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Started this with Koeplinger a couple days ago. It's incredibly swollen, so it was hard to get a decent shot of it.

George archer -Rock of Ages Tony hundahl - Rock of Ages Detail shot

So I am getting married in July of this year to the most amazing woman. We are two peas in a pod. We both love tattoos and although I have far more, it is something we enjoy together. This August we are planning to take our honeymoon on a road trip through a large swath of the USA. (We are Canadians living in Toronto) We will travel to Nashville, then to Savannah, GA. After that we go to Orlando, New Orleans, San Antonio, Sante Fe, back through Colorado, Kansas, St. Louis, Chicago, then back to Toronto. I was thinking it would be fun to pick up a tattoo or two along the way. Nothing large, given that we will be in a car much of the time and a lot of healing and driving might not be a great idea. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts about getting tattoos in some of these places? I know where'd I'd go in Chicago, but what about New Orleans or New Mexico? A tattoo from Texas would be cool too, and I'd be passing through San Antonio...

So, I'm reaching the end of my recent spree of tattooing. I've got one more appointment on Wednesday, then I'm taking some time off. Letting myself heal for a while. I had two done today by Tim Pausinger at The Pearl Harbor Gift Shop. I'm going to post the eagle. The tiger head on my elbow is totally swollen and wont make for a good pic at this point.

Just finished up with a tattoo from tony hundahl. One shot white tiger inside of knee - groin. My leg is gonna fucking kill tomorrow, but goddamn I'm happy

Lester Garcia in New Orleans, Walter Mcdonald and Sky James in Denver, Sean Baltzell in St. Louis

Thought I was not going to get tattooed for the rest of this year, now it seems I am getting tattooed by Greg Christian in May sometime, just paid the deposit.

Snake and kewpie on my thigh from Christopher Ayalin at Liberty Tattoo in Seattle.

Hello all So here is my hello! I live in London but I am from Berlin so please forgive any spelling/grammar mistakes. I got my first tattoo about 10 years ago I think but wanted one long before that. I currently still have a lot of space on my body. I have only one biggish tattoo and a couple more small ones. I am booked in for another one in 2 weeks and can't wait! It's been a while since my last one and I had a massive urge to get something new. A lot of space on my body is kind of planned out but I always get new and more ideas. I love looking at tattoos and reading about them and that is why I decided to join. I am loocking forward to meeting people and broaden my horizon in regards to tattoos.

I really dig this thing. I told you on Instagram already, but I am getting a Kali on the 12th from Matt Arriola. I asked him to get kinda of crazy with it so I don't know what to expect.

@Joe Shit you are always coming through with the best links and recommendations for tattooers. Bravo to you for taking your time to do so. I know it is appreciated by a lot of us here.

i wanna see newly-wed photos this summer then! get a tattoo in every city you stop in!

saw it on IG, how fucking stoked are you?!?! :D

im trying to get a severed head from him at SFO. ill pay the extra money for the convention price to skip the two year waiting list. like you a 1 shoter

It is neat stuff-hooked-up with Nick to put on one of the old flash pieces here shortly. That arcade at 500 S. State is the first place I ever saw real tattooing done-neat stuff. Don't follow IG, so I don't know about his accounts, but I know that Nick got hassled my FaceBook for having too many followers because of the tattoo business, he had to start another "commercial" page for Great Lakes. Either way, it's good to see people appreciating Nick's work, the man is a trip.

The Turk

I have a few tattoo's that don't "match" the rest. I didn't get them because the style was hot at the time (it wasn't) I was just 20 and that's what I was into. Then what I was into when I was 30 was different. I think about getting them covered, but it's like why? It's a road map of my life (lame way to put it, I know, it only sounds cool if you're a Russian prisoner) and so it's just what I was into when I was that age. I get more OCD about colors matching than styles on a certain limb or part. I also prefer, for myself, patchwork style. A ton of random tattoos, vs. 1 big sleeve or piece. Except the back, that large slab of skin with no nipples was made for 1 big ass tattoo.

Here's a pic of my chest/shoulders completed. I'm super stoked on the outcome :D Letters, which are a redo, by BJ Betts and the skulls are from Jeff Gogue...

Shins are easier than back of leg, IMO, until you get close to knee cap, but more weird sensation than pain. I still think the tattoo that hurts the most is the one your are getting at the time or about to get.

@lving4today That tiger... Wow! Pizzaface was cool too. Flash or your idea?

Savannah, GA: Anonymous Tattoo Denver, CO: Dedication Tattoo - Denver, CO - I will vouch for Marie Sena being an awesome tattooer and an awesome person, the other tattooers there seem great too Las Cruces, NM: "We don't do piercings." - Tick who tattoos there very occasionally posts here, and she was doing some awesome stuff at the Montreal convention last year so check her out.

Looking forward to meeting him in a few days. He is doing a piece on my arm next week when he visits Toronto.

Finally got my lazy ass into gear and created a facebook page for pictures of my travels to accompany my blog. You can find it here: http://www.facebook.com/DrifterInEurope o and stephen, that panter is insane!

Hello Thank you for the welcome...I am getting a (oh so popular) ladies head...I wanted one for a long time as I love them when they are well done and in my eyes they are timeless...It will be done by Gemma at Cherrys Tattoo's. I really love her ladies. I looked at many artists and just really love how she does the faces and all. Also my previous tattoos are done by men and I always wanted to get tattooed by a woman. Yes my problem is at the moment that i always worry about placements...As I am still pretty empty I just want to make sure I use the space as well as possible...Any advise on that welcome :-)

I would walk around naked to show of your work...just saying...no homo

Welcome Emma! Being a little older just means you have to get tattooed at a little faster pace to catch up!

Welcome, and make sure you check out the rules and guide lines here Last Sparrow Tattoo - Newbie Guidelines

@living4today He was one of the OGs at Absolute Art in Richmond Virginia, with Timothy Hoyer and Josh Brown

@spb420 thanks, i thought i read that somewhere but wasn't sure. now delete your post so no one else will know :)

call june 1 for 2014

From last Friday. Done at the Paris Convention by Nathan Kostechko. i love it!

Thomas Hooper finished my forearm

Got fresh ink on Saturday and the blues are setting in on Tuesday night. The skin isn't even flaking yet! So glad most places don't take credit cards, otherwise I'd be in more trouble.

Saw it first hand and its a beautiful collection if awesome roses

I have a lady head in the ditch of my right arm, and it's really well designed so that there is minimal distress in the hot spots.

I only have one ditch lined right now but I didn't think the spot was such a big deal. We'll see when we shade it but I thought inner bicep was far worse. Different people, different spots, etc. I'm not going to post mine either because it isn't finished and it's part of a sleeve so it doesn't stand alone. It's geometric rock formations that a raven is perched on. I really like the shark jaws one above.

Some amazing stuff posted here, wow! Here's my entry, by javi Rodriguez guesting at frith street

Mike Brown and Tattooland

I always feel like crap (whole body aches, don't want to talk to anyone, etc.) after getting a tattoo. When I get home all I want to do is shower, eat, then go to sleep. I think its because sitting still for 3-4 hours while getting tattooed is mentally draining for me.

I've never had the blues or regretted what I did, but when my sleeve was outlined it took several weeks to get used to it. I kept thinking, "What the fuck have I done??" But not in a bad way, I just couldn't believe that I did it. I've only been working on my tattoos for a year so I suppose I'll get used to them eventually, but I rarely look in the mirror and don't notice them. I tried to explain this feeling to a few non-tattood people, but they just kept thinking that I regretted getting them. No way, I'm planning my next sleeve and chest panel!

I've had moments where I haven't regretted my tattoos but I've looked at myself in the mirror and kind of been "WTF have I done". This has always been really early in the morning when I'm underslept and waking up for a 6am start of my workday so I'm not fully in my right mind and I find that as I get more tattoos I experience this lot less. Tattoos are a really big deal in many ways and I don't think that it's necessarily weird or abnormal to sometimes have complicated feelings about them.

This, exactly. I think I have almost always woken up the morning after getting a tattoo thinking "what have I done?!" The feeling passes quickly and I have never felt it deeply, but for me it's a pretty normal part of the adjustment to having this new imagery on my body forever. It has nothing to do with how I feel about the tattoo itself and I have never gotten a tattoo that I actually regretted. But every once in a while it just feels all very Keanu Reeves "whoa" that we do these things to ourselves.

I got a spider tattooed on my thumb earlier this year and for maybe two hours I was thinking "Man, maybe I shouldn't have done that" (BTW that shit is in there. It ain't washing off). But that went away real quick because I really wanted a spider on my thumb, besides no one hardly ever notices my hands anyway. Far worse than regrets, I've had this nightmare two or three times where suddenly all my tattoos are gone, i'm a total pinky all over again.... It's caused me to wake up in a panic thinking "Oh God, now I have to go through getting them all over again".

just cram 'em all in there. i don't get it when people plan their whole bodies out or want all this "balance". do they plan on posing around naked all the time for us to scrutinize? most of the time people only see our arms anyway.

I'm with Shawn. I didn't initially set out to have "a suit." If I had, I would've approached things much differently. I have no regrets about my tattoos (but I do have a coverup!), and I love what Dan Higgs said in an old video that Shawn posted. It was something to the effect of, "Don't worry about whether or not something will go with what you already have--just put it there and it automatically goes together. You got Hot Stuff next to Jesus next to a clown." Take a look through my gallery and you'll see that I look like a yakuza from behind and a typical confused American from the front. :)

I just sort of slap it all together. I was never going for a cohesive bodysuit, so it all just sort of blends.