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'Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye'- Shakespeare 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.'- Miss Piggy 'Long, short, thin, heavy, 12 fingers, 3 legs, rough or smooth, I shall drink it all and belch what I don't desire till my lifes experience end.'- Hawk BigAl my friend, we here on the LST are the people bred out of the uncommon perception of what is beauty and beautify ourselves and others in some cases to balance any of our personal short comings. That Lady in the posted pic appears a very happy and a beautiful person full of life, that is what my eye beholds and I'm certain the thread was never intended to insult and if this is anybody's perception then let me be the first to apologize.

With color:

Got this outlined on Friday. Only had about an hour and a half of tattoo time available before had to get ready for next appointment or would have started the shading.

NSFAnyone.. Jesus.

Pushead and I. Every time Im around Pushead, my 80s skater inner child is happy!

I just watched the Grizzly Man trailer, he sounds like a hippie douche. I'm not surprised he got eaten.

I'd be really interested to see what would happen if you could get a few people to agree to getting some chromed-out nonsense tattooed on them by some "names" and see how long it would take for everyone to copy it, and start talking about how 90s chrome is the fucking TRUTH. ..I, however, do not volunteer to receive these tattoos.

I'm sure this has already been mentioned in the thread but HOLY SHIT i CANNOT WAIT for the monacled bowler hatted curly-mustachioed Tea-Drinking manhead tattoo to go away. I hope every dude or girl that gets one of those feels 10 time stupider in 10 years than anyone sporting desert chrome does now! What would possibly compel someone to get that shit tattooed on them I will never know. "Check out my tattoo of an imaginary, uptight, fey, rich guy who may, or may not have been an extra in the film Wild Wild West." ugh. WORST.

just another saturday night. my co-worker snapped this candid pic as i was about to start a walk-in. enjoy! (mildly nsfw)

@cfgsteak, I never carry cash but I used to enjoy making a trip to the bank on the way to the bike shop. It was part of the ritual. I guess it will be my tattoo ritual too. Another good reason to use cash is wife doesnt have to know EXACTLY how much you spent at the tattoo shop.

Balls that are now dead and rotten!

we used to take credit and debit and around 4 or 5 years ago the printer crapped out and they said they could send us another one for $400...you would think that they would want to not try and bend us over on replacing a printer since they were taking nice chunks of money on every transaction. ever since, cash only. honestly i like it better because its just one more way to avoid supporting large banks and credit lenders that are making money on our hard earned dollars.

I'm having a great deal of difficulty resisting going to a shop today, picking a piece of flash off the wall and having it done. Hmmm.

Yea....the last tour was amazing as well. New album soon too! I first got into them around when soundtracks for the blind came out so I NEVER got to see them untill last year. Needless to say it was an important day. Too bad my bunny boy isnt done so well and I smashed it while it was healing so the face is a bit rubbed off....But i love it anyway.

Got this hannya mask on the inside of my right bicep Friday from my regular artist Paul. excuse the crappy cell phone pic.

How bout this for a hefty dose of L.A. flavour ,Chris Brand re-invents the Suikoden once again.

Timothy treadwell had some strange views on conservation. It was hard to tell wither he was feeling those from the heart, or if they were driven my total schizophrenia. He created some unreal views of wildlife which no one has or will ever do again, but at the same time broke the boundary between showing and telling. Every time he touched a bear it drove me crazy, and all I could think was "Well, I know how this is going to end." Homeboy spend 10 seasons in the Alaskan wild filming and living with the largest land mammals on the North American Continent. I dont think there is anything hippish about that fool. I backpack every weekend and saw my first bear a weekend ago... Freaked me out.

I worked for a guy who claimed to have more than one female customer start masturbating while getting tattooed.. This is something I can't really understand.. I mean I guess if you are a exhibitionist and a bit masochistic then maybe? Same guy also told me a few tales about ladies getting totally naked to get their lower back tattooed, or ladies getting totally topless to get a small shoulder or chest tattoo.. Unfortunately I think on most occasions they're the ladies you don't wanna see naked who like to get naked.... I actually remember hiding in the back of the shop on a couple occasions and having to force myself not to burst out laughing at some of them.. But yeah @hawk is right, I'd rather have to talk to some fat chick or whatever then deal with a zanax queen (or king) any day, in just about any situation unless it's when I'm on a plane or trying to buy zanex, the later of which doesn't really happen....

I'd much rather tattoo the crazies, fatties, etc. and be able talk about killing zombies than inking the over tanned uptown julie browns exhibiting their zanax prescription. Case in point; I like to derail some people when they are the first timer questioning me to be serious about how much pain is involved minutes before I start, it don't matter what I reply with as they will soon know so sometimes I just say "I compare it to the first time ya have anal sex, that shid hurts!" and it totally derails them and they generally don't reply or the replies will vary between males and females to something so "off the wall". But one time after I was underway after the "no reply/response" this lady stated "You lied! I'd much rather have anal sex than this!" I had to laugh. As to the variety of "earthy and real people" we get, I once had a lady in the chair getting a bird of paradise on her should, her back to me, and this guy stopped by needing to talk about some deep marital stuff he was going through and how his Wife left him for ANOTHER WOMAN. I told him that I had once pondered as to "who would know better than another woman how and where to please another woman", now the lady in the chair hadn't said a word since we had began and was not part of this discussion but at that point she turned her head towards us and spoke up "That's a crock of szhit, this beotch was eating my pussy last Saturday and she didn't know what the f*%k she was doing" at which point I couldn't help but burst into laughter. I love my job.

Goddammit that looked like a good time, a Sir Mixalot song comes to mind..........Jane Fonda ain't got no anaconda in the back of her honda.

gotta be this surely???.....(nsfw) Jay Read » Tattooing Bellend + Bolloks

This tattoo was done in September of 2009, and I bet by September of 2010 it was a black panther crawling out of a very dark red rose.

wow, thats their whole arm...and forever they'll know they paid $49.50 for crappy seats to see greenday. i'll always remember that i saw them in 93 in atlanta at a tiny punk club, for free.

just finished on friday...done by Scott Sylvia... my first splash of colour :)

Bit more on my half sleeve. Japanese happy/sad mask, tattooed by @Stewart Robson , yesterday. Popeye arm today.

I'm getting to know names around here, but awesome back pieces started by the actual members who posted their own work. Asradin, that looks like a great start. This thread makes me want to get started on a back piece immediately. Too bad that's not going to happen within the next 2 years. I do want something full back, and it'll probably be Kanga Yaksha Myo-o. He is the god protecting the North. 3 Faces, 6 arms, you know... the norm, haha. How can there be a full back piece thread that has gone 11 pages without a single mention of Hiroshige?!? Or did I miss that page? Anyhow, these are some of my favorites of his.

My mom still buys me cloths because I am completely incapable of knowing when I need new pants/shirts/socks. I cant be hip by default.

thats real nice of you to say tim, thank you. the shop i worked at before Frith st was owned by a non tattooer and at the time, i left with a real sour taste in my mouth. i wasnt sure about dante since i didnt know him but all i heard was good things from well respected tattooers and really, i was stoked to work at frith st, even for the one day a week i was started on. immediately i realised that this man knew and cared about tattooing more than i did then and probably even now. He has been part of the tattooing 'scene' for many years now and well respected pillars of the scene call him friend. i'm proud to work there, to call him my boss and to be his friend. there's always an exception to the rule and as a shop i do feel we are one. I've been long trying to buy my tattoo supplies from either people i know care about tattooing and from tattooers themselves. everyday is an ethical matter in tattooing, every choice you make affects tattooing and i have learnt to pick my battles carefully so to speak

thanks for the tip Like most tattooers, I think Horiyoshi tattoos who he wants, and doesn't tattoo anyone he doesn't want to tattoo. I also know that, as of Taku's last trip to Japan, Horiyoshi was still doing some color by hand, at his discretion. I've spent a good amount of time with him, and it's my opinion that when he decides to do his final tattoo, it'll be done partially by hand. I think it's part of his soul, and he'll never give it up totally. again, just my opinions, what do I know?

If the original post was asking for info about the politics of the Japanese tattoo world in itself (their drama within their own tattoo culture, tattoo families etc), I apologize in advance for this long post about having tattoos in Japan. I've spent a lot of time in Japan, most of it centered around tattoo-related things. I've tattooed there a good amount, as have many of my friends. I work with a japanese tattooer who specializes in their traditional style of tattooing, working with machine and by hand. Both of us have been tattooed by Horiyoshi 3 extensively, by hand in Yokohama, which puts you right in the middle of where tattooing intersects with the underworld in their culture (Juan could also talk a lot about that I'm sure, having managed to get dozens of Yakuza naked and photograph them). We talk about this stuff all the time, and I've also had many hours of lengthy discussions with other tattooers who've spent way more time in Japan than I have, pre-dating the Japanese "open" tattoo scene that they have now; as well as years of talking to Japanese friends who live here and there. Given all that, I don't see any reason why people shouldn't discuss this publicly. In fact, I'd say it SHOULD be discussed, so tattooed people who'd like to go to Japan can have an idea about how to behave/what to expect/basic rules of thumb for services etc that might be effected by your having tattoos. I had a customer telling people the other day "you don't show a KOI tattoo in japan!!" which, while at least sensitive, is a little extreme and oversimplified. The above links have really good info. One of the best snippets I found was roughly "in Japan, the Yakuza are never far". That's really true, but not in the way you might think. In Japan, organized crime is an accepted part of the culture, and frequently they are involved in business that comes into contact with regular people (construction, high-interest cash loans which are very popular, nightclubs, property management etc). A friend of mine's elderly mother needed the roof on her house replaced: she got a bid of around $20,000, contracted the company to do it, paid them, and they stole her money. Although her deceased husband had once been the mayor of the town they live in, she was powerless to do anything. It's not like here where as long as you're pretty much not trying to deal large amounts of drugs on the street, or walking around in the ghetto dressed like 2-pac, gangs are pretty much going to leave you alone, because you're not moving in their world. In Japan, the Yakuza make their living off the normal people (as I understand it), so there's always the threat that ordinary people might have to deal with them. There are magazines you can buy at 7-11 in Japan that are basically like "Yakuza Weekly", it's that accepted. One of the famous ones is called "Document" This intimidation is where a lot of their power comes from, from what I can tell. Japan is a very "polite" society, where fitting in is stressed to a degree that we can't comprehend. People are quiet for the most part, humble, keep to themselves. The idea of a thug coming into a small business and making a commotion (most indoor spaces in Japan are small) by shouting or simply threatening to make a scene is intimidating enough that most business owners would want to pay money, monthly, to avoid such a mess. Every street tattoo shop in Japan I've ever asked pays these kind of fees, as I'm sure many, many businesses do. Even extremely well connected people I've met still pay, just heavily reduced amounts. Asian culture in general is just so much more homogenous than life as we know it, to stand out at all is to really draw attention to one's self. So tattoos not only go against the grain in the larger social sense, but they're also something that touches the ever present "yakuza" nerve in the minds of much of the population. It's like a double whammy for a largely mild-mannered people. An easy way to think about it is imagine being at the library with your kid, or at a restaurant, and seeing some guy walk in with "MS13" or "Slauson Crips" tattooed very visibly on his neck; would make most normal people uncomfortable. In Japan, to SOME people, it doesn't matter if you've got My Little Pony on your arm and you're as white as Howdy Doody, if you're showing a tattoo in public, you're a thug, and probably a criminal. I've had little old men come up to me and call me a Yakuza, and even after I explained in Japanese that I'm not Japanese so I can't be Yakuza (which isn't really true anymore), they just keep pointing at the tattoos and saying "Yakuza, Yakuza..." But keep in mind, that's the exception. In Japan, pretty much anyone who's not Japanese is seen as kind of a monkey anyway, so even without tattoos, there're going to be things they don't want you doing/participating in. I've gotten dirty looks without anything showing in a Bob Dylan themed bar for merely invading their little world. But I've also been shown enormous kindness with a lot of skin showing by elderly people. Kind of like here, I find young adults and middle aged people tend to be most offended, while kids, teenagers, and the old & elderly are usually interested or inquisitive about foreigners and/or tattoos. I've also seen many Japanese people showing tattoos in public, even very traditional ones. I'd be happy to answer any questions that I can, but in general: In Japan, many people live in tiny apartments that don't have a bathroom or even a toilet, let alone a shower (imagine living in a bed & breakfast with no shower). Many people who do have the square, deep traditional baths big enough for one in Japan will acutally re-heat bath water for themselves to save water & heating costs. Because of these constraints, and because it's so nice, the "Sento" or public bath is still very popular. Sento are kind of like an indoor public pool, but it's a bathhouse which has a separate side for men and women. There are little faucets with very hot water that you sit in front of on a stool, next to other people doing the same. Here you wash yourself with soap before getting into the very hot bath, which is usually big enough for 3-6 people. There are also showers, but the real fun is the bath, which feels amazing (there's usually an even hotter one right next to it). Sento is everyone's basic right, to take a bath, so it doesn't matter how many tattoos you have, you're welcome. When you hear japanese tattooers talking about seeing tattoos for the first time in the bathhouse, they mean Sento, not Onsen. Onsen are the natural hot springs scattered all throughout Japan, almost all of them have minerals that good for your health. Usually there's some kind of facility built up around them, whether it's a huge wooden building, a hotel, a rustic retreat, or even just a vessel that looks like a swimming pool. Some onsen are outdoor, some indoor, some co-ed, some public, some private. Unlike Sento, Onsen is a luxury activity, and a source of much national pride. It's like going to a spa here, many elderly people and families are on vacation, tour groups have chartered busses, schools are taking class trips etc. They want to enjoy the scenery relax, deeply, and they're naked in public (all Sento and Onsen are nude all the time). They don't wanna see Scott asking them to scoot over in some language they don't understand. Therefore, many Onsen don't allow tattooed people, they figure "why bother trying to sort out the good tattooed people from the bad, all Yakuza are bad, period, and many Yakuza have tattoos". If you want to enjoy Onsen, I'd say look for those that are more rural and private, not too fancy, connected to a hotel or inn. I've only been to a few, and the ones I know don't allow tattoos tend to be some of the most famous and beautiful. But I HAVE enjoyed seeing snow fall in ultra hot water under the night air with many naked tattooed guys, so it can be done. Hotels AFAIK don't turn away anyone, all have private baths. Some have Sento or "rooftop Onsen" which are nice and usually small, so you dhouldn't be shy about using them. Capsule hotels seem to be the exception, as they have a kind of Sento only, and since they're located in nightlife heavy areas, that means many Yakuza, so they don't want tattooed people in the public bath inside. Many nightclubs in Japan have specific "rules" which, as a monkey, they're going to think you of course don't understand; so you might get turned away, even if you're with a Japanese person, but not always. In Japan, just be polite, bow your head a little to people, say "Sumimasen" if you say nothing else (excuse me), and put soy sauce on your rice if you want, you're an American. anyway, I typed a lot & I wanna do something else, but happy to help anyone who has a question if I can

finally found an example of this when I wasn't even looking for it...