Local Tattoo Artist Sarah Miller Survives Details Week on 'Ink Master'

Local Pittsburgh artist, Sarah Miller, survives another week on Spike TV’s “Ink Master” to continue her journey in the reality competition.

This week, the contestants were tested on attention to detail, specifically using lines, shading and proportions to finish small details in their design that takes it from blah to breathtaking.

In the opening of the show, we greet the contestants as they learn who was safe from last week’s elimination. As the judges walk out to have them prepare for the next flash challenge, we learn that Kay Kutta is prohibited from participating due to a probation issue.

“I started thinking, if he wasn’t allowed to participate what would we be doing?” said Miller.

This week’s flash challenge focuses on details where the contestants traded their tattoo guns for shotgun barrels in a carving competition. The contestants were randomly assigned a client and given three hours to carve an intricate and detailed design on the stock of their guns. As judge, Dave Navarro pointed out, “there are few things that come between a man and his gun so this is a canvas you don’t want to screw up.” 

“Looking over everyone, I was OK with whoever I was assigned to,” said Miller. “They reminded me of my deer hunting friends around Pittsburgh and I like hanging out with them.”

Miller’s client requested a deer with mounts and oak leaves, so she created a deer coming from behind a bush. While we didn’t see much of Miller during this challenge, apparently she had some mechanical failures that surely impacted her time management. 

“Well the first dremel broke, we didn’t have a photo reference and I kept breaking the dust mask,” said Miller. “Other than that, I think it went OK.”

As with any challenge, there were winners and losers and this week, the judges felt that Steve and Jamie had the best designs. At the bottom of the ranks were Tatu Baby and Mark.  

Miller received positive comments from the judges on her depth of the deer design but was highly criticized for the lack of detail in the antlers. In the end though, it was Steve who came out on top.

“I agree with the comments from the judges,” said Miller. “But I don’t feel that they took into consideration that we had to carve in three hours with no prep time. We really didn’t have any reference and our clients all seemed to want something realistic.” 

For the elimination tattoo, the week continues with a focus on detail using one of tattoos most iconic designs—pin-ups. Pin-ups are important for details because of their realism, style and point of reference. This week, the artists were truly put to the test by utilizing a real model with a photo shoot as their only point of reference.  

“When I heard we were doing pin-ups I was really excited,” said Miller. “I love pin-ups. They’re one of my favorite things to tattoo.”

As the winner, Steve was able to assign the canvases to each person and there was no doubt he was gunning for a few people. In fact, he stuck one of the top competitors with a tough pin-up in only black and gray. The lucky recipient, Jesse, is known for his amazing use of color and found this challenge incredibly difficult. Miller was happy with Steve’s suggestion of a hula girl because her client wanted to marry his fiancé in Hawaii.

“I was very excited when Steve assigned me the hula girl,” said Miller. “Funny story. I didn’t hear what he wanted and I thought I had gotten the football one first.”

After meeting with their canvas, the contestants were allotted time for a photo shoot with the model. Not one by one, but all together. This proved difficult for getting poses correct while so many people competed for the models' time.

“The photo shoot went pretty well, except I think that the model was used to (having) a quicker shoot time,” said Miller. “I needed her to hold a pose and she couldn’t for more than a few seconds. I have done photo shoots for reference before so the hardest part in any shoot is trying to get the right expressions and positioning out of your model. We only had a half hour and we didn’t have a lot of one on one time with her.”

Overall, there was one clear theme that the artists struggled with this week—time. Many of the artists really struggled to manage their time, which resulted with sloppy and rushed jobs in some major parts of the tattoo.

When the judges revealed their comments, the frustrations continued to grow. One after another, the contestants were critiqued down to every last detail. For Miller, she was heavily critiqued on the tattoo’s squatty legs and buck tooth.

“Looking at the competition, I thought Steve, Jamie and myself were in the top,” said Miller. “I thought that Mark and Lalo had the worst. Mark was the one I had pegged to go home. It was really dark.”

Though it was not Miller’s own comments that sat heavily on her mind, but really the comments for everyone because when the group returned to the waiting room, she unleashed about the unfair comments to each contestant. While one would get comments on poorly connected lines or dark tattoos, another would have the same flaws and go unnoticed.  

“My real gripe is that the judges chew someone out for something they did and then the next person goes up with the same flaw in their tattoo and they don’t even comment on it,” said Miller. “At the moment when I was upset in this episode, I was feeling frustrated like no matter what I did, how hard I tried to impress them, I wasn’t going to be allowed the same considerations that they gave Steve. They didn’t even comment on the right arm in his tattoo or Tatu Baby’s.” 

Of course, there must always be top and bottom tattoos and this week the top spots went to Steve and Jamie and rounding out the bottom was Mark and Lalo’s. In Miller’s eyes, the judges had their picks right. In the end, one man stood alone and that was Steve voted as the judges pick and sadly, our time with Lalo has come to an end.  

“I wasn’t surprised at the top and bottom, but I think Mark’s as the one that should have gone home,” said Miller. “It was too dark and there were blow outs, you can’t fix that. At least with Lalo’s you can go back into the face and fix it.”

In reflection, since Miller’s first appearance on the show, she’s really learned a lot about reality television and perceptions and sadly, how some things seen on television can be blown completely out of context and judging your ever move.

“I really didn’t think the after-part of the TV thing through,” said Miller. “Having so many people scrutinize you and judge you for a few minutes of your life that you have already gotten over," she said. "It’s even more frustrating to me now because I have no control over what is being shown and I can’t talk with everyone so they can see the real me. I think that I’m coming across as really emotional, but is that a bad thing? You have to care to do your best after all!” 

Tune in tonight to watch Miller continue in the competition at 10 p.m. on Spike TV. Geeks will unite around the world as this week’s theme is “Star Wars.” You won’t want to miss it!