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Here's the cobra that I got from Chris O'Donnell...

I got another appt with Chad K on July 9th...gonna do some more work on my side.

Seems like it's a lot of things. Validation, attention, but mostly lack of understanding. There will always be a never ending amount of folks that will get a few tattoos and have them be all they ever get; they won't be "in it" because they have a different relationship with tattoos. And they don't want to be covered and they don't get all wild-eyed and nerdy when someone mentions other tattooers or a rare book or whatever gives the average LSTer a halfie. So when people show off a little under the cover of asking "what to do," all you can do is either ignore it or give em a quick and succinct answer. "Looks good pal, keep it up," or "Best to go talk to whoever tattooed you, since they'll have a much bigger reference library than your google search," or just ignore it completely. Not worth gettin all worked up over <--..constantly trying to practice what I preach. (Also, when I started getting tattooed at 18, I'm sure I made all kinds of obnoxious rookie missteps -- like, getting the tattoos in the places I did -- so you can't be too frustrated. Hard though when it's every day with the same nonsense, so I share the frustration.)

Do you mean everydick.com?

I will be solo and think it will be easier to go to city for dinner or meet up. I think i will be getting lots of stuff done possibly starting my back at BH before convention so I think the hyatt would be nice command central. is it ok to bring my oklahoma whittle stick on the plane ?

Added color finally :)

We're all good on my end. I respect your decision to turn down the work, and think you did what was right for you. As far as the Black Power thing, I know all about COINTELPRO, and similar ops...hate to say it, but I am old enough to have hung out with Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, to have argued politics with Huey Newton and Abbie Hoffman, and to have shared a bottle of wine more than once with Chi Chi Rodriguez. Not only am I old to enough to have done it, but I did. So I guess my take on that is a bit different. But that's all ancient history. For now, as I said, far as I'm concerned, you're good people, and I've got no beef of any kind with you.

Perhaps his copy is bent .

Here is my finished and finally healed Koi from Hunter Spanks in Baltimore, Maryland. I know I posted the unfinished one before, so, here it is all finished!

what's a spread sheet?

Dude, you will have so many hands in places you never thought you had if you bring that mother fucker on a plane.

@bongsau bro, you're a fuckin' nerd!!!! Hahaha for real though I wish I had a spreadsheet of mine. It's been 12 years since my first, I've got no idea what i've spent in time or money

Mine is fairly close actually.

@cfgsteak SOMA and The Mission have seeing a spike in mugging-esq crimes over the past few years though SOMA does have some good places to eat and stay then The Mission good places to eat. The closer to Market is best for BART. For all those who are coming to SF the World Wide Website Jetsetter has been having some really nice SF and Sausalito hotels for good prices so you may want to sign up on that site and watch for sales....if you want to join send me an email with your email address and I can send you a join link. It's a good site to be a part of if you travel fairly often as well. We just may have to do two back to back month LST meet ups.....September for our two years and October for those coming for the convention....

I was checking out their site and Jason Scott's work caught my attention, too. The shops seem to be good examples of those quiet, hidden gem type of shops that push out quality tattoos and attract good guest artists and knowledgeable clients. I'm in CT but I love NH, but I've still got to get to Murray Sell first, and he's right near me. Flying Tiger Tattoo (another hidden gem shop)

This is true. Thought I would give it a shot, but looks like I'm going to have to head to SF for a meetup and probably pick up a few tattoos.

If you go to get tattooed by Chad @ Hobos in NH.....get something from George Benjamin too if he is there! He learned to tattoo from Bob Shaw......and I don't think people realize the history in the craft he has!

I think when I realized I didnt have to have a "reason" to get a tattoo, and it didnt have to have a "meaning" it changed my perspective immensely. I credit this site and actually getting off my ass and going to a lot of different shops and seeing what the hell is really going on with tattooing. I think the biggest mistake people make when they come here is that the dont do some lurking first. I learned a lot more about what tattooing is about by just listening to the interviews, reading the posts of people who are either tattooers or serious collectors. Now that I get what a good tattoo is, its enough. I dig just going to a shop, knowing the artists are all kick ass, and then just picking a piece of flash off the wall cause I just love tattoos. I dont have to go to therapy before hand to disect my relationship with my mom and pick an image that shows our conflicts blah blah blah I'm not gonna lie, I like the attention of posting a new tattoo...I think we all kinda do to a certain extent. But yeah, shut up and get tattooed is kinda my mantra at this point I guess.

"Obviously, you're not a golfer.."

The last person who called my glasses ugly got punched in the face.

I decided to group together all the threads currently about old tattoos, and tattooing in the past. He is a list of links to all the threads I found relevant. If I missed any please post up a link in the following and I can see if I can get it edited into the original post. The interviews posted here by @Scott Sylvia, which are located in the blog section. Here is a selection below: LST Interviews Erik Gillespie Stewart Robson Valerie Vargas Danny Reed Chad Koeplinger Henk Shiffmacher Hanky Panky Beppe Strambini Phil Kyle Oliver Peck Katie Sellergren Jeff Cribb Dan Dringenberg Kore Flatmo Tim Hendricks Bryan Burk Freddy Corbin Nick Colella Josh Arment Juan Puente Books books tattoos tattoo culture hanky pankys awesome new book milton zeis tattoo boooks traditional-american-tattooing-books ed hardy tattoo world tatoo history books shops tattoo books tattoo book review world compromise i dont bob roberts Videos/Documentaries old tattoo documentaries marcus kuhns new project who else has seen true love documentary video three tattooers one tattoo white dragon belfast henk schiffmacher art tattoo essence amsterdam video ed hardy tattoo world documentary ppv tattoo documentary john samson tattoo age vbs video asian art museum shige horitomo horiyuki horitaka horiyoshi 3 related Misc old tattoo photos acetate stencils legends tattoo history museum exhibit local tattoos sailors exhibit Old ink archive tattoo discoveries found sale horiyoshi iii exhibition london's somerset house If you would like something added to this list please add a comment and mention @slayer9019

Not really. Hunter is a traditional tattooer. Therefore he is going to approach a tattoo that way. I prefer Japanese style tattoos with a "traditional" approach. Different strokes for different folks.

I refuse to work with cell companies now after some past experiences. The data structures I've seen have been horrendous. I give credit to people that can understand the bill systems, which in my opinion are the most confusing ass-backwards formulas and DBs out there. Oh yea BTW those 90mb files are my reports! Real-time data burns gigs an hour.

I can't wait to see that finished. It already looks awesome. I'm having Jesse add a chest panel to match my sleeve. I was thinking about a hannya mask, but decided to leave it up to him. I know he'll come up with something great. Of course this puts off adding color to the sleeve, but my main concern is letting him get the flow right without worrying about me be in a hurry to get to the color.

Thanks @Lochlan I appreciate the information, hmmmm...maybe it would just be better to stay at the hotel and travel into the city like @ian...but I would like to check out that site. I'll shoot you an email. Thanks @Boohdah, i will check out the food thread too. I have an appt with Valerie Vargas and I have contacted two other guys and I am just waitin on confirmation. I am very excited about the whole deal, going to SF, getting tattooed, seeing some badass tattooers and tattoos, meeting some people from here. Seems like it will be a fun weekend.

Has anyone seen the pics getting posted on IG???

I tried to keep track in the beginning but gave up when the numbers grew. I don't like to know how much I spend on my "fun stuff". I once calculated how much I spend on booze in a month and almost had a heart attack, so I sat down and had a drink. Or less....anything invested pre-2008 pretty much is shit in comparison to what it was.

Um . . . NO! You'd have no tattoos and you'd only have about $6,800 left of your $17k.

I agree, everyone at Hobos and congress street are great. I got my very first tattoo at Hobos and Tony Sellers is a good friend of mine. I try to stop in whenever I happen to be in New England.

I have no idea how to use a spreadsheet, but I do know that I don't want to know how much I have spent on tattoos in the last ten years. I also do not want to know how much I have spent on beer in the last 10 years.

Simon Erl does killer chains: But once again, pointless if the artist can't draw/tattoo a chain. "Currently I am having a kraken taking down a ship tattooed it is basically a full front in a very simple traditional style. Was hoping to get some opinions on how a traditional style anchor chain would translate as a tattoo, my artist suggested to put a chain instead of rope." - How big is this chain supposed to be? The primary images in that design are 1) the Kraken 2) the ship. Those are the elements people should focus on. Rope vs. chain? What about the riggings? Windows? suction cups on the tentacles?

You asked for Japanese designs- people gave you tons of ideas, including your tattoo artist and a tattoo artist here who is more than knowledgeable on the subject. So this is what I had to contribute.

@Wedge you can lurk artists on twitter and get the info without joining

Tattooing the Invisible Man- Ed Hardy. Hands down one of my absolute favorites. The Zeis book by @scottboyer and his partner will no doubt rank highly. Stoney knows how- invaluable.

I take full responsibility for inserting ICP into this forum.

I'm so happy for, @Iwar. I mean, Rick. Sounds like an incredible trip all around. Good luck with the insane jet lag. I'm fine with you not posting that Conn piece, because I saw a Conn half sleeve today. So there! ;)

-Part 5- Back in Oslo now. Been struggling with jetlag from another world after going back and forth between NY and LA, then back to Norway. The last couple nights I've spent the night on aeroplanes, so the quality of sleep haven't been top notch either. But oh so worth it :D So, last time I wrote I was worried about the Conn appointment not happening because of the rumor of him cutting his hand. Well, the rumors were true, but thankfully it had happened a couple weeks prior, so his hand was all healed when I arrived. My appointment was on saturday, and I arrived friday evening. Chris has a guest bedroom for travelling clients, so I was able to get a good nights sleep there before the day of the tattoo. I won't elaborate much on my stay there, but it was probably the most memorable tattoo experience I've had. I left LA with much more than just a new tattoo, and I'll remember that visit the rest of my life. If someone still is on the fence because of his price, don't be. You'll get your moneys worth, and a whole lot more. That's my opinin anyways. I won't post pictures of the tattoo either, unless Chris decides to put it up on his blog at some point. Sorry. He is one of the few tattooers out there who only has a handful of tattoos of online, and I don't want mine to be "first page google" material. So that's about it. I had the time of my life, and I'm already looking forward to start planning my next trip. Thanks to everyone who bothered to read all my ramblings. Chris Conn's cat, the view from his studio and a print I got from him before I left Using my own name at Starbucks turned out to be too much of a hassle, so my coffee I got myself a coffe order alias Was out shopping when we stumbled over this high-profile shop. Hendricks wasn't there unfortunately. Also went to the Comedy Cellar one night, and I recommend everyone else who visits NY to do the same. I laughed my ass off! The Zombie playing guitar was a resident of Duffs, a small metalbar in Brooklyn My two Cris Cleen tattoos

If you stay in Marin, you're close to Lagunitas brewery and lots of fun activities to do w/the little one like Muir Woods, Stinson Beach, driving up the 1 to Hog Island to get oysters. Ok fine, maybe these are things that I like to do...

-Part 3- Sorry about the lack of updates, but I am hardly ever at my hotelroom except for when I'm sleeping. I gotta run and meet up with my two norwegian buddies, Olav & Marius, at the Kellogs diner now. We're getting some breakfast, pancake style, but I'll try to write a paragraph or two later. Here are some pictures though. I think most of them are self explanotory.

"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany. "

heres my Gadsden by dave bruehl redletter 1 tampa bay fl

I think mistef Conn also knows the value of his name. He knows what people think about him and is playing his cards accordingly. And he quit tattooing because he didnt dig the scene etc. so I imagine he doesnt want to do stuff with an 150$ hour rate. Keep them small and finish in one session. Of course another aspect is that he is charging this because people make tattooers mythical. Like Mike Roper. Grime says something in a interview = Roper is god. And even if he does do amazing work, it is the name and just that to some pdople. The culture that we live in. Elevate someone and be associated to that person = you get part of that spotlight. Golden calf etc.

I've been telling people to go to Sears for supplies for years now. "Yeah, man, they're gonna act like they don't know what you are talking about but you have to be insistent. You have make them understand that you know what's up and then they'll sell to you. Besides, all their tat guns are Craftsmen so they are guaranteed for LIFE!"

Thanks Kyle! Dan Steve I can just imagine a similar type of this to Steves as a backpiece...

Tim Commeford from Rage Against The Machine has a great backpiece. I cant remember how old I was when I saw this the first time. Maybe like 16 or so, but I remember that back then I thought how cool the tattoos is, but for years and years I was just too... I dont know if affraid is the right word, maybe too harsh. I was just too self-conscience (sp?) and too concerned what other people would have thought (even if I act like I didnt give a fuck) if I got something so "lame, boring and normal". It was same with Traditonal Japanese and Americana. I had to grow as a person to let myself love those styles. Fuck! I wish there would have been more sense in me (and fucking GOOD artists in here) so I could have gotten something like this in my arms (attached), rather than the shit I have now. And now I have a skin disorder that hinders A LOT my changes of getting tattooed... Fuck. This is the first time it has gotten to me really. Sorry about the rant! About backpieces, this is weird and cool by Volker

I saw this thing recently by a fellow named Judd Ripley. Check out how soft and buttery those blends are! Pretty impressive.