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Casey's Corner | Ancient Ink: Jake Valdes on Tattoos, Entrepreneurship & Creating Art in Mesa, AZ

• Casey Kendel

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🎙️ Welcome back to Casey's Corner!

In this episode, I sit down with Jake Valdes, owner of Ancient Ink in Mesa, Arizona, to talk about the journey of building a successful tattoo studio, turning artistic passion into a thriving business, and what it takes to stand out in a competitive industry.

Jake shares his experiences as an entrepreneur, the importance of creating a welcoming environment for clients, lessons learned along the way, and his vision for the future of Ancient Ink. Whether you're considering your next tattoo, thinking about starting a business, or simply enjoy hearing inspiring stories from local business owners, this episode is for you.

📍 Ancient Ink – Mesa, Arizona

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SPEAKER_01

Hello everyone. Welcome to Casey's Corner. I am your host, Casey Kendall. We're coming at you in Gilbert, Arizona at the 1010 Studios. Joining me today, Jake Valdez from Ancient Inc. Uh, we're gonna have a great conversation uh about the tattoo industry. I'm very excited. But first, uh let's talk about commercial insurance simplified, my book. You can find this on uh Amazon. Highly recommend for uh any new or existing business owners that have insurance questions. You can uh uh find that uh again on Amazon. Or if you are so inclined to reach out to me, I'll get you a free copy. So let's jump right in. Jake. Hey, Ancient Inc.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. So you are my very first tattoo shop owner that I've talked to. There we go. Uh and and interviewed. So I'm really excited about this. I am not necessarily a tattoo guy. I have I have one. Um one is enough. And it was a Friday the 13th. Uh uh let's call it Impulse by.

SPEAKER_02

A lot of tattoos are, yeah, especially Friday the 13th ones, those it's a it's a big thing in the tattoo world doing Friday the 13th. We have lines and lines of people on Friday the 13th.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and when when I was getting mine on Friday the 13th, um there was even a uh an old gumball machine that you would put a uh token or a coin in, and then whatever came out, get what you get, you got what you got. Yeah, yeah. And you know, so I imagine there's a lot of people walking around with ducks and stuff on them.

SPEAKER_02

There are some crazy ones out there.

SPEAKER_01

So let's talk about let's talk about ancient ink. First, tell us a little bit about yourself, uh, and then I want to hear about the shop, how you got started in it, and and if you would share your story.

SPEAKER_02

For sure. Um, I was born in California. Um, I spent a couple of years out there, and then my mom, when I was real little, she her and my dad um moved us all out here. It was um kids raising a kid, honestly. My parents had me when they were just 16. Wow. So we we all watched each other grow, and and I grew up with them as they grew into the adults they are today. Um I was in retail for a big portion of my life, but I I sat and I watched both of my parents start businesses um from the ground up and just become entrepreneurs. It's been a big part of my life having a big influence of business owners um from my mom, my dad, my grandfather, my stepfather. It has been in my life all the time.

SPEAKER_01

So you can say entrepreneurship runs in your blood. It does, very much so. Okay, so how does that boil down into owning a tattoo shop?

SPEAKER_02

Owning a tattoo shop and unfortunately not being an artist, it it makes it a little a little weird for being in the industry. Um not doing the work, but having artists underneath me do the work for me, I think makes it better because my artists can focus on the craft that they that they love to do, and I take the brunt of the work. I I take care of the bills, the cleaning, the the handyman work, where as if they were to own it in their own world, they would have to take care of that as well. So they are more focused on the artistry and perfecting that every day, and they don't have to worry about the the nitty-gritty portion of it.

SPEAKER_01

It's that give and take of uh it's it's like every other business. You're running a business, you're networking, you're you're making sure that the operations and and those artists really become well, if they're not worried about that, then they're free to focus on on their art.

SPEAKER_02

Promoting what they do is the biggest thing that I ask them to do, and just be phenomenal artists, which they are.

SPEAKER_01

Tell me about your your artists. Do they have specialties? Is there something where they're like, oh man, I love doing this kind of tattoo on this part of the body?

SPEAKER_02

Uh they both uh both of my artists, um, one of them, Paul Patrick, he's been my my longest-standing artist. Um, he's been with Ancient Inc. for two and a half, almost three years now. Um he specializes in anime, um, a lot of color work. Um, and really anything that you can throw at him. He can he can take a stab at it and and just do it to his perfection, honestly. Um he specializes, like I said, in anime work. Um, he can do fine line, he can do bold lines, really bold colors. Um anything imaginable, he'll bring it to life. Um, my newest artist, his name is Manny. He's been with us since December. Um, he is a recent um uh Navy veteran. He he served 10 years in the Navy um and was just last month he was honorably discharged, and so he ended service um there. And he he does a lot of fine line, he does a lot of American traditional. A lot of the work that I have on my arm right now is work that he's done.

SPEAKER_01

No, that's pretty new.

SPEAKER_02

This was done yesterday, actually. Yeah, we did a we did an impromptu tap out session, and so in between other clients that he had throughout the day, we would we would sit and it it made it a little bit hard because it wasn't all just one fail swoop and one go. I would stop and he would tattoo somebody else, and then I'd sit back in the chair again in between doing those. So American Traditional is something that he likes to do a lot. Um, big bold lines, um, color in it as well. He will do anything that is thrown at him.

SPEAKER_01

What's the best way for an individual to prepare themselves to get a tattoo?

SPEAKER_02

You just do it. Honestly, you like you want you need to know what you want, but you can also consult with the artists to bring it to life and have them put their flair on it. Um preparing for it, just eating a good meal so you don't pass out bringing snacks and and headphones so that you are entertained for the time that you're being there. Whether it's a gigantic piece that takes hours and hours and hours, or something real simple, fine line that's done in 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_01

I think over the last um, I don't know, let's call it 30 years. I'm an old guy. Uh tattoos have seemed to become more mainstream, more socially acceptable. Um, I remember in, you know, if you had anything below your your shirt line.

SPEAKER_02

Below your shirt line, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

You were, yeah, I mean, get ready to work minimum wage.

SPEAKER_02

You were you were looked at as a as a as a thug or as a a troublemaker. You didn't really fit into society because your skin was tainted. Um but nowadays you see healthcare professionals, doctors, nurses that are blasted with tattoos. Um anybody and everybody can have a tattoo nowadays, and it's just it's art now. And it's it's not looked down upon as ooh, what is that? Why did you sure why did you put that on you? It's like, no, this is a a work of art. This is something that I spent a lot of time thinking about and planning. Um or on another hand, I just did it because I wanted to.

SPEAKER_01

Well, so I was gonna ask you, how many people uh what do you think the the the given trait of someone who might just randomly walk in and pick something off the off the wall versus I've had my heart set on this and this is I've finally come to this and and now I'm ready?

SPEAKER_02

Some like off the wall, it's it's an impulsive choice. Like, oh, I was out with you know my girlfriends, or I was out at lunch, and we talked about getting a tattoo, and you come in and you get a flash, a flash tattoo that's just on the wall, it'll take 10, maybe 15, 20 minutes to do it, and then you tell a story behind it. But on the other hand, something that's planned out and that is huge a back piece, a leg sleeve, an arm sleeve, those take months of putting it together and planning, and then you sit with the artist and you have them kind of tweak it a little bit and make it so that it fits on you. Um, but a flash is more impulsive, and then big pieces are planned out.

SPEAKER_01

Do you see a lot of artists doing like a free hand? Is that rare? Or is it is it more of that transfer of an image onto the skin and then and then that process begins. I don't want to say trace. I feel like that would be disrespectful to an artist.

SPEAKER_02

It's a little bit of both. Um, depending on the detail that's in a tattoo, um, having a stencil is the best way to go, but you can always map it out and then do a little sketch of how you want it to be. Um, just recently, Manny added to uh a gentleman's hand that had a big old tribal thing going down his arm, and then it it split off into two little pieces going this way, and then he said, I wanted to branch out and do the same thing going the other way on my hand. So you don't really need a stencil for that, you just kind of freehand this the same pattern that was already there, and then just ink it up.

SPEAKER_01

Um when someone is wants color in their tattoo, does that take more time?

SPEAKER_02

It does. Color theory is something that I am still amazed with to this day. Um, you have to take into consideration the client's skin tone, um, their age, um how much color they want in it, what the colors are. Um it's you have to pack color in hardcore for it to actually stick, but you also don't want to go too hard where you end up with blowouts. Blowouts are are unfortunately common with color because you have to pack that color in there nice and deep. But as long as you know color theory, like I said, then you can work it nice and gentle and and hit it one time light and then have them come back when it's a little bit more healed, and then do it all over again so that it just re revives that color in there.

SPEAKER_01

Should someone if if if uh how I understand it's on your body for your life, but I've seen some old guys who are like, I got this in the Navy, I got this 40 years ago. Um and uh and you know it it it's it's blurry, it's stretched, it it doesn't look good. How how often are touch-ups, is it an as-needed thing?

SPEAKER_02

It is an as-needed thing in our shop. Um, the first touch-up is included in the price. Um, because yes, fallout happens. Um your skin might not take all of the color or all of the lines immediately in that first session. So you you would need to go back and just have it just retouched again. Have the if it's if it's a big color piece, have color put back in it. Uh like I said, everybody's skin reacts differently to ink in general, regardless of it whether it's black or a multitude of colors. Your skin reacts differently to all of it, and so when you first get it, it's gonna look bright and colorful, but then as it heals, color is gonna be pushed out. Your body's like, this is foreign, I don't want this, I don't want this, and so there is possibility for it to fall out, and doing a touch-up is needed. The first one just brings it back to life to where it was from the very beginning, and then if you like, for instance, this one right here, I've had this tattoo for 12 years, but I have never gone back to the artist. I need to have it touched up because the outline of it is starting to fade, but the color is still in there, you still notice what the color is, and if it were to be touched up again, it would look exactly like it did day one.

SPEAKER_01

You brought up skin type, and then in my head, I was thinking like, well, an older person, I mean, I've I've can they almost look like they've got angel food cake for skin. Yeah. Uh is the application a little bit different on that?

SPEAKER_02

We recently had a client. Um, she was is definitely older, um, probably like in her 70s. Um, she came in and she wanted a little paw print on her wrist right here. And immediately when the needle hit the skin with the first stroke of the line, she started to bruise. With with elderly people, their skin is is wrinkled, and so you have to stretch it more. And take that into consideration where it's gonna sit and how much you stretch the skin with the tattoo there. If when you let it go, is it gonna is it gonna look right? So it's it is it's hard, unfortunately, to tattoo an older an older client because their skin is so fragile. Um, they bruise easily. When you stretch it, it might not come back to the original spot and look like you imagined it to be.

SPEAKER_01

We're gonna we're gonna take a break right now, but when we come back, I I want to get into a lot of the shop operations and talk about uh cleanliness and taking care of a tattooed post post session um and those things. So let's uh let's take a quick break, get a word from our sponsor, Prosperity North.

SPEAKER_00

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SPEAKER_01

And we are back. Thank you very much, Prosperity North Advisors. Uh, for all your commercial insurance needs, uh, please reach out and uh they'll take great care of you. Uh Jake, let's get back uh to the conversation. And where we left off was really talking about uh the business side of it. I'd like to talk about like safety and cleanliness. You know, you've got you've got the transfer of blood. Um so tell us a little bit about what that operation looks like and and how that's handled within a tattoo shop.

SPEAKER_02

My artists are bloodborne pathogen certified, so they have taken their their courses on the safety of transferring blood from the client to themselves and how to avoid that, um, making sure that their sharps, their needles go into a sharps container to be disposed of properly and not cross-contaminating their workspace. Sterilization is a huge key factor, not only in tattoos, but in piercings as well. Um piercings you have to make sure that you don't stab yourself with the the needle that you're piercing your client with, as well as changing your tattoo needles from one style to the next, and making sure that your your sterile field stays sterile.

SPEAKER_01

Is there any we haven't talked about piercing? Uh, but it intrigues me. I had my tongue pierced back in college for about a day and a half. Oh, and it was so dumb.

SPEAKER_02

I I was dumb with mine. I got braces put on one morning, and later that night I went and I got my tongue pierced, and my mouth was not happy with me.

SPEAKER_01

I woke up uh with like what have I done my thought? And uh it lasted about a day and a half, and I swallowed it. Oh swallowed the stud.

SPEAKER_02

That's the craziest thing. I had my tongue pierced for probably 10 years, and not a single time did I ever swallow it. But I have heard several people be like, Oh, I woke up and it was gone, and it's not in my bed, so I must have swallowed it. Like, how did you not?

SPEAKER_01

I called urgent care. How did you not feel that? They said uh it would more than likely pass it. And I thought, okay, yeah. So I I'm still alive 25 years later.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. Most of the people that have, they're like, oh yeah, I'm still here. I swallowed it last night and I'm okay. What's the is there anything that can't be pierced? No, not really.

SPEAKER_01

What's the oddest thing that you have pierced?

SPEAKER_02

Um me personally, I haven't pierced, but watching it be done, the weirdest thing, um the bridge of somebody's nose, like right right in between your eyes. I I would have never thought to put one there. Wow. But it has been done.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I know when I was a kid, very popular to get like an eyebrow done.

SPEAKER_02

Those are those are still pretty popular today. Um, nose piercings are another popular one, septum piercings, um, lip piercing. Not too popular nowadays. We get the clients that have their their ears gauged now, and they they're just looking for jewelry for it. Um to stretch your ears out is a process. You gotta take it slow and steady so you don't blow out your ear and and rip your ear, basically.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So Jake, tell me what are some of the the challenges that you run into on a day-to-day basis running a tattoo shop.

SPEAKER_02

Running a tattoo shop is it's some tattoos are impulsive, others are are planned years in advance or even months in advance. They they can be little teeny tiny ones that are that are just flashes that you're out at lunch one day with your friends or or your family, and and you just say, Oh yeah, let's go, let's go, you know, tattoo a clover on. Commemorate this moment. Exactly. Let's go commemorate this moment, or something that's planned out, you know, big back pieces and big sleeves to tell a story, or even just amplify uh a like that you have, something that that speaks measures to you.

SPEAKER_01

Let's talk about post-care of it. We touched on it in in our first segment. Um, but we've got the the supernova handmade infused bomb. Yeah. And one of the things that it says on there exclusively sold at uh Ancient Inc. Can I open this? Yeah, go ahead. Um, tell me a little bit about this.

SPEAKER_02

Supernova is we partnered with um a local small business um that is growers as well, um, to give a more organic, um, cruelty-free aftercare balm. A lot of aftercare instructions are using aquifore, using an unscented lotion, um Vaseline? Not so much Vaseline because it's it's very viscous and you want your tattoo to breathe. Um, so if you if you do use Vaseline, you use a very thin layer so that it doesn't trap moisture in it. With with Supernova. The infusion helps with an analgesic effect. It takes away a little bit of the pain and the redness and the swelling. I use it on mine. It locks in moisture. There's vitamin E oil in it. So it helps with scarring, I would say. Um, because that's that's kind of what a tattoo is.

SPEAKER_01

I see it's cannabis infused. It is. So does it have a numbing effect as well?

SPEAKER_02

Not so much a numbing effect, just a a pain relief effect. Um, it's not only I use it for my tattoos to lock in the moisture. Um, the colors, it revitalizes colors. It's really good for color tattoos. It just it brings that pop of color back to life. Um but you can also use it as as just a regular hand cream um or as as lip care, and it it works wonders, honestly.

SPEAKER_01

It does, yeah. Yeah, I I I I really like it. I feel like in the tattoo industry, there's a a few, I don't know, let's call them kisses of death. Yeah. Uh tell us what that might be.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, a kiss of death, in my personal opinion, is is a name. Um brief story. I had these clans come in and they were they were dating, and uh they said, we want to get each other's names on our faces. Oh. And I was like, you guys are just dating, you're not married. How long have you guys been dating for? Oh, not too long, and you want to get each other's names. To this day, I hope that they're still together. I I haven't seen them, I haven't heard, but it was eyebrow half moon, like down on their chin. So I'm hoping that they're still together. But names, names are one of those those kisses of death, unless it's like your child's name, sure, your pet's name. Um you can do your own name, like your last name, because those last names hold a big significant part of your life. But a partner's name, you never know what's gonna happen in life.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's a really big commitment.

SPEAKER_02

It's on you forever.

SPEAKER_01

I've been married for a long time, and I don't think that I would do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

No.

SPEAKER_01

Of your tattoos, and you've got beautiful on that, which one hurt the worst? Oh. And is it a good pain? Is it like one of those things like where a mother would say, Yes, I'll have another child because I've forgotten about the pain I experienced in childbirth?

SPEAKER_02

Um, my most painful, it it depends on the area, really. Like inside of my arm right here on on this part, it's it doesn't really get touched that often. Um, so that was that was a painful one. Um down my leg, when it got to like my knee area, when it's right on bone, that's when it starts to get real spicy. When it's in a meteor section, you think of it as a controlled pain. A lot of people assimilate or or look at tattoos as ink therapy. It's a controlled pain that you know at the end of it you're going to walk out of there with something beautiful, something meaningful. So regardless of the pain scale that it is, you know that you're going to get something beautiful out of it.

SPEAKER_00

Should you tip a tattoo artist?

SPEAKER_02

You should. Um, but that's that's based on the the service that you get. It is it is a service industry. Um if you if if you don't have the money to give a little bit extra, don't go right right now.

SPEAKER_01

I'd rather tip a tattoo artist than like my Starbucks barista. Yeah. Um, because anybody can make coffee, but not everybody can.

SPEAKER_02

Not everybody can create art. Yeah. Lasting art. It's on you forever. A Starbucks drink, you're done in five, ten minutes. But a piece of art, you walk around and you're basically advertising for them, as I do with mine. I'm a walking billboard for not only my artist, but for my shop. I represent my shop each and every day that I get up and I get ready and I go out into the world.

SPEAKER_01

What's the cover-up process like? So, someone, you know, hey, uh Lake Havisu 2001, and uh, you know, it was a great idea at the time, but now, hey, I've moved on, I've matured, you know, maybe I'm not uh, you know, I've got spicy on my arm and I'm not so spicy. I'm not so spicy anymore. I want something different. What is that process like?

SPEAKER_02

It depends on how big it is, how dark it is. Um, because if you want to cover up something that is full black, it's just gonna turn into more black. You would have to box it out and get it blacked. So if it's big and bold and black, even sometimes with color, you can you can put other colors into it to kind of intermix with that to take away from it. But if it's big and black, you have to start to get it removed so that it lightens it. That on the same hand is kind of costly to have a tattoo removed and then go back and get another tattoo on top of that.

SPEAKER_01

Would a removal process affect the palette, the skin?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah, because it's you're lasering it off, and so now your skin is a is a completely different texture. Um, and now you have underlying ink to it. It lightens the ink, so it's it's less harsh and it doesn't take as much time to cover it, but there's still underlying effects to it, it does, it changes the anatomy of your skin completely.

SPEAKER_01

We talked about different skin types, older individuals. How does a tattoo artist uh beyond the drawing sense come to understand that skin? What's their training process? Is there a formal training process?

SPEAKER_02

Just experience doing it and doing, like I said, doing it more often, just tattooing more of that skin type because it every skin type is different. Not every elderly person has the same kind of skin, they're not gonna bruise as fast, they can be susceptible to skin tears. Um their skin might not hold the ink as well as, say, a younger person. Um it all it it's just practice.

SPEAKER_01

I knew a a guy who was I guess you could call it an apprenticeship in a tattoo shop, and he would practice on oranges. Yep. Um, because it mimics a lot of the same characteristics of of skin.

SPEAKER_02

Oranges, um, second skin, um pig skin, um, lemons, a lot of fruit, like I like oranges, lemons. Um you can practice on chicharrones. Not chicharones, but like those are fries, like actual pig skin, yeah. Or or what we call fake skin. It's it's like rubber almost, but it it gives you this the the motion of the needle strokes. Um and with fruit you can you can practice your needle depth. If you go too far, you're prone to blowing out the line that you drew. You have to be at a certain depth so that it just sits in a layer of the skin. Like the just just that very top layer. Um like I think it's called the epidermis.

SPEAKER_01

Um that sounds about right. Yeah. Yeah. Uh leave us with some parting words. Um, where's your shop? How can people find you? Um, we're gonna put all of your contact information on here. This has been a wonderful conversation. Thanks. I really appreciate this. And one of the reasons I do this is is because I learned so much about something that I'm not a tattoo guy. Um, but it but it interests me. I've got a brother who, if you asked him how many tattoos he has, he would say one because it covers his entire body. Yeah. Um, but I didn't go that route. It uh but it's something that I've always been interested in. So give me your closing pitch uh and tell tell us where we where we can find you.

SPEAKER_02

Our shop is uh local here in Mesa. Um it's uh it's on the border of Mesa and Gilbert. We're on the southeast corner of Gilbert and Southern. Um we are kind of tucked away in a corner, but we we are right next to Audio Express. Um you can do a walk-in six days a week. We also set appointments. Um, bigger tattoos, we prefer appointments to be set for so that we can consult with you and get final word on placement for it and what you what you're actually looking for. Um we're on social media, Instagram, Ancient Inc.A. Um, our website, ancientinkaz.com, we're on Facebook. Everything is Ancient Inc.

SPEAKER_01

Awesome. Jake, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for having me here. Appreciate it. This was this was great. Thank you. If you'd like to be featured on Casey's Corner, please reach out to me directly. Uh please like, subscribe, share this video, find us on all the social medias, check out the book. Have a great day.