Instagram page hacked
Hi everyone!
Well fudge.
This is a bit different than my normal blog. A month ago my Instagram was hacked from an extremely convincing email sent to me about breaking instagram rules. It looked extremely legit and I had just finished hearing about tattoo shops that had been fined over copyright laws, so I was quick to reply back and log in through a link. You can imagine the egg on my face when this happened!
This was for distortion of course, to make me pay these people money on the ‘promise’ they would return my account which I found out from emails a few minutes afterwards. At this point I did everything to try and get my account back, but in attempting this made them deleted the account. The two-factor authentication had somehow been turned off (I got an email about it shortly afterwards) and there was no way to recover the account. I had tried everything but unless you have the blue tick - you can’t get ahold of real people at Meta, with only one option that I never got a response back from.
And, with the Wellington tattoo convention just around the corner - after waiting for the three-four days recommended when Meta ‘would’ get back to me - I couldn’t wait any longer and started my account from scratch.
My new Instagram handle is: @Leegutztattoos
I was devastated. My Instagram was not only my main portfolio, but my main point of contact for new clients, and the place where I could get in contact with all my older clients. I have completely lost contact with most of my previous clients from years back and may never be able to reconnect with them again. This is heart breaking. You spend hours, sometimes days creating and tattooing designs on those people that will be on them potentially forever, and by one mistake they have vanished out of your life for good. Many of them open up to you, tell you their story, share thoughts and ideas, their goals in life, we create a connection together. Tattooing for me has always been much more than just giving someone some nice ink. It starts and ends with the people.
I can’t even start to go into how much losing those connections have hurt, and I am so sad that this has happened.
Moving to Queenstown, I took a chance. I knew I would be starting all over again but I was confident in my abilities and being supported by my followers, friends and family I was only a little nervous. Moving back to my home town and living on the land my family had been on for over 100 years was a huge goal for me. I had to go out and learn a lot of different jobs, making sure I could be flexible in my careers and jobs to be able to come back and support not only myself but my family. I wanted to realise my dream by the age of 30, but I wasn’t able to do so until this year (36).
So, with this instagram removal, I am -actually- starting from scratch again. I built everything on this dream of mine, and now that the main place I was getting my work from has completely disappeared, I am determined to get back to where I was. I try not to think about how much it might affect me in the short run and look ahead to the positive future that will happen. I know I can’t sit here with pity in my heart. Nothing good will come from me feeling sorry for myself, so I’m trying to give this a positive spin and take this as a sign, as an opportunity by starting with a clean slate.
If you have read this far - holy crap thank you! I am so grateful for all the help and support I have had over the years from my amazing clients, my followers, my silent followers who say nothing until I see them in person and suddenly get told how much they liked my reels! My friends who put up with my silly self, and my family who have been so supportive - even if my mum started out hating tattoos haha.
If you are able to help me out - tell a few people about my Instagram or blog, perhaps making a story just as a shoutout, - I would be forever grateful. I will be looking into making an email list for anyone who is interested. This is where I will be showing off all my new flash designs FIRST - before Instagram or at the shop, travel announcements, booking announcements, flash days (you get to know as soon as I do!), conventions, tattoo ideas and tips, and potential tattoo plans for the future. I will send out an email and post about it on my Instagram when I have the newsletter up and running. This also helps as another communication point if this ever (god forbid it never does) happen again. Can’t be too careful!
Thank you so much for all your help, love and support! IF you aren’t already please follow my new Instagram account LeeGutzTattoos
Also IF you want a look into my farm life, Check out my personal account over at LeeLikesPlants!
Forever grateful, Lee x
New Guest Spotting dates!
Updated dates for Lee’s Tattoo Guest Spotting across New Zealand in 2025. I do Fineline, Blackwork and Neo Traditional tattoos, including a wide range of other tattoo styles as well! I will be in Auckland, Napier, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Queenstown and Invercargill.
Hey everyone!
It looks like I have locked myself in for more guest spots in 2025! Here is an update:
Christchurch: Otautahi Tattoo ——> 12th - 14th May (CONFIRMED)
Invercargill: Frostbite Tattoo ——> 19th - 25th May (CONFIRMED)
Wellington: Wellington Tattoo Convention ——> 4th - 6th July (CONFIRMED)
Wellington: Saturnia Tattoos ——> 7th - 9th July (CONFIRMED)
Nelson: Artistic Creation Tattoos ——> 21st - 25th July (CONFIRMED)
Auckland: Otautahi Tattoo ——> 11th - 16th August (CONFIRMED)
Napier: Bluelagoon Tattoo Studio ——> 1st - 5th September (CONFIRMED)
Auckland: Otautahi Tattoo ——> 8th - 13th September (CONFIRMED)
Invercargill: Frostbite Tattoo ——> 11th - 15th November (CONFIRMED)
New Plymouth: Brothers Ink ——> 8th - 13th December (Pending)
There is no more room in my calendar for other guest spots in 2025, though I am hoping to guest spot overseas in 2026 combined with travel, possibly over the winter period. If you want to inquire about getting a spot at any of these feel free to send me a message to Lee.gutzewitz@gmail.com
*** Note: There may be 1-2 days available in Christchurch and Invercargill that are not stated on here. These will only be announced on my Instagram.***
Invercargill: tattoo guest spot May 2025
About my tattoo guest spot, travelling from Queenstown to Invercargill to Frostbite tattoo in May, 2025.
After three days of rest from the Christchurch guest spot earlier that week, I headed down to Invercargill from the 19th to the 25th of May for another guest spot, this time at Frostbite tattoo. I had guest spotted previous at Frostbite tattoo two years prior and got a lot of interest and a small following of lovely southerners. Invercargill was also where my father’s family was from, so every holiday or long weekend usually meant spending it down in Invergumboot. Usually staying inside due to the wind and rain, and this is where my love of Cartoon Network bloomed with Scooby Doo, the Addams family and Dexters Lab.
There was a cr*p-load of driving involved.
Anyway! I woke on the 19th at 5am, and left at 5:40am for the two hours drive down. I arrived at my friend’s place, Ros, and had some eggs on toast after dropping off my belongings before heading into town to the studio.
I got a wonderfully warm welcome, and other than a few more things on the wall and a few less artists hanging round, it was the same spacious studio that had the highest quality of everything except toilet door hangers (I was assured this would change haha).
Craig (who is the shop owner) has been tattooing for around 23 years. Dang. And has owned this shop for a good chunk of that. He is well recognised within the city, especially for his dark macabre work as well as colour realism, which is in high damn and short supply cross the country. He is a man of many words, and is always eager to share tips and his opinion haha.
We started off with George who chose one of my colour Neotrad flash pieces I have been wanting to do for a long time; the crow-tapuss. This was on her forearm in a neat little gap that was just perfect for this piece, and though colour can be a little intense sometimes George sat very well.
Loving those crisp lines!
That night I was reintroduced to Ros’s rituals of gin, cheese and crackers, and a delicious home cooked meal followed by ‘The Chase’ with a blazing fire going on in the background. Amazing.
Always lovely staying with Ros - and makes the best poached blue cod dish!
Tuesday the 20th started with more home-laid eggs and toast, before going to work and meeting my next client Nina. What a trooper! She was so patient as I worked on her floral piece that covered the top side of her forearm. Everything had a bold outline with thinner detailed lines, much like a mix between neo trad and fineline. This is not an original design, but we did do changes to make it different to the first design.
Wednesday came and it was time to tattoo Joanne, we had worked together previously on the design, and the outcome was a beautiful memorial piece. Though emotional, it was a positive experience - thank you again for coming in.
Tash was up next, and we did a meaningful feather on her right side on her ribs. What a trooper!
Flipped feather design with slight changes from the original
Thursday was going to be my day off, I came into work instead and did an awesome little chicken in boots and a cowboy hat. So much fun! Afterwards, I did a bunch of shopping for work, mainly for the Wellington tattoo convention coming up and fixed an old phone, getting a new number to making it into a work phone, in case clients wanted to call ahead of appointments or have questions. Later on I did a small walk in tattoo of a football team and cup.
How neat!
Friday came and I got up at the bum crack of dawn to go and get some supplies for the farm before going to the shop.
Sarah came in for a floral wrap around the forearm, including birth flowers of loved ones. I love a fineline floral tattoo wrap!
In the afternoon Tabita came in and we worked on an art nouveau chest piece that was also a scar coverup. The idea was to work with the body and instead of completely covering up the scar, softening the area and creating something elegant that she could be proud of showing off.
Saturday consisted of me getting up crazy early again and driving to Queenstown for the day. This is the first time I had accidentally double booked myself and my client Celiana was only in town for the day in Queenstown before leaving on Sunday. This was of a sweet mushroom girl that was a mix of three different designs and absolutely loved it! We got it finished in time for her work dinner she had to attend later that day, and then it was time to make the journey back to Invercargill after dropping off supplies at home.
Sunday Jenna and I chatted about our design for the half day, we coloured in an existing fern tattoo in a deep olive, and then brought it to the forefront with colourful watercolour splatters behind it. I went over a lot of the lines at the start, and extended the ends of the fronds into points without changing the original design.
I then had the privilege of tattooing an old high school friend of mine, Jeanna. This was memorial piece as well and it meant a lot to her that I did her tattoo. We caught up on everything and it was such a good talk I didn’t want to stop! We finished late, and then it was back to Ros’s.
Early that next morning I went to Queenstown (😭 so much travelling) for two tattoos, with the lovely couple George and Grace. George was up first with a LOTR themes tattoo down his forearm - his first big tattoo! Followed by Graces sweet LOTR elvish symbol tattoo on the underside of the forearm and wrist. Thank you both for coming back!
Lord Of The Rings Tattoos
One more time down to Invercargill - yes at this time I was going a bit insane from all this night time driving - to get my car fixed, and got to do my very first cat marking tattoo, split between two clients 🥰
I said my goodbyes - or ‘see you laters’ to Craig, and finally drove home back to Queenstown with the setting sun.
The next day I was horribly sick and was off for over a week. A cautionary tale about burnout. But it was a lot of fun🤣
Christchurch Guest spot: May 2025
Christchurch Guest spot tattooing in May 2025 is officially over!
I went to Christchurch to spend some time with my partner Matias, and in the process I had made some time to do a quick guest spot at Otautahi Tattoo in the Christchurch city centre, next to Riverside.
After flying in and dropping my things off, I went straight to work and started with a small colour touch up, along the word ‘Time’ and a fineline back piece for Nidia (Friday.) Tattooing her was a piece of cake - she was very comfortable, very still and it was easy to talk to her as we are in the same rollerblading group. Gracias!
The weekend was reserved for friends and my partner, and then back at it on Monday.
Roller blading and Hiking at Taylor’s Mistake on the weekend with my partner Matias
I had the pleasure of tattooing Jory who hailed from the states, and we got to start on his epic sleeve of crypt-ids! We have done three out to eight, possibly ten creatures. We started at the top with Moth Man, then around on the back side of the arm close to the armpit with a Thunder Bird, and then around on the other side closer to the chest of a Chupacabra. We will continue with three creatures each session until finishing them, then including a stippled background for each design representing where they are found, and joining up with a smoking effect. If it is wanted, we can add colour in a dash of colour later.
Some of the references used for the sleeve
The start of the cryptic sleeve for Jory
Later that day after normal work hours, Stu came in and we started one of two leg pieces. These comic characters are from ‘Nemisis the warlock’, and we managed to get the lining done before stopping around 9pm. What a long day!
Tuesday started with a sweet fineline and colour totoro/studio Ghibli tattoo. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the final outcome but I am getting better at writing about them! One thing at a time right?!
Tuesday afternoon was the first tattoo for Charlie on her left arm above the crease with the word ‘perspective’ as shown exactly in this reference.
References for the first tattoo
Wednesday started very early with an awesome tattoo for my friend David (@owlsintowels on instagram), who wanted a shrimp wielding a flail/morning star weapon. How freaking cool. I was so excited about adding this to my portfolio and he managed to grab one of my slots were I offer tattoos I want to do for a cheaper price. It took around four hours but we were both so happy with the outcome.
The references haha
The final product! Ridiculous I love it!
And lastly I got to tattoo a regular, Josh, who was getting a football team design done on his chest. A nice thick piece and he did extremely well! The touchup on the finger was the killer of this session at the end!
To finish off my visit, Matias and I went roller blading after work around the city centre for two hours with our roller blading group. It was lovely to be back and looking forward to the next time! (Hopefully June/July).
Tattooing and Traveling 2025: Where will I be guest spotting?
Where am I guest spotting this year? A list of tattoo shops I will be tattooing out of in 2025 and where to find me.
Hi everyone! I have been meaning to get back into guest spotting around the country and have had the opportunity to do so this year! I have also included the Wellington Tattoo Convention dates in here in case you are interested. Here are the places and dates:
Christchurch: Otautahi Tattoo ——> 12th - 14th May (CONFIRMED)
Invercargill: Frostbite Tattoo ——> 19th - 25th May (CONFIRMED)
Wellington: Wellington Tattoo Convention ——> 4th - 6th July (COMFIRMED)
Nelson: Artistic Creation Tattoos ——> third week of July (pending)
Auckland: Otautahi Tattoo ——> 11th - 16th August
Napier: Bluelagoon Tattoo Studio ——> 1st - 5th September (CONFIRMED)
Auckland: Otautahi Tattoo ——> 8th - 13th September
I will be offering deals on certain styles of tattoos, including Geometric Dot work tattoos, Realism tattoos (animals, faces and horror), New School tattoos, certain Trad tattoos and Japanese style tattoos.
One of many flash sheets available in my book, first come first served for these colour tattoos.
If you are interested in getting tattooed in Christchurch, Invercargill, Wellington, Napier or Auckland please send me an email to lee.gutzewitz@gmail.com or send a DM via Instagram to @L.gutz.tattoos to secure a spot now. Bookings are very limited.
So excited, see you soon and more updates coming!
Tattoo convention: Wellington tattoo convention 2025
This year I will be back to the Wellington tattoo convention, which will be this July 4th - 7th. Like last year, I will be offering walk ups, plus at least three spots for medium to large tattoos.
It will be first come first served of course, and payments available include stripe (card), PayPal, cash and bank transfer. Consults for set pieces prior to the convention will be essential - including zoom consultations.
Hoping for a good turn out and see everyone there soon!
Flash day at Blackleaf tattoo 2025
First month working at Blackleaf tattoo included a Flash day! We had two weeks to prepare including the flash we wanted to offer. Most of my flash were both unique and new, offering coloured Neo traditional pieces at cheap prices.
We were there from 9am, and it was a fantastic turn out! I got to meet a lot of new local faces and even booked a few larger pieces with enthusiastic clients. So many people are interested in the wellness and self sustainable journey and it’s such an experience finding out more about each person!
Emma was nice enough to take a photo with me on the day - such a sweetheart ❤️
We finished the day at 7pm - it was a great day and I’m already super excited for the next one!
