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Got this from Steve Byrne on Saturday. Couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Sorry for the crappy iphone pic, I'll try to get better pics once it heals.

@Stewart Robson, do we have to guess what your title is? I'm going with HoriRobu.

double post from another thread but I'm excited about this 3/4 sleeve being complete, this is my elbow ditch area on 4th day of healing:

A timely question... There are a few reasons: I never had a 'pen name' and I wouldn't sign Japanese style tattoos with my own name. I wouldn't make a Japanese sounding name or Japanese style name for myself. I never wanted to ask anyone to give me a title. Also I'm not part of any traditional tattoo family structure. While I'm still not part of any traditional tattoo family (The Frith Street 'elite' doesn't count) this year Alex Reinke gave me a tattoo name and senjafuda as a birthday present. So this year I will 'sign' some backs and suits. Particularly the ones that are based on traditional themes or designs, on select customers, by request. Tattoos are usually 'signed' with a senjafuda (more like a sticker) rather than a seal. Recently (the Paris and Edinburgh conventions) I used a banner with my senjafuda.

Hey Folks, We all obviously have our personal reasons for getting tattoos. I thought it would be fun and interesting to hear thoughts and experiences regarding getting or not getting a tattoo because of some superstitions, personal beliefs, cultural customs or taboos. Apologies for my very long-winded dialogue below. My own perspective is a bit of a double-edged sword. I’m American born Chinese, raised in the Lower East Side/Chinatown of NYC. My parents and grandparents are/were Buddhists. My maternal grandmother (Grams), who had a major role in my early upbringing, was a devout practicing Buddhist. I’ve never been religious but was always respectful of the customs and beliefs. It was Grams who naturally started me on the path of some of these beliefs and informed me of some of the more peculiar superstitions that ended up influencing my tattoo choices later on in life. As most of us know in Asian cultures, tattoos are still a taboo subject and subculture. However I’ve never been one to go with the grain so much but I ended up getting my first tattoo in my early 30’s. My first tattoo was a koi with water and cherries, done in a Japanese motif. I’ve always loved goldfish and koi as a kid and I remembered begging my grandmother to get them for me. Grams would flat out refuse. You see, while goldfish and koi are considered good luck, if they die, the Chinese believed your luck dies with it. Being very conscious of that, I figured a tattoo is permanent and the koi would “live” forever. It just so happened that when I got this first tattoo, it was at the end of the same year Grams had passed away. Part of it was in honor and remembrance of her. My next tattoo was of a dragon, my Chinese zodiac sign. I received a stern lecture from my mom on this. Even though she accepted this path I was on with getting tattooed, she had indicated it was bad luck to get my own zodiac figure tattooed on myself. It would be in conflict with one’s self. Too late I explained to her and we’d just have to see what the eventual outcome with be in my destiny, hahaha. Now when I had decided to get my back tattooed, a lot of odd things popped up that I had to consider. First, the literal connotations of getting my back inked, the Chinese would say you are getting stabbed in the back, bad karma. Of course didn’t take too much stock in that and plowed forward. Next, while I am in complete awe of most back pieces and overall tattoos for that matter, I had made a decision not to get any religious or associated figures tattooed on me. No Kannon, Buddha, demons, Monkey King, etc. You get the idea. It is considered bad luck and disrespectful to get a deity tattoo, let alone on your back where you would be “resting on them”. It broke my heart as I adore the powerful and serene image of Kannon riding a dragon and although life is short and one should always try to get what they want, I just couldn’t see myself breaking away from this belief. To the point I was scared I would “anger the gods” and have bad luck for the rest of my days. Hence you’ll notice in my gallery, my tattoos comprise of creatures and florals and will continue with this theme until I’m “done.” One thing that’s never been spoken of in a negative light is that it is okay to get a mantra or chant or just Buddhist scripture tattooed on yourself. These would act like talismans or amulets to ward off evil or bad luck. I’ve recently been researching Sanskrit and Bonji characters that I will eventually incorporate into my collection.

The Pearl has a deal on this April. They are offering $100 daffodil tattoos with %100 of the cash going to cancer research. That's a special I can get behind.

Interesting topic, @ironchef! I don't have too much time to post at the moment, but it brings to mind a few things I've been chewing on for awhile now, mainly: what impact do the images you permanently mark yourself with have on your life/life energy, if any? Robert Ryan had some interesting things to say about this in his interview in the most recent Tattoo Culture Magazine (voodoo symbols and a guy dying soon after the tattoo was finished) (I'm writing this quickly, forgive me for any sloppiness!), and I remember at some point, somewhere (don't remember where!) reading that Horiyoshi 3 was tattooing his son and had not finished either one of the symbols or some of the characters...dammit...I don't remember and now I will be looking for this article to post here. The point is that something wasn't finished, something 'bad' or unlucky happened, and once the characters were finished the imbalance was righted. Soo...this is a good topic, and I will look for more interesting and specific references before posting again. And I'm definitely looking for the Horiyoshi article, grrr! Forgive sloppiness and quick posting! Will right THIS imbalance soon enough!

I got this one yesterday from Justin Hyde @ Old Soul Tattoo

quoting my own post from February because I'm getting excited about this appointment on May 11th!

Next session on my back with Filip on wednesday :D

Steve Byrne really needs to start getting better at tattooing ;) Just in case the sarcasm didn't come through...This is awesome! Steve constantly proves to be one of the best.

Next session on my back with Valerie on Tuesday I too am excited :D

So they'll be healed never?

Starting my other chest panel with Kore Flatmo on Friday.

hahahaha, okay, yeah, that would give me major douche chills.

Here's what I got this friday: From Cezilia Hjelt. The tiger head is from early 1900's flash that I came across on an exhibition early this year. At the same time I got this from Joel Albertson, classic Dietzel girl, I've loved this design since I first saw it a couple years ago so I am happy to sport it now. Both Cezilia and Joel work at Göteborg Classic Tattooing. If you're ever in Gothenburg, this is the place to hit up. Jonas Uggli Nyberg and Henrik Röstberg works there too, so it's a pretty awesome crew.

If I'm not mistaken, Beez, the story you're referring to regarding Horiyoshi III and his son's tattoo was from Jill Bonny's book: Studying Horiyoshi III: A Westerner's Journey into Japanese Tattoo. I can't remember exactly either about the specifics, but I think his wife's eye swelled up like Oiwa and other things happened to Horiyoshi III and his son also. This is an interesting topic @ironchef, thanks for sharing. My experience was a little dis-similar from yours but I understand your path and appreciate it. Instead of superstitions influencing tattoo choices, being Japanese, I looked to traditional subjects and supposed "rules" to dictate some of what I have. Like maintaining a specific season and the idea that water elements are on the lower body, air elements are for the upper, and specific pairings of creatures. As such I have a koi/peonies on my leg, a phoenix and dragon on my arms, and a soon to be finished image of Oda Nobunaga for a backpiece. The koi/peonies is a quasi memorial to my mom who loved flowers. My dad loves koi ponds. And I grew up watching samurai/yakuza movies with my Dad and Uncle. So my history/heritage influenced me too but in a different way. A bit more generically I suppose. My whole family is a bit gringo-fied so superstition and religion didn't factor in as much. So no superstition, but influenced in other ways pertaining to culture. It's interesting to hear how yours was. I rushed through this so hopefully this all made sense.

I want a discount tattoo as much as I want a discount parachute. That being said, I support the charity, Friday the 13th, and other fun special things that shops do.

My artist finished the eyes of my dragon last. He said once the eyes where done the dragon is alive and to continue tattooing it would cause the dragon pain.

I hear that! Thankfully mine will be starting in just over 6 weeks ;)

Me + Deno = 7 days.

mmikaoj, dude you should've let me know you were in my hometown. i live across the street from classic tattoo. if you come again, the coffee and kanelbulle is on me! LST for life.

Up the punx

This kind of like, blows my mind. That is a level of douchery you don't see every day.

@ChrisvK that sounds just about perfect. Can This thread also be used for mumbling shite in when your sleeping tablets hav taken affect but not knocked you out yet ??

All this back session talk is giving me back piece envy!

http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/gallery/showimage2.php?i=13964&catid=member&imageuser=5080 So i'm still epically failing at being able to include images in my post....i should probably go and read the instructions or something *hangs head in shame* This is a cover up of a colour realism piece i had started and never finished. It wasnt a bad tattoo as such.. it just wasn't me. I'm SO pleased with the progress of the cover so far.. can't wait to see him once he's done! Being done by Dan Hartley at Cock A Snook Tattoo in Newcastle :)

I just had another appointment with Jill Bonny on my backpiece on Saturday. Have another apopintment on May 11th where Kumonryu will be complete and my back will only need background. Then I take a break from my back and in June I have an all day appointment with Horitomo to start both arms. Super excited!

I've heard not filling the eyes in until the end is a way to motivate flaky clients into returning for future appointments.

agree with @reverend1 the only "sales" i would participate in as a customer are charity, friday the 13th, sailor jerry day, and flash day events.

Nobody likes a quitter. :)

Sailor Jerry also did a ton of custom work, and it has been copied endlessly. I understand the issue, and agree that a tattooer should reference, not copy. My point was that there was a person involved in this, and he was being ripped on, and I felt that was bogus. Period.

I'm a woman with two huge arm tattoos, forearm and upper arm. No difference in hair regrowth in the slightest - just as there isn't when I shave my legs. I haven't checked beez' snopes link but I imagine that one reason for the myth of hair growing back thicker is that it all grows at the same rate, and longer unshaved hair tends to taper away at the end whereas shaved hair will at first have a blunter end, perhaps giving the appearance of being very slightly thicker. Edit - sorry, I've just realised this is a response to a post that's several days old! Hope it's still helpful.

Just to be clear, I do not dislike beautiful sleeves with a lot of background. That is just not the look I would want for myself. I would either want something like those legs full of traditional tattoos that were posted in another thread or something like some of the beautiful arms in Victoria Elwood's portfolio with the huge flowers, birds, bees and lots of negative space. I only don't want to tattoo the front of my body because I'm still a working person and not so talented I can flaunt authority too much and honestly, I just don't see myself as a heavily tattooed person so it's like if I can hide them from myself when I'm naked I have a sense of security or something. Just being honest. I love to see women with lots of tattoos. I'm jealous of their free-spiritedness. For as much as I have done amazingly free-spirited things, I'm just still at heart a boring middle class white bread middle-aged lady. When I'm retired and my mom is no longer with us, anything goes though. Ride the rails, live on America's long trails, tattoo another long trail map on my other leg, get a huge Valerie Vargas girl head on my back and birds, flowers and butterflies ala Victoria Elwood all over my arms. Maybe.

Electric Tattoo,Bradley Beach,NJ Del Ponte's Coal Fired Pizza, Pizza, Bradley Beach, NJ 07720 - index I just ate here Friday,and had a vegetable pie made with whole wheat dough that was good. Del Ponte's Bakery: Bradley Beach: NJ: Jersey Shore's Bakery they also own the bakery on the corner,and they have the best cannoli's that they fill fresh. Tropicali Cuisine - FINS has good burritos,and tacos,and fruit smoothies. cafe volan a 5 minute drive to Asbury Park and this coffee shop not only sells great coffee,but also sells artwork from the guy's at Electric Tattoo,and other's.

In my opinion yes- blood sugars are important - fainting is bad

She was the first person I thought of! She has an incredible collection. I think I have 4 or so, and wouldn't mind a few more.

Yep two half sleeves one tattooed by Crispy Lennox. The other by @Stewart Robson. Plus many more. They're fast catching up with her shoe collection.:eek:

i just love them, and i love how different they are from artist to artist. i suppose thats why lady heads are a traditional tattoo in the first place... women are attractive to look at.. why not cover your body in attractive things :) Thanks guys!

Peony from Nathan Kostechko at Will Rise in Los Angeles. Photo from his instagram. Slightly modified from an Ichibay flash book.

Might as well post this here too even though the shit posted so far has been ridiculous.

good luck

Yay! finally finished by upper back today :D I'm sooo happy :D :o By Valerie Vargas at Frithstreet tattoo

if i could do my job in my undercrackers i would without a seconds thoughts.. however ladies who get their nails done generally dont want to see your knickers.. i assume!

No. Get what you like, and if someone else doesn't like it, tell 'em to sod off.

slightly intimidated by the talent in this thread but none the less here are a few of my more recent ones

I know some people on this forum don't really dig this guy, but Gen did a guest spot here in Hong Kong and I got my lower leg done. That ditch is something else eh? Taken from his instagram coz I couldn't get any decent shots.