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So, this is a painting by Ralph Johnstone, done for Tatts Thomas way back when they were working on south State Street in Chicago. Nick Colella is putting it on my ribs tomorrow, (without the lettering) that should be fun. I'll post up the finished work as soon as possible.

Dude... that thing was nuts. I have been all about Civ's instagram lately. Freddy Corbins is a fuckin trip most of the time. Amazing tattoos and bizarre ass pictures of random shit. All the Obama stuff has been cracking me up lately. I also hate following @Valerie Vargas and firth street on there. Its incredible what they are putting out on the other side of the pond.

I do have to say horiyoshi3's instagram is one of my favorites right now

I haven't made an addition to this thread since page 30 something. My time has finally come! Richard Stell, guest spotting at Smith Street Tattoo in NYC. It was an awesome experience. Richard is hilarious. He had my abs cramping up at one point from laughing to much... or it was the hypoglycemia setting in. Regardless it was a lot of fun.

Have you talked to the person that actually gave you the tattoo? He should be able to give you much more solid information than random people on an internet forum. This is a great place to BS and talk tattoos but some things, such as this IMO, should be discussed with the person that applied the tattoo as he'll be able to address the many concerns that you seem to have.

I think you guy's that are flying into NYC to get tattooed should also visit Electric.The shop is a block away from the train station,and blocks from the beach.They do walk-ins on weekends too.And after you get tattooed,you can take a ride to Seaside and check out the interesting people on the boardwalk.

Totally agree... Like the one where his cat scratched his head!!!!!!

Took a trip to San Francisco and decided to get a piece by Jeff Rassier to fill some empty space. I asked him to do whatever weirdo tattoo he wanted, as long as it wasn't too vulgar... ended up with this Fu Manchu head with a serpent body that fits perfectly. Needless to say, I couldn't be happier!

Local Book On The Man Who Popularized Tattooing | Radio Colorado College small NPR spot about Zeis.

it would probably be best if you talk to your tattooer about it

My hubby is not on LST yet anyway but I am excited about his new tattoo...this was after his 1st session w/Kim Saigh a couple months ago. I don't seem to have a pic from his second session but a lot of black was added and some cool swirls. Tomorrow he will get color in the flowers...

My dads eagle done in south Chicago in 1983

I couldn't find the back piece thread, so here's one from Thomas Hooper.

Over the years plenty of people come in to the tattoo shop and friendships are bound to develop. I feel like a lot of friends I have started out as customers in the tattoo shop, or me patronizing their business, which is great. We all seem to be able to still do business with one another, with no real issues, because everyone respects the friendship and each others business enough for the two to co exist. On the other hand a person doesn't have to be my best friend to be a good customer. There are plenty of people that come in get tattooed, we have a nice conversation and we never see each other outside of the shop. They show up on time, sometimes even take your design advice. Some people don't say two words and just want to get tattooed, that's cool too. I guess what I am getting at, is there is a group in between that seems to give me the most trouble. People who maybe have a couple tattoos, they really like their tattoos and or the vibe of the shop, and they think because they spent a little money they have achieved VIP status. They will call about coming in on a certain day and not show up, then call the next day and ask if there is any walk in time and not show up again. I won't make appointments over the phone, it's always first come first served, but still it's annoying when people flake. In certain cases I have allowed a person (a friend) to drink a couple beers (2 maybe 3 at most) while getting tattooed, I don't advertise it but if someone asks I am usually okay with it as long as they are of age and take their empties with them. Unfortunately a few people have interpreted this as show up drunk and drink a whole six pack during your tattoo and not be able to sit still and have to pee every five minutes. I am not their mom or their bartender and it's hard to tell a person who is drunk that they are cut off especially mid tattoo. Recently a guy who was tattooed by my boss who pulled the get drunk thing, and a 3 hour tattoo took just under 5 hours to complete. There were a couple spots in the black that needed to be touched up and honestly he didn't get to blend all the colors' in the tiger as he would like to and the guy came in for a touch up, after calling three different times saying he was going to show up, finally showed up three hours later and was really not very pleasant, he expressed he wasn't happy with his tattoo. So my boss took him to the side and explained that he would be happy to sit down and finish the tattoo free of charge, but explained to him that he just became really hard to tattoo while he is drinking and he would need him to not do so in the future while getting tattooed. The guy seemed to understand but then was kind of pissed off because he had to come back in an hour to get it fixed because my boss was in the middle of a walk in tattoo on a friend who didn't keep him waiting for 3 hours. A half hour later he shouted some stuff from the door way about customer service and stormed off in his car with his girlfriend. My boss stopped him in the parking lot and had another talk with him, but he just wanted to talk about how much money he spent and that he deserved to be treated better. I don't know, I think the guy got treated fairly. I am interested in people's thoughts on this. I really everyone to feel at home at the shop, but it seems to me like some ass holes just ruin it for the others.

:confused: ;) A panther, duh.

So much easier than choosing your first. "Whatcha got today?"

if it was like my experience the cramping was a little of both stell is an awesome dude, nice, good stories...also in tune with how much pain he was causing me at one point he said "alright, don't hate me now. atleast you're not bruised and bloody..." and atleast it was over in a little under 2.5 hrs.

Just added to my follow list.:)

:p Or rather, 'not at all.'

more here

Hunter does good solid tattoos! My guess is that it will heal in perfect and if it really bothers you then he would be the one to talk to about it once it is fully healed in! Some people seem to scab worse than others....just leave it be and it should be fine!

hey Bunny, I wondered where you been hiding...

Ouch! \(^.^)/

you did say girlfriend right? get the eagle she can learn to deal

This may be a little off topic, and I don't want to hijack anything, but I have some information that may be helpful to you Matt. I had a problem with scabbing for a long time myself, and never could figure it out. My wife though has never had any trouble with tattoos scabbing and she lotions like 90% of her body every day... like I guess a lot of women do. Anyhow... I tried it out, I lotioned the area that was going to be tattooed for about 2 weeks prior to the tattoo and had my first tattoo ever that didn't scab at all. I've done that on a couple since, and have been pleased with the results.

maybe someone with a ton of followers can plug LST on their Instagram? Get some new blood 'round here :D

@jade1955 posts are some of the greatest on there!!

Wait until it heals and then get out your ruler! At my age when I think something isn't perfect on my tattoos I just take off my glasses and then everything looks fine.

hahaha dude, even if the line were a little off, I promise you nobody other than you would ever notice that.

I'm visiting Tantrum Tattoo tomorrow and who knows what will happen! No plans (friend getting tattooed) but you never know

It's about time your ass joined here! Just sayin' :)

here is a nice pair of skulls done by Nick Chaboya

Who from Spider Murphy's? We live pretty close to there...if you go you should eat at Sol Food. Just a couple of blocks from SM (it used to be right net door but they moved to a bigger space a couple blocks away)

So you were that guy drinkin a 40 there the other day??!

woot, Rusty ya made it to the party

I got my calf done there. And i kinda need my other calf done. among plenty of other things. NJ all day (so long as it's at electric.)

I am going in for more work this friday, excited and nervous as it is going to be shading and colouring on the ribs stomach and sternum.

Still fresh took about 3 1/2 hours and the foot was a bitch for me. Done by Shawn Medina from premier tattoo in St.Louis

Just got this from Bryan Randolph at Spider Murphy's: It's based on old Milton Zeis flash (and my wife, for bonus points). Bryan's awesome, and I couldn't be happier with it.

Thanks @MadeIndelible, I tattooed that on a friend a couple weeks ago.

A little Corday based something.

Jack Rudy .

just got back last night from an 11 hour drive home from chicago. went down to get tattooed by mario desa and frank william @ ctc. totally worth it.