Among the distinctly alluring odor of tattoo disinfectant and the incessant drone of hundreds of whirring needles, Gunz N Knivez sets to work on his first and last tattoo of the day. Elisenda Calduch Ribas, Ely, is eager to start, but has some hesitations after seeing the sketch Gunz drew up of her proposal. After several progressively frustrating re-drawings, taking fifteen to twenty minutes each, they're finally on the same page, and Gunz prepares himself. He pulls on black latex gloves, wraps his left wrist and forearm in a blue paper towel, and carefully applies the stencil transfer. No go--she doesn't like it. They confer for a few moments, and he removes the transfer with a liquid solution and a few harsh wipes with a paper towel before he tries again. She examines it from every possible angle, hopping on and off the table, bending and unbending her knee, until she smiles and gives him the OK. She hops back up onto the table, and after a few minutes of adjustments on his gun and a ton of glove changes, he hunches over her leg to start the outline.Ribas is getting her fifth and sixth tattoos in one sitting, if Gunz can finish her up by the 8 p.m. closing time: a skull on each knee, one male and one female, facing inward at one another. Gunz, thirty-one, says that the only difference between them will be their colors and the eyelashes he's planned for the female. The whole job, he estimates, will take about six hours.

Today is the last day of the annual Body Art Expo at San Francisco's Cow Palace, and Gunz's final stop on an unofficial mini-tour of the state. While he currently works at Nightmare Studios in Reno, Nevada, specializing in traditional Americana and neo-traditional styles as well as realistic roses, he sprang at the chance to do guest work at Master Tattoo in San Diego. After about a week there, he headed northeast to Artistic Element, a shop in Yucaipa where he used to work. He spent another few days there before hitching a ride to the San Francisco show with a fellow artist.

Gunz is like a touring rock star without the heavy amps and ripped road crews, regularly taking his talent to cities across the state on trips like this. Sometimes, after a few months of planning, he makes his way out to Johnny Jackson's Texas Body Art in Houston. Everywhere he goes he's usually busy, with a very loyal and consistent clientele.

Gunz spends roughly four hours on Ely's first skull, now emblazoned in reds and oranges on her kneecap. The last two hours, her face contorts into grimaces of pain, but she's a champ--no crying, no vomiting, and no other bodily fluids make an appearance today (And yes, in the tattoo world, these things have been known to happen). However, with just two hours left at the expo and with one knee to go, she wants yet another redesign. It's been a long day, and with all of the stipulations of this final tattoo, Gunz tells her he will meet her at her hotel to finish up. Instead, he enjoys his last night in San Francisco with a good dinner and a few drinks. "I felt bad the next day," he says. "But you can't sit there and pick at the artist when he's trying to do his work."

Gunz's work can be seen on his profiles on Facebook, MySpace, and at 775tattoo.com. He is scheduled for the Tiger Rose Expo in Santa Maria at the beginning of May. "I'm just trying to grow as an artist and update my art...excel with it," he says.