We're Moving!

We're extremely pleased to announce that we got a new store! And it's right around the corner from our current location, so you don't have to go very far. We just signed the lease, and need to do some renovating to the space, so we will still be open in the same old Robot location for about a month. We promise to keep you posted closer to the move!

The new location is awesome in many ways, including:

• We will now be offering tattooing! And yes, we will give discounts on robot tattoos ;-)
• We will have even more room to display our amazing jewelry selection, more options for you and more eye candy!
• There is a seating area! This is exciting for us so we don't have to make you wait around standing while you're in line to get pierced or stretched.
• Overall, it is going to be a prettier and more pleasant space to be in -- the heat and AC work perfectly - wow!

The only sad part about this move is that we will no longer be sharing space with Derek of Corrosion Records and Kori of The Scarlet Garden, it has been fun creating the honeycomb hideout that is The Black Market, and we will miss that comraderie ;(

New address: 2330 NW Westover

Where is that? Right BEHIND Urban Outfitters on that little side street.

Across from Cost Plus World Market, Ben & Jerry's, and underneath "The Hip Hound"

Parking? Actually, parking is easier up there, it's a little secret spot that most people don't know about, so there's almost always a parking space to be had.

Can't wait to see all of you at the opening party! (Details coming soon...)

You say tomato

by jon guac

So happy robots... let's talk about behind-the-scenes, real-life piercing stuff. A piercing shop is a business. Wherever you go you to get pierced you should feel comfortable and we try our hardest to provide that. We don't compete and we don't bad mouth other shops -- but not all shops are like this. Think for yourself. We always stress not to believe everything you hear, be it internet or friends or even other piercers.

If you know me you know that I love food analogies... in this case, think of a body piercer as a chef and a piercing is a meal. Not all chefs cook the same, and a good chef will recognize this. Whereas one chef may use basil another might use garlic. The important thing is that the meal tastes good. Piercers are the same. A piercer's training is what they live by, and a good piercer will be open minded enough to accept that there are other methods to realize the same result. Different is not bad. If we see a piercing that could technically be better, instead of criticizing it we confirm that you are personally satisfied with it. If it's not dangerous and it makes you happy, why would we want to take that away from you? A good example is the many different ways you can bend a nostril screw. The right way is the style that's comfortable and doesn't hang down looking like a booger. There are no standard bends for a body part as unique as individual's nose, like I always say, noses are like snow flakes; no two are the same.

I worked with a guy a long time ago who called me into a piercing room to back him up on a piercing he considered bad. It looked fine. The critic was adamant that the girl remove it and pay us to redo it. I could not support his opinion, because that's all it was -- an opinion. I have seen the best piercers screw up and apprentices achieve perfection. Take pride in your piercings but accept that the human body is not perfect, and if your piercing looks good to you that's all that's important. Be careful Robots -- if someone is micromanaging your look, it's usually for their own gain. We fix things for people, but we don't dis the piercer or the shop. Just be aware of people's intentions when they offer unwanted advice, we all have rent to pay. A good piercing is one that makes it's bearer happy. So be well little Robots, until next time!

APP 2008: the Saga

by jon guac

After working my ass off making a shit-ton (my favorite system of measurement) of jewelry and networking set up with my booth mates, it was finally time to go to the horrible land of Vegas. After kissing Fluffybutt good bye (and getting a mouthful of fur) Meghan, Jo, and I were unceremoniously dumped at PDX airport with tons of awkward luggage and said goodbye to our beautiful city.

In the airport we hooked up with Cheryl and Frank from Heart Of Metal Designs and sat far away from the drones who stared at our uniqueness with obvious secretive condescending glances. The airline was great and showered us with crappy snacks as appreciation for tipping $2 for good beer. After landing, I felt like Frodo Baggins entering Mordor.

For those of you whom have never been to Vegas, imagine it as a Blue Ray version of the ugliest porn you have ever seen. The airport is as inhospitable and confusing as a lab experiment but the people were friendly. Navigating its labyrinth with heavy-ass bags was a trial, but where there’s a will; there’s a way.

Meghan is my favorite of many things (of course she is, I worship her). But as a driver; she’s tops. She drove like a proper New Yorker and passed all of the star struck tourists and tired taxis, Meghan doing a relaxed and graceful 85 mph. Soon we found ourselves having decent Korean food at 11pm after buying a small inventory of alcohol and Red Bull,. We had arrived.

Of course they fucked me on the rooms. I had requested a month ago adjoining rooms and confirmed it not 3 hours prior, but according to the nice man at the desk, those previous promises were empty. What can you do? I’ve always hated The Riviera Hotel, and this was just another scab for me to pick at for all of their inhospitality. After saying good night to Jo who was eager to hook up with her pinball buddies Black Kellan and Devin, Meghan and I sipped some pomegranate vodka, took a bath and went to bed.

Oh what a shit sleep I had. I dreamed all of our special order tables were broken, that my friend Jenella from Tawapa grew a beard, and that I was in constant danger of rolling off the bed. I was less than excited for the day after that, but I got better. Armed with Dave Rodriguez, we trudged ourselves down to the expo to set up.

As soon as we arrived the APP greeters were dreading me. I was flattered I guess that I had such notoriety, but was puzzled until I realized they thought I would put up a fuss about the amount of passes, free and purchased we were allowed. A buddy of mine; April, made the whole experience fun and I could see why they were wary, there was no way we could all get our passes. If they were worried about me, wait until my friend and booth mate Kate Wilson showed up.

Setting up is hard to do when you want to see your friends you haven’t seen in a year, but time was short and I had a lot of stuff to put out so catching would have to wait. The rental company lost our extra tables, as predicted Kate could not get her people in, and the clock was ticking. Meghan and Jo went to get some important supplies from Whole Foods and the liquor store, and five minutes before the doors opened I was finally ready.

What a rush. Melissa from Koi cleaned me out of all of my poppy designs and bought a bunch of other stuff. We called the shop a bunch of times to run credit cards so it felt almost as if Gentry was here with us. I cracked open a bottle of wine and let Jo and Meghan churn out the orders while I caught up with old friends. Mutt from Little 7 looked great, he is my favorite rogue-ish nut and has a good head for business. My old boss and still friend; Lori from NY Adorned came by and we had a good talk while shopping together. Reign and Maya looked awesome and their booth was hopping. Matthew from Equipped For Eternity was as usual more metal than anybody and our neighbors, Tawapa, were easy on the eyes all day and just are super sweet. Phoebe, owner of Tawapa, and I went for a stroll to see who copied her designs this year, it was too many. The Buddha kids are our other neighbors and the nice people across the way have a cute little Balinese kitten that attacks your feet. Meghan and Jo were a powerhouse team, Cheryl from Heart Of Metal was stirring up interest, Jesse from Somatic Glass was playing video games and Dave from Lobey Wan kept wandering off but we expected that. Kate from Tradities had me in stitches the whole time, teasing passerby and Dave and me. Before I knew it, it was 8 o’clock and the first day was over.

Normally in Vegas I stay up all night drinking but tonight we took some pals and had really good Thai food. What a relief, good food is hard to find there. We attempted to go to a performance art thing with suspensions and stuff but Cheryl lost her ID and it was $10 to get in so we said fuck it. I hate most suspension performance stuff anyway and we have some talented people here so why would I want to see it on vacation? We blew that shit off and went to the pinball museum who stayed open late for us and we had an awesome time.

Again I slept like shit. The bed is horrible and the temperature fluctuates too much. Dave spent the night with a girl so he showed up late to the convention. Jo had already done inventory so we just hung out. This day was a little more mellow sales-wise, but it was fun. I gave Jo a hundred bucks shopping money and she spent it quick. Alicia, previous president of the APP, asked if we would act as show-and-tell for a class she was teaching and we agreed, since neither of us had ever stepped foot in an APP classroom. The day ended without incident, except some vendor’s horrible child was running around being a nuisance. More than one vendor made un-pc remarks about children that day. Nighttime brought a sushi party of 35 convention people in a really good restaurant. We cunningly got there ahead of the party to eat quicker and not get screwed on the bill. We also decided to keep Jo there another day so her and Gentry could represent Robot together. Gentry’s flight was late so I went to bed and let Jo tour guide her around after I paid for Gentry’s cab from the airport. I felt exhausted and a night of drinking was not going to help so Meghan and I got a pay-per-view movie and fell asleep before 20 minutes had passed.

Finally a decent night’s sleep! The girls (Jo and Gentry) were up and at them and I paid for Gentry’s passes to work at my booth and off we went. I sent the girls out to shop for the store and Meghan and I tried to slip away to get good food before my APP class thing but traffic was so bad I went back to the expo. I knew that me being late is usually OK because things I commit to never start when they are supposed to so I like to be on-time, but always have to wait. A nice fellow collected Dave and I and we went to class.

Oh it was stuffy in there. Dave and I sat to the side facing the class and I witnessed people taking notes. The class was called “Piercing Aesthetics” and we were there to represent a timeline of style (?). After 20 minutes I was fighting my eyelids from closing and got Alicia’s blessing to leave and come back when we actually had something to contribute. The speaker, a nice intelligent fellow was explaining the color chart when we left. I felt a little confused and wondered if all the classes were like that, in which case I was missing nothing. After returning, the class was critiquing photos of pierced people and I quickly got bored again. I have always hated school and my lack of attention span was like torture. Finally Alicia showed old pictures of herself, did a quick explanation, and I was the next slide to be shown.

Now I love being the center of attention, but public speaking is tricky and trying to amuse a room of serious 20-something year old piercers is no easy audience. I quickly got irritated with their apathy and trainwrecked any intelligent speech I might have given. I subliminally heckled them, made some un-funny jokes, and left them with the impression that my aesthetics were based on laziness and nothing deeper. Dave fared better because he is so shy. He would not stand at he podium, answered some questions minimally, and class was over.

Yay for Thai food! Meghan brought some back and I devoured it with a beer. Sales were slow again this day but it didn’t matter. Tuesday was better than all week last year and that week was my best year yet so at this point; who cares? We wrapped up at 6 and took Jo and Jesse (Somatic Glass) to the airport. Upon returning, we went to “Slots of Fun” and I learned roulette on a 50 cent table. I quickly lost $20 but Meghan was naturally doing well, so after I licked my wounds I returned and played a little smarter and made up for my losses. Gambling requires control, and you won’t win big if you don’t bet big, but I recognize that trap so when we were done, we were done. Back to the room and to bed for an early 10am expo opening because it was the last day. Normally the last day is hectic and profitable. Armed with Gentry I attempted to get her in 10 minutes early to set up, but the door guy refused her entry upon fear of him getting in trouble. This shit was getting to me. Piercing is based on free spirited people, but make a government out of it and stupid rules make it just as stupid as real governments or corporations. Instead of fighting which was my natural instinct, I had Gentry wait.

The day never took off. Some brainiac booked an important class taking up the entire expo day except for the last ½ hour, and when class was over they announced the expo was not open anymore anyway. What a fucking waste of time and money. We did some sales, but not as many that we could have if the APP town crier didn’t destroy any chance of a crowd. Fighting a bad mood, we packed up the booth, drank some vodka and went to the pool (it closes at 6pm so this was my first chance getting in). This was the best part of the week. After getting a buzz on, I popped in to a comic book store, ate more Thai food, went on a roller coaster at Circus Circus, and came home. Other than Cheryl (Heart Of Metal)’s boyfriend Frank having food poisoning, the trip home was uneventful.

Portland rules. Leaving that nasty city and coming home has inspired me so much, I almost don’t want to travel anymore. Our cats were happy to see us and slept with us. We ate our favorite breakfast sandwiches from The Little Red Bike Café and watched Hellboy in bed. We admired our treasures we bought and are just happy to be happy. Until next year!

The basement of doom

I should have a hangover. I dj-ed an all night party last night in my friends spooky basement bar. My intent was to make it a goth party but only my favorite 10 goths showed up. The rest were hippy burning man types and punks, so music-wise I had to play stuff with a more widespread appeal, like punk and 80s and metal. I had fun, people said they had fun. The cops did not have fun. They showed up around 3 a.m. I guess but they were cool about it. The funny thing was that some holier-than-thou punk girl lectured me about the cops coming as my fault, not the drunk smokers outside carousing. A younger me would have told her to fuck off, but I was annoying when I was younger too, so I let her feel like she made a difference. The speakeasy is one of my favorite places to dj at, but getting people out is always a challenge. Attending guests were members of Prozac n’ Peaches, Jeremiah the stilt walker, DJs Adamnation, Morella, Megadeath, Braineater, and Jimmy Jamma. Lucretia from the belly dance troop Serpentine came, Ash from Submarine Fleet, Roger from Circle 23 photography, Lisa from the suspension group C.O.R.E, Blake from Sissyboy, Caedman from Play Dead performance group, and of course Sam; who does lots of things but is probably best known because of his full face tattoo, which is NOT Maori (though uneducated people who have seen “Once Were Warriors” think it is).

Check out the spookiness!

Something nice

So the other day I was in a lighting store, trying not to lose my patience with how slow the service was. I try and be patient, but being from the East Coast, NY and Connecticut mainly, I do get annoyed with crappy service. So while I was waiting, an older woman in conservative hippy clothes approached me and told me how impressed she was how I look a way she can’t understand or relate to, but because of my mode of dress and being well-spoken, I defied her stereotype of typical scumbag and she appreciated that I was not. Actually, she thought I was pretty cool and got embarrassed about her sermon.

This story isn’t as good as my buddy Melanie’s (ex- High Priestess, current super star hairdresser) told me. She was traveling by train when she noticed a woman glaring at her. Accustomed to negative behavior, she returned innocently to her book. Soon after, she was aware of an incident. Apparently, the glaring woman was choking on her food. Melanie went over and gave her the Heimlich. The woman recovered and Melanie went back to her book as the choking victim rested. The woman then approached Melanie, and told her that when she first saw her she was disgusted. After Melanie saved her life, the woman realized that Melanie was not some useless, drug and sex addicted freak rock star, that she was what Melanie is; a caring person with lots of holes in her face. Melanie was so touched she started crying. It’s great when people’s minds are forcibly changed in a good way.

New Robot Art

If you’ve ever been to the store you know that we collect all things robotic. We have a nice little selection of original robot art, some given to us by customers and some stuff we’ve picked up along the way. Here’s a recent acquisition:

And here’s some robot porn! Yep, robot porn. This one’s hanging at home though ;-)

Apprenticing is fun

So what happens in a day of the life of a piercing apprentice? Hmmmm… Well I’d love to tell you how fun and exciting it is at every moment but that would be a lie. Although we do like to eat cookies a lot – that’s exciting! Actually, the other day was pretty thrilling. I got to test out what smelling salts smell like. I’ll give ya a bit of background. A very common occurrence for people who are getting pierced or getting their ears gauged is for their body to freak out a bit, i.e. make them pass out. This especially happens when people don’t eat – so eat before ya come in!! :) Sooooo when people pass out if they don’t wake up right away we get to pull out the SMELLING SALTS! And put it under their noses and bam! They are awake whether they want to get up or not. Well after I went over these procedures with my wonderful boss Jon I mentioned I had no idea what they smelled like. (good job gentry). That was enough to make him to direct me to the piercing room where he proceeded to pull out a small little white pill looking thing and snap it. So I did the smartest thing I could, I leaned right over it and sniffed hard. An intense almost burning salty sensation flowed into my nose. Oh man it was horrible, horrible enough for Jon to want to remember what it smelled like too. Well in the end we stumbled out of the piercing room coughing and holding our noses with salt scents following us. So the lesson of this day is to either avoid curiousity or learn to deal with a bit of pain! Peace – Gentry

We Now Accept Credit Cards!

Ok so this isn’t the most interesting blog entry in the world, but just wanted to share the good news. Up until this point we could only do Paypal or Google Checkout—now you can pay with your very own credit or debit card right here on the site – no 3rd party processing. Isn’t that special? We think so ;-)