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I had a hell of a weekend at the convention. Pictures stolen from their respective instagrammers. First, got this reaper from Richard Smith of Thicker Than Water on Friday. No pictures really do this thing justice. And yesterday I got this ghostly wolf head from Ron Henry Wells. Words can't even express how excited I am about this tattoo.

here's two my lady got at the philly convention on friday.. tyler james densley mario desa

Busy week

This is healed up enough to get a reasonable picture of it, so here's the progress on my arm so far. We're about six hours in right now, and my next sitting is in a week and a half. Thomas Hooper did this. Obviously.

Headed to the Bay in 10 days to see The Grime! Hopefully finish all the black shading on my back this trip :D

I think it's close enough now that it looks like it will go ahead, so I'll risk jinxing myself. Next Wednesday I should be doing a bit of an all-dayer at Allstar Tattoo in Limerick (Ross Nagle's shop). Booked in to get tattooed by both Oliver Peck and Chad Koeplinger. Need to get a match for the foot tattoo that Oliver did on me last year, and I'm going to get a leg piece from Chad afterwards hopefully - got a couple of options in mind for that, and I'm going to go with whichever he seems the most interested in doing. Limerick is a two hour drive from Dublin, so I took the day off work. It'll be a bit of a tattoo road-trip, all going well.

So I made my first post the other day as @BrandonGermain and posted a picture of my elbow done by Steve Byrne. For whatever reason after posting I decided I didn't want to use my full name on a message board, so I made this account and will be using this one from here on out. I apologize to the moderators if I broke any rules, and I'm sorry to whoever just read that shitty and irrelevant bit of information. With that being said...Today I got tattooed by Chris Conn. Chris was so cool and really does go above and beyond for his clients. Everything about getting tattooed today was rad. Not to mention his studio is less than five minutes from my house. Couldn't have been a better situation. I will post better pics once it is healed.

That is how it went with me. Oh lets go on a trip, I hear San Fran is nice. Tattoo by Grime. Hey we can go to Lake Tahoe for our honeymoon. Problem is we have to drive up from San Francisco and oh there is a tattoo convention by some guy name takin, Tania, Taki! That's it Taki! Did not take long for her to caught on when I recommend a place to go she say " who tattoos there?"

got this one yesterday from Tyler James Densley at the Philly convention.

Here is a pic of my wife's chest (shhh don't tell her I posted it ;) ). Her right side by Trevor McStay and her left side by Jason Kundell. They are my favorites!

This Saturday I'm meeting with Horitomo to get some work started. I have a few ideas and hopefully one will rise to the top after talking them over with him.

Delicious you're still very young, don't worry about it. The point is not to mold yourself into the perfect woman that men will like. Be who you are and you will eventually find someone who loves you for exactly that. Trying to mold yourself into what you think a man wants is crazy. First off, every man has a different idea of the perfect woman. Second, what will the point be in 10 years when you have a man, but don't have yourself? Besides, peoples opinions change. If you asked my husband 10 years ago, he didn't like tattoos on anyone. But we met, had tons in common, he looked past the tattoos, and now he loves them on me and admires them as an art form. People change and have the capacity to look past things they may not love, and even change their minds. So don't stress it, get the tattoos you want, and give it time. You'll find someone who loves you for you. - - - Updated - - - Also will add..just b/c a guy says they don't like tattoos on women..doesn't mean they wouldn't date you if they liked you. I find tattooed men more attractive than non tattooed, but that would never stop me from dating a non tattooed guy. We all have a list if preferences, we don't need to have every one fulfilled.

As you should! @Graeme that tattoo is incredible! I plan on getting a raven from Hooper at some point. There have been some really cool pieces getting posted lately. LST is going hard in 2013. Yesterday, I got tattooed by Chris Conn. I tried to post some photos last night but for some reason my post needed to be approved by a moderator. I guess once that gets approved you guys will get to see it.

I think the solution here is to get more awesome tattoos. The logic being that awesome tattoos are good for the ol' confidence and confidence is attractive. And what @else said. You have burned the Scott X Sparks bridge though but that guy is a douche and is quite possibly gay.

@Delicious if they don't like your tattoos f'em. You'll find the right guy for you and he'll love ALL of you... tattoos and everything.

So as I said, my rib piece turned into a chest tattoo. I'm 3 weeks out, and I'm pretty pleased overall. Sitting was 4 1/2 hours...relatively easy.

I can't afford to travel all over the place to go to all kinds of famous shops either. But I do believe it's important to visit your family. I mean, I want my kids to know their cousins/aunts/uncles and all. How can I help it if they happen to live in Texas, Arizona, Florida and California? As long as I'm driving/flying all the way there to visit them anyway, wouldn't it be borderline criminal not to visit some famous shops with a pocket full of cash and ample bare spots on my skin and, you know, just see what happens? Well, that's what I'm telling my wife, anyway.

Here's some pictures of my work...thanks for looking.

I hope this works. here's some of my work...

Here's mine all healed up. By Nick Colella.

I use the whole message board for this.

I don't think I posted this new one I picked up from Greg Christian at Chris Nuñez's new shop, Handcrafted Miami just after New Years: Super excited for South Florida to have this new shop, which is beautiful. They're bringing in a lot of big name guys, which we don't often get here. Chad Koeplinger visited a few weeks after I got the moth and I was kicking myself for not having the budget to get something. But, I did book in with Heath Nock for June. (Holy shit that is a long ways away!) Getting a gator head with a Florida banner.

My War is one of the best albums ever.

I like those styles of panther. I dont know if any one remembers my rant against panthers when I first came here that got me into trouble, but it was because I had only seen one style of panther. You know, the folksy kind with jaws that were impossibly long, or head shapes that just look slapped on there? Well I like the ones posted in the quote because they stay within what an actual panther looks like.

I asked him if he's sick of doing lady heads and he said, "No not at all." So I'm getting a lady head. I wish!

Black panther or an eightball. Maybe have like Woodstock or cheech and Chong smoking and have the maple leaf be a pot leaf! Canadian, eh?

Yes I have heard of that ratio. I don't know because I am not a Japanese tattooer. People on here should not be giving technical info on a public forum. Example why is a guy that just bought a kit and now is on this forum! My kit was a rollomatic, Dan Dringenberg grips and tips, and a Tattooer that was telling me what I am doing wrong and why! In a tattoo shop! Why do you do this..... Why does it run like this..... Answer- shut the fuck up and watch! Don't talk and just listen! I digress.. This should be another thread anyways! Dave Navarro rules! Haha:o

Do it @else!!! Am currently out for dinner with @Graeme to celebrate him quitting his soul sucking job. I am we'll on my way to drunkville. In his honour, of course!

attacked by a redneck at a greyhound station who was bugging out off of meth or pcp or someshit. that part wasnt awsome. but the fact that he couldnt connect any of his punches with me and that the cops came, found a bunch of dope on him, and emt strapped him down to a stretcher was. i couldnt make out why he wanted to fight, i think something about me not being welcome in texas or someshit.

The panther is, by far, my favorite tattooed image. Hard to beat a good panther and Mike Wilson is my gold standard. I also, really enjoy Mr. Jason Donahue's panthers.

A wise sage once told me "Make your drawings look like tattoos, don't try to make your tattoos look like drawings"

i def agree pre-rollins is better. a lot better even. but bf with rollins still cranked out some great shit- damaged lp, every lp was atleast "ok", but had one or two classics songs on it- my war, loose nut, annihilate, black coffee, slip it in, etc, etc. i hear what youre saying, but its so far from shit..

Hey, My name is Billy Hay and I tattoo out of Glasgow, Scotland and I've just registered here coz it seems to be the best tattoo forum around. I look forward to chatting with you all :o Billy

@LosingShape also did a sweet X-Files tattoo.. already got a flying saucer but have always toyed with getting the poster design 2013: year of the x-files tattoo. Think I gotta do it. @slayer9019 whatdyagetwhatdyaget?!

Was at Memoir 6pm-2am last night with Spencer...a few hours on upper arm, a few hours on elbow. Fun times, added another lotus! We still have at least 1 more session to go...

Reunions like this are always disappointing

I carry a little notebook around with me to help me remember things I think of. A couple pages are dedicated to tattoos I want and where. I just was looking back through it for the first time in a few months and I realized that I've changed my mind about almost every single one of the prospective tattoos. I blame LST for this.

Is freckles on lady heads a new thing? The first time I noticed a lady head with freckles is that one Valerie Vargas did on somebody from here (I can't remember who, sorry) but since then I've seen more and more of them. I don't know if it's just because I'm paying closer attention to them or because they've become kind of a trend. Whatever the case, I love it.

I love to see those bars on men. My first "true love" had them and forever after I've found them incredibly appealing :-)

Crazy when the old punks become dinosaurs too.

So this is the lady head I had done about 3 weeks ago. I guess I would say it's semi-traditional/semi-realistic...based off the likeness of my wife. My first "real" tattoo in 15 years. Pretty pleased with it.

very good - i especially liked the first one of the angel gettingher halo removed!

it is truly amazing to me to hear "artists" say that it's ok for them if their tattoos will not hold for more then a few years. are you out of your mind people!!??? did people forget what a tattoo is all about?? yes, you can of course revive your tattoos many years down the road if you want them to look more vibrant, but any tattoo artist out there that does not try his best that every tattoo they do will last forever! and age properly, really should pick up a different medium to work with. what makes some artists pioneers in this industry is the ability to push the envelope and art, while stile paying attention to the basics of the medium and still keep in mind at any time how the tattoo will age and change with time, in order to assure the client that the changes will e minimal and the art sill still be a good looking tattoo in 20-30 years after it's done.

This would actually make a great thread.

Getting tattooed by Ron Henry Wells today. Insanely excited. I THINK the partially drawn wolf head he put on IG this morning (part of a larger Pic Stitch-ed picture) is for me. We'll see. I also got a really gnarly reaper from Rich Smith from Thicker Than Water yesterday--once I can get a decent picture of the damn thing I'll post it in the "Latest Tattoo Lowdown" thread.

no gwar???? Oderous is pissed.

@LosingShape impressed me with mad Morrissey skills...

Here is the one from my copy. [/img]

As a rule, I try to educate each customer as far as the longevity of a tattoo and how the skin differs from a sheet of paper. I try to explain that there are certain things that have to be kept in mind when drawing or picking a design for a tattoo because the skin and the ink will change over time, so I strive to make tattoos that not only look good now but still look good down the line. A lot of people dismiss the 'bold will hold' or traditional style designs because they say that times have changed and it's just a cop out for tattooers that lack artistic ability. But in reality that expression transcends tattoo genres and should be the basis of any tattoo regardless of subject matter.

Was told by some artist that my bunny wouldn't be able to be covered unless it had some laser 1st...and then others have said my only option was a flower...I didn't want any of those options....I wanted a leopard/african theme and finally found someone that could do it. Most people don't see the bunny, but I can see it slightly since I know its there...but I just got this last month so I plan on getting touched up...but here is how it turned out, I am so happy with it! Sorry for some minor crack!