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I just got a tattoo done by Scott Silvia last Monday (3/26) and I was way beyond excited to meet him and to get a tattoo by, in my opinion, one of the best tattooist out there!! It is my favorite tattoo and fills me full of drive and motivation to keep that fire under my ass to keep achieving and striving to learn. One of the best things about being a tattooist is learning, growing, and evolving through getting tattoos, asking questions, observing, researching, and much much more! Living and breathing tattoos. I got the Spider Lady because of personal reasons and because its a traditional tattoo design that holds so much history within itself and to see an added new twist to the traditional tattoo designs makes me appreciate and want to know and learn more and more. This is seriously my new favorite tattoo (as are all new tattoos) And makes me want to strive and continue to get tattooed by awesome, amazing, inspirational, driven artist!

Another session on my half sleeve. Tattooed by Crispy Lenox, Black Garden Tattoo, London.

Jensen panther head and snake done by Dustin Golden of Deluxe Tattoo

no problem! i don't have many wide shots of it with a size reference, so i'll include a photo of when i was prepping the mold to cast the blade, along with some in progress photos where it was closed, and a final shot or two. looking back on it now, i hate the drawing i did on the handle, particularly the tiger. but, i guess that comes with the territory... the handle is birch cabinetry plywood, laminated into a 1 1/2" sheet (from two 3/4" sheets), the blade is cast aluminum (or aluminium, for any non-Americans), and the drawing is acrylic paint pen and colored pencil, coated in Shellac. roughly 60 hours of work on the handle, and 250 hours of work on the blade, starting with the foam carving, through moldmaking, time spent in the foundry casting it (which involved a week long trip two states away to Houston, TX... but i'm only counting the time spent casting), and grinding/sanding. https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/185599_842687201101_17026783_44414902_3167353_n.jpg https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/215267_953775763731_17026783_44849450_1223271_n.jpg https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226859_960129420951_17026783_44943596_6851720_n.jpg (photo credit: Chase Brazzle) https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/222261_959317912221_17026783_44941362_2897224_n.jpg of course, now it's displayed with all the glory afforded by being wrapped in plastic to protect it, tucked away in a room at my parents' house.

From the article preview: Heck, at least Joe Rogan is funny, doesn't take himself too seriously, and has some actual nice ink (although I haven't gotten a good look at it, it appears nice from a distance). IMHO, YMMV, etc...

Just did my usual Saturday workout. Bench Press 205x4, 185x6, 185x5, 175x6, 175x7 Power Shrugs 135x5, 185x5, 245x10, 295x10, 335x10 BB Rows 155x10, 155x10, 155x10 Ab Rollouts from Knees 3x10 Dips BWx5, BW+65x5, BW+77x1, BW+40x8, BW+40x6 DB Laterals 23s x8x3 Comments: Compared to last Saturday's workout, I added 5 lbs to each set of bench, 20 pounds to my top 3 sets of power shrugs and 10 lbs to my first set of BB rows. Last week, I hit a PR on dips (BW+77x3), but I only got 1 rep this week. Oh, well. I added another set at BW+40 to try to make up for it. Saturday and Wednesday workouts take place in my basement, where there is just enough room to make it work: Those Home Depot sawhorses are my version of a "rack." :) They work for squats, too.

@Jade1959 Hot chick. Pretty good tattoo as well. I do an @ and shes sitting right next to me. Retarded or what?

Chad Koeplinger. Will probably go to Brian Bruno for the other side.

I just finished this painting yesterday... possibly the best idea i've ever had for a piece (including the 12 foot wood/metal straight razor sculpture i made that actually folds away). sorry for the watermarks, but i'll probably post this in a few places that increase it's likelihood of sharing without sourcing. Kuniyoshi warriors, of course. https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/534680_10100488762403191_17026783_47484761_1466466552_n.jpg https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/554828_10100488762148701_17026783_47484759_1139198157_n.jpg they're a bit large, hence URLs in place of the images. EDIT: also, planning a 2'x3' woodcut version of this for the future (i dual majored in printmaking and sculpture). mainly did the painting as a color study... carving will probably occur in the summer, printing in the fall.

From time to time I will have a little twitch on more sensitive areas (ex. armpit), but for the most part not really. I have never moaned etc but I did grimace pretty bad my last session. 2.5-3 hours of almost solid black fill in my innner bicep. It wasnt bad until he cleaned it over and over again, my pain tolerance just gave up. It's funny how much a paper towel and soap can hurt!

wasn't sure where to post this... 93-year-old lens hacked onto a Canon 5D Mark II the hack Today's Tomorrow; The 5DMKII VIEW CAMERA

Haven't seen a dedicated all-around art thread, and Hogg couldn't think of one either. Tattoo-related or not. Stuff you've done or stuff you like. Hobo Nickels: Appalachian History » Hobo Nickels Coin collectors today consider the hobo nickel a numismatic treasure, a tribute to long- forgotten folk artists who often literally carved for their supper. The Buffalo nickel debuted in 1913, but it wasn’t until the Great Depression struck that hobo nickel carving reached its peak. During this period, buffalo nickels were the most common nickels in circulation. The sudden scarcity of jobs in the early 1930s forced a huge number of men to hit the road. Certainly some coins were carved to fill the idle hours. More importantly, a ‘knight of the road,’ with no regular source of income, could take one of these plentiful coins and turn it into a folk art piece, which could in turn be sold or traded for small favors such as a meal or shelter for a night. In a community of generally anonymous drifters, two carvers rose to prominence among hobo nickel creators. Bertram ‘Bert’ Wiegand was born in 1880 and carved from 1913 to 1949. He signed his coins by removing L I and Y from L I B E R T Y, leaving only B E R T. He tutored the man coin collectors consider the giant of hobo nickel carving: George Washington ‘Bo’ Hughes (born between 1895 and 1900 in Theo, Mississippi). Bert met the young teenager in a jungle, or hobo camp, along the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio railroad line, and Bo’s first nickels appeared two years later, in 1915. Bo carved till about 1980, when he was last seen by his friend of 40 years, Williard Chisolm, in a Florida camp. Life as a hobo took its toll: the rigorous manual labor Bo undertook to survive during the money-tight, poverty-ridden 30s rendered his hands stiff and permanently damaged. Frequent beatings by ruthless detectives prowling railroads (where many hobos resided) in search of freeloaders and thieves compounded his dexterity impairment. Nevertheless, devoted to his craft, Bo worked through the pain and frustrating impediments throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, but in 1957, while he was working on a nickel, his chisel suddenly slipped and struck his hand. The injury forced the once-great hobo nickel engraver to resort to a haphazard punching method. Bo continued his work, but with less frequency and diminished quality, and as America moved into the post-war era genuine hobo nickels became a thing of the past. The U.S. Mint ceased striking Buffalo nickels in 1938. Skull Nickels: Skull Nickels | Colossal A number of Hobo Nickel artists etched away the flesh of the subject to reveal these awesomely macabre skulls.

The clash were always on a major label :)

Another good month of tattoos so thanks for all who shared and voted! March 2012 Tattoo of the month winner is @embers (post #17) with his tiger by @Bryan Burk at Dark Horse Tattoo in LA, congratulations! For those who don't know @embers traveled to get this tattoo and as an observer can say it was well worth it!! Also if you're unfamiliar with Bryan here's the Bryan Burk Video Interview he did with Scott for LST. PM me your shirt size, male or female style (note: we have no smalls or mediums for males left at this time, sorry), and your mailing address. Thanks for everyone else who participated and now it is time for April 2012 Best Tattoo of the Month

I was 19, and I got the Rocket From The Crypt logo on the inside of my arm. I thought I was so punk. Luckily, it was done really well and has since been filled in with color. Now it's my little red rocket. Crudeness intended. 11 years later I still dig it.

Here's some that I've done. I don't get into the studio much but I hope to soon and will explore a new direction. All ideas and no time right now. Intaglio prints onto rice paper. I made this for my wife. It's of the antique schooner we sailed on on Maine. This one seems relevant these days...painted just over four years ago.

HATERS GONNA HATE Oliver Peck: Haters Gonna Hate « TAM Blog

@nmkcle I with you on 100% on taking pills etc. I've had numbing agent (lidociane) applied during a tattoo by the tattooer. Thats ok though, they know best. With or without. A beer afterwards is always great.

this is symptomatic of the entitled culture of today. i understand it is much more prevalent in the u.s. than other places. i tattoo steps away from beverly hills and nothing screams disrespectful to me more than a snotty rich bitch in 2500$ shoes and with a 5000$ hand bag trying to chisel me down on a 200$ tattoo

Agree about the paper towels. Towards the end of my 2nd consecutive day on my thigh it wasn't the pins that were bothering me it was the wiping over freshly tattooed skin.

Sooooo just to clarify, everyone is meeting up at the show right? I'll probably be a bit late but I'll be there 115 Grand Street Brooklyn, NY

Nothing to feel bad about there, @lving4today. You're back at it, and you'll only get stronger if you stick with it.

someone wrote a letter to sears and got this response. (wasn't me)

Love this - mysterious paper sculptures - Mysterious paper sculptures « Central Station

I think it's important for people to learn that they are going to be around all types of people and treat them with respect and (ideally) embrace their differences. Ideally. This is the real world and stores are just businesses. Just because they sold a generation or two on the idea that they're a happy, fuzzy part of our lives and families, we act like they're not businesses. They have one imperative -- make money. If a store feels like people working there, even for free, even for charity will put some customers off, they get to say so. Stores want to put forth the plain, beige, unnoffensive face of conformity. Little old ladies still think tattoos are for sailors and whores and some of us are cool with that, even embrace it -- and all of us should at least learn to deal with it. You don't get take part in this thing with a long history of putting us on the outside of mainstream social circles, then act surprised by it. You choose this for yourself and people's perceptions are known. If you want to give society the finger, don't get mad at them when they know what it means. Furthermore, the article that started all this shouldn't even be an article. It should be one girl's Facebook status update. Must have been a light week for news.

just part of the culture of entitlement and narcissism. when doing something for charity, it's not about "you" so suck it up and leave if that's what you are asked to do. i didn't realize "giving up one's saturday" was cause enough to make such a big deal over something. she's quoted as being made to feel like a shoplifter but that's a real stretch because she wasn't arrested for having tattoos, just asked to leave. as far as general acceptance of tattoos, it will come and go. it's a cycle that repeats over time and trust me, there are still really conservative people out there that get freaked out by them. i don't have any problem with that, kinda like it actually. if i volunteer and they ask me to leave i would and then i would just go find another charity or charity event in which to volunteer my time if that's why i was really there. most people do good deeds so that they can feel good about themselves instead of giving as a sacrifice. in general im offended daily by peoples ignorance and narcissism, but i don't feel the need to address or attempt to change all those people. it's a lost cause. instead i enjoy the few moments when someone realizes their error and makes it right on their own, that's far more satisfying.

This thread makes me want to paint the sign, "Tattoos... More precious than jewelry. Can't be lost or stolen."

last night in LA a colleague took @Barbie Doll and I out to Eva Restaurant and it was amazing! When I wake up thinking about the meal I had the previous night I know my stomach really liked it!! We did the five course chefs tasting which ended up being: 1) egg, cauliflower, mustard sabayon, regianno 2) a single live scallop, cooked on the hibachi, french butter, yuzu, black truffle (AMAZING!) 3) foie gras "torchon", smoked walnuts, pink lady apple 4) line caught john dory, english peas, almond milk, fried capers and for the fifth course they brought us out one of each dessert A) Lemon Souffle Cake B) Chocolate Terrine C) some cold apple soup (I liked this the best though the rest of the table only thought it was good)

So i guess doing shitty money bags makes you a good artist... I mean I left bankhead hwy. (atl) for a reason. I thought that it was funny how he referred to tattoo artist being like rockstars... I guess thats why the show kind of annoyed me. Loose the fucking ego's!!!! but if tattooist are like rockstars, then consider me abba.

The thing I hate is when I am in a public place with my son and someone asks me "when he is going to get his first tattoo?, ha ha!!!!! I want to be like wow you should try out for that redneck comedy tour you mouth breathing piece of shit, but i digress.

Mine was in '86. I was in the Army and 2 of my friends and I went to the closest shop to our base in Hawaii and picked a piece from the wall...I've mentioned this before, but I wanted a tattoo because my dad had one from being in the service (his was a lot cooler, a black panther head done in 1957 in Japan). I don't paticularly like it. I don't really hate it either. I wish it wasn't where it is...its in the middle of some prime real estate! I will probably cover it next year with a half sleeve...but maybe not. I thought about leaving it there and putting it between an eagles wings or something similar. I would kind of like to NOT cover my first one...

Though we had a brief flirtation with trying to get Fratbros (fratbroz?) to call tattooers "Squids" cause they "fuckin shoot ink, man"... but that never really worked out. Would have loved to send in a bro to one of my friends and have them address him as a Squid. Haha

I worked for him for the time I lived in NYC and had a great time working for him. He new I was into vintage tattoo memorabilia and would bring old flash, machines and photos for me to look at. This was especially great since it was his begining issues of IT that got me into Bert Grim, Todd and Shaw and he would bring in stuff for me to check out and read every few days. I had never worked for an owner who did more to put people in my chair and make sure that all the tattoo tourist who came to check out the mystique that was Fun City sat down with one of the guys working there and went home with a permanent reminder of what tattooing was like before shops mainly populated strip malls. I know that many don't like his ways or manner but one thing he taught me was that you should never forgets who you are and start believing what you hear about yourself and that if you can't have a good laugh about your life you probably aren't living much of one.

Mario Desa Tattooer at Chicago Tattoo Company