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Finally @hogg Been waiting for that one. Now I want to see a photo of it besides the killer tattoo you have from Theo Mindell on your other knee ;) Come to think of it, I also have a "not very recent" tattoo that I haven't posted before. Chris Conn, Sekretcity.

@Lance, if you have a chance to get tattooed by Horitomo...well, you know how this sentence ends. Have him do your front. Hell, get a big Fudo from him, munewari be damned! You're already weird; embrace it. I might as well jump in here. It's not very recent, but it is my latest. I finished this up with Stuart Cripwell (based on a painting of his) in December, but I never got around to taking pics of it. And I'll just add a disclaimer that it is damn near impossible to photograph a knee tattoo. I swear it doesn't look crooked in real life. :)

@Dan S Fuckin hell Dan only just saw this. That is so good. - - - Updated - - - Amund Dietzel dragon. Tattooed by Jordan Teear, Frith Street Tattoo, yesterday.

Adam Hays at Red Rocket Tattoo in NYC did my sleeve. There are multiple meanings in my ink. First off, it is not done. I have about 6 hours of detail work left to do. So on to the story! 2008 was a great year for me. My first daughter was born (I have twin daughters born a year later) and I took delivery of my 2008 Shelby Terlingua. #2 of 38 built. I took delivery at the Shelby American Terlingua 2008 event in Terlingua, TX. Come to find out, my wife went to college in the next down over. In 2009, Shelby American couldn't do the event. So myself and 3 of my friends did. In 2010 I took the Terlingua Preservation Society to 501c3 making it a non-profit business entity. We donate all of our proceeds to the local community (70% live below the poverty level down there) which includes Terlingua High School, Terlingua Fire & EMS and Activets. Among others. In 2012 we had our biggest year yet and raised over 24k in our one weekend. Terlingua has become a big part of my life. 2.5 years ago I started thinking about getting my first tattoo. Then it was on to the what theme, color, grayscale or what. I spent a year and a half figuring out what I wanted. During my Terlingua event I discovered the artwork of Adam Hays. At around the same time I started looking at the local artists by me and was found that none of them could capture the essence of what I was looking for. I race Mustangs and getting into desert racing. I decided I wanted something that imbued Terlingua, my daughters and my racing. Last summer I discovered that Adam did tattoo work, I hit his web page and the light bulb went off in my head. THIS IS THE GUY! I emailed the shop in August 2012, couple of phone conversations later I had an appointment for January 2013. Since I was flying in for the appointments, I wanted as much work done as humanly possible while I was there. I left it up to Adam to decide what could be done. What did I know? I had never had a tattoo. He was the expert and I left this up to him. I gave Adam the details of what I wanted in the design. He came up with the idea of horses racing through the desert and the skeletons (Terlingua thing) on the horses. It tied everything in and I loved the concept. Last Thursday and Friday I discovered what my pain threshold was, which was about what Adam could tattoo in a single sitting. We had two six hour days of tattooing. Below is the product as it is on my arm now. What is left is the mountains behind it (which will have my wife's name in it because without her, I would not have my daughters), some cactus and dust clouds coming up around the horses. All in all, I am extremely happy with my ink and the work that Adam has done. Now to get my race schedule this year and find out when I can get back to NYC to get my tat finished :) Added note: Shelby, Bella and Lexi are my daughters.

hiya! My name is Guen Douglas and I tattoo at Salon Serpent, Amsterdam, The Netherlands alongside Job DeQuay and Angelique Houtkamp. You can see examples of my work on the shop website: www.salonserpent.com and my own Guen Douglas i've lived equally in both north america (canada) and Europe (UK and The Netherlands) and speak english, french and een klein beetje Nederlands ;) g xo

This is probably worst tattoo I have. It's Mike Malone flash (which rules) but it's got some holidays. Oh well. It's still tough. Especially with that kitty cat scratch!

Ok I'll play. The photo quality is terrible but I suppose it doesn't matter much for this thread. I don't hate any of these...but I would have done some things differently knowing what I know today... The black & red fish are from the early 90s, I think it has held up pretty well but it is so small! That was my first tattoo, it was a great experience, and I have no regrets. It's also on my stomach and never sees the light of day. The black cat was my 2nd tattoo and I still love the design, but again, it's a little small. Whatever, I still love it. I got it when I thought I might be stopping at 2. Ha. The black lotus centered under my neck is a little troublesome. It's kind of a waste of space. Maybe I can get more stuff around it eventually to make it better. I don't know. I did go on to get some way cooler lotuses on my left arm. The little owl on my forearm--I still think it's cute but the feet look a little blow-outy. The real problem with this one for me is now I want a much bigger raven up above it near my roses and then I think it's going to look dumb to have this tiny owl near a big raven. Not sure what to do about that. I've been trying to think up ways to incorporate the owl but nothing makes sense. Cover it with a panther? Haha, I knew you were going to say that. Then there's the nautical star with my daughter's name above it. I wish the script were clearer, should have gone to BJ Betts! I am now getting stuff all around it. I believe the white in the star is going to be either blacked out entirely or some stippling will go in. Not sure how it will look in the end but it's a little in the way.

Happy to have seen Jill Bonny yesterday. Always grateful. .@stateofgracetattoo | Namakubi by Jill today. @Jillbonny | Webstagram - the best Instagram viewer

Went over to Huntington Beach Tattoo, they were doing a cancer benefit. Was able to get a nice skull & cross-bones from Aaron Coleman. Will post a pic tomorrow after I take off the bandage.

Here are all the photos printed in George Burchett's posthumously published book, Memoirs of a Tattooist. The book has been out of print for a long time--my copy was published in 1958 and there was an American paperback version published in, I think, 1961, and there have been no reprints of it to my knowledge--and it's very possibly even in the public domain at this point which is why I'm posting it. Admins, if this isn't okay please feel free to delete this post because while I think this is worth sharing, I don't want to step on anybody's toes here. Apologies for glare, shadows, etc.

Robert Ryan posted this on his instagram today and it made me think of this thread as it shows both an aged realistic tattoo that didn't have enough black in it and a blastover that does.

We found LST and now get good tattoos but what before? We must of got some bad tattoos on the way.... Here we can post our bad tattoos and the story behind them I'll start with one of mine, done when I was 16 some 22 years ago, even when new people asked what it was, it's a bat moon and 3 stars by the way...!

Oh, look. It's @Iwar with yet another mind-blowing tattoo. Who else is not surprised? :)

Thank you all for a warm reception. I apologize for my trade secret comments I thought I read in the rules and conduct section a person was just not allowed to make a thread asking for them but I didn't realize they are not to be discussed or pm's. I understand now and will of course comply. Peru has been a rough transition in many ways. Going from busy to dead has been hard. Its why I joined this forum to stay and feel connected with the art. As its just me and my girl here the days can be long but getting my website hits and keeping up on other media has kept me busy. Again its a pleasure to be here. Jeff

Im getting a pelican across my hip/ribs tomorrow to cover up some old kanji. I'm super excited to see how it turns out... Less excited by the prospect of 3+ hours on the ribs though :S... Im a bit nervous but hopefully it goes alright - - - Updated - - - Also that dragon is amazing... Nice one.

@Our Endless Days It's not very pleasant. Probably because it goes right across the area near your kidneys. Even a soft touch with the hand and there is a natural tendency to pull away and flinch. Towards the end I was feeling a burning sensation. When we were all done Emiliano, one of the other tattooers at Frith St, cracked open a bottle of JD Honey and we all had a slug. That was pretty cool - - - Updated - - - Can't wait to see that one. Aaron Coleman turns out some amazing work My of my favourites one is that popeye tattoo.

Got this elephant head mandala from Seth Wood on Friday at the Star of Texas convention in Austin. Couldn't be happier with it and with meeting Seth.

with any luck it will have a tattooed piece of paper in it, but thats a long shot

@jade1955 and @Jade1959 -- you two make me like people

Love small-worldy shit like this!

My rickety old back held up. Got this from the very talented Jordan Teear at Frith Street yesterday. He got an amazing amount of work done in three hours. All done without a break. To say I'm thrilled with it is an understatement. Amund Dietzel dragon

Greetings all, First id like to say that I very much like the layout and way of this forum. I am a moderator on another online community non tattoo related and appreciate the safe guards taken here to weed out the riff raff. I can fully appreciate what a daunting task this can be for moderators and creators. A bit about me. I've been tattooing for 18 years and created and owned Oddball Studios in Portland Oregon until last year in which I sold the studio to by business partner Jaoson Leisge in order to live and work in Cusco, Peru where I'm writing you all from now. I have spent a lot of time in Hawaii and studying Polynesian tattooing and this has been my passion and focus for the past decade. I like to use a fusion of these styles but out of respect try not to tattoo traditional designs on non Polynesians. I'm currently building my private client base now and find myself going from months booked out to days of down time. So Its my wish and hope to still feel connected to the tattoo industry and hopefully be able to give back to this forum the knowledge and ideas I have acquired over my career as well as learn from you all. Much love please feel free to visit my website for more information and pictures. A Tattooed Life, Cusco Peru. - Tattooed Life, Cusco Peru I look forward to helping new artists as I HAVE NO trade secrets. I don't fear competition and wish to uplift the tattoo art community as a whole and keeping secrets, is IMO, defeating to our art being appreciated and accepted. So ask anything, I will answer with my best and if I don't know an answer will have the humility to say....I dont know. Thanks for such a at first appearance a great forum and I hope to be part of this community.

My first tattoo, done in the late 90's. The original design was for my dad's one-man guitar repair business called "the guitar doctor". It was based off of the ambulance symbol, only with a guitar neck and two snakes instead of one. Judging from the borderline he put there, I don't think Grime liked it very much, haha. It's not going anywhere though.

actually, i was searching on ibooks and it's live already!! just search for tattoo culture! you can have a read a week early ;) i think you can also download it for kindle too, but i'm not sure maybe if someone has a kindle they can search for it on there too? :)

you made me think of the fact that its looks brownish next to the original photo. iv told clients in the past to "stop looking at your tatto from two inches away. were social creatures and tattoos are normally viewed at arms length... i.e. like when we look at eachother while talking"

thanks for telling me how to do my business. just because you write to someone doesn't mean you get a reply.

Ok lastnight I had a nasty dream! I dreamt that my tattoos starting fading and slipping of my skin. Worried I went and searched for Dmitriy to tell him what was happening to my sleeve. I kept saying to him how can I save the tattoo but he doesn't speak English so we hunted for his wife who does lol Found his wife and she said Dmitriy would try and redo the tattoo but it would never be the same as the original. Then my other tattoos started doing the same, I am in panic in my dream now, so for some reason I go and find Robert Hernandez and Victor Portugal sitting in some weird round house. I ask them why the fuck my tattoos are disappearing and they say to me the pigment used in the ink was too small as I was quite big and the ink was seeping through and being taken away by my body. They said I have to find ink with bigger pigments lol I woke up panicked, had to check my tattoos and was SO happy my ink was all intact lol Is this a sign of my obsession or do others dream about their tattoos ?

You some kinda touch freak? I keed. Welcome! I won't even touch my monitor if you post pics. Promise.

I always wanted to pick up that book. Great photos. Here's one that some of you will probably like:

I've been working in commercial construction for the last ten years, mainly in project administration. For the last seven years I've been really busting my balls to become a Project Manager. Which, in this economy/job market, has been an uphill battle. Last week I was finally offered the title - and the huge nut that accompanies it - but turned it down. I can't take the industry any longer. My wife and I are moving to my home town of San Diego and I'm going to barber college. I'm excited to take up a new trade that offers a little room for creativity.

I LOVE THAT DRAGON. Dear lord, I will never tired of kickass traditional dragons.

@jade1955 solid tattoo by Jordan. Outstanding tattooer created this outstanding tattoo, on my outstanding husband!!:))

@gougetheeyes Yeah thats right. The pic was from Jordans IG as its a square format its cut the top bit off where you can see the back of my head. - - - Updated - - - @Our Endless Days Many thanks :). One more on the other side. Booked for April.

I want something by dana before I get moved back south. Hopefully I can make it happen! @Dan S, its the real deal. The brewery is right in the restaurant and little lockers for your beer steins for regulars. However, I do enjoy hillbilly-american as well. All the bars in this part of ohio don't even meet the high class standards of white trash americana. So that stuff down there is classy in comparison.

@jade1955 when I stumbled home last night and saw this I couldn't figure out if that was your arm, or thigh -- and now I realize it's YOUR RIBS! Came out great man

It seems like a lot of the Hardy Marks books go for $$$ once they're out of print. @Pugilist paid over $100 for the Flash From The Past book (the original, not the revisited one) because she wanted a tattoo based on one of the EC Kidd dragons in there and just figured that buying the book is part of the cost of the tattoo. It's a reminder not to sleep on that stuff when it's available.

i got another 2 hours in on my back today.

@hogg thanks i def color in the way i tattoo

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.

Cool, welcome! In addition to your tattoos I really like the articles you wrote for the TAM blog.

it really seems like you're over-thinking it a little bit. 4 months in, it's become a part of your body, and everyone's body has minor visible flaws. tattoo ink doesn't float on the surface of your skin, it's between layers, which means any color you see is viewed through a tinted window of your own skin tone. the pictures look fine to me! i agree with everyone else, you seem unhappy with it regardless, so go ahead and get it touched up! no reason not to.

I love everything about that dragon, but the solid black tail is especially doin' it for me.

here's one sent to the facebook page for our shop. mind you, at this studio we all take our own appointments and nobody is in charge. management is completely hands off. "Hey there, looking to get a half sleeve based on the solar system. In dresden so not far from berlin till the end of February. Any chance this would be possible?" i don't reply to things like this, it hurts my head to try to figure out how this could work.

I'm sensing a contest winner coming up...

I am pretty excited about how creative and involved i've been, not only tattooing but in the tattoo world--- I was asked to and participated in an art show in NY Two different tattooers books of flash Drew a series prints that I was able to sell, trade , gift and donate to a couple of auctions for good causes Wrote and sold a satirical book on getting in to tattooing And for the first time was a feature in a super tattoo magazine And still happily married & raising a family! (;

That blows. Blisters happen for a variety of reasons, some could be blamed on the tech / Dr. who set the laser up, some may have to do with your immune system and some may have to do with what was used in the pigments you were tattooed with. The sad truth is, without FDA regulation, tattoo pigment is made of some kind of scary stuff. As it sits in your skin, it really doesn't do anything positive or negative, just like a birth mark. When you laser it though, those pigment particles fracture into much smaller pieces that the immune system can dispose of - that's where you start to run into issues with how your body processes those, and what those particles are actually made of.

@SailorClaire Matt Lodder beat you to it by a few years. My opinion of this subject aside, I presume you've read The Post Modified Body? I skimmed your proposal and read the first questions. I must say, I'm not impressed. You won't get any further insight or information than a Daily Mail article or any of the tattoo books you can buy in HMV. Here's my opinion: When it comes to tattoos (and probably other areas of life), anything online is very far from the reality of the situation. Speak to real people in the real world and get a more honest view of what you're writing about. I don't know why I keep saying this to academics, they rarely listen...

Is it wrong that I want outdated stereotypes to continue? I look classy as fuck in a suit and hate talking about tattoos with pretty much everyone.