Meet Brett Haynes and Conor Ward | Founders and Professional Tattoists at Bonedale Tattoo

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brett Haynes and Conor Ward and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brett and Conor, what is the most important factor behind your success?
One of the most important factors behind our success is community involvement. We would not be able to thrive in a small mountain town without the tightness and involvement of our local community. Other factors include determination , habit, open mindedness, and creative exploration. We create out of habit, and we built our business from the ground up with no question of whether or not we would make it. Honing in on the manifestation of our common goals. We knew what we wanted to do, and we did it, not without the help of our local community.

– Conor Ward and Brett Haynes (Founders of Bonedale Tattoo)

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Responses by Brett Haynes (Founder and Tattooer):

What sets you apart from others? What are you most proud of or excited about?

In tattooing what I think sets my personal art apart is the breadth of styles I am putting out. Although I most prefer to do traditionalish tattoos with a psychedelic twist. As a custom tattooist I take mostly anything that “walks in the door” as they say – save photorealism. Another thing that sets mine (and the studios art) as a whole is staying open minded and staying playful. Much of what we create on our own is outside of the box, playful, and funky. There’s a lack of stagnation in exploring styles and remembering to have fun with it.

As a tattoo studio as a whole Id say our artsy-ness sets us apart. Although all tattooers are required to have some sort of art skill, we pride ourselves on out of the box werido artistry. Were into weird anything. Id say that sets us apart as a whole.

I am most proud of our diligence and faith in ourselves. This April we are moving into our fourth year as a successful tattoo studio. It takes many years of hard work to even just become a decent tattooist let alone a business owner.

Conor and I have often worked 12+ hour days making this tattoo studio a reality and a success. We’re pretty much always on the clock. It’s a sacrifice for a dream that I believe we’re constantly learning to balance. For me It’s a lifestyle, so my work is just simply integrated into my daily life.

Getting to this point was absolutely very difficult. As I said earlier even just becoming a decent tattoo artist in itself is crazy daunting. It tests your resilience non-stop especially in the beginning years.

I overcame the challenges by learning from every experience and source possible. By taking every failure and turning it into a positive learning experience, even when I felt hopeless or beat down. You just can’t give up, you can’t. If you want it enough, you do it. If you learn from your failures often enough all you can do is grow, and resilience becomes a habit. Habit is a very important for for me when it comes to be a successful artist and business owner. People often asked me how I stay putting out designs so regularly… and I tell them, it’s just something I do. Create art everyday and it becomes habit, second nature – create a mindset or resilience and positivity everyday then it is habit. It’s an insane amount of dedication but if you are hungry enough you can make anything habit.

The two most important lessons I have learned are:

1. An old acquaintance of mine Tulua Amazon once told me “Never forget the possibility of manifestation.” I have not every once forgotten. My understanding of this advice was embedded into me when I threw music festivals. I was in charge of several camp out music festivals for 10 years with two friends Luke Korhorn and Jacob Passini… the hurdles we had to overcome at some of those seemed nearly impossible – they probably were impossible, but with positive minds, open to manifesting our needs, and the help of our community, we came over some serious hurdles.

I keep that mindset everyday in everything I do.

2. Stay humble. You can’t grow if you can’t see over your own ego… artists and especially tattoo artists are all too good at growing egos that stunt creative growth. So stay humble. this keeps you open to grown and new knowledge,

What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?

I wan’t you all to know that we’re here to make your tattoo dreams come true and if your project isn’t for us we will hook you up with some peers/friends that are also amazing! Also – if you have a dream, don’t give up on it, expect haters (and more haters the more you grow), and work harder, then work a little harder. Then take a break.

Responses by Conor Ward (Founder and Tattooer) :

I see art as the feeling, not the drawing. When I draw, it’s not art to me until I feel something about it.
My drawings are a direct reflection of self, my illustrated soul. Most of the time I’m trying to see things in a new perspective, or explore new areas to entertain my thoughts. When I look at my drawings and tattoos, I see the story or conversation I’m having with myself as it builds to it’s visual capstone.
I’m proud and honored that people see my drawings, and feel them. That they feel them enough to get them tattooed, and want them to become part of their life. It’s a pretty cool thing to be part of.

I have illustrated as long as I can remember, and as an adult there was a constant background request to start tattooing my art. Once I started, it snowballed from there.

I met Brett very serendipitously, and things unraveled organically from there. Both of us were failed business owners from many previous endeavors, and very cautious of jumping back into another. However, we used our previous failures to analyze how we thought it would go, and went for it anyway.

Brett and I met as business partners, and I now consider him a very great friend. Without him or I, Bonedale Tattoo would be a very different place, and possibly not have survived. Our strengths compliment each other’s weaknesses so well, and the shop has become something beautiful as a result. We are a team, and the metaphorical love child of Cinderella and Master Blaster.

Our friends and clients showed us such an immense support through the years that I cannot fully express my gratitude for, and we would not be here without them.

As a new business owner, the hours put in was an unhealthy amount. I spent years working 15 hour days, sometimes 7 days a week. Thankfully, I have tapered my overworking habits to a much healthier balance of work and play. This valley has so much to offer, and life is too short to have all of your potatoes in one basket.

What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?

Just Breathe. Life can be daunting enough without our own interjections. As for the world, if what I contribute is special enough to know about, then it will.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Brett:

I always take people up Red HIll or halfway up or whatever. It’s really fun to show people Carbondale from up there. Craft for coffee. Taqueria Nopal in Glenwood for Lunch. NYP tendies for second lunch. Go watch Conor skate at the skate park, attempt to beat him in s.k.a.t.e. and loose again. Take a ride or stroll down the bike path. Beer Works, Batch and Marble Distillery for drinks. Tiny Pine for din din. Black Nugget for the late nighters. Might stop by KDNK to show off our vinyl collection. Stop by Bonedale Tattoo for some ink therapy of course… oh, and Avalanche Ranch hot springs if you can get in if not, Iron Mountain.

Conor:
One of the best itineraries I’ve delivered to friends who have visited:

We woke up for a sunrise BASE jump from hanging lake (not for the light-hearted, and very difficult to get to these days) directly into cowboy coffee and surfing the Colorado River. With a hearty appetite, we head over to Slope and Hatch for some of the best Grilled Jerk Chicken Tacos you’ll ever lay eyes on (Marg’s are strong and delicious, proceed with caution). Ready to escape the sun, we head out to the Narrows to climb some rocks and take a dip in Penny Hot Springs (not a local secret anymore). We skateboard at the Carbondale skatepark until the sun is down, and head into town for tequila shots, excellent beer, and live music on First Friday.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We wouldn’t be where we are (literally) without Gabe Villareal and Alleghany Meadows.

Gabe set us up with our first shop location within his wood working shop.

Alleghany provided us with our next two locations in SAW and our current location The Diggs which are both collaborative art spaces that add value to our local arts community, and the community as a whole by fostering a space for creative people to create.

We would also like to shout out the community in the town of Carbondale as a whole for supporting our art and shop, and just being a rad bunch of folks in general. We love you guys.

Brett would like to shout out Patrice Fuller and everyone at Carbondale Beer Works, and also Rudd. Phil for letting me tattoo all of those terrible tattoos on you. My parents, my siblings, and Dahlia.

Super huge mega thank you to anyone who as ever gotten tattooed by any of us here at Bonedale Tattoo.

Finally we would both like to shout out our partners Lyn, and Jessica for supporting mostly everything we do.

Oh and Wally.

Website: http://bonedaletattoostudio.com

Instagram: @bonedaletattoo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bonedaletattoo/

Other: Insta: @haynestattoos @cnrward

Image Credits
Main Photo Credit – Hannah Streicher & Lyn Sweet – Manipulated by Brett Haynes