Wintership Tattoo — Local services in Eau Claire

Terrible experience. I made my appointment 8 months in advance to assure availability. The individual I spoke with at the time was completely vapid. Tall, skinny, with a "too cool for school" attitude. He took a picture of my design idea yet (as I later found out) never passed it on to my artist.

I called the shop 3 days before my appointment to verify and the man (I use that term loosely) I spoke with seemed as if he had no idea how computers worked. It took him about 15 minutes but he finally found my appointment. The day of my appointment I arrived 10 minutes early. Once inside the shop the lady at the front desk was too busy fielding calls to talk with me so I stood around for another 5-10 minutes waiting to even be acknowledged.

Finally my artist came out to greet me. He had nothing prepared in regards to my tattoo ahead of time! Honestly, no forethought put into it at all!! He designed and developed it at that time with nothing but my memory of the design and his artistry to go on.

After the tattoo was finished he told me the cost. It was reasonable, however, they had no documentation or record of what my deposit was!!!!! My artist, Keith, tells me he can only give me credit for $50. I'm fairly sure my deposit was $150-200! He tells me if I can find my appointment card (from 8 months ago) and bring it in I can have my money back.

I give this organization 2 stars. 1 for having and maintaining a clean and sterile environment and another for great work. They're going to lose out on a lot of money, though. Me, my wife and all of my friends have sworn off them based on my experience. These people know and trust me.

If you're between the ages of 18 and 28 when money and organization doesn't matter to you this might be your place. If you're an adult who expects more, don't go here. Also, it should be noted this place operates cash only. They can't run a credit or debit card but they have an ATM (with a $3 charge) on site. A business that "loses track of deposits" and operates on cash only is a...

Hmmm, not particularly crazy. Had an appt with Jonah. He forgot. Someone else was able to get us in, she was super nice and friendly (forget the name) but seemed a little inexperienced. I’m not from the area and the tattoos I have are all done by the same person with 15+ years experience so I’m super particular about who I go to, but this was a family thing so I caved and said yes. Line work is iffy at best. Didn’t seem to be able to trace a simple word. The 11s on my neck are slanted, super disappointing. (The tornado part looks great though!) Again, she was very nice and kind and easy to work with, but I will stick with my artist and tattoo shop from now on. Lesson learned 🫠 and I’m nervous about how the name one will heal. The place I go to normally is always on time, works with you when printing your design to make sure it’s the correct size and line width you want it. She wasn’t really sure how I should lay for the neck tattoo which I guess I should have just held off at that point and said okay no, and went to my usual guy, but alas, I did not. Find a good tattoo artist and DON’T STRAY from them! Trust me haha!

She did have a soft touch. Nothing hurt, nor bled, which I’m hoping means she just had a light hand to her work, praying the black stays and the line work clears up...

By far the best place in town that offers tattoos. The staff/artists are always kind and are more than willing to work with your designs to get you what you love. As with most tattoo providers, you should be open to their artistic input as they'll know what works best in terms of size, placement, and color selection. If you provide reference images they are great at making it their own, but they aren't going to be willing to just steal another artist's work and reproduce it on you, and that's perfectly understandable. I go to Keith for all of my work and have for years, he is by far the best tattoo artist I have ever worked with. The only things I would recommend would be to schedule your appointment far in advance as they're always booked far ahead. Walk-ins are rarely ever offered. The other would be to prepare to pay more than what other shops in town offer, but know that you are getting what you pay for when you go here. They are fantastic artists and provide service that many others don't. I doubt I will ever visit another tattoo shop as long as...