to get two in one day. So I waited a few days.

Recently though, a few days leading up to my second appointment, I got in touch with a friend I haven't spoken to in a while. Then we got to the subject of tattoos. I asked him about Whiplash, but he only recommended one artist: Joe. I told him how I did not want to go to someone who is described as masungit, and he just laughed off what I said. According to him, Joe is often misunderstood, but is actually one of the nicest people he has met.

That's all it took as a final push, and I asked him if he could get me an appointment the next day. My friend couldn't promise though since he also told me how hard it was to get an appointment with him. But a couple of hours later, Joe agreed to see me.

I was really nervous about meeting him. I arrived 15 minutes early in his studio, and his place was actually very intimidating. It was an artist's den, and it was such an honor being there. I introduced myself, and he put me at ease by asking me questions about myself. He wanted to get to know me.

It was a very personal approach and he quickly put me at ease. The environment was definitely different from that of Whiplash. Joe was more interactive, and he gets personal with his clients. He doesn't have a throng of people lined up to get inked by him.

Being the writer that I am, naturally, I asked him a million questions about his work. I told him how a lot of my friends from High School were inked by him, and I'm almost sure that he could not remember some of them given the fact that he has literally tattooed thousands of people in the 35+ years in the business.

I found out that Joe used to be a makeup artist. He even won a trophy in a makeup artistry contest awarded by Ricky Reyes himself. Joe used to tattoo eyebrows too for the who's who in the Metro. He also competes every year in Berlin to represent the Philippines in Body Art competitions. I just love him.

Joe was a graduate of Mechanical Engineering, but he landed a job in Hanna Barbera as an artist drawing for the Smurfs cartoon. He proved that to me by drawing me a photo of a Smurf! He did that in a span of 5 seconds.

Photo credit to owner, taken from Pinterest

When Joe heard the reason behind the tattoo, he nodded and he got to work. I showed him a photo I took from Pinterest on how I imagined it would come out.

He tinkered in his computer and came up with a design free hand. I told him it was up to him what he wanted to do, as long as the concept is there, and I wanted it to be minimal, small,  and dainty.
When he finished his design, he transferred transferred it to my arm and it was just perfect. He even made me choose the size, and gave me suggestions on how to place it on my arm. Joe placed it in such a way that it would be in the center when I show it off, and how it would still be seen even if I had my arm down. It was just perfect.

He explained everything that he was doing while he was prepping his things, walking me through it. By the time we got started with the actual procedure, we were laughing hysterically about everything and anything. I was amazed how he kept his hand so steady while laughing the way he did.
Joe even put on some Bob Marley songs while he worked on my tattoo. He really knows how to treat his clients.

So why the reputation of being "masungit" you may be wondering? I got curious as well so I asked him straight up, "bakit ka daw masungit?" (why do people say you're ill-tempered?). He snickered and told me that he has declined/declines a lot of clients both in the past and the present because he just did not like their answers when asked "bakit yan gusto mo?" (why do you like that?) on why they want to get a tattoo. More than anything, he wasn't doing this for profit. Joe does this for a living because he was an artist, and for his love for body art.

He has declined several media interviews as well because he wanted to be known as an artist purely through word of mouth. What someone would see this as snobbery and arrogance, to him and to the people who know him best, it was self-preservation to the art of his craft. He does not want to be one of those commercialized, run of the mill tattoo places.

This just makes him even more exclusive and desirable because he is not doing it for the money. He truly is an artist. If he doesn't like why you are getting a tattoo and in his own words, "mali ang sagot" (wrong answer), he declines.

I guess I must have said something right then.
I left him to do his work on my arm while he and I discussed anything from past relationships to Robin Padilla's BRAVO food supplement. He entertained me and took my mind off the sting of the tattoo process.
All I can say is that, he has a really light touch. It did not sting as much as my first tattoo did. After the tattoo was over, there was no more pain, no stinging, nothing.

I do not know if it was because of the placement of the tattoo, or Joe's touch was just really light, but i choose to believe in the latter.
Joe's after-care is very tedious, he sat me down and ran through me how to care for my tattoo for a week, which Whiplash did not do with me. They were more of a tattoo-mill kind of deal. You just go in, they do their thing, and you get out.

I had to ask my friend Tracy how to care for my tattoo after we left the shop that first time. But with Joe, he explained everything to me step by step on how to care for my tattoo so that I can avoid infection, premature color fading, and bleeding.

Me and master Joe Saliendra

Here is a close up photo of my tattoo 24 hours later. I just love the details of my tattoo... My favorite part is the feet of the birds and how each bird seem to have a different personality.
From the time of posting, it would be 60 hours since I had this done, and my tattoo does not feel sore or anything. Nothing at all, like my tattoo has been there for a few weeks already.

I diligently follow his instructions about applying a thin layer of petroleum jelly on it before and after shower -which Whiplash neglected to tell me. My first tattoo now looks like it was done with a sewing machine.

Joe's work in the cover of Rogue Magazine

If you are thinking about getting a tattoo, as I have mentioned in my previous tattoo post, think about it a million times. And if you have a design in mind and would like Joe to do the work, bring a print out and explain to him why you like to get that particular tattoo on your body. Allow him to do the interpreting, give him the freedom to work on it, and do not crowd or cramp his creativity.