Clifton Carter’s Lighthouse Tattoo

I’ve got two sleeves and a an progress back-​piece from Clifton — all amazing! Clifton is a great person, friend, artist. Wish he still lived close.

Have been there for 2 tattoos, love them, theyre not smug, they do great work, good prices, and they wont do something if it’s going to look bad.

Wow! What can you say about a man that does everything (with the hard work and support of his wife and fearless pooch). Clifton drew some art, we agreed it needed a slight change which brought the ink idea to perfection. A year and half later (Yes, it was very detailed). I have a treasure forever. Thats really what you want. Art for a lifetime. This is the place to have it done. Clifton is skater, painter, long distancer runner and straight punk rock human. If I need to suggest anything it would be snack machine with Vegan treats.

Just a quick update to say Jean Chen is Now @ Diving Swallow Oakland CA

WOW. JASON STOREY, NUFF SAID.
In my wild days I thought it would be the cool thing to get a tattoo. I was 14 years old and some shitty establishment in the city tatted me. It was gross. I am now 31 and finally decided to go and get the whole cover up deal. My boyfriend has amazing work on his arms and when i asked him who he recommended to do the cover up he said, «hands down, Jason Storey.» I found him at Clifton Carter’s Lighthouse Tattoo and the rest is history.
Let’s put it this way… I had a blob of ink smeared on my back and Jason has transformed my back into a piece of art. Now I am not one of those artsy fartsy type of people but I know good shit when I see it, and Jason is DA SH*TTTT!
I feel honored to have Jason working on me and look forward to many more tattoos from him. He is simply the best.
I got give a shout out to my girl JEAN CHEN who is the bomb. She came from Sacred Rose and now has settled in at CCLT. She used to have the station next to Jason and her work is off the hook. I HAVE SEEN SOME AWESOME WORK DONE BY JEAN. I always look forward to choppin it up with her every time I am in the shop. She has great style, great personality and really down to earth.
The shop isn’t fancy, but it is clean. I have OCD and would never even set foot inside an establishment that didn’t make my cut but this place is the definition of clean. They even sanitize the sinks. I love it!
BOTTOM LINE, LIGHTHOUSE TATTOO rocks and…
JASON STOREY IS THE CHEESE TO MY MAC AND CHEESE.

The space is a lot smaller than where my friend got her tattoo done, but Lighthouse is clean, professional, and looking at the photos of their work seems to have very talented artists!
Jean was my tattoo artist and she is excellent:

WELCOME O THE NEIGHBORHOOD! I am soo glad you are here.
Clifton Carter is an incredibly talented tattoo artist. I am so honored to have a original piece of his art now on my body. Not only is Clifton a brilliant tattoo artist and painter, but he is one of those genuine kind of guys that is so thoughtful and kind, he truly makes getting a tattoo a comfortable, personal experience. In my experience it has been rare to find a tattoo artist who is as personable, and down to earth as Clifton. Mr. Carter is enthusiastic about the work he does and pours his love into everything her does.
Clifton Carter’s Lighthouse tattoo is clean, well lite, and super professional and besides Clifton has a great group of very talented artists.

Saw photo work for some of Clifton’s work in the Guardian or SF Weekly, can’t remember. Loved it though. Anyway, it occurred to me that it was down the street from a friends house, I hadn’t been that way up Geary in a minute so I had to peep it. Gotta say that it was a friendly environment from the jump. I’m not gonna list the artist involved cause they’re fairly well known. Chaz Hurwitz is the gentlemen who greeted me with a smile and the environment is welcoming to say the least. I looked through books, and decided that it was Chaz I came to see, after looking at some of his books. To make a long story short, the shop is great, the people great, and the work I got from Chaz was ON POINT. I will be going back… what up to Chaz Rock…

Lighthouse Tattoo is overflowing with talent and I love the vibe the place has — completely unpretentious and conversation flows easily, as do the Prince tunes from the sound system (at least on the last two visits I made!).
I followed former Picture Machine artist Jason Storey here and with good reason — he’s the best man for the job! Jason did great work on the greyhounds chasing a rabbit ’round my right ankle — the colors are still bright and the detail is fabulous almost a year later — so I’ve enlisted him to work on a larger piece on my forearm, a white rabbit with a pocket watch. (You can never have too many rabbits, yo.)
Jason has been patient with me through the drawing/​revising process and it’s much appreciated as I’ll be wearing this, well, forever. I have complete confidence that I’m going to love this piece as much as I do my hounds.
Update: Photo added!

5 STARS ALL THE WAY FOR JASON STOREY!
After lagging for 6 months, I finally got my ankle tat yesterday @ Clifton Carter’s Lighthouse Tattoo.
One of my fav ladies from SILK has an elaborate dragon back piece that she was going to add some detail to and she suggested Jason Storey from Picture Machine. All her recommendations have always been stellar, so I decided to start my research. I noticed from the other Unilocal reviews that Jason no longer worked at PM anymore! However, I saw a pic of an amazing full back piece of kois and cherry blossoms and contacted Yayoi S., fellow Unilocaler and poster of the pic. Interestingly enough, her hubby was… Jason Storey who now works at CCLT (opened in Oct ’09)! She suggested that I look up her hubby’s work on MySpace and I was at awe of his artistry esp in Asian art and his use of colors. After viewing several pics, I was sold!
JASON’S SPECIALTY:
Colors, flowers, koi, phoenix, tigers, dragons, birds and Asian fables.
PROCESS:
1) On my first visit (2.20.10), I brought in several sample pics of a butterflies in different profiles and told Jason what I wanted to change/​add based on the pics.
2) Left a deposit which goes toward the cost of your tat and was lucky enough to snag someone’s time-​slot who had cancelled.
3) Several days later, he emailed me a sketch and we agreed to work more on the sketch the day of.
4) On the day of (2.28.10), Jason finalized my sketch and drew out stencils in 2 different sizes and placed each on my ankle for comparison. He shifted it back and forth to make sure it was perfectly placed; right above the inner ankle bone. Once I ok’d the placement of it, the process begin.
5) He started with the outline which took about 15 minutes.
6) I opted for the numbing crème which he placed on after the outline and I had to wait 15 minutes for it to kick in before he started shading.
7) Total process took about 45 – 50 minutes to complete my tat including the 15 minute wait for the numbing crème to kick in.
8) Jason then explained the after-​care instructions:
*Keep tat bandaged for several hours
*After several hours, clean the tattooed area with warm water and non-​scented anti-​bacterial soap (Dial)
*Dry tat and cover w/​ointment (Aquaphor)
*Clean and apply a new layer of ointment 2 – 3 times a day for 3 – 4 days
*Keep tat away from water, sweat, and sunlight
*After several days when your skin starts to flake and the itching begins, you can lightly slap your tat but do NOT scratch it as it will tear out the ink which may cause an infection.
RESULTS:
I was ESCTATIC when I saw the finished product!!! The butterfly was very detailed for its small size. I love how the wings of the butterfly was prominent yet soft. And, I LOVED, LOVED the shading. The pic taken with my stupid CB seriously doesn’t do it any justice!
SERVICE:
Jason is AWESOME… he is very professional, personable, and down-​to-​earth. He even offered part of his Twix he got next door. Seriously, who does that these days? Now, that customer service! He listens well to what you want and offers suggestions on how to make your tat unique. I even got to meet Jason’s wife, Yayoi S. in person who is as sweet as can be!
PAIN:
This is my 4^th tat and if I had to compare the pain to my other tats, it would rate as follows:
*Eyebrow (Permanent Make-​up): Pain Scale of 9.5 — Keeping in mind, this was done 12 years ago when the technology then wasn’t too great.
*Back of Neck Tat (Soul Patch): Pain Scale of 4.5 — It felt like a needle dragging across your skin. It stung and was slightly painful for the first 5 min, but once my adrenaline kicked in, it felt like needle prickles.
*Wrist Tat (Soul Patch): Pain Scale of 8 — Because the skin is so delicate around the wrist, I have to admit it was very painful and felt like my wrist was being sawed off for the first 15 minutes or so.
*Inner Ankle Tat (CCLT): Pain scale of 5 — For some reason, I thought the ankle tat would be worse than the wrist tat which is why I’ve been lagging. The first 10 minutes during the outline portion did hurt; but it was more annoying that anything. However, the numbing crème made the shading virtually painless in some areas.
CLEANLINESS:
CCLT is ultra clean and the staff is meticulous about cleaning the stations. While I was waiting for my final sketch to be drawn, one of the staff sanitized everything including the SINK!
TRANSPORATION/​PARKING:
CCLT is right in front of the 38 bus stop and there is easy street parking (2 hours max on Mon-​Fri) on Commonwealth.
My entire process from start to finish and the results were BEYOND my expectations and I would HIGHLY recommend Jason to those looking to add a one-​of-​a-​kind tat (esp Asian tats) to your collection or a tat virgin who’s been putting off getting one b/​c of fear of pain (put the numbing crème and you’re all good).
I will definitely be back for my back piece!

Something strange has happened to my earlier review and it is not showing up! I’m writing this update to see if the update will stick. Plus, now that my tattoo is healed, I can add that it looks great! My original review said:
I recently completed a big, colorful, multi-​hour tattoo with Jean Chen at Lighthouse Tattoo. I first got tattooed by Jean when she was at Sacred Rose in Berkeley. Followed her over to Lighthouse because she rocks! She’s got a great eye for composition and color and she has a great sense of humor (important for those many hours you spend in close contact when getting a tattoo). I have 4 tattoos from Jean. All came out exactly as I wanted, healed well, and look great.

My review is for Clifton Carter, since I have yet to visit his new shop. I’ve been getting ink sporadically from Clif for about 9 years and I have always been 1000% satisfied with the art that he produces for me. I love that there is a level of understanding of the tattoo and how it will look best on your canvas. I have always been able to go to him with a general idea of what I want and when I see what he has come up with, I am always amazed and impressed. I am very excited to see that he has been able to venture out on his own and open a shop, so kudos to him for that. I can’t wait to make my appointment for some new work from Clif, it has been far too long. =)

I’ve been getting tattooed by Jason Storey for almost 10 years now, and it just keeps getting better. He’s done’ most of the all-​black work on my arms, and just a couple months back he finished the 2-​year long process that resulted in an awesome full leg sleeve.
I’ve followed Jason since he was tattooing in Berkeley, and now at Lighthouse, the quality of tattooing (and conversation) continues.
In addition, I’ve also been tattooed by Jean who did a great job as well. Lighthouse tattoo is super-​solid.

i can only echo the accolades folks have posted about this tattoo shop below.
i got my first tattoo here under the careful, highly-​skilled hands of jean chen. jean did an excellent, *excellent* job, and her patience and care with me as her client was exceptional. the quality of her work is superb. i may not know much in the way of tattoo shops but i do know a serious artist who takes her job seriously when i see one. kudos, jean. and thanks.
carter’s shop is very clean, very comfortable, and has a special «neighborhoody» vibe to it. what i mean by «neighborhoody“is that you’re more than a mere client at Clifton Carter’s — you’re a guest whose satisfaction is the main concern. for a first-​timer like me, it made a real difference.
put it this way: when i want my second tattoo i know where i’ll be going.

Clifton is a professional artist. He listens to his clients, digests what they want, and then he does his magic. I have three stellar tattoos from Clifton and I could not be more proud of them. Not only is he is an auteur of tattooing, but he is an enthusiastic student of art history. My experience has been that I will bring him something; he will study it; he will research it, and he will add to it.
Clifton’s story itself is inspirational, as you will find out when you sit down for a tattoo. He develops relationships with his clients and I feel honored to wear his work. He is more expensive than other artists, but my experience is that his work has healed more quickly and remained more bold.
If you are a first-​time client, I highly recommend Clifton. He is low-​key and stoked that you are making the plunge. Call him directly and make an appointment, that seems to work much better. His shop is new and the paint is still drying, but don’t be put off — it’s the best of the best.

My wife and I just got tattooed from Clifton Carter! Amazing work and very professional. I cannot say anymore than we will live the rest of our lives truly in love with our art! Thank you Lighthouse Tattoo!

I have been getting tattooed by Jean Chen for about 5 years now, and she is a phenomenal artist! She’s professional and talented and is great at translating my ideas into good-​looking tattoos. I always get compliments on the tattoos that Jean has given me. I’m so stoked that she is back on this side of they bay now, so my lazy ass won’t have to bart over to Berkeley to get my tattoo fix.

Jason Storey is an awesome tattoo artist. He created a piece for me that matched exactly what I had wanted in a tattoo. He listens well, is patient & professional, has a good personality, and is talented… all good qualities for a tattoo artist. I met Jason when he was at another site and happy to have located him at this new shop. Now I know where to go when I am ready for my next ink. I highly recommend Jason Storey.

Clifton is the best! I’ve been tattooed by him for nearly 8 years and to date, I have 11 pieces of varying sizes by him. Each new tattoo is even more amazing than the last. Clif’s work is the real deal. I feel lucky to have my collection and can’t wait to keep adding to it.

I first met Clifton when he was working over at Tattoo City, and I can honestly say he is an awesome person and tattoo artist, who is always very attentive to his clients needs. Unlike some tattoo artists who i have encountered, Clifton actually listens carefully to what you want and tries to deliver, and is more than willing to make any minor adjustments you may want.
He has done two relatively large pieces on my torso and I will undoubtedly return for more, just as soon as I can find out what else I want. Clifton does his tattooing both skillfully and efficiently, which is important when you are paying by the hour. He is very reasonable and never tries to overcharge his clients; he always deducts breaks and what not from the total time. I have a lot of tattoo’s and so i speak from much experience when i say that i definitely recommend anyone interested in getting a tattoo to check him out.