LA Ink Episode 8 Recap : 'Kat's Gnarly Day'

This week on TLC’s LA Ink, we see more of the same from Kat Von D and friends: some rocking tattoos and a slice of scripted “reality tv” drama to serve as a backdrop to the tattoo show.

The first patron to come in is Mara, who wants a tattoo of a skull with a veil to simultaneously symbolize the death of her single life and her rebirth as a married woman. Hannah hooks her up with a large, colorful tattoo on her right arm and the job is pretty impressive.

Kat’s pays a visit to her dad, Rene, who is restoring her 1951 Chevy. He lives a few hours away, but she invites him to come visit the shop since they don’t get to spend much time together. They seem to have a really good relationship, although she doesn’t resemble him too much.

Back at the shop, Frank Iero, guitarist from My Chemical Romance shows up for an appointment with Kat, but she’s completely missing. Getting bored waiting, he starts stacking the bathroom vending machine full of soda.

The next patron is Robynn, who would like to get a tattoo from Kim of a baby Buddha as a reminder of her adopted son. Kim takes her rudimentary sketch and comes up with a professionally drawn design. The leg tattoo is done with some really nice colors and the client is blown away with the work.

When Kat finally shows up (5 hours later), her excuse is lame; she slept in. Seems a bit odd that one can sleep in 5 hours and it’s the middle of the day. Anyway, she’s pretty bummed out that she’s not exercising good business practice. It turns out to not be a big deal for Frank, who is happy to get a tattoo of his grandfather. Frank brings in a picture of his grandfather, who was a skilled drummer. Kat does a great job of replicating the picture, but actually makes a few mistakes in doing it. Frank wanted the word “family” in Italian in his tattoo, which is spelled “famiglia”. However, Kat spells it “familia,” which is the Spanish spelling. Whoops! He also wanted the word “hero” (spelled “eroe”), to which Kat puts “idol” (spelled “idolo”). I guess they didn’t think anyone would notice!

Mitch comes to visit Corey to get a tattoo of an Incan Tumi to remind him of his Peruvian roots. Corey does an amazing job of replicating the original design the client brings in, with some serious detail on the tattoo.

Next up, Talia comes in to visit Hannah in order to get a tattoo of her family’s Scottish crest. Things go smoothly until the end where the pain of the tattoo needle becomes unbearable for the patron. She almost blackouts, but is able to make it through with the help of Pixie. Again, Hannah does an awesome job on the tattoo and the colors are amazing.   

The episode ends with Hannah, Kim and Pixie playing hooky by going to Venice Beach to roller skate. Excluding Kat’s tattoo mistake, this episode had some really good tattoos and is worth a watch.