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I personally do not respect tattooers as much that have no tattoos either. Now maybe I'm being closeminded but fuck it. I wanna know that a tattooer is devoted to his trade; mentally, emotionally, financially and most of all physically. I'm not talking about being heavily tattooed but at least a forearm shot or two. If you're a tattooer and have not one single tattoo or maybe just one... You're just a tourist in our business, go back to selling real estate, there's more of that 'glory' stuff you're lookin' for.

bob baxter is a piece of shit.

Grant Cobb from Spotlight Tattoo in LA just tweeted ( @GrantCobb1 ) this new panther and snake tattoo picture he did that caught my eye....

ok, ok, it was me.

I have a little "new ink test pad" on my ankle consisting of random little triangles/squiggles. Think I am going to experiment with the peroxide theory. I will post the results, before/after healing.

I don't get it. I love tattooing on every level. Despite the changes in the business over the last few years, I still love it. I love getting tattooed even though I hate how much it hurts. I love putting a tattoo on someone. I love the bonds I have made from tattooing AND BEING TATTOOED. I'm not suggesting that everyone should have tattoos on their hands and neck like I do, but if you tattoo, I would think you might want to have some awesome work. My tattoos are constantly visible and I am proud of them and proud that I am lucky enough to be a tattooer. As to what others have said, I have learned tons from getting work done by great tattooers. I would not be the tattooer I am without having information passed to me by other artists. You can only learn so much by sitting in the same chair day in and day out. Also, I am never more inspired than when I visit another shop and get tattooed. It gives me an energy that is amazing. I often want to get right back into the shop and draw and tattoo better. Anyway, I love tattooing and can't imagine not getting tattooed while being in this business. It has never made sense to me but I guess to each his own but I wouldn't get tattooed by someone who doesn't have tattoos. Just my thoughts on the matter.

This is my latest. Done by Chad Koeplinger last Thursday at Frith Street, London.

"My fuck," I groaned, sweating, "I'll never get out of the weeds." I rolled over, blinking, and saw my lady looking at me. "You alright?" She asked. "Yeah. Bad dream," The light of 3AM being way bright for me. "Bad?" She as always had to fish for it. "Work dream," I grunted. I've never met a woman more supportive of my endevors, and she even backs me on the crazy ones. A rare and kind person I am lucky to have met. I have been working on my machine building quite a bit these days and I must admit, I haven't set up a machine in a few months. "Was it one of your "I'll never catch up?" dreams?" She should be a therapist. "How'd you know?" I asked. Corection, she should have been a spy. "I heard you have that one last week. A "MOTHERFUCKER!" woke me." "Sorry," Said the Gloomy Man. She put her hand on my face. "You need to tattoo. It's your passion." "Baby, fuck those machines for right now," She added. She was, as she most often is, right. So today I spent a while playing my upright bass, packed up my building supplies, and pulled out my now very dusty, cheap, shitty Harbor frieght box full of machines and began what turned into a tuning session. And a visit with old co-conspiritors. Got me to thinking about my clients passed. So tomorrow I figure, what the Hell. Maybe I'll do a few.

So....One fucking year already? I can't believe it has been that long. seems to fly by with everything going on you never really keep track of the beginning point? At least I never do, but thank god somebody paid attention because I sure wasn't. When loch told me about it I was surprised to say the least. I would like to thank everybody who has participated in this place, from the blogs, to photos, to the stories and even bumble nuts who i think may secretly be marrying ursula, "they really had an energy between them". ha-ha i would really like thank the great tattooers who have let me intervene in their lives for a while and show people what i find great about them and there work that needs to be shared. I would also like to thank everyone for their patience with the changes of the actual site while we grow and try to keep it an easily useable site. Who would have thought we would have so many photos so fast? We are having a get together tonight and I cant wait. Spent all day shoveling and ripping out concrete. I could use some diner and adult conversation, as adult as I am capable of. Finally I would like to thank everyone who has made this possible. First Steve is the man! He made this mother fucker from duct tape and paper clips and it rules. Tammy is the internet guru who has the master plan of the forum she is sort the grand master flash to our furious five. Lochlan is the man holding down home plate always managing and posting and doing things that people abbreviate and i just smile and act like i know what the fuck they just said. then there is as i like to call her "the boss" my wife who has to put up with me in all forms and has to edit everything i write so i don't sound like a retard. she will not be editing this so you can get the idea of how important she is. ha ha. she is a great women and i am a better man for even knowing her. Thank you all. Scott

Again , any criticism is often percieved as envy or jealousy. That being said this list and lists like these are bullshit- in my opinion. There will always be those that use these lists to gauge the ability or competence of one person against another. "Oh, your not on the list- well you must not be as good as whoever is!" And no offense to so many on that list but what some of them do and who some of them are have had absolutely no influence on my life, tattooing or otherwise.

150?? that's young! i think Mario is clearly 200 years old at the youngest. duh.

i've known some really intelligent people who have done really, really stupid things. i say let these people sell their foreheads; it's their body and the work speaks for itself. it's also clear to everyone they encounter that they are not thoroughly thinking through their choices, and that they are an anomaly to even the world of tattooing.

It's my theory that the pain does intensify with each tattoo that we get. I'm a tattooer though, not a scientist.It's just a theory. When you experience pain , the body's instinctive reaction should be to remove itself from what is causing the pain. Since we willingly submit to the pain the bodies reaction, when it experiences the same pain - is to increase the intensity of the pain - as a warning or a survival mechanism, whatever---- so that you remove yourself from what is causing the pain. So I think whether you get many tattoos in a short time or over a period of years- the last one will hurt way more than the first one or two. I don't enjoy getting tattooed at all and since coming up with this idea - and believing it- it's difficult for me "to get away" from the pain. The only thing that helps lately is to get in a sort of meditative state and to change my perception of the sensation.

Do you have other tattoos? I'd just get more tattoos.

Sleep helps too, I get all twitchy and unable to sit still if i haven't gotten a good night sleep, as well it hurts a decent bit more when I've not slept.

well then, problem solved!

I looked it up and got sent to a "Colon Cleansing Forum"... Im not sure why there needs to be an entire forum dedicated to people bowel movements, but what the hell.

I think this is key to lessen scabbing and quicken healing.

not a bummer at all. quite the opposite, and i WILL be in toronto THIS WEEKEND at the convention!

C.W. Eldridge

______________________ Perfect quote! You're just a tourist........ And everybody hates a tourist.

I take around 1500 mg's of vicodin and at least 3 or 4 strong imperial I.P.A's when I get tattooed by my friends. I'm also a scumbag though so don't take my advice.

I know lots of good tattoo advice has been given in this thread but here are some other LST forum threads on tattoos and pain as well that may be useful: Most painful spot to get tattooed Anestetic creams Pre and post tattoo rituals Great topic and keep the advice and experiences coming.......

no it was a response to Mario, Alana. just a bummer.

I'm like a scout when I get tattooed- be prepared! I don't drink a week beforehand, make sure I've eaten well, moisturised my crappy dry skin.. all of that crap. One thing I think you might find useful is paying attention to what you're eating- David Bruehl wrote something recently about this which you might like- if you click here, you'll get to that (hope you don't mind me linking to my site, haha).

I say take a photo of EVERY piece you complete and put it in your portfolio - you should be proud of them all and having them on show will undoubtedly force you to raise the bar.

I can replicate this, the morning after, by ordering a takeaway phal curry from my local Indian restaurant.

i always tell people to get the tattoo they want, where they want it. don't let friends or others opinions of size/pain/location of tattoo affect your decisions.

I don't have any cover-ups on my body but I tattoo a hell of a lot of them. Most of the larger work that I do (bigger than 1/2 sleeve) usually incorporates some kind of cover-up. I started to make a point of NOT taking a 'before' picture. Sometimes I do, but I found that the cover-up requests got bigger and bigger the more cover-ups I showed. Covering a half sleeve sized tattoo with a full sleeve compromises the end product but I sometimes enjoy the challenge and the problem-solving aspect of it. This is one of the more tricky ones from last year or so, when I used to take 'before' photos: I got an email today asking if I could cover a full sleeve - with a sleeve.

Totally different imo. But, if given the choice,and all else being equal- I would be more comfortable having elective surgery performed by a surgeon who had also chosen to have elective surgery than one who would not. " It's just a tattoo, I don't think there's too much to empathize" --- That's definitely not how I feel as a tattooer and I really hope the people i choose to get tattooed by feel the way I do---not the way you do.

That's gonna leave a scar!

Seems like alot of these storys are when people we're apprenticing.. Well in that respect my story's the same, This was maybe my 5th tattoo in the shop i apprenticed at. I was tattooing a friend of mine that i knew from a boxing / kickboxing gym in the mission district of San Francisco back in 2001, I am maybe 30 minuts into this tattoo and some big guy comes into talk to my boss (it was just him & i that worked in the shop) So no big deal right?.. They go outside & i continue tattooing listening my Sepultura Arise cd blasting on the shop stereo. I am all consumed by this tattoo trying to make everything as perfect as i could When the guy im tattooing says he thinks something happening outside, So i stop and look up over the partition i didnt see shit so i get back on the tattoo then a couple seconds go by and i hear my boss yelling for me to "GET THE GUN!!" so i tell the guy im tattooing to stay there & i grab the big ass long barrell .45 revolver we had in shop, I'm on my way to head outside to see what the hell is going on when The guy i was tattooing asks me where the phone is, he's going to call the cops.. So i give him the phone & get the gun again. Then the guy i was tattooing says "whats the address here!??" i put the gun down AGAIN pull a card off the wall give it to him, as soon as i turn around there's 6 guys running into the shop two of them already have knives out and the damn gun is on the chair about 10 feet away from me with the hammer back.. These guys we're already striking distance away from me with knives out yelling this and that b.s. and im thinking to myself "ok this sucks but if it comes between me getting stuck with this knife or them seeing the 45 on the chair i got to make a move for the gun" i look over at my friend the kickboxer he's standing there like a statue, & instead of maybe getting ready to fight, or worrying about them stabbing him in the neck or stomach.. He has both of his hands over his balls.. hahaha even in that situation i remember thinking to myself w.t.f is he doing and finding it really funny. So anyways the boss comes running into the shop all bloody from getting jumped outside there's a couple other guys running after him so finally there's my distraction.. I make my move for the gun everybody see's me doing it, they bolt out of the shop going faster than they did coming in i give the gun to my boss i grab a hammer and we run after these guys as soon as we get outside he starts shooting.. unloaded the revolver.. These guys are understandably running like bats out of hell scattering everywhere.. Well no one got shot and after dealing with the cops and all that mess i finished up my 5th shop tattoo.

got 3 H2O tattoos:swallows holding banner with EVERREADY in it,dices with ONE LIFE ONE CHANCE and the first H2O logo as the water drop and a MADBALL ball from HOLD IT DOWN altough i prefer SET IT OFF as album and logo. perhaps i'll get one day the bad brains banned in DC design but with the milan's Duomo(cathedral) instead of the white house,or PMA (altough it's not exactly from the brains but from Napoleon Hill)

Facebook This thing is fucking great. I think that it is as perfect of a tattoo as I have ever seen. I know that Nick is on this forum so I hope that he doesn't mind me posting this link here.