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National Tattoo Association National Tattoo Association originally started as the National Tattoo Club of the World . The Dec. 1976 issue started to list the nicknames of our members.

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PLEASE VISIT OUR ONLINE NEWSLETTER https://ntanewsletter.com/ The owners of National Tattoo Supply started the club back in early 1976 as an unregistered organization. There were no dues to join because the National Tattoo Supply Company paid for everything. You did not ha

ve to be recommended to join; you did not have to send in photos of your work, etc. Whoever bought from National Tattoo Supply automatically became a member of the club. April 1976 was the release of our first newsletter, and back then it was a 3 page stapled letter. The second issue had a few black and white photos of tattoos and stepped up to 8 pages. Our fourth issue (Oct. 1976) was the beginning of the Featured Artists sections of our newsletter. Our first featured artist was Jerry FLY Colewell from East Patchogue, NY. August 1977, the 9th issue, was the newsletters' debut in the form of a magazine. April/May 1978, the 13th issue, was the last free issue of the newsletter. This issue featured the Skuse Family and the Amsterdam I.T.A.A. (International Tattoo Artists Association) Convention. The actual start of The National Tattoo Club of the World as a True Organization really began in 1978. When I.T.A.A. started to flounder Peter Tat2 Poulos and his wife Dianne called National Tattoo Supply to say they would help I.T.A.A. put on their conventions. Flo Makofske, one of the owners of National Tattoo Supply, called the president of I.T.A.A. with Peter and Dianne's offer. The I.T.A.A. declined the offer. A few days later Peter and Diane called back and said why not make "The National Tattoo club of the World" a non-profit organization. It was talked over, and ground rules and regulations for joining were implemented. The owners of National Tattoo supply went to a lawyer and set it all up. The officers were then named: Philadelphia Eddie-President, Don Makofske - Vice President and Flo Makofske - Secretary/Treasurer. The by -laws were set up for a five (5) year term running from June 1978- May 1983 with no officers receiving any salaries. It was also set up that you would need to be recommended by two (2) Artist members to join and that we would cap the membership off at 1,000 members as we were looking for quality not quantity in our membership. Dues were set up to be $15.00 a year at that time. It was also set up that the Board of Directors, which just consisted of the officers, would form a quorum that would be able to change any of the by-laws at any time. The first National Convention was set up for Denver, Colorado March 23rd - 25th, 1979 at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. The officers of the N.T.A.(National Tattoo Association) sat down with Peter, Dianne, and Larry Romano, as they were going to be in charge of the security and negotiating with the hotel and such, and discussed the rules and regulations of the contests, the dinner, the welcome party, having suppliers there, etc. This was to be a Convention to promote tattooing and only Tattooing. After the Convention in Denver it was discussed which, if any, rules and regulations should be put into the by-laws. Since we weren't quite unanimous in some of the subjects we sent out a questionnaire for the entire membership to vote on. We asked if they wanted conventions to continue, Should the Press be invited, should there be tattooing, if yes 1 day, 2 days, the entire convention?, Should awards be given out, and for which catagories?, How should they be voted on and by whom?, If no convention would they like a vacation meeting, what type of resort, summer or winter?, What month?, etc. Should suppliers be allowed to pass out catalogs and or sell their equipment? What would you like included or eliminated from conventions?, Should clubs continue?, Should newsletters continue?, Should Fans be allowed to join?, what qualifications for fans to join? Same for Artists?, Any other comments you'd like to say, etc. The outcome was that you wanted conventions, every year. You wanted contests and wanted them judged by all attending. You wanted the club to continue along with the newsletter. Fans could join only if they were already members. If new ones wanted to join they had to be recommended by 2 tattooists in the club and have at least 4 tattoos, send in photos of themselves and the name or names of their tattooists. Artists who were already members could remain members any new tattooists wishing to join had to send in photos of their work, their business card, photo of themselves in their studio or the studio they worked in and they needed to be recommended by 2 artist members.

From Flo:It is with a sad heart that I am writing this column because - while I wish to tell you when and how I met Jack...
29/01/2025

From Flo:
It is with a sad heart that I am writing this column because - while I wish to tell you when and how I met Jack Rudy and how we got to be good friends because of tattooing and because of his love for cars too. But it is hard to do so, when the person I want to tell you about, you know as well as I do and so does everyone reading this too... I don’t need to tell you what a great guy Jack was - what a loyal friend he was - what a great tattooist he was - what a jokester he was… You all know that. And, if you want an appointment for a tattoo by Jack that he is always at least 2 hours late so if you want it for say 6pm then you tell him 6pm but don’t get there yourself until 8pm and you’ll still have to wait another hour or so - but, you all know that... You all know that if your phone rings and you see his name pop up and you don’t have at least an hour to kill you don’t answer your phone... You all know that… If you are a smoker then you know Jack is going to haunt you about quitting - I know after many years of hounding me about that he finally got me to stop smoking back on March 25, 1990 at the NTA Philly Convention - and I THANK HIM so much for that - I am probably still here because of that too - You probably all know that too because he loved to tell everyone how he saved my life and even kept the pack of ci******es I gave to him that day in March 1990. Yes, you probably all know that too...
And… if I told you how much it hurts me to write all of this because it is, in essence like I am saying Goodbye to Jack, and I don’t want to say goodbye to him… and I know that all of you feel that way too. We don’t want to let go of him, but do you know what??? Just think of all the great memories we have of Jack - we all know he was a great friend, tattooist, person, jokester, etc., etc. And… we can bring up those memories anytime we want, and he will be with us. Yes, he’s left us but… he has left us with so many good times to remember him by. We can have him with us in our hearts whenever we want… Just think how lucky we all are to have shared all these things with him there are many people who never got to know Jack Rudy. But we all did - how lucky can we get!!!
Jack wasn’t just a member of the NTA - he was also a volunteer at the conventions. He was a judge at some of them.. He gave lectures at the conventions as well, on lettering and on black and grey tattooing – he was the master of this genre and shared his expertise knowledge with those who asked for his advice.
He was the Host at two of the NTA convention’s – Garden Grove in 1991 along with Kari Barba and again in Garden Grove in 2014 with his wife Carrie – And… I’d like to thank Carrie here for always making sure Jack got the lecture room on time so you didn’t have to wait for him there too. They made a great couple, and our heartfelt condolences go out to Carrie on her loss.
Jack used to brag that he only missed one NTA convention and that was in 1982 at the NTA McLean, Virginia Convention. Jack also made most of our convention posters as well. And I got to kid him about the one for 1998 where we held it in two parts – one if by land in Los Angeles and two if by sea a cruise to Mexico – the funniest thing though was that Jack printed on the poster “Don’t Miss The Boat!” Well guess what!!?? Yep.. 😊😊 Jack missed the boat – and boy did I have fun teasing him about that one 😊😊
Jack was presented with two of our most prestigious awards – they are:
The Peter Tat 2 Award - at the NTA 1989 Arlington, TX Convention And is given to the person we feel has done the most for the NTA.
The Terry Wrigley Award – at the NTA 2000 San Antonio, TX Convention And is given to the person we feel has done the most for the entire Tattoo Profession.
We Roasted him at the NTA 1998 Los Angeles Convention – I’ve included a photo of the many faces of Jack that evening as he was raked over the coals by his roasters. And a couple of other photos as well
Jack was elected V.P. of the NTA from the period of July 1993 – June 1998
And then he was elected President of the NTA from July 1998 – 2003

Again, this has been one of the hardest memorials for me to write because I still can’t believe he is gone. He will be missed by all of us who were lucky enough to not only meet him but to become great friends with him as well. I know everyone that attended the NTA Family reunions each have their own stories to tell about Jack. You will be missed Jack but do us a favor – say Hi to the other NTA Family Members for all of us when they meet you at the Pearly Gate. R.I.P. Miss ya!
Donna, Don & Flo – National Tattoo

27/01/2025
With heavy hearts we learned that Jack passed in his sleep last night. More info to follow
26/01/2025

With heavy hearts we learned that Jack passed in his sleep last night. More info to follow

12/01/2025
Got a message that this beautiful soul, fabulous tattooer and entrepreneur,  Bale Sisneros, was murdered in his studio e...
15/11/2024

Got a message that this beautiful soul, fabulous tattooer and entrepreneur, Bale Sisneros, was murdered in his studio early Thursday morning. A proud father, always involved in family. Always creative in business and art. Put on one of the finest tattoo gatherings of today.
We lost a great one, folks.

10/11/2024
01/11/2024
29/09/2024

GREAT NEWS!! Our sister in ink, SunShine McCurry, is ok and in a friend's home with electricity and water! Her shop and home are ok too, but the area is, in her words, destroyed in Biblical proportions. Much of NC is just...gone. Sigh.

27/09/2024

Sshhhhh Don't tell anyone but it's Flo's birthday!!

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