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I recently had a young lady make fun of the awesome eagle on my chest. She also said that people with tattoos just get them to make up for their lack of personality. I told her to get the fuck out of my apartment.

I got my hands and neck done only a year into tattooing (1998), admittedly before I should have. I had sleeves, but no torso work yet. Anyway...my hastiness was due to wanting to look like a TATTOOER. ONLY tattooers had hand and neck tattoos and often 9 times out of 10 a person with sleeves was a tattooer. You ALWAYS knew a tattooer when you saw a heavily tattooed person. (I used to always get asked "Where do you tattoo?" now it's "Are you in a band?") Of course, these days, a lot of hipsters and rocker types wear the look. It's been diluted, and in my opinion, destroyed. It's the reason being a tattooer is cliche, like a girl with weird hair being a hairstylist. (No offense to hairstylists). I hate being associated with these douchebags because of my hand and neck tattoos, and even I roll my eyes at these jokers. And as much as we'd like to think so, these tattoos are no longer "job killers". Wether it's Hot Topic or Target, or even Nordstrom or Marc Jacobs i see employees with sleeves and neck tattoos. I even had a TSA screener at O'hare Airport that had a giant script tattoo on his neck. Times have changed, and i know it's just the way it goes...but i can't help but feel we (tattooers) lost something special.

First episode and already like four arguments including a shove. I'll be watching each and every show. I'm bummed it's the same ol same ol. Lemme guess, youre getting tattooed cuz somebody died? oh what's the story behind your tattoo? Who cares?!!!!! Getting tattooed and tattooers and people in general are interesting enough. No need to fish for a story. I still think it needs to be done taxi cab confessions style. That counter lady is crazy. She mentioned she comes from the corporate world and wanted something a little less formal. The first thing she does is start micro managing and acts like a secretary in an office to people coming into the shop. Lame. The woman tattooer looks like she does good work. The whole not getting respect thing is probably bullshit. Look at women like dawn Cooke, Katie sellergren, and our very own Deb Yarian. If she feels she's not getting respect, I don't think it's because of her work must be something else. All this crap being said, I love tattooing. The good and even some of the bad. My DVR is set. Hopefully we'll get to see some real good tattoos on this show. A little less chattin and a little more tattin.

I have to reiterate what i said earlier, that anything one says about these shows is perceived as jealousy or envy. That being said , I expected the worst, but hoped for the best. My critique---- As a New Yorker, from Brooklyn -- it's is because of people like that guy Chris that I now live in Alaska. His on screen persona is pretty awful. As a female who does tattoos I couldn't and don't identify with the female who tattoos on the show. So the " I'm not respected as a female tattooist " is maybe something that could have been explored in the 1990s, maybe and I don't like her on screen persona either. All the extra people annoy me, the tv drama etc. Ami is Ami and his mentor was Louie ( who I knew and cared for ) but if anyone knew Louie than watching Ami act the way he does is to be expected. I do really like Tim's work and his on screen edited personality was OK. I hate the show so far

There was a time that I could be pretty sure - that at any given time , I was the only tattooist on a plane flight or at a baseball game or at parent- teacher school open house. That if I met another tattooist at such an event it would be like meeting a former schoolmate while vacationing in a foreign land. What are the odds of that? I remember a time that I could tell , just by looking , that someone did what I did and we shared a common bond and if you spotted one another at an amusement park or a mall- you knew one or the other of you had travelled out of your own territory. There was a time when introduced into the life of a child that they would remember you, for the rest of their lives as the tattooed man or lady. There was a time that when responding that I was a tattooer, when asked what I did for a living - was met with the same awe, disbelief or astonishment as if I had answered that I was an alligator wrestler, an astronaut or in the French Foreign Legion. That was a great time!

ps- andrew stickler is the best kept secret in IL. he is an amazing painter/tattooer and the zeis style still resonates in rockford today through andrew. he is also one of the nicest people i have met in the industry. i am honored to call him my friend.

i've hung out with mike before, am a fan of his graffiti and drawings, have nothing against the guy, but...his tattoos are awful. his style doesn't translate well to the body at all and he has no real concept of tattoo design and it seems no intention of learning how to correctly design tattoos and execute them well. it seems that the main reason people want tattoos from him is they are fans of his other artwork. you're better off buying a print or drawing i think. i also read that interview where he says flat-out that the clothing label pays him more so he quit tattooing. pretty fucking lame. but, to each their own. we all pay our own bills in the end.

This was something I suggested on another forum, but never saw any progress on it. I plan on getting tattooed every major city I visit, but sometimes I'm unaware of who's tattooing in the area. A map would be awesome.

Thanks for the suggestion, it is definitely something we've talked here at LST. It's currently on our wishlist, and I imagine it will happen in the near future, hopefully not to long after the roll out of the new gallery system.

I haven't seen the show yet as it hasn't been aired in the uk yet. I was hoping there would less of the sob stories and drama. Mind you NY ink is from the same production company that gave us Jodie Marsh-Tattoo apprentice biggest load of anal discharge ever.

Hell Yeah! Your artist nailed it! Good one!

My partner makes a shit hot paella. The most important ingredient is the rice. 170g/6oz chorizo, cut into thin slices 110g/4oz pancetta, cut into small dice 2 cloves garlic finely chopped 1 large Spanish onion, finely diced 1 red pepper, diced 1 tsp soft thyme leaves ¼ tsp dried red chilli flakes 570ml/1pint calasparra (Spanish short-grain) rice 1 tsp paprika 125ml/4fl oz dry white wine 1.2 litres/2 pints chicken stock, heated with ¼ tsp saffron strands 8 chicken thighs, each chopped in half and browned 18 small clams, cleaned 110g/4oz fresh or frozen peas 4 large tomatoes, de-seeded and diced 125ml/4fl oz good olive oil 1 head garlic, cloves separated and peeled 12 jumbo raw prawns, in shells 450g/1lb squid, cleaned and chopped into bite-sized pieces 5 tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley Salt and freshly ground black pepper Preparation method 1.Heat half the olive oil in a paella dish or heavy-based saucepan. Add the chorizo and pancetta and fry until crisp. Add the garlic, onion and pepper and heat until softened. Add the thyme, chilli flakes and calasparra rice, and stir until all the grains of rice are nicely coated and glossy. Now add the paprika and dry white wine and when it is bubbling, pour in the hot chicken stock, add the chicken thighs and cook for 5-10 minutes. 2.Now place the clams into the dish with the join facing down so that the edges open outwards. Sprinkle in the peas and chopped tomatoes and continue to cook gently for another 10 minutes. 3.Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil with the garlic cloves in a separate pan and add the prawns. Fry quickly for a minute or two then add them to the paella. Now do the same with the squid and add them to the paella too. 4.Scatter the chopped parsley over the paella and serve immediately

hit the nail on the head.

I was in a hotel room the other night with my husband and some friends and I shushed everyone in the room when the commercial came on myself. I'm not a reality show person myself, but I think that this one's gonna be tops.

Pssssh...Shawn, just you wait until my book THE FULL MONTIE: Who You Wearin'? hits shelves.

glad you approve pete. maybe we should offer a limited number of books sign by you, or maybe the first 100 include a glossy head shot of "the greatest tattoo collector on earth"

Don't you think you should GET some traditional tattoos before you try to write a book on the subject?? Your line-up of contributors sucks. I watch Miami Ink A LOT, and I haven't even heard of ONE of those people. Utterly fails the tattoo cool test. You probably don't even drink. What are you, vegan? Um, wanna make a TV show about the book?

This Project has really progressed since I first started. I am shooting for a fall/winter release. We have a lot of great tattooers on board doing repaints of commercial Zeis flash and a few machine builders doing modern takes on Zeis machines. I am giving this book everything I have. I promise it will be worth checking out.

and rape :(

Sorry for the heavy posting in this thread lately. I'll give it a rest after this. Finally finished. Only had an iPhone as a camera, so excuse the mediocre quality. (for some reason I'm unable to upload pictures to my gallery at the moment...)

I watch these shows too..I like to see good tattooing done without all the drama.But drama seems to sell.The last few seasons of LA Ink was terrible.So much bullshit drama,it just turns you off.Miami Ink was much better.I was on Ami James website a few days ago reading about the new show for NYC,and he say's they start shooting in March.I wouldn't get tattooed on a show like that.First of all,the price's must be outrageous,and i don't wan't to come up with a story to tell,just to get a tattoo.I was watching a repeat of Miami Ink a few months ago,and a dude was on the show getting a tattoo because he overcame an addiction to porn. I enjoyed the tattoo wars series..The best shows on tattooing..Not enough drama to sell though.

a while ago we had this girl in getting her first tattoo and while waiting her turn she started eating a whole packet of biscuits and lots of coffee. we did warn her it was too much and too sugary and to slow down, she just said she knew what she was doing so we just left her to it. suffice to say half way through her (small) tattoo, she vomited EVERYWHERE without any warning, projectile vomiting style. all over the work bench, the tattooers shoes, herself, everywhere. barely had any time to push a bin under her face. so anyway the worst bit was watching her scoop out the vomit from between her ample cleavage and from between her thighs (she wore low cut top and a tiny mini skirt). ick another one was when a couple came in so that the girl could her her clit hood pierced. he wanted to be in the room so the female piercer said alright. they go off do their thing and we hear a wee muffled ouch from the girl, next i see the guy walking out of the room asking where the bathroom was, i said right next door to him. i looked away for half a second and next thing i know i see his legs lifting into the air cartoon style as he passes out head first into the bathroom. luckily for him he missed the toilet bowl by an inch, otherwise we would have had to call an ambulance! my personal fave will always be the guy who passed out slowly whilst talking to me as i tattooed him, he sounded like he was running out of batteries! so funny, he was a champ and laughed about it afterwards. bless him!

about 7 years ago, when i worked at deluxe, i was doing a kanji on this chick's lower back. she was doing ok, then got a little light-headed. so, we stopped, i let her sit down, got her some water, her friend gave her candy. waited about ten minutes, she was feeling better, chatting, color came back in her face. she seemed totally fine. so, we decide to finish up( there was literally one minute left on the tattoo.) she takes a final swig of her water and takes two steps toward the trash can, to throw out her cup. SHE PASSES OUT STANDING UP. !!!CRACK!!! she hit the floor unconscious, no reflexes, face first. it sounded like a bat hitting a baseball. it was the scariest sound ever, and we were stunned. for a second we all just stood there with our mouths open, then the silence was broken by the chick's eerie moaning. blood was pooling out around her head and she seemed REAL confused and in a lot of pain. she was crying and not getting up. so, i called 911, they show up pretty quick, paramedics come in and i tell them what happened. in the most non-challant way, dude glances at her, then back at me and pulls his sleeve up to show me an old armband..."hey bro, how much would it be to fix this up?". i repeated that she was bleeding and in pain and he says "she'll be ok, probably just broke her jaw." his buddy is behind us looking at flash! so, they finally take her out on a stretcher and off to the hospital. i start cleaning up the blood, and notice her teeth left an indent in our floor. SHE HIT HARD. so, her friend is on her way out and is quietly giggling, and i ask what is so funny? she says "well, in the last week her boyfriend dumped her, her car got stolen and she got fired. she was hoping this tattoo would turn her luck around." it was the kanji for "lucky".