What’s On?

 

2026 Schedule

2027 coming soon…

Saturday 31st January 2026

11:00 Welcome to Tattoo Freeze!
Slippers the Split
12:15 Mike West & The Missing Links
13:00 Slippers the Split
15:00 Mike West & The Missing Links
15:45 Slippers the Split
16:00 How Much for a Sleeve? Podcast LIVE!
17:00 Slippers the Split
18:00 The Fuel Girls
18:15 Slippers the Split
18:30 Skin Deep Tattoo Contest - Judging
19:00 Last Entry
20:30 Skin Deep Tattoo Contest - Awards
21:00 Hometime

Sunday 1st February 2026

09:00 Welcome to Tattoo Freeze!
Slippers the Split
10:45 Me & Deboe
11:45 Art Fusion
12:45 Me & Deboe
13:30 Slippers the Split
15:00 Camper Mart - Awards
15:20 Slippers the Split
15:30 The Fuel Girls
15:45 Slippers the Split
16:00 Skin Deep Tattoo Contest - Judging
Last Entry
17:30 Skin Deep Tattoo Contest - Awards
18:00 Hometime

Competitions

Fiercely contested, forever popular and the high point of any tattoo convention, the Tattoo Competitions will return once more over the weekend. 

The weekend offers working artists and their clients the chance to enter, giving our esteemed panel of judges the incredibly hard task of choosing a winner.

How to Enter?

Apply at the information stand on the day you wish to enter, where you’ll be handed a form to fill out.
Times of competition and awards vary depending on the chosen day:
Saturday: Judging - 18:30, Awards Ceremony - 20:30
Sunday: Judging - 16:00, Awards Ceremony - 17:30

Gunning for one of our coveted awards?
Make sure you’ve got your timings down and don't miss out - judging takes place on the main stage.
If you have any questions about judging, contact sarah@jazzevents.co.uk

Saturday 30th January 2027

  • Best Avant-Garde
    Colour or mono, abstract, distorted reality, brushwork, expressionist, line work, geometric and experimental.

  • Best Blackwork
    Strong presence of black ink, line work, geometric, symmetry.

  • Best Oriental

    Colour or mono, excellent depiction of oriental, including but not limited to traditional koi and Japanese Oni masks.

  • Best Traditional
    Colour or mono, defined by the presence of a long-established, traditional tattoo. Includes but is not limited to traditional depictions of the nautical, gypsy, roses, etc.

  • Best Colour
    A strong presence of colour, watercolour, vivid tones with impact.

  • Best of Saturday
    Only winners of the Saturday categories will be judged for Best of Saturday.

Sunday 31st January 2027

  • Best Neo-Traditional

    Colour or mono, bold lines, revival of traditional tattoo style.

  • Best Realism
    Colour or mono, portraits, wildlife, hyper-realistic detail.

  • Best Black & Grey
    May be a wide variety of subjects but must exclusively be black and grey.

  • Best of Sunday
    Only winners of the Sunday categories will be judged for Best of Sunday.

  • Best of Convention
    Self-explanatory - your tattoo is the victor of all and may take its rightful throne in the Tattoo Freeze Hall of Fame.

  • Best Booth
    Every Artist Booth will be entered into this competition; you do not need to do anything (it’s just a bit of fun!)

Rules & Guidelines:

  • Only tattoos with a significant amount of work and that are completed at the convention can enter the awards.*

  • Tattoos can only be entered into one category.

  • All entrants must be registered to enter. Registration forms can be found at the info stand.

  • The winners from both days will be entered into the Best of Convention category on Sunday.

  • No tattoo studio/artists T-shirts to be worn in front of the judges.

  • Judges will not be made aware of any artist’s studio or identity.

  • Judging will take place on stage in the Arena on the ground floor.

*Oriental bodysuits entered into Best Oriental will be the only tattoos judged that have not been worked on at the show.

2026 Judges

2027 Judges coming soon…

Nick Brace

Judging Saturday

Richy Price

Judging Sunday

Ash Boss

Judging Saturday

Scoobs

Judging Saturday & Sunday

Liam Osborne

Judging Sunday

Art Fusion

Art Fusion


Art Fusion is an event created by Paul Booth and Filip Leu that has become a regular part of many international conventions. It consists of 4 or 5 artists working on the same amount of canvases, rotating every 5 minutes, for the duration of the performance.

The final pieces should be a freestyle organic amalgamation of all the Artists styles that have been involved in the performance, as opposed to each Artist forcing the pieces in one direction. Art Fusion is about bringing the Artists together harmoniously as one “Artist” that will only exist and be able to create those pieces at that point in time.

How Much For a Sleeve? Live Podcast

How Much For a Sleeve?

is a tattoo podcast, hosted by tattoo artist and comedian, Lucie Richardson, and tattoo enthusiast and comedian, Mick Tickner.

Started during the Covid pandemic, the fortnightly episodes bring you conversations with some of the world’s most influential tattoo artists. They’ve been lucky enough to interview artists such as Bob Tyrrell, the late Shanghai Kate, Goodtime Charlie and Lal Hardy.

Covering a wide range of topics, How Much For a Sleeve? brings the perspective of the tattooer and the tattoo client, while combining humour, insight and knowledge of practises. Recently having raised over £3k for charitable causes thanks to the generosity of their listeners.

Truthfully though, it’s 95% pets and rude jokes.

 The Fuel Girls

BURN BABY, BURN!
The Fuel Girls are BACK!

These incredible women perform all over the world with their fire, pyro, and aerial shows and they’re bringing that all to the Telford International Centre this February!

Catch their performances both Saturday and Sunday on the main stage right before the hotly anticipated Tattoo Competitions.

Andrea Kenny

with Helen Collins

Welcoming Andrea Kenny

Andrea Kenny, frontwoman of popular Leicester band The Brandy Thieves, is a singer-songwriter with over 20 years of experience performing and writing music internationally.

Andrea brings raw, blues-tinged vocals and heartfelt folk melodies, with lyrics that weave tales of love, loss and life lessons. Her live performances are guaranteed to be an “emotional and joyous rollercoaster”.

Andrea has performed at festivals across the UK and is now excited to be joined by good friend and bandmate Helen Collins on keys and vocals.

This rare duo outing will see the pair bringing an eclectic and rousing set of original songs and covers, making them a welcome addition to Tattoo Freeze.

 Slippers the Split

The coolest DJ booth ever?!

Slippers the Split will be at Tattoo Freeze all weekend, not only spinning great tunes to get tattooed to but also sound-tracking your weekend with us.

After a long day in the chair, come vibe with us with a drink in hand, listen to some tunes, possibly play some games and hang out with your mates! Tattoos, tunes and a few cold ones, count us in!


Circus Workshops
 

The circus is coming to town!

Get the whole family involved and start clowning around at Tattoo Freeze with professor Elmo and his Panic Family Circus. 

With a long list of activities including traditional Punch & Judy, circus skill workshops as well as educations shows, there is something for the whole family to enjoy!  

The circus only rolls into town on the Sunday of Tattoo Freeze, so be sure to visit!