Full Back Piece Experience Thread

[Graeme]

Maybe it's just because the back is the back, or that you're tougher than me, but a lot of my backpiece from Dave didn't feel very gentle.  Not that it really matters, because Dave is an incredible tattooer and a great guy, and whatever you get from him is going to turn out fantastic.

[a_beukeveld]

26 minutes ago, Graeme said:

Maybe it's just because the back is the back, or that you're tougher than me, but a lot of my backpiece from Dave didn't feel very gentle.  Not that it really matters, because Dave is an incredible tattooer and a great guy, and whatever you get from him is going to turn out fantastic.

I sorta assumed he would be haha Im not to worried about it though. It will turn out fantastic, and If it hurts allot that just means I earned it haha

[SStu]

1 hour ago, a_beukeveld said:

I sorta assumed he would be haha Im not to worried about it though. It will turn out fantastic, and If it hurts allot that just means I earned it haha

For what it's worth - my sternum was definitely worse than my back.

[a_beukeveld]

41 minutes ago, SStu said:

For what it's worth - my sternum was definitely worse than my back.

I believe it. Mine felt like a hot knife carving me for 4 hours.

[mtlsam]

9 hours ago, Graeme said:

Maybe it's just because the back is the back, or that you're tougher than me, but a lot of my backpiece from Dave didn't feel very gentle.  Not that it really matters, because Dave is an incredible tattooer and a great guy, and whatever you get from him is going to turn out fantastic.

I think that ever since not dying during the lining session Chad gave my ribs, my perspective is a little skewed. One day I'll get my back done and then will be able to compare apples to apples.

[Intomyskin]

I’m planning a back piece and am trying to get a grip on the realities of the process. One consideration is that I’m I am going to be traveling (flying) four hours for my back piece sessions, which I expect will be two day sessions. Because of limitations on vacation time, I can’t really schedule an extra day after my sessions to “recover” before flying home. So my questions:

1. Anybody with any experience flying the day immediately after a back piece session, and any suggestions?
    
2. What about working the second day after a back session? I have a job where I sit 95% of the time, and I generally work 9 to 10 hour days (NOTE: My back piece will include butt and upper thighs). Can I realistically expect to be useful at work the second day after a two-day back session? And after care at the office - I don’t think it is going to be feasible for me to do anything there. Can I just do the routine in the morning, and then immediately when I get home in the evening?

[Graeme]

@Intomyskin You will be fine.  I am a brewer which is a physically demanding job (on my feet all day, lifting 55lb malt bags, climbing in and out of brewing vessels, many many flights of stairs, etc)  and I was working the day after many sessions without issue.  It was nice if I could get tattooed on a Friday or Saturday to have that weekend off but it's not necessary.  The day after one session I took a five or six hour train ride and, again, it was fine.  Same thing with aftercare.  The day after my final back session my wife went into labour and my child ended up in the NICU for a couple of weeks so I healed my back sleeping on hospital couches and maybe taking one shower a day.  No problems with healing. You're overthinking things.

[Intomyskin]

Thanks @Graeme!  You experiences are helpful. 

Overthinking things is one of my special skills LOL!  I'm an architect so I spend my days planning things out in advance, trying to anticipate what will happen on a project. I can't help myself!

[a_beukeveld]

Going to be discussing my back/ribs with Dave on Sunday while he tattoos me.

With just my own input as of now, Im thinking full "turtle" backpiece extending down the thighs, just before the knees, and wrapping around the torso with 2 opposite images on either rib, with the "river" down the front. I already have a traditional chest piece so we will have to work around it.

Im stuck between the goddess Benzaiten with her bowa and a white dragon, the pearl diver and dragon, or just a dragon. As for the ribs Im thinking a Nue on one side and a Kirin on the other. I enjoy the contrast between the two. As for the back of the thighs Im not sure. It depends what goes on my back. Im thinking Tennyo would be nice. I look forward to his input.

Edited September 9, 2016 by a_beukeveld

[GlaryMilberg]

This thread was cool before I began my back but now I so deeply feel everything that has been said. It's nice going through and empathizing with everyones journey. Just finished my third session with Horitomo and have the majority of it outlined. I learned to breathe for the sake of survival and sometimes I can convince myself that he's simply using a sharpie to draw more lines, and that eases the intensity (sometimesss). It's such a diverse world of pain sensation! Not sure how to get my buns to quit twitching. Hoping shading is slightly less painful but I find it hard to imagine the localized and constant digging in specific areas like the fumunderbuns and spine. Anyway, just wanted to thank everyone for what they have shared.

 

 

[Intomyskin]

@GlaryMilberg - I'm in the planning phase, so up to his point this thread has just made me excited seeing the great work that people are getting and that I'm someday going to be joining the people here sharing my tattoo progress. It also makes me excited and anxious to get started. However I'm sure once I get started, like you, I will better appreciate the trials and tribulations of the journey that people speak of here, but that I cannot yet really know. Kudos to all of you!

[iowagirl]

You guys are way tougher'n me. Mine's not going down my back any farther than it is..I'm kinda bummed about that but fuck me running I don't know that I could deal w/it for four hours. 

[polliwog]

On 08/11/2016 at 7:10 AM, a_beukeveld said:

Planning on getting my back done by Dave Cummings in a year. Im going to discuss it with him while he tattoos my arm at the convention. Im not sure what I want yet. Im thinking either Benten, some sort of giesha imagery, or just a dragon. Ill probably go with the latter. I always lived dragon back pieces, and I LOVE the one he did on Halter.

I missed/forgot his name because I was getting tattooed at the time (worst time to be introduced to people), but I met a man whose entire body was done by Dave, including a dragon on each leg.  Getting a dragon from him is absolutely a great idea. 

Edited September 19, 2016 by polliwog

[a_beukeveld]

3 minutes ago, polliwog said:

I missed/forgot his name because I was getting tattooed at the time (worst time to be introduced to people), but I met a man whose entire body was done by Dave, including a dragon on each leg.  Getting a dragon from him is absolutely a great idea. 

I think getting anything from Dave is a great idea. He KILLED the Hannya on my arm. Had random tattooers at the con just just pull me in to see it, like Steve Byrne. Crazy stuff. Im leaning towards Tamatori the Pearl Diver and Ryujin. Real big and readable. I would love just a dragon but I love woman just as much haha Best of both worlds. Plus the story is cool. Not sure if it would work on my back tho, as my shoulders are very broud, and my waist/butt area is super narrow. I feel like the strongest part of this design is the dragon on the hips, which is why this is such a good design for women. 

[polliwog]

@a_beukeveld I very much want to get tattooed by him again.  You close-to-Montreal people are lucky.  It was pretty cool to have so many people come over and check in on what he was doing--there's something especially, I don't know, affirming about getting tattooed by someone who's so clearly respected by his peers.  You know?

[cltattooing]

On 9/11/2016 at 9:43 PM, GlaryMilberg said:

This thread was cool before I began my back but now I so deeply feel everything that has been said. It's nice going through and empathizing with everyones journey. Just finished my third session with Horitomo and have the majority of it outlined. I learned to breathe for the sake of survival and sometimes I can convince myself that he's simply using a sharpie to draw more lines, and that eases the intensity (sometimesss). It's such a diverse world of pain sensation! Not sure how to get my buns to quit twitching. Hoping shading is slightly less painful but I find it hard to imagine the localized and constant digging in specific areas like the fumunderbuns and spine. Anyway, just wanted to thank everyone for what they have shared.

 

 

So about the bun-twitching.. honestly, my best bet has to been to just keep it clenched. Sounds dumb and hilarious, but that's all I've been able to do to keep it from jumping up into the needle. Kahlil and I have had many laughs about the rogue jumping asscheeks, and he said he basically had to keep the muscle contracted the entire time to keep it steady as well. Hope that helps

[Intomyskin]

I have a question about etiquette and covering during back piece sessions. I'm planning a back piece which will include my butt. There are several stations in the shop so I will be around other people of both sexes (I'm a male btw). Obviously that means that the lower half of my body will be exposed during the process. I'm comfortable with that, I'm not a prude. My concern is that I don't want to be "inappropriate" in the shop. When getting that part of the body tattooed I know I will have to shift positions, stand up occasionally, etc. and in the process "other things" could become exposed. I don't want to offend anyone or flash the whole place. Does anyone who has been through that have any suggestions on what to wear or cover with so that the back area is accessible, but keep the other parts appropriately covered? I had considered some sort of thong thingy, but hey, I'm in my 60s and those cheeks are not as firm as they were at one time, so the image of me in a thong is... well, I just don't want to gross people out, or have everyone in the shop laughing behind my back.

[mtlsam]

21 minutes ago, Intomyskin said:

I have a question about etiquette and covering during back piece sessions. I'm planning a back piece which will include my butt. There are several stations in the shop so I will be around other people of both sexes (I'm a male btw). Obviously that means that the lower half of my body will be exposed during the process. I'm comfortable with that, I'm not a prude. My concern is that I don't want to be "inappropriate" in the shop. When getting that part of the body tattooed I know I will have to shift positions, stand up occasionally, etc. and in the process "other things" could become exposed. I don't want to offend anyone or flash the whole place. Does anyone who has been through that have any suggestions on what to wear or cover with so that the back area is accessible, but keep the other parts appropriately covered? I had considered some sort of thong thingy, but hey, I'm in my 60s and those cheeks are not as firm as they were at one time, so the image of me in a thong is... well, I just don't want to gross people out, or have everyone in the shop laughing behind my back.

Somewhere in this mega thread, or the other mega backpiece thread there is talk of a "fudoshi" basically a long strip of fabric cleverly wrapped around the waist and legs to cover up Japanese style. Search for it and you'll find it.

Otherwise I saw a fellow getting his whole back and cheeks done at the Montreal convention this year, as public a space as can be. He had a sock and a paper towel draped over the area. Was good enough for him.

People at the shop will laugh it off or at worst be scandelized and have a great story to tell with their new infinity symbols tattoo.

[Charles.M]

I agree with  mtlsam Get a new white sock and put your junk in there just before you start your session (in the bathroom), that way when you have to drop your drawers, you are covered where people will be concerned about modesty. I think people will give you a pass on a not tight but. A dude with his junk in a sock is completely harmless looking (not tough at all... lol). This technique is more common than you think, I did it when getting work on my full back... it works.

[Intomyskin]

Thanks @Charles.M and @mtlsam. Great suggestion.

It strikes me that ladies have an advantage over men in this regard as they can wear skirts which would provide a lot of flexibility in coverage and access.

And I love the statement "A dude with his junk in a sock is completely harmless looking (not tough at all... lol)."

[sophistre]

On 10/14/2016 at 4:44 AM, Intomyskin said:

Thanks @Charles.M and @mtlsam. Great suggestion.

It strikes me that ladies have an advantage over men in this regard as they can wear skirts which would provide a lot of flexibility in coverage and access.

Depends on the tattoo, I guess. A skirt would not have worked for me at any of my sessions. When we're working the upper body (waist up) it's alright to wear pants and then roll them down, but anything below that means ditching the pants and undies. And the day we lined my back (neck to knees), I had to be completely naked ALL DAY.

Eventually I stopped being able to have feelings about it because I was having too many feelings about the lining going on (mostly 'ow ow ow ow, okay that's better, that's actually not so b--OH MY GOD WHAT FRESH HELL' etc.) for there to be room for anything else. Hahaha.

Most shops have screens as far as I can tell, anyway.

[suburbanxcore]

@sophistre It should be noted that your back is coming out very freaking awesomely. 

[sophistre]

Thank you!! We actually just finished an unplanned second day of color. I would've posted something yesterday, but I figured I'd wait for today. Suppose I oughta crosspost it to the Lowdown, but here you go:

To be honest, the pictures just don't do the actual colors any justice at all...they get yellowed out. The blue with the red/orange is so amazingly vibrant.

Personally, even though I'm totally wrecked right now, I'm so glad that we powered through it, because the absolute worst spots for me have been the upper back between my shoulderblades, and also just below the nape of my neck. And now they're done! Probably worth the shocky-tattoo-flu feeling I'll have for a few hours tonight. I'll be right as rain again tomorrow, though. :)

[suburbanxcore]

Man, I posted that before I even saw the second day progress. Wild.

[Matej Haviar]

The thread has definitely taken on more and more meaning as progress on my own back has progress. A back piece is definitely an all consuming thing.

 After a bit of a hiatus (life happens ka know) we got back at it with a big shading session. Now to bang out the thighs and we can start getting some colour into this thing. Kind of funnily, some tattooer friends of mine joked that Scott was mad at me because so much black ended up going into the butt ha!

Was pretty sick with a cold this week, but after not working on it for 3 months I wasn't about to cancel my appointment. Potentially a mistake as the session ended with Scott calling it because I was solid up until about 4 hours when I started shaking uncontrollably. I almost passed out on the way home (pounding in the ears, tunnel vision, and all that jazz). First time I've felt totally wrecked after a session. After looking at it everyday after my session in August, I couldn't be more stoked on the amount of progress. I love seeing how this design gets clearer and clearer as black get put around it. 16.5 hours here. 

 

Edited November 13, 2016 by Matej Haviar