FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #173 How Black Horse Tattoo Studio Turned Fredericksburg Into A Tattoo Destination
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World class tattoo artists are coming to Fredericksburg, and the story behind it starts with one bold idea. We’re joined by Emiliano from Black Horse Tattoo Studio, a tattooer with roughly 35 years of experience who went from growing up around shop culture to building a career that took him around the world, no uniform required. He shares how his roots in Las Vegas and the unique atmosphere of casino studios shaped his vision, and why Fredericksburg felt like the right place to create something different.
We dig into how tattooing evolved from the early 1990s to the post-2000s boom, when tattoos became more accepted and more visible. Emiliano gives a grounded look at what that shift changed for artists and clients, and what still matters most: drawing skills, trust, and the craft. If you’re searching for Fredericksburg VA tattoo culture, how tattoo artists build careers, or what makes a great tattoo studio, this conversation brings a lot of clarity.
Then we get into the Fredericksburg Tattoo Invitational at the Fredericksburg Expo Center. Emiliano explains why it’s an invitational tattoo convention, how invited artists travel a circuit of shows, and how collectors can book appointments with artists from other states and even other countries. We also cover what to expect June 26 to June 28: seminars, public access, family friendly options like airbrush tattoos for kids, and tattoo contests including a best of show prize that comes with a custom wrestling championship belt.
Listen, share this with a friend who loves tattoos or local events, and subscribe so you don’t miss the next Fredericksburg Neighbors story. After you listen, what artist style would you want to see brought to town next?
Emiliano Gabaldon
Black Horse Tattoo Studio
+1 826-251-1820
3451 Fall Hill Ave, Fredericksburg, VA
Welcome To FXBG Neighbors
SpeakerThis is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 1Welcome back to another episode of the FXBG Neighbors Podcast, where we share the stories of our favorite local brands. I have a special guest joining me today. We've got Emiliano joining us, and he is with Black Horse Tattoo Studio. Emiliano, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1Well, I'm excited to learn more about you and about your business. So let's start there.
Why Black Horse Opened Here
Speaker 1Share with us a little bit about Black Horse Tattoo Studio.
Speaker 2Well, Black Horse Tattoo Studio was an idea that one of my clients actually had, who was a client of mine in Las Vegas, because that's where I'm from. Um, he had liked how my studio was because they're all set up in casinos. So he liked kind of like the the atmosphere and how it wasn't like your average tattoo studio. So, you know, after talking, he was like, you know, why don't you uh try to open up one in Virginia? And I was like, I don't know about Virginia, but um I came out here, checked it out, and it actually was a good like tattoo town. So that was that was pretty much how I ended up here.
Speaker 1So interesting. You had never been to had had you ever been to Fredericksburg before that?
Speaker 2I've been to Fredericksburg once, and that was probably like in 2005. I came out here to visit my mom. She actually lives in Culpeper. So I came in and checked it out, but I hadn't been here since, so I you know it's actually grown a lot in that in that amount of time.
Speaker 1So interesting.
Emiliano’s Tattoo Origin Story
Speaker 1So tell me about your background. How did you get into tattooing and tell us your story?
Speaker 2Um well, let's see here. I've been tattooing now probably about 35 years now. So I started early. I started, I fell in love with tattooing as a kid. Like my father, he is an artist, but he's more of like a he was a fine art painter. So, you know, he taught me how to draw early on. So, you know, he would take me when he would go get tattooed, and I would just kind of sit there in the shop and like listen to all the guys talk and just you know, just be like it was it was it was crazy. It was like a whole different world. And I fell in love with it. And I knew from the time I was 10 years old, I knew that this is what I was gonna do for the rest of my life. So, you know, I'd always like drawing people, I would just I would always do art. So um when I was offered an apprenticeship, I I took it. And basically, you know, from there that's that's all I've ever done is just tattooed all my life. But it's it's been great because you know it's it's taken me all over the world. I've been, you know, I've tattooed in just basically all over the world. And I never had to like join the army or anything to travel. So it was awesome. But that's kind of tattooing.
Speaker 1I mean it sounds like a it sounds like a dream. You get to travel, you get to be uh, you know, explore your artistic side. It's it sounds um like a dream job.
Speaker 2It was, it was, it was, it was definitely hard though, because like you know, back in the early 90s, there were you know, tattoo shops were were like either bikers or gangsters or that was it. And you know, it wasn't what it is today, like you know, 2000s, you know, the doors opened after all the TV shows. Um, you know, it it was more acceptable to the public. So it actually it was good, it was good. So I got to see like, you know, from from the you know the start of tattooing to what it is now. And I'm like so thankful that I was able to be a part of all of that because you know, like the early 2000s, I had gone to Las Vegas to help a friend out who had opened up a shop, and it was like the first shop in a casino, and it was it was eye-opening because you know, from being just like you know, tattoo shops to now uh you know this crazy like world of tattooing, you know, there was the TV show, there was just all of this stuff going on, and it was it was amazing. So I'm very thankful to to be a part of that.
Speaker 1Amazing, what great opportunities you had.
Speaker 2Yeah, no, no, it really was. And you know, I you know, I tell everybody that you know whatever you want to do in life, you know, you can do it. You just have to set your mind to it and you can do anything. And you know, if I could do it, anybody can do it.
Speaker 1Great advice. I love it.
Building The Tattoo Invitational
Speaker 1So talk to me about the Fredericksburg Tattoo Invitational. Is this something that you created?
Speaker 2Um, it's something that that, yeah, we we kind of came up with the uh the idea through the Expo Center. The Expo Center was like they approached me because they they know that I've done many conventions and you know I've helped with like my mentor was actually the guy that put on the Las Vegas Tattoo Convention, which is the biggest tattoo show in the world. It's literally like a thousand tattoo booths there, and just all of these artists just from all over the world. So they asked me if I'd be interested in in like pretty much hosting the tattoo convention here. And at first I was like, yeah, you know, it it might work, it might not work, just because you know we have you know the DC convention and we have the Richmond Convention, but we don't have anything in between. So I was like, you know what, I think I can I think I can pull it off. So kind of was like, all right, let's try it. So the first year we tried it, and the first year was was really well accepted. And the thing with this Fredericksburg tattoo invitational is I wanted to bring world-class tattooing to Fredericksburg because you know not not a lot, you know, not a lot of people know about Fredericksburg. They know about like Richmond and DC, but they don't know about Fredericksburg. So with this being like a really good tattoo town, there, you know, there's it was it was a no-brainer. I was like, all right, I think we can we can pull it off. So we're actually in our third year this year, and each year the the show just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And it's it what's good about this show is that it's an invitational. So all of the artists that are coming in are invited. Like we're inviting every artist from like you know, California, Las Vegas. I think we have like 13 states that are gonna be represented here. And I think a couple from like different countries are coming in for this one, so it's just just blowing up, and I love it because like I said, I'm bringing top-notch world-class tattooing to Fredericksburg.
Why An Invitational Matters
Speaker 2So, you know, we're just showing people what can be done, and you know, the good thing about this is that you know, if you're a collector or somebody that just wants to get tattooed by somebody from like a different state or whatever, they can make an appointment with that artist, and when you know the show happens, they can get tattooed by the artist. So, you know, it's it's giving everybody opportunity to like you know, basically like get a tattoo from somebody from somewhere else, you know, not just Fredericksburg.
Speaker 1So it's kind of cool.
Speaker 2Yeah, it really is. It's exciting. And we're also offering like it's kind of geared towards it's open to the public, obviously. Like the public can come, you know, they can check out the tattoo artists, they can get tattooed by one of the artists, you know. Um there's seminars for the tattoo artists, so we're we're offering like you know, seminars by like some really good, like top tattoo artists, and that's exciting because you know you can sit there and you can learn and you know just have a good time.
Speaker 1So that's really cool.
Speaker 2Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1So if someone has been um you know fanning over an artist in another state, they can set up an appointment and get tattooed right here in Fredericksburg at the event.
Speaker 2Yes, exactly. And that's exciting for a lot of people because there are people that are collectors that you know they'll get tattoos from just certain artists or different artists and just to add, you know, to their body. And it's it's pretty awesome. So I'm really excited and I'm so happy that like this has taken off and it's bringing people to Fredericksburg because not only that, you know, you have you have a bunch of people just coming to Fredericksburg and it it's it you know it spreads love throughout the whole like city, you know. It's it's given restaurants businesses, it's given hotel businesses, it's given like you know, people that want to explore downtown, they can go downtown and check out all the stores and everything. So it's pretty exciting.
Speaker 1And how cool to bring the tattoo community together. I bet that is so much fun for all of the artists to be in one place and meet other artists that they might be fans of and meet new people. Like that sounds like such a cool thing that you've created there.
Speaker 2And it is, it's really it's it's nice because it does bring everybody together. And you know, by the end of the show, everybody's friends, everybody's like following everybody on social media, you know, everybody's like, I'll see you at the next show. Because you know, some of these people from this show will go to a different show right after. So it's it's almost like a circuit that they travel. So it's really exciting, and you know, you'll see your friends next year, kind of thing. So it's really exciting.
Speaker 1That's awesome.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1So what is something that you want the listeners to know? Um, like what to expect, or or what is something that you wish they knew about it?
What To Expect At The Show
Speaker 2Um, like I said, it's pretty much it's gonna happen on uh June 26th to June 28th. Um basically it's open to public, you know, families are welcome. You know, kids love tattoos, obviously. But uh we we have an airbrush artist there for kids, so they can get like you know, little tattoos here. We also have um tattoo categories, which are like basically a contest. So basically, you know, like say best tribal tattoo. People that have like certain tribal tattoos will will register, they'll go up on stage in front of like you know, judges, and the judges will go ahead and like you know, score their tattoos, and whoever wins, you know, they get you know trophies. I think there's like 15 different categories, uh, you know, three places for each category. But what we do here is we actually offer for best of show tattoo, which is the tattoo that's been done like throughout the whole convention. Because there's artists that'll come specifically for this, they'll like work on one person for like three days and enter that tattoo as best of show, and the winner actually gets a professional wrestling belt that we've had made for the show, so it's pretty awesome because I mean I love wrestling and who doesn't, but yeah, you know, they get they get the you know the championship belt at the end of the show, and we also offer like smaller belts for the best of the day because you know the tattoo that was done that day, they'll enter it and um they can win a miniature wrestling belt. So yeah, it's pretty cool. And then we also have a category for kids' tattoos, meaning not that they're gonna have a real tattoo, you know. Some of the artists will draw on the kids or they'll get the airbrush tattoo, but it's fun for them because they get to go up on stage in front of the judges and in front of the crowd, and you know, just get you know that's so fun. It's fun for the kids, yeah. And they they each get a you know, they each get a trophy, so it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 1I love that. How fun for you to get to invite all of these uh cool artists to Fredericksburg.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean it's it's good because I mean, like I said, I want to bring the best to Fredericksburg. I mean, granted, there's a lot of tattoo shops around, but I want to bring the best. So, you know, that's that's why I got to do that. Was part of my my agreement with with the Expo Center is that I want to be I want it to be an invitational, I want it to be something different than you know your average tattoo convention where anybody can come. I wanted it to be picked, hand-picked tattoos. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1I love it.
Links And Farewell
Speaker 1So if the listeners want to learn more, if they want to connect with you, if they want to learn more about Black Horse Tattoo Studio, how can they find you?
Speaker 2They can find us on uh blackhorse tattoo studio .com. That's our website, or they can find us on Black Horse Tattoo Studio on Instagram, or if they want to look at the convention, they can go to Fredericksburg Tattoo Invitational.com and check it out.
Speaker 1Awesome. Awesome. Emiliano, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. I am looking forward to attending and checking it out. And thank you for bringing this event to Fredericksburg. Uh, we are lucky to have it here in our town.
Speaker 2Well, thank you so much and look forward to seeing you there. Maybe you'll get a tattoo.
SpeakerMaybe. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to FXBG NeighborsPodcast.com.