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My favorite part is when Chris Nunez said, "That tail is too small to propel the koi's head." I love that critiques included details like hydro-propulsion theory.

Not sure if this counts, but someone just texted me this picture...

You know what.... TIME shows you either know how to get it done, and you do, or you don't... Oliver is a fast tattooer, he was taught that way. besides a time limit also shows who does stuff out of the comfy zone well and who doesn't... like the dude that could draw the Fu dog but couldn't tattoo it... I'll watch it, Oliver is family. I'm proud... side note: pointing out problems with the tattoos educates everyones future clients.... my two cents

Electric Ladyland... NOLA Tattoo, Freaky Tiki, Tattoo a Gogo... And Jacci Gresham's shop Art Accent...

just stumbled upon this, pretty amazing

Ok, one last thing before I crash. Yes, I realise @Jake has probably taken this month out (and deservedly so!) but damn it, I really want a chance at an LST shirt and you've got to be in it to win it. By Horinao, Catclaw tattoo-z Kyoto

They should of had a porn star like Janine Lindemulder be the celebrity judge instead of Dave Navarro.At least she has real nice work,and she's easy on the eyes.Dave looked like he had one to many face lifts. I feel sorry for the people who picked b-tat,and Al Fliction to do their cover-ups.I wonder if they offer those people free laser sessions after the show.

Thanks @Scott R Bailey just confirmed, so it's looking pretty, pretty, pretty good so far (I watch too much Curb...) I'll definitely do another travelblog when the time comes.

My personal problem with this stuff is that it doesn't deal with or derive from the basic motivations of humans or society. All the long-lasting tattoo imagery addresses or springs from some basic element of humanity. Which is why they've lasted a long time. My opinion is that this style of work (trash polka et al) is created with the main motivation to stand out from the crowd or be 'different'. The drive to be original, different or special, is fundamentally flawed and certainly short-lived. If tattoo designs derive from deep-rooted human drives and archetypes it's pretty much impossible for the concept to become dated. The execution is a different matter. In my opinion all the best tattoo imagery comes from or symbolises basic human drives, or the needs of humans in society. Skulls, pin-ups, powerful animals, flowers, hearts, religious imagery, daggers etc, etc. Most of the flash or portfolios (including tribal) in a decent tattoo shop will succinctly encompass the interesting bits of the human experience. That's why the work posted in this thread rings hollow for me, regardless of the difficulty of the application.

Today I found an offer I couldn't refuse for a round trip to New York. The flight is booked, so hopefully I can get appointments with some tattooers as well. I will be visiting from May 27th through June 7th. Anyone up for an LST eastcoast gathering around that time?

that shit blew my mind!! I'm not sure what he's capable of now but back on the Miami Ink days he was around the same caliber tattooer as most of the contestants on the show....

Fuck Dave Navarro nuff said.

Forgot to post this up sooner, but Thomas Hooper had a art showing tonight and I think they are going to be there for a few days, over here in manhattan. I got a print, a shirt and a short talk with Hooper about a future tattoo, I suggest people stop by to check it out, there is some cool pieces up. Check his blog out for more details. Address 307 W38th Street NY NY

Ahahahahaha I didn't even notice. I bet the guy who got that is gonna be bummed that his portrait is so inaccurate.

DOC Don Lucas Tattooing 3807 Airline Dr Metairie, LA 70001 (504) 833-0190 Don has a museum with lots of cool stuff and if ya call ahead he will answer as the phone rings into his house if he's not at the shop. Don was at Paul Rogers side when he passed so that should be enough to know that you will find "cool" and good mojo.

@Iwar That's awesome! I just booked an April trip to New York. So far I'm booked with Sarah Schor and I'm hoping to schedule something at Smith Street too. I think two will probably be all I can handle on one trip.

as is this

@Duffa. Very nice travel blog, especially the photos. My oldest son spent a semester in Nagoya as a college exchange student last year and did he make one single photo of the trip? Fuck no! So, thank you for taking lots of photos!

Adam Machin, The Tattoo Company , Wilmslow, manchester,uk

But this one......

I watched 90% of it, but for some reason the DVR didn't record all of it. (maybe it became self-aware)lol I thought it was pretty good. It was alot better than hearing the sob stories of all the other tattoo shows.......it was actually about tattooing. And it wasn't tattoo school. I don't think they put it on the air thinking that actual tattooers would watch it, so of coarse they Hollywooded it up. I will keep watching just for the FAILS.

Al Fliction is an abhorrent man...

For Al Fliction, duh.

When I was having my shin/calf tattooed I healed very strangely after a while. Red, hot to the touch, swollen, and almost everything thing that tells you the tattoo was infected. Then a week or so later when it peeled and started healing it be fine. Went to three different doctors to see what was up, none of them said infected, one said it was normal, another said a rash, the last said it was bug bites. Never found out why, took a break when my tattooer traveled and when he came back things started to heal perectly fine after. Sometimes tattoos heal strange I guess, in the future if your worried about a medical question go see a doctor not the Internet. [edit] I do have a few small holes from where I had small strange pimple like things that were deep enough to pull out the ink, but I'm going to keep them to remind me about hellish healing.

Leg tarts generally heal longer and rougher than other spots. The further down your leg it is, the father from your heart it is. Makes it harder for your body to send what it needs to that area.

my daughter tattooed me at age 8. its was awesome. i told my son he could as well (he was 5) but he wasn't into it. haha. they have both been to the shop a bunch and they LOVE to trace and color flash. it was (and is) a great experience.

Yes. And when you are talking about Traditional Japanese, you have to take in consideration all the seasons, different elements, Images, religions, Ukiyo-e, beliefs, etc etc. And how to mix them and what not to mix.

I had a pretty large tattoo (five hours) done on my leg when I was sixteen. The artist (a talented guy from Chicago) knew I had a few smaller pieces and after talking to me for a few months (via letters in the pre internet glory days) was comfortable with doing a large piece on me. My parents had signed for my first tattoo and were ok with me getting larger work. Would I have the same thing done today? Probably not. But do-overs aren't really my style. That said, the piece is very sci-fi oriented and I'm still a dorky scifi loving manchild, so it all works out pleasantly. My fiance and I don't plan to procreate; we're content with Italian Greyhounds who'll never be tattooed... so I guess I don't really have much of an opinion either way.

I do have to say that my leg tattoo healed very well and with little issue, but I might b the exception. I would go to the artist as soon as possible. I thought my arm was infected when I saw some scabbing. but the artist said it just healed weird (probably got bumped a few too many times on the subway). I also know that the guy I saw am now goingto is a bit heavy handed as well and it heals alot different than my other tattoos as in they look like all hell for a few days but heal very very well after that. Just stop in the aritst will want to know if anything is wrong plus they have experience in the area and will have a good idea.

I can absouletly agree that pointing out technical errors (or just bad tattoos in general) is a positive aspect of the show. I guarentee there were a lot of people watching the show that didnt realize that fu dog was pretty damn terrible until after it was pointed out. This also goes into my theory alot of people look at tattoos as tattoos and dont actaully look at the picture. These are the same people that dont understand why people pay top dollar for good tattoos when their buddy does them for 20 bucks and a pack of smokes. Once people see the errors on the show they might be more tuned in when picking out an artist.

go back a talk to the guy who did it, it's impossible to accurately troubleshoot something like that over the internet. let the person who did it see it and give you their recommendation, then if it doesn't improve from their suggestion seek others opinions. but seeing it and being able to ask certain questions will go a long way.

i stand behind my previous statement.

Great trip blog, solid tattoos and some good pictures. But to fill in some missing blanks for you, the gyudon (beef bowl) is from a chain called Matsuya. And that astronaut dog is part of a running commercial for softbank (you can youtube them) but the odd thing is, is that he is the father of the household. Good to see some pictures of kansai region, cause I've never been there.

Super write-up, man, you've set the bar pretty high for future efforts. In particular, I like all the photographs. It's nice to get a sense of the people and the place, as well as the tattoos.

(I seriously can't believe I just woke up at 4:30am in the morning, just to create and post that... but I did lol.)

Thank you so much for sharing this with us!!! You and @Iwar have set a new bar for traveling to get tattooed blogs!!!

I hope I am not limited to one post. One me, Done by me at Patriot Ink Tattoo (self-portrait drawn by my daughter, age 3 at the time)

Day 3 (Part 2): So once again, Horinao just drew the background directly onto my skin. And once again I was in awe as to how the fuck he turned these straight, seemingly random lines into these beautiful, perfect finger waves. Shits was crazy! He drew it all, we went and had a quick cigarette before we started and about 4 hours later my sleeve was complete. And it looked pretty damn good if I do say so myself ;) Horinao wiped down my arm and realised he'd missed a small spot of background so we did it, second wipe down and we took some photos. At this point he realises he missed another spot so we go back to get that. Third wipe down and another missed spot is noticed. At this point both Horinao and I are laughing our asses off, Rina and Hiro look over thinking "wtf?" Not sure what Hiro said exactly, but I could tell he was giving Horinao a little bit of shit. Horinao turns around, says something and Hiro just went silent. Horinao looked at me with this super cheeky grin from behind his face mask and laughed, so I did too. Not sure what was said, but I do know funny when I see it in any language. While I was getting tattooed, the guys got a delivery of these massive spring onions, and Rina-san asked if I knew what they where. When I responded in japanese she thought it was awesome and we all had a good laugh. When we'd finished up Rina presented me with a bag of said spring onions. I have to admit I was slightly confused, and Hiro could tell. He explained to me that it was a present for Grandpa for letting me stay with him and Masato and for helping make everything happen. It was I guess a 'small' gesture, but it really meant a lot and solidified the fact that these guys are part of my Japanese family Much love and respect. (Lol I just made the timer) Finished product: I'd asked the night before if I could take Masato and Grandpa out to dinner to say thank you for letting me stay. I wanted to go to 'OhSho' which is a chain of chinese restaurants and it is the shit. Masato wasn't sure if Grandpa would be down (he's a bit fussy) but he said he'd ask. To Masatos' surprise Grandpa said yes and it was on! Heading to the spot in the whip Blurry photo but you get the idea waiting... Hells yeah!!! this all up was about $20 Australian... in Australia you'd be looking at $60+ easy... fuck my country is expensive. Done and done. Stopped at life and stocked up on candy etc to take back home. The next day will be my last day here so Masato and I plan to go back to Kyoto and this time do a bit of sight seeing and not just seeing the inside of Catclaw (not that I really minded ;) )

I have witnessed a few people try to make requests about what music we listen to. My boss tell them, "the music is for me, not for you. I'm the one working after all." It cracks me up every time, but people don't question it, because they like his grumpy old tattooer persona.

Dude, this is the second time you've brought up some derogatory shit about black folks. First time was in the knuckle tattoo thread (http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-101/244-knuckle-tattoos-best-youve-seen-your-current-fav-page12.html).. It's not about "being PC" it's about not spreading negativity or racism just to be funny or get a rise out of people.. I'm sure you joke with your friends about some things, and when I'm around my good friends, we talk a lot of bullshit about pretty much everything, but we know the limits of what's considered funny within our group.. and that's probably where you should keep your love of ignorant knuckle tattoos and whatever else you wanna do to "continue the hatred." I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it –– I'm hoping you didn't mean anything by it –– but it's tough to see through that kind of bullshit on the internet.

I imagine Drake's "enforcers" look something like this

I got tattooed by Chris Trevino in 1997, right before I left Austin for SF. He said he had just done a guest spot in SF, so I asked him what the coolest tattoo he did on the trip was. Now, for those of you who are familiar with Pre-100% Japanese Style Chris Trevino, you know that "coolest tattoo" also meant "craziest tattoo." He went on to describe an insane armpit-to-waistline rib piece that involved, among other other things, a jackelope wearing a fez, a waterfall of blood, and a lady with a beehive hairdo making the devil horns with her ring and middle fingers tucked away in her special pocket. I couldn't really get my head around it, but that was the case with many of the tattoos Chris described to me. Fast forward to 1999, when I finally had enough money to get tattooed by Eddy Deutsche. I went to 222 on my lunch break and booked the appointment with some guy at the counter. We got to talking about my tattoos and I mentioned that I had work from Chris. He said, "Oh yeah, he did my ribs" and lifted up his shirt. It was that piece! And the guy was Jeff Rassier, who is in a league of his own when it comes to putting weird (and awesome) tattoos on people.

Reminds me of the time I drunkenly tried to take down a friend who had had a few pro-MMA fights, without warning him. He stuffed the takedown, and me, onto an iron road bollard, before he'd thought about it. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

There are SO many reasons presented in this video why you should avoid being this person. Whoa.

I use this shit Available at most branches of Wickes or B&Q.

Just avoid being this person....

My legs twitch like a motherfucker. Especially on my shins near the ankles. It's bound to happen, but I think most artists are prepared by holding you. Not bad unless you horse kick them in the face or something. It's unlikely that'd happen, but it would make for a great story

Even though I own most of all Hardymarks publications I went ahead and purchased the ones I didn't own and replaced the rest with new copies. I paid quite a bit for the flash books. I believe I found the #1 for $200, the #2 for $120 and the #3 for $220. It's more than I wanted to spend, but you can't put a price on things like that. Everyone said that the Flash From The Past book would be reprinted and it never was, now everyone is wishing they would've just paid the overprice. I was always taught books and art would be the best investment I ever made. Buy the books and don't look back.

We are the greatest country in the world. Ya'll are jealous.

I fumbled about for the right term for these but thanks to my man Hogg i've now got it ,Capt Coleman dragons .Anyway this "did me up like a kipper " as the say over here .Hope this is cool to post...great new stuff from Valerie Vargas .