The crew hits Post-Katrina New Orleans to spend some tourist dollars in the cash-strapped city, and do a guest artist stint at their friend’s tattoo shop, Eye Candy. While in town they chow down on crawfish and share a few thrills at their haunted hotel.

Also tonight, tune in as jazz bandleader Irvin Mayfield is among those who get inked up, and this one is his first!  Some more info on that here.

Be sure to tune in to TLC tonight at 10pm ET, not many new ones left!

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I missed this news about a month ago regarding phenomenal tattooist Tim Hendricks from Miami Ink.  Apparently, Tim has collaborated with the people at Sabre Sunglasses to come up with the shades pictured above.

The glasses frame comes adorned with Tim’s signature fine rose tattoo artwork on both sides and I guess are pretty limited.  You can only purchase them by hitting up Sabre’s “Don’t Panic” Showroom in Newport Beach, California, at least for the first run.  So if you are in Newport Beach send us a pair, they look great!

More pictures after the jump…..

Photos and info courtesy of Hypebeast.

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After nearly three full years of Reality Ink in Miami. The “stars” of the hit reality TV show are calling it quits. There is some great insight as to why the series is coming to a close, some of which was speculated about here as well. I will post some quotes and comment on them below….

Ami James said Monday he and co-star Chris Nuñez declined to extend Discovery Communications’ option to order more episodes of the TLC show. James said that move effectively ended their contracts with the cable conglomerate, and that no talks are under way to shoot more episodes of their life as South Beach tattoo artists.

”It’s done. It’s over,” James said by telephone from the Washington Avenue tattoo studio he and Nuñez own.

Early on in the interview, we see Ami using a pretty harsh tone, he is not happy with this…

Charlie Corwin, whose New York company, Original Media, produces Miami Ink, said he did not know if the show would return. ”The show’s been running a long time,” he said. In terms of ratings, Miami Ink is “not as high as it has been in the past, it’s not as low as it has been in the past.”

We all know there are several reasons for this, some that fall into the L.A. Ink camp….

”We weren’t happy with the way we were treated,” James said Monday. “I will never work for Discovery again.”

He complained the network did not promote the show properly, particularly when it moved Miami Ink from Tuesday night to Thursday night this season.

James said he and Nuñez plan on pursuing other deals.

”There might be a TV project and there might be a movie project,” he said. “We always had bigger ideas than Miami Ink. Miami Ink was kind of like of going to school.”

Wo! Ok, now we are getting somewhere. I could not agree more with the lack of promotion TLC gave to Miami Ink with the switch, it was difficult to find even when sought out. Then they placed it at the same time as one of the biggest network shows on TV, Lost was airing. Wondering what the next project might be….

The upside for fans could be more access to their favorite artists. Nuñez said he, James and the other stars are taking customers again for the first time since the show’s nearly year-round production schedule began.

”Now we basically have to go back to work,” he said. “We all still need to feed our families.”

Very interesting, although prices are still sure to be through the roof…..

If not, James said he’s not worried about losing the show’s promotional muscle — even with three South Beach businesses to sustain.

”We’ve been on the air for 81 episodes. That’s three years. We’re in 161 countries,” he said. “I definitely have enough marketing to last me a long time.”

Very true Ami, Miami Ink started it all and all the other Ink shows owe it a debt. It will be sad to see it go….

Read the Miami Herald article here….. 

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We spend alot of time making fun of reality television around here, but I have to admit, I am seriously in awe of the talent of one Tim Hendricks. He was such an incredible addition to the Miami Ink staff this season and I just stumbled on this great post about Tim over at RVCA.

So be sure to check out the post and watch the short video of Tim on Miami Ink.

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So I just noticed that Ami James of Miami Ink has finally decided that his old horrible website is in need of a remodel. You may remember this post where I talked about just how bad the old site was, and apparently it is not dead, at least not yet. (even it looks a tad bit better)

But the new site is quite sharp actually, only problem is there is really nothing on it but a store. So if you wanna buy one of Ami’s shirts, go to the new website. Otherwise, just like all the reality tattooers, you gotta hit up his myspace for anything remotely personal.

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We get a brand new episode of Miami Ink tomorrow night on TLC as season 4 begins. The new episode is titled “Make Or Break”. Here is the official episode preview from TLC…..

Things are in chaos at Miami Ink. To put things back on track, Ami gets onboard with Nunez’s plan for a new shop, and Darren’s surprise return from an extended trip to help out family adds to the good vibe.

I’m looking forward to some new episodes of Miami, and to seeing more of Tim Hendricks.

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Got an extra couple grand laying around? Need some new shoes? Well then the line of super duper, mega expensive kicks from J. Fishkicks might be right up you alley. Don’t have that much for shoes? Yeah, me either, but it is worth a mention here since Miami Ink’s most talented artist Chris Garver is putting his name and ability on a pair of sneakers for the new line. Garver, Nunez, and Darren were all in attendance, (and photographed above) for the grand opening party held by Jason Fishbein, owner and creator of J. Fishkicks for his new shoe boutique, Sobe.

According to the Miami New Times, Garver did a custom inkish design for his pair of sneakers, and the price tag is set at $2,700 for the shoes. Which you probably would never wear, but rather frame for that amount.

No pictures of the new shoes that I can find yet, drop us a line if you see one….

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Reality television stars Ami James and Chris Nuñez are in the news this week with a real issue. The Miami Ink shop owners own the shop that they tattoo out of for the wildly successful TLC show but do not own the name, “Miami Ink”. The shop was formerly known as 305 Ink until executives insisted that James and Nuñez rebrand their shop after the TLC network title.

This left the duo without the possibility of additional branding and licensing deals like the ones the guys from West Coast Choppers got from Wal-Mart since they owned the shop name. So in an effort to avoid a swift fall from the public eye and from the consistent flow of cash that can happen when a network decides a show is not in their interests anymore, Ami and Nuñez have recently decided to open Love Hate tattoo’s just a few doors down from the current Miami Ink locale on Washington Avenue.

Here is a excerpt from a recent Miami Herald story that gives some more insight to the new arrangement….

A show executive said that the cast will refer to the new location as ”Love Hate,” but that ”Miami Ink” will go on the front windows there, too.

James and Nuñez will still own and run the current Miami Ink location, but without having to turn away daytime business when the show shuts it down for filming.

And within 18 months, James, Nuñez and their partners expect to open new Love Hate bars in Fort Lauderdale and Las Vegas, which also will have a tattoo parlor.

They have also signed a Los Angeles apparel maker to sell Love Hate clothes, with hope for global distribution.

”We’re in 181 countries with the show,” Nuñez said. “So, we figure hit 181 countries with merchandise.”

For sure, reality-TV fame has been good to James and Nuñez, although neither would say how much the show pays them. Along with the profits that come from a packed tattoo studio, the Spanish-speaking Nuñez said he recently signed an endorsement deal with AT&T Latin America and James paid $865,000 last year for a Miami Beach home.

‘You get an education you never had before,” said Nuñez, 34. He and his co-stars went from being ‘’street guys” to “guys who review contracts, learn how lawyers screw you over, learn how you need a lawyer to read a lawyer’s contract, [and] learn what your back end’s going to be.”

Well, it all makes sense, I wonder how these issues will be communicated in future episodes of Miami Ink….

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And I gotta tell ya, that is what I prefer for the most part. Here are some thoughts on the art on this episode…..

- Stan Gets a Fat Girl Pinup Tattoo from Darren -
I’m not gonna hate on the fat fetish thing or anything, but does this guy know it is there forever now? Ok, just kidding, I am sure he does. This piece not only does nothing for me as an idea but I don’t really think alot of Darren’s work either on it, just an opinion of course, as always.

- Diedre Gets A Fat Girl Pinup Tattoo – A different pinup but another of a fat chick, this time for a fat chick that apparently is “well known” in the world of fat chicks. Yeah, I cannot get into this, just another average looking piece, regardless of what it is.

- Simone gets a Peacock Tattoo from Garver – This was by far the best piece on the episode and yet another reason why Chris Garver is the best artist in the shop and possibly on any of these reality tattoo shows. The intricate detail, color and shading make this a long difficult piece, but an unreal result. Love this one.

- Ashley Gets A Praying Angel Piece by Ami – Nice work by Ami, but I am not too overly impressed here. Maybe it is the lack of originality or just the fact that angel tattoos don’t do a whole lot for me. Ashley says it is looking over her shoulder, how cute.

- Maggie gets a Blue Heron from Nunez – Nunez totally changes the idea for this piece and I am kinda surprised at how fast Maggie agrees to the new heron he sketches. Overall it is a nice piece, but I sorta liked her original idea more, did you?

- Jorge gets a Hula Girl Tattoo from Garver – Garver nails it again with this piece. Jorge lets him do his thing creatively, which lets Garver go to town.

- Mark gets a Fish piece on his back – The whole fish that changes sexes thing fits Mark well, he used to be a chick and now is a very hairy chick that is one step from being a dude. This sorta freaks Ami out a bit but once Ami hears he feels better being a dude, and that he now has “direction”, Ami starts to like the guy person. Not much of a piece, pretty obvious that this one made air because of the story, not the art.

Garver saves the episode overall, because his peacock piece was amazing mostly. Yoji and his band and their sidestory was mildly annoying. Their song was heavily annoying. What did you think?

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While there is no official date for the new season of Miami Ink, we do know that Ami James and his crew will be back on the TLC airwaves this fall, maybe as soon as next month. From what we can gather, here are a couple hints about the upcoming season of Miami Ink.

- A Minnesota resident, known as “Short Arm Guy” was selected to be filmed for an upcoming episode. Whether or not it makes it to air is unknown of course, but apparently they told him if it did it would be in early 2008.

- The crew were recent attendees at the Shuttle Discovery Launch this week in Cape Canaveral and the TLC video crew was along for the ride. Here is a quote from Ami about their trip to watch the launch.

“I was surprised how cool it was to actually see it,” James said. “I don’t think you can really grasp it until you see it. It’s kind of like seeing an elephant for the first time. You can’t believe how big it is. The episode probably will flash back and forth between the shop (in Miami) and the guys going out of town to Cape Canaveral to see the launch,” James said by phone Tuesday.

After feeling a bit burned out by all the L.A. Ink superdrama, I for one, cannot wait for the new season of Miami Ink…..

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