Full Back Piece Experience Thread

[SStu]

Chris has the widest tiger heads in the business. Awesome. 

[omeletta]

That tiger looks bloody dangerous!!!

[Matej Haviar]

Session #6. Had a lot of wind under my sails and sat for 5 and a half hours. 26 hours total and unbelievably stoked on the progress. Finished the lightning and patterned the entire octopus. once this heals down, Capt'n Scott is going to blast over it all with some teal and define all the layers. This was less of a whooping to the kidneys and more of a tedious cookie cuttering. 

 

Edited January 31, 2017 by Matej Haviar

[bongsau]

Damn dude @Matej Haviar

Feel ya on all those small circles on the octopus, I had to endure the sharp pain of each individual circle on my polkadot dragon Scott did some years ago. Zouch ! Making good progress, keep the momentum going :)

"Cap'n Scott" lol...at the old Lucky Strike on St.Alberta Trail I was on the table and when you looked out the front window you can see Captain Scott's Fish & Chips across the street, funny to hear other people calling him that too haha

[Matej Haviar]

@bongsau Yeah I saw that dragon on the livedintattoos instagram, super freaking rad!

But yeah I'm definitely getting into the momentum, now that the background is done, colours just seems to be moving way faster. Here's to the next session in February!

[havetsherre]

Starting my back with Marius Meyer in a few days. Going to cover up a Polynesian tribal, so this should be interesting.

Wish me luck! 

[Baboom]

2 hours ago, havetsherre said:

Starting my back with Marius Meyer in a few days. Going to cover up a Polynesian tribal, so this should be interesting.

Wish me luck! 

Keep us posted with photos!

[havetsherre]

I'll steal his photos and post them here!

[kingpinsbarber]

finally finished, totally hurt 

 

[havetsherre]

Started my back with Marius Meyer yesterday. This is as far as we got. 

[Ciel]

Hi everyone! My full back piece tattoo adventure has just begun!

I met with a tattoo artist last night. I'm looking to get a tattoo which symbolises calm and resilience in the face of great danger - I also love Japanese mythology, so it's going to be a Ronin/Samurai facing off against a dragon from oriental physiology (serpentine look, rather than winged godzilla). It'll be in black and grey realism - I'm super excited!

I paid £40 (I live in the UK, Scotland) to have the custom design made. I'll post it on here if I remember (the artist said it'll take 2 months).

I actually have a lot of questions in a thread on made on the initiation page, if anyone wants to hold a newbies hand through all of this :p The thread is here.

I'm gonna have fun reading through this thread now - I'm happy I found it. :D

[tattooedj]

Yesterday, I started my full back piece with Rei from Inkrat, Tokyo.
Three-and-a-half hours of lining was pretty prickly in places - but some good blues music, a howling spring wind outside and the stoke got me through it unscathed. And there's something mindboggling about a Japanese tattooer doing an American old school interpretation of how a Japanese tattoo should look.
Colours are coming in a few weeks and I'll update then, j
 

[littlefox1970]

5 hours ago, tattooedj said:

Yesterday, I started my full back piece with Rei from Inkrat, Tokyo.
Three-and-a-half hours of lining was pretty prickly in places - but some good blues music, a howling spring wind outside and the stoke got me through it unscathed. And there's something mindboggling about a Japanese tattooer doing an American old school interpretation of how a Japanese tattoo should look.
Colours are coming in a few weeks and I'll update then, j
 

Nice!  I like this american old school interpretation of Japanese more than I like the traditional Japanese style ... I'm such a sucker for those bold lines ... Love it! :) 

The composition is outstanding here ... and that's probably one of the things I like least about what I have seen in the traditional Japanese ... the composition often gives me a weird vertigo. This one is so nicely balanced and spaced ... 

 

Edited February 18, 2017 by littlefox1970

[littlefox1970]

... photos can be so wierd sometimes ... the skin of your arms and back look so different from one another ...

[Ciel]

Hey. This is probably a silly question, but during the healing process of a full back tattoo (mainly talking a few days fresh) is it okay to sleep on your back, or do you try to sleep on your side in order to not compress the tattoo and allow stuff yo flow out?

[scottyg]

@Ciel I'm overly cautious so I avoid sleeping on my back for about a week. Can't hurt.

[Ciel]

7 minutes ago, scottyg said:

@Ciel I'm overly cautious so I avoid sleeping on my back for about a week. Can't hurt.

I was worried about this. I find it almost impossible to sleep on my side or belly - I always find I roll onto my back... Do you think it'll seriously damage the tattoo?

[scottyg]

2 minutes ago, Ciel said:

I was worried about this. I find it almost impossible to sleep on my side or belly - I always find I roll onto my back... Do you think it'll seriously damage the tattoo?

I guess I've no problem sleeping on my side.

I guess it wouldn't hurt it as long as you try not to irritate the skin; it is an open wound. Soft old sheets I guess!

[Ciel]

18 minutes ago, scottyg said:

I guess I've no problem sleeping on my side.

I guess it wouldn't hurt it as long as you try not to irritate the skin; it is an open wound. Soft old sheets I guess!

Well I plan to apply a thin layer of some unscented antibacterial cream, covering that with some clean kitchen towel (to soak up the ink, blood and plasma), then wrapping myself in cling film.

Then the next morning, remove the cling film and jump into the shower, completely wet the kitchen towel and gently remove it and clean the wound as normal with some sort of non fragrant soap.

Good plan? I don't even have the design back yet! XD

[scottyg]

5 minutes ago, Ciel said:

Well I plan to apply a thin layer of some unscented antibacterial cream, covering that with some clean kitchen towel (to soak up the ink, blood and plasma), then wrapping myself in cling film.

Then the next morning, remove the cling film and jump into the shower, completely wet the kitchen towel and gently remove it and clean the wound as normal with some sort of non fragrant soap.

Good plan? I don't even have the design back yet! XD

Everyone's different but I'd go with what your tattooer advises and I think you're overthinking it at this stage. If you don't have a design yet...

I've found less is definitely more: less lotion than I thought I'd need, less washing, less attention. You want it to heal, so I think wrapping it might be problematic, but I definitely would not use a towel under the wrap. It won't weep that much. The towel would absorb the ink. Also, if you go that route, let the wrappings naturally slide off in the shower. Don't try to peel them off of your dry skin.

Cheers!

[Matej Haviar]

On 2/19/2017 at 11:42 AM, Ciel said:

Well I plan to apply a thin layer of some unscented antibacterial cream, covering that with some clean kitchen towel (to soak up the ink, blood and plasma), then wrapping myself in cling film.

Then the next morning, remove the cling film and jump into the shower, completely wet the kitchen towel and gently remove it and clean the wound as normal with some sort of non fragrant soap.

Good plan? I don't even have the design back yet! XD

As always, listen to your tattooer. But realistically a tattoo heals best with the less irritation and less sh*t that gets put on it. Re-wrapping at all is generally a no-no, especially no to the towel. As far as sleeping on it, the worst that happens is that you get stuck and have to take your sheet the next day into the shower with you. Maybe if you have a tendency to flip onto your back, propping some pillows around you to keep you from turning might work. Tattoos are pretty in-there from the get go so I wouldn't be too concerned. 

[kingpinsbarber]

On 19/02/2017 at 6:42 PM, Ciel said:

Well I plan to apply a thin layer of some unscented antibacterial cream, covering that with some clean kitchen towel (to soak up the ink, blood and plasma), then wrapping myself in cling film.

Then the next morning, remove the cling film and jump into the shower, completely wet the kitchen towel and gently remove it and clean the wound as normal with some sort of non fragrant soap.

Good plan? I don't even have the design back yet! XD

 I woke up on my back a few times, i tried to avoid it but still managed to. I did 0 in way of aftercare, I kept the wrap on for a few hours after my tattoo then i took a shower and washed the gunk off and just left it. I took the following day of work so i could chill whilst it was a bit weapy but by the 3rd day i acted like i hadn't been tattooed. Healed fine.

 

[Matej Haviar]

Session number seven rolled around this Saturday. @bongsau You were definitely right, "in for a whooping" to say the least. Only made it through 2 and a half hours, but still managed to tear up an insane amount of skin. It's sessions like this that definitely teach you about your body and ability to tolerate pain. Felt pretty discouraged immediately after the session, but I'm still stoked on the level of progress. Can't wait to see the patterning brighten up as the blue settles over top. 28.5 hours here.

[scottyg]

@Matej Haviar Looking amazing bro!!!!

[scottyg]

Part 3. REALLY getting excited about this: