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My new Eagle tattoo in honor of my daughter and son, done at the Seattle Tattoo Convention by Matt Howse, Spider Murphy's Tattoo. Done in a single session of 7 hours.

Horizakura. So amazing. I have never seen scales done like that, almost used like a background element.

First pic is tattooed by Horiyoshi I , second is both Horiyoshi I & II .

I try to think what I would do in that situation, but it really is irrelevant because the kid is not even a kid he's 21 and I like tattoos and wouldn't have a leg to stand on even if I didn't feel that way. I guess I could look at if my son got a face piercing, but the only thing i would probably say is why didn't you get a tattoo and inform him that piercing is to tattooing as rollerblading is to skateboarding, just to give him a hard time. Then I would remember he was 21 and suggest we go get a beer.

i hope its a "mom" tattoo. i once showed my mother a new tattoo i had gotten, i was about 23 years old, she took a look at it, started crying and told me i was ugly. this article resonates deeply with me. the woman who wrote the article is a complete fucking moron.

Most stories of a mom's displeasure with a tattoo that I have heard usually include a bunch of yelling and a slap upside the head and then we move on. The new passive aggressive mom internalizes everything, and uses her blog as her outlet before she plays the I brought you into this world card. Who knows if this story is real, but hanging out at the playground it sounds about right for how some parents would treat their 21 year old.

Horitaka of State of Grace did a nine dragon suit that has no "background"--just the dragons.

I think people have made this remark/complaint about every subculture ever. It's a variation on: "If goths/punks/insert subculture here all want to be different, why do they all look the same?" It is a really tired and angry teenager debate to me. Industries try and capitalize on trends. That's life. And I think the impulse and passion for getting tattoos cannot be reduced to being about "being yourself/expressing yourself being an individual". People participate in tattoo subculture for a million different reasons, and even the notion of "being yourself" or "expressing your individualism" doesn't mean one specific thing to anyone who feels it. I also think that many people who get heavily into tattoos are like me in that they don't do it entirely for some intellectually thought out identity reason; they just feel it in their gut that this is something that is right to them. And feelings in your gut are very hard to articulate in words, and sometimes come out as "to express myself as an individual" or whatever, but that is really not a true reflection of that instinct. Moral of the story: I really wish people would stop always assuming that some kind of rebellious individualism is the driving force in getting tattooed. I think that is reductive and misses the point.

Funny a couple of years ago a client and friend of the shop was dating this girl who was starting tattoo school. It was her birthday so he bought her a tattoo, but was at work so she came in to get it alone. She brought a bunch of Milton Zeis reference and a Stoney St Clair Sheet repainted by Danny Reed that is in the revisited book. She wanted a crawling panther type design like on those sheets, but with leopard spots. Pretty straightforward design, piece of cake. She must have made one of the guys draw it like eight times. First it was too simple, then he drew a better cat and it wasn't enough like the flash, there was a bunch of nonsense about the claws and putting eyelashes on it, but this went on for like an hour, the whole time she was trying to ask a bunch of questions about being a tattooer. So the last time we just handed her a piece of paper and a pencil and told her to draw what she wanted. She claimed she didn't work well with pencil and paper and did all her drawings on computer. At that point my boss got up from the back and asked her point blank "You actually think you are going to become a tattooer? I can't wait to see how you deal with a customer like you. " At that point she was instructed that these were not the droids she was looking for and decided to leave before she was asked to.

Plus one for dragons on women. Bonus points for dragons on fat women.

That seems like a lot of people to keep track of and certainly too many to bring into a tattoo shop on one day. The Brady Bunch only had 8 people and I can't imagine them trying to decide on a tattoo. I would just let everyone do their own thing, make it something everyone needs to do before a scheduled meet up. The designs will be different but the same in a lot of ways and it will be interesting to see everyone's styles.

Heres some food from my recent trip to NY. Oysters & Aged Creekstone ribeye from the North End Grill And a great brunch at Prime Meats in Brooklyn.

I would still use lasers, though.

The night is dark and full of terrors.

Everyone at Spider Murphy's does such great work. Nice tattoo, @chrislj54 .

We have a kid, and yet, we still keep getting tattooed...my husband didn't even start until last year when she was 3.

We can't actually own, pistols as such in the uk, or short arm as they are classified (apart from Northern Ireland). Long barrelled pistols and revolvers are permitted as long as the overall length is no shorter than 24". This is achieved by adding a wrist brace or counter balance together with a 12" barrel to give the overall 24" legal minimum. Strange as it may seem criminals seem to ignore this. I have a Taurus 66 .357 magnum & a nice little .22 Browning Buckmark long barrelled pistol. The Buckmark has had the barrel milled down with a carbon fibre shroud and moderator. It’s superbly balanced. It shoots just like a regular Buckmark pistol and is real quiet. The next problem with the shitty UK gun laws is a restriction on owning semi automatic centrefire rifles. I own a AR15 9mm lever release from The Southern Gun Company, fitted with an Eotech holographic sight. It uses a really clever mechanism using a sear to hold the bolt back after its fired. The lever releases the bolt chambering the next round. With a bit of practice you can fire nearly as quickly as a semi-auto. All these guns were seized by UK police but had to be handed back after they were confirmed UK legal. Luckily we have some incredibly dedicated and brilliant gunsmiths in the UK. I also own Sako Quad @Jade1959 shoots this one better than me. Henry Big Boy Underlever in .357 magnum (made in the Big Apple) GSG5 22LR (Shitty but acurate). Saiga AK 101 .223 with a skeleton folding stock.(Straight Pull due to UK Gun laws) MK 4 Lee Enfield 303, made at the Longbranch Arsenal, Canada,1959. Martini Henry 577/450 Snider .577 (That I have restored. Haven't shot it yet) I also reload all my own ammo using an imported Dillon XL 650. Here's a couple of my toys

What made me laugh was the amount of replies that needed to be deleted because they didn't abide by the community standards.

Mexican week is drawing to an end...

Is this old ? Don't care ... Ed Hardy awesomeness .

I see way too much lettering and once you get past a few words.... you have to stop and read it and in the majority of cases, I'm sorry I did. CG

My left sleeve is a Kitsune done by Grime. I would post photos but he specifically asked me not to put it on the internet :/ if you message me I can send you a couple if you'd like.

sarah schor does some awesome ones

Accept Wotan, reclaim your heritage.

#1 for me, too. And if you need a somewhat less vascular but more tattooed model for your extra-smedium tees....

Peacocking! - - - Updated - - - Also, traditional will never fizzle out. Because that is what a tattoo is. It is in "vogue" these days, but whatever. At least people are getting solid tattoos instead of the hot shiny no-outline stuff.

lol! i know eh! it will be two years in September when i started lurking and look what everyone's influence has done to me! i have 6 tattoos that im so proud of! thanks guys and gals ;)

@Our Endless Days - No problem, I like answering questions. The idea of tattoos being sinful really comes back to Leviticus 19:28, which says, "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves." Leviticus is the third book in the Bible; it's really old. It was put together beginning at the time that Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised land. There was period of 40 years between when the left Egypt and when they entered into the promised land. They were basically nomads during that time, travelling into many different lands, and associating with many different peoples. At that point in time, God had "set apart" Israel as the chosen people who would eventually share God's blessing with the whole world. Being "set apart" meant that, at that time, God didn't want them losing their identity by taking on the customs of the many other tribes they came across. Some of these tribes tattooed themselves. Incidentally, the stuff you hear today about homosexuality being sinful comes from this portion of the Bible too. Homosexuality was a practice of some of the tribes, as well. There are hundreds of laws like this in Leviticus. Planting a field with more than one crop in it is an abomination, punishable by death. So is wearing clothing that is composed of more than one textile (cotton-polyester). So is eating shellfish. So is divorce. These laws were put in place in a specific time and context to make sure the Israelites were able to maintain a national identity, until the time came that God's blessing was to be shared with the whole world. Jesus' purpose was to make that happen. So the time for those laws had past. They're not valid anymore. And for most of those laws, the "conservative" Christians would agree with. They don't think you should be stoned for divorcing, or for planting multiple crops, or for wearing cotton-poly T-shirts. Yet for some reason, they think the one about tattoos and homosexuality is still valid. It isn't. What you see is a case of people using scripture as a way to reinforce what they already believe, when what they should be doing is using scripture to shape what they do and believe. I tried to be concise, but am happy to clarify or say more. P.S. - I am a Lutheran pastor, and have been for just over two years. I got my first tattoo when I was 16. I completed my 4-year college degree in 2006, and 4-year seminary study in 2010.

This is really just a front to break me into the male tattoo modeling biz. I feel my vascularity will give me an edge, since I lack below the elbow ink ;)

That sounds like a mechanic that doesn't drive.

Aaron Bell: Horimatsu: Jeff Jibran:

Interview with Aidan Monahan | Our Endless Days here's the interview, guys. my eyes fucking hurt from staring at my monitor for so long and editing this shit. glad it's ready to go.

Well as far as what it is I can only tell you what I asked for as I have yet to see the design yet (half the fun!). I generally only like to get loose guidelines instead of hard rules. Hey I pay the artist to be an artist! Threw out the idea of a dragon/samurai from my foot to waist. Probably wont post pictures until "Best tattoo of January 2013" thread rolls around...

i took a short trip back in March to Chicago. my objective was to just take a trip by myself and do some sight seeing. well on my last full day there the mood struck and i went down to Taylor Street tattoo and decided i wanted to get something cool. i was looking at the walls full of flash and they were so amazing! the man and artist running the shop that day was Rickybird. i said i wanted to get something awesome maybe a panther or a swallow or anything that catches my eye really. he went and grabbed a huge black binder and flipped straight to a page with a photocopy of an acetate drawing. it was a panther done by Rollo and underneath he had written "the best panther i've ever drawn". immediately i knew that, that was the one i was going to get but just for the sake of it i wanted to compare it to some of the other flash on the walls and honestly nothing could compare. so i left chicago with an amazing tattoo and a very full belly! i promise i will return again because i had a fantastic trip. - - - Updated - - - Dietzel is one of my favorite tattoo artist and i have both of the books that John Reiter has put out. i love all the flash and i love his story. i've had it in my mind for a while that i wanted to get an anchor and possibly a ship. so of course i went back to my books to look for something and found and awesome piece of flash that i gave to Adrian from Speakeasy and made it his own. it turned out amazing and i love it alot!

I'm traveling to New York to get tattooed this Saturday by Eli Quinters at Smith Street, then I have my first session for my right arm sleeve the first week of September with Hugues Lauzier at Imago, and it looks like I'll be getting a piece from Chad Koeplinger at the Montreal Tattoo Art Expo the 2nd weekend of September (fingers crossed!). Needless to say, I'm incredibly excited/impatient.

here's my most recent - - - Updated - - - I’m at work, so I could only post a picture of the boxer right after I got it done. it’s the only one I’ve got at the moment.

I'm actually finally testing for my black belt sunday, in Shotokan (very traditional non sport) life got in the way and cost me 4 years and I've finally gotten back to it for long enough to test! I can't wait!! Wednesday is our last official class.

When I was an apprentice, we had a lot of people coming in to ask for apprenticeships (of course). One night, a pretty nice looking girl comes in, and does the typcial dance: first asks to see books, walks around the shop for a bit, and then starts up a conversation with me about apprenticeships. I tried to steer her as well as I could; she had no visible tattoos, and only had a few poorly executed script and rose drawings to show anyone. First bit of advice I gave - get tattooed. A lot. Not only does it show that you're a committed participant in the tattoo world, but it will also allow you to build relationships with good artists that can possibly help you when the time is right for you to move into an apprenticeship. Next bit of advice: start copying flash. It went on from there, but she made a point to say how she felt like she shouldn't have to be "tattooed up" to be a tattoo artist, and how some shit-bag local artist (who also was very lightly tattooed) had agreed with her when they talked about it (no secret what that was about), and how they both hated the thought of being judged for having tattoos. When I told her that our shop wasn't accepting any apprenticeships at that time, she finished up by saying how some busy street shop owner in Garland, TX had offered to let her apprentice for a pretty sizable fee, and that she someday hoped to have an "LA Ink style" shop staffed completely by "hot tattoo chicks". I couldn't get her out the door quickly enough. If they don't have tattoos, then fuck 'em.

i'm gonna do it. just for giggles. chris o'donnell. saved tattoo. brooklyn, nyc.

Stevie Edge, Kaleidoscope tattoo, Sydney Australia

by Jeff Ensminger 2 apologies - a/ not quite 4 weeks old, so still quite shiny b/ photo compilation skills are non-existant.

Amazing, indeed! At least she gave you $20 for your trouble (as well as a funny story to tell). I can only hope that her clients are as big a pain in the ass as she is.

It's hard to find a decent picture of it, and it's not the greatest example of a dragon tattoo, but Brody Dalle has one: /massive ladycrush

I have a pooping dragon bunny.......I know it's not what you are talking about.....but it is a sort of dragon! ;)

Not a dragon but this shows what is possible - Tim Lehi Blackheart Tattoo S.F.

And they are! :D The first thing I thought of was Shige or Horiyoshi III. The Yellow Blaze site only shows a phoenix on a woman but Horiyoshi's got a dragon up there though: Horiyoshi III Official website | Tattoo Portfolio Go for it!

I couldn't stick to the same tattooer or tattooers as I'm a complete tattoo slut.

After saturday: