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My latest from Cody at black heart. Had a good time gettin tattooed by him. Good conversation and light hand. And fast.

This is after my most recent back piece session with Jay Cavna. Next appointment in two weeks. More color!

Timothy Hoyer

Cree McCahill

She could just get a Minor Threat tattoo and get it covered up when she turns 21.

I got this snake and rose from Frank Carter at Frith Street Tattoo. The photo is from Frank's instagram.

try to convince her that all barcode tattoos eventually blur into Black Flag logos, so she should go with something else. mind you, if she's stoked on Black Flag, that may just make it sound like a better idea...

If you're interested, i recently posted an interview that I did with Zach Nelligan during the Roc City convention. Check it out on my blog: Our Endless Days | A blog for traditional tattoo enthusiasts

I'm with @phickey: I can't see anyone at Smith Street doing a barcode. Tell her to get a kewpie with a price tag hanging off of it.

Whoof to that barcode idea. Tell her to just pick something off of the million sheets of flash that adorn the walls there. She'll be infinitely more happy with that than a barcode.

WE HAVE A WINNAH!!!!!!! Good goin Kylegrey! It's Nick Colella at "Under the Needle" an exhibit/ art show and Live demonstration of the art of tattooing. The art was still tryin to hitch an elevator ride at that point in time. More pic's of painted walls to come from this event.

My right foot done by Frank Carter at Frith Street Tattoo last night. Photo taken from Frank's instagram feed

Gots to disagree on that, but hey-a lack of uniformity is a good thing. Loud music, cussing, locker-room convo in general, all of that is different from real-live hardcore porn. Again, I'm not talking Playboy, all of that genre, but Hustler type stuff. To me it's pretty simple. Tattooing, as a whole, has moved out of the shadows and arcades of the world and into the supposedly "legit" business world. If you run an "underground" shop, one that caters to those who by choice are outside of societal norms, i.e.; hardcore scooter tramps, tattoo aficionados, and others who are part of one "scene" or another, then you can put out anything you want and you probably won't lose too many customers. All depends on what your definition of "too many" is! If you want to have a guy walk out who is willing to spend thousands on some serious coverage, well, I wish I had your money! IF you run a shop that is "professional", and caters to a diverse crowd, then it's probably better for you to have a professional atmosphere, at least in your waiting area. This is where people come in and form an impression of your shop, of you, and of your work. This is where they whup out that long green and hand it to the person at the counter. Not the place for crotch-shots and fuck-you's. Here's the thing. I'm what many describe as a "biker", am fairly heavily tattooed, engage in all sorts of behaviors that others may view as a bit sketchy, and I've even been know to look at porn now and then. All that said, I run a business, and when I'm working at my business, even if my tattoing is visible, which it usually is, I don't use profanity, and no way in hell would I ever allow a porno mag to come out of the shop area and into the offices. It's all what you want. You want a big, fancy, wide-open shop, then you had best to be at least a tad professional about it. You want a more underground vibe, then hey, do what you will! As a last note, I guess I never realized I'm an "uptight pain in the ass", thanks for setting me straight on that.

I tried to tell her there are many options that are way better and that will last the test of time.....

It was 1994

Its not really your business what someone does after your appointment , however most of the ladies I know would be slightly stoked by that , then again I'm old and live in England .

i don't know if this counts, but i got this tattoo last month. it was done by zach nelligan from triple crown tattoo parlour in austin, tx. he did it at the roc city tattoo expo.

I'm pretty sure as soon as the girl walks in the shop she'll know that when she was saying "barcode" her heart meant "dagger through a panther head"

Here is a picture of the tattoo I have from Zach. He has a better picture of it on his website. [/img]

My goal is to find a tattoo shop where they are shooting porn in the lobby now.

and you've got a start on a SWEET back piece!

the screen name is just a joke

you from Jax? Also, for those who've been waiting to hear - I asked Mike about his arm last week, he said he was about to get the hard cast removed and put into a more temporary one and has been using his arm very lightly. So with all hopes he'll be tattooing again by the end of the summer, I didn't ask him when he thought he'd be tattooing but from the sounds of it, it shouldn't be too much longer maybe another couple months or something.

Here are two Dave Gibson gave to me....

@embers Try not to get too upset. I have an area on my body (around my neck that has a tendency to blow). The trouble is, and obviously I haven't seen yours, there is a tendency to focus in on the bits of the tattoo that aren't perfect. Give it a while and some of the ink may disipate. Mine did. Have you had other work by this artist? @hogg has given some pretty solid advice. I really hope everythink works out ok for you.

@rich dude pics or it didnt happen

For what its worth I am of the opinion that there is still more room to put new pieces.

And still a few more pic"s from the event. It went over very well, but notice inside the building there is the ashtray to the right of the pic of Ed Young tattooing, campus gallery with smokeing, that kinda dates the pic. That rollaway that Ed is working off of was my old traveling rollaway, all contained with an autoclave and sterile trays, still got it up in storage, hauled that chair to many States and Convention centers too.

What if you're using it for reference material?

Mo Coppoletta (The Family Business) recently had his gallery updated on their site - must be the first time in years. Anyway - I thought this was cool. I really like the stone shelf and the way the flames are done.

I spotted this gem this morning coming home from work. Right on Graham Ave. for all you NYC dudes! @jade1955 and @Iwar, I hope you've booked appointments for when you're here!

Major out of context, for sure...just a small yank of the chain there! I wouldn't go to a "boutique" shop, my only point is that maybe you want to go one step up from the arcade shop. Again, a lot of it is in the definition of "porn". I'm talking hardcore here, I don't think Maxim or Playboy are on anyone's radar, and I don't think one mag stuffed in a pile is a big deal. If I see that the SHOP is subscribed to, for instance, Hustler, yeah, I might have second thoughts. But again, as I said elsewhere, if I saw a bible in a shop I'd have second thoughts! I agreee about CTC completely. They are a stone old-skool shop, they get all kinds of people in there all day and all night. Loud music, rough talk, but I've never seen any skin books laying around, not in any of their locations. Guess it's all a matter of degree. I would never presume to tell someone how to run their bidness, I am only pointing out that to be seen as a professional outside of your own trade, you may have to make a few adjustments.

Welcome to the forum! No need to be starstruck though.....they are all just people trying to do their art and pay their bills is all! ;)

how many new people are going to start a thread with this topic? sorry a lot of posts lately have just been bitching about this kinda stuff but for real... do we need 5 different threads talking about stars and dots? I think not. I mean come one, this very same thread existed only a few days ago. The one called "tiny tattoos" or "small tattoos".

@asradin I saw this on Instagram. Frank Carters work just gets better and better.

My right foot done by Frank Carter at Frith Street Tattoo last night. I took the photo from his instagram. Next step is to get cobwebs coming from my ankles down to surround both images he's done on my feet :)

I wouldn't hardly call Playboy porn, but that's just me. Something like Hustler, yeah, that I'd say keep in the back room. In light of another thread running on here, I think I'd leave a shop even faster if there was a bible laying out in the waiting area.

being im a gambling, drinking, smoking fool I am going to avoid anything like this... edit: just check and it says 5700 quid...scary

-Part 4- Okay, so ALOT has happened since last time I wrote here (part 2). Two of my bandmates arrived in NYC a few days ago, so now I've got some company. They're not interested in tattoos though, so they're off seeing the statue of liberty or visiting the empire state building while I'm getting tattooed or just visiting shops. They look like this by the way: So, as some of you might have guessed from the previous part, I got tattooed by Bailey Hunter Robinson last wednesday. He was so nice, and his little private studio was amazing. Lots of cool artifacts like stuffed animals and a lifesize wooden native american. The tattoo was done in a couple of hours, and the spot wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be. I have also been somewhat of a tattoo-tourist these last few days. I've stopped by both Kings Avenue (Manhatten) and Invisible. Outside invisible I had a little stop'n'chat with a nice fella from Inksmith and Rogers that was doing a guestspot on Kings Av at the time. We had a little tattoo show'n' tell as well. He had some amazing tattoos from the likes of Chris garver, Mike Wilson and Tim Hendrix. Hendrix did the girlhead on his chest as you can see in the picture below. Unfortunately I can't remember his name (I suck at remembering names), but maybe @Ursula can enlighten us if she recognizes his chestpiece? Anyway, I told him I had an appointment booked with Chris Conn this week and he said "are you sure it's still happening". He had heard something about Conn cutting his hand and postponing appointments. I have to admit that I'm very worried at the moment, but I haven't received any phone calls or emails, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. The flight is already booked and payed, so I don't know what I'll do if it doesn't happen.... Anyway, I also stopped by Kings Av, which was AMAZING. It was especially fun seeing these two Ed Hardy originals and the Tim Lehi set in the photo below. The guy at the counter there was more than willing to pull down his pants and showing me his awesome Timothy Hoyer tiger too. I picked up a couple shop shirts before I left, and found out that one of them had a piece of tape on it with the inscription "Gay bird". What the what!?! Man, there are some crazy people in thic city. That topless chick was out shopping it seemed :D The dude in the speedo banging on a floortom with kitchensupplies had the most energetic performance I've ever seen. I have a video that I'll try to upload on youtube of that guy. Does any of the locals on here know who he is? Then there's these guys... Had to get a refill at Shirts and Destroy too Yesterday (Saturday) was the time for my fourth and final tattoo here in New York. Mr Timothy Hoyer was going to do a pantherhead on my thigh to match the Lehi tiger on the other leg. I was really excited about that one, and it seemed as Timothy was excited to do it as well. Like Bailey he also tattoos out of a private studio, and I must say that I really like the experience of it. It feels much more relaxed, and I find it easier to get into a conversation in that kind of environment. Timothy was super cool and showed me lots of paintings and stuff he was currently working on. The tattoo took around four hours to complete, and now my Lehi tiger has finally got a buddy :) Maybe I should pick up one of these, just in case I get tired of it When New Yorkers ask me where I get my sick tatts done I give them the address to this vending machine That's it for now. I'm sure I forgot around half of what I wanted to say, and I'm both sleepy and hungry at the moment, som my focus isn't where it should be. Sloppy english and no proofwriting on this one. Thanks for reading! :)

Barnett - your Dad's tattoo was done by Bert Vallar at 404 Argyle street, Glasgow, Scotland. Bert was the son of Prince Vallar who tattooed in Glasgow from 1911 until his death in 1949. Bert served his apprenticeship under his father and also ran the shop until around 1964. He was world famous - long before the internet, TV or and print exposure - and was revered for his fine line single-needle and freehand style. I have a picture of the exact same tattoo that was also done by Bert around the same time. Prince Vallar was a society tattooist who modeled himself on the great tattooists of the early 1900's such as George Burchett, Sutherland MacDonald and Prof. Tom Riley. For further reading on Prince Vallar or Scottish Tattooing please visit www.princevallar.co.uk

I would not worry i reckon a few laser sessions and your be able to cover that with a panthers head easy........

Unless you are Danny Way or Tony Hawk don't get on a skateboard if you are over the age of 35.

Where does he work when he comes to Philly Capt? Cool to see some Philly love in this thread with Sailor Eddie, Jr. Had never heard of him until now. Speaking of Philly, what about Gus at Olde City? He does some really wacky stuff.

Not sure if Matt Rinks is on here but I have also been tattooed by him. Not only is he super talented but also one of the nicest guys I've ever been tattooed by. If you haven't been to his shop either, you should check it out. Pretty neat/worth the trip.

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...)

Mike Wilson seems to be able to make a rad panther without trying very hard.

Absolutely. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love letting it out there when someone let's me, or asks for that kind of thing, but even on those weeks where I do a ton of custom cool shit, I get burnt on it and just want to do kanji. Something I don't need to analyze and think through the whole time. I guess a great situation is where you get a good variety. Cool concept shit, old flash, ultra common stuff, random client drawings, old stand byes...etc. Pays the bills, keeps you on your toes, helps build the portfolio and keeps you humble and grounded.

Hey Folks, Thanks for this thread. Instead of it being a big ole bitchfest, it really has given me a good outlook, stuff to remember when I feel like I have to write a six paragraph bible verse the size of a postage stamp. I tattoo whatever walks through the door, and sometimes it is taxing to my soul, but what is more taxing is the thought of not tattooing.