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My first truly spur of the moment tattoo, a late birthday gift from my brother and sister

Latest addition to my collection of lady-heads! :o Photo's are stolen from Xam's IG account, will post some healed photos on my gallery later :) The shop is amazing, and the people who work there are amazing! A very good tattoo- experience! Happy :) By Xam at The Family Business, London :)

aat worrkkk And I'm ashamed to say that this is the only face-on picture I could find of myself.. *facepalm* I've gotten too old for camera-whoring self-portraits with duck face...lol

Seems a good time to mention that I took my mom to get tattooed today! It was her first. She got a sweet flying pig from Adam at Three Kings.

Banned.

This today. Tattooed by Jimmie Skuse, Les Skuses' grandson. Amazing shop. So much history there. Had a great time chewing the fat with Jimmie. He showed me a load of flash thats been submitted for a book he's working on. - - - Updated - - - That is truly beautiful.

This interview with Chris O'Donnell isn't anything new or part of the the Tattoo Age series but is on Vice.com and worth watching in my opinion:

Ok I just got home... it is beautiful. Nothing like I imagined it would be. I told him lady head, 3/4 view, and with a moon and stars... and it became my most beautiful tattoo yet

I really dig what Ron Henry Wells has been doing with roses. He explains what he's doing with them on his blog here:

oh, you mean a plainskin? :P

I left my fulltime career position to take on my apprenticeship full time lol..scared shitless.

i guess on a side note building on the last comment by tattooedgirl, in the past, dating the un-tattooed was a problem. a 2 year relationship of mine ended over me wanting a very large ribcage tattoo.... he did not want this to happen.. i left.lol. sounds fickle but it was my body - and i could see clearly that it was going to be an issue... I warned my husband when we started dating that if he didnt like tattoos he probbabbblyyy would be unimpressed with seeing me in the nude...lol... (mine are usually fairly covered but there are A LOT of them) . Luckily- he loves tattoos.. i think it throws a lot of men off when a woman does not apppearrrr to have tattoos... Im a kind of barbie-ish blonde girl with a love of pink and high high heals LOL... i get flack in the shop by men coming in thinking i dont work there...and or my lack of looking overly alternative somehow discredits me on some level?? kind of sad.. anyway where i'm going with that is that at some point, i think if you are heavily tattooed, or in the process, and your partner is not, and is never going down that road - it can cause HUGE problems... Also, if you are a woman an heavily tattooed, and the man does not realize it, that can be a shocker and an issue.lol. AND THEN my final statement: The kinds of partners that are often attracted to heavily tattooed people simply for that "look" are often headcases.... not our fault!!! but its a screening procress!!!! It sounds like many of us here are really lucky to have found good matches, but eeeeeesh I'm sure you've all seen it happen.!

Haha yes of course how silly of me. Rye Gregg @ Quarter Horse Tattoo, Stockton CA. Please forgive my gaffe

I was in MN over the weekend visiting some family and decided to go talk to Josh Arment at the Aloha Monkey about doing a full sleeve 9 tail fox japanese tattoo. Went in to get an estimate only, and ended up leaving with with 4 booked appointments :cool: I cant wait! Lol

First sitting on my Tiger with Kore Flatmo yesterday. 4 1/2 hours so far.

Yes @Delicious! It will be a beautiful woman from Mr.Conn! And a little cat of some sort from Burke at Dark Horse Tattoo in LA! Exited!

Hahaha this is kind of my goal.

The 3rd Annual Daddy/Daughter Tattoo day was on Friday. I posted the tattoo pics in the latest tattoo lowdown thread already. Here's a pic from the start. Most fun I've had so far this year. P.S. the kid ain't lopsided anymore...

Haha thank you. Sessions have been around the 5 hour mark total tattoo time, the last session was more like 7 hours, so just over 20 hours so far, can't really complain ;) - - - Updated - - - Thank you mate, the next session will focus on the skull, haven't really touched it since the first session. Still deciding on colours and stuff then its just putting the colour in the dragon act, booked in for 3 more sessions but might only take 2 - - - Updated - - - Thanks man, yeah I still think his are the best going. - - - Updated - - - Hahaha thanks mate, I try :p

Today was the 3rd annual daddy/daughter tattoo day It was as awesome as we hoped. The Homeward Bound ship is on her and Woodchuck Norris is on me. Both done by Paul Pearson.

Rad thread, thanks for starting it @Delicious ! I never knew there were so many awesome beards here. It's funny to see how different some people look to how I imagined them (or, conversely, how similar). Anywho, here's me being all Cheesecake recently in celebration of losing 10kg/getting more tattooed.

What about roses with a black outline made by people who have been tattooing for over 50 years? I got this one from Tony D'Annessa around Easter time this year, it's from one of his old roll-up flash sheets.

I managed to get in with Frank Carter again while he was at Frith Street Tattoo last week. He tattooed this eagle on my chest. The photo is from Frank's Instagram

my fathers tattoos by Dennis Cockell in soho a dragon and a cobra! was lucky enough to get the same cobra from Dennis last year

@Eilin Saw this on Xam's IG and figured it was on you - really nice piece!

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...

I am not going to make it back up to the convention.....but I will be in Brooklyn...Queens...and Long Island this Fri-Sun! I am going to hit as many shops as humanly possible and do my best to pick up at least 4 tattoos while up there! I am flying in at 8am Friday morning and I'll hit the ground running....grabbing a bite on LI and then making my way into Brooklyn and Queens to do a lot of visiting and getting tattooed on friday! Then I'll be back to do it all over again on saturday.....

I bet you end up coming out with something more awesome than you anticipated :) let us know how it goes x - - - Updated - - - I've been thinking some more about the back piece idea... I really really love the traditional Pharoes horses design and i've come across a few really amazing looking tattoos but done on womens stomachs.. Stomach tattoos are off limits for me completely but i'm wondering if mid back and down might be an option... then leave lots of room at the top of my back IF it ever does become tattooable... i know this is probably totally the wrong place to post this but it's late and i've spent the night creeping all over the internet at horse tattoos... all advice welcome :D

Super cool, @MGblues! I laughed at the woodchuck. Nice twist on the classic Jerry rattler. - - - Updated - - - Jesus fucking shitballs. That's amazing! What's left to do? Looks damn near complete. Actually, you could stop now and still be awesome.

A little late to the party and dressed like a bum, per usual. To clarify, I'm not the asshat with the shitty beard, I'm the dude with the sunglasses in the background.

Me from I think 2009 issue of skin and ink.

And here I don't even have a hip pic that's less than ten years old. So...this is out in Washington state last year, near Sequim at a place called Eddy's Hook. And this is the ancient version...I THINK this pic is from about 96, 97, like that.

If i were him i'd make dragon roaring noises every time i removed my underpants. (do dragons roar?)

@Lance The backpiece is coming along great. After next session we are taking a breack so Horitomo can start my arms and the background on the top of my shoulders. After that is complete Jill is going to start the background on my backpiece and connect it to Horitomo's work. At least that is the plan for now. Have you had any sessions since the last time I saw you? I know you were pretty close to being finished with your backpiece.

yeah it makes a really beautiful chest piece. I'm still not convinced i could carry off a chest piece. It does look totally awesome on stomachs, womens aswell.. unfortunately it would be hella distorted on my stomach haha! this is doing NOTHING for my 'calming down with getting tattooed so i don't fill up too quickly' !!!

Hello nice to meet you. I am loving your work. It is awesome. All are great but I really love how you improved the first tattoo:)

Hooray!! Sounds to me like the most fun EVER!!! Hurry back and tell us what you got!!

You should just be honest with the artist and collaborate with him on ideas

ooor maybe people don't check in every thread all the time? there are like thousands of them...but yeah it's a good looking tattoo! don't be a hater! be a lover!

yeah, let me know! we are there the 19th-22nd, i'm definitely down to meet up if you end up being there the same time.

I'm planning on visiting SF around that same time. Maybe, if the stars and moon align, we can shake hands and get a beer or two.

I just bought a magazine called Tattoo life it is issue no81, your awesome back is on page 25

It's unfinished, but I thought this one by Marina Inoue was pretty unbelievable. One of my favorite designs for sure.

Here's one from the dayz of wayback , our wedding anniversary is tomorrow . There's a recent pic on my profile .

AHAHAHAHAHA @Iwar beat me to it! - - - Updated - - - Me 'n' the lady from last summer, kinda blurry cell phone pic.

My local pub at Christmas. They're not hipsters being ironic with the dressers and glittery Christmas tree btw... They just have lots of old tat around the place.

I a'int too proud to show my ugly mug. My girlfriend got me to wear this stupid hat on Christmas day. Some of you saw it on IG anyway.

hope this helps.

@Hogrider I'm by no means an authority on this stuff, but I'm travelling along the same road you've just started... Part of the reason you can't find what you're looking for is because you're looking for literal or binary meanings. Most of the images you've seen tattooed are taken from Japanese and Chinese folk tales or religious stories. Imagine of you asked someone regarding western cultural art or tattoos: 1) "What does it mean when there's a guy hanging on cross with his arms outstretched?" 2) "What does it mean when there's a woman in blue holding a naked baby" 3) "What does it mean when the muscle-bound guy in the black mask overpowers the brightly dressed skinny man in the clown makeup. The answers depend on your level of interest/sympathy and how abstract or literal you want to be: 1a) It's Jesus. His father, God, sacrificed him to atone for the sins of the world. 1b) The wearer has faith in a religious power higher than himself and possibly feel kinship with or sympathy for the figure and character of Jesus Christ. 1c) The wearer wants to be forgiven for past wrongdoings. 2a) It's Mary, Jesus' mother. The baby is Jesus. 2b) She's a figure of worship because some people believe she should be revered because God chose her as the vessel for his earthly offspring. Her cloak is blue because traditionally goddesses were associated with the moon and night sky. Sometimes it has stars on it. Christianity adopted this symbol to make it easier for people who held older religious beliefs to adopt the new faith. 2c) The wearer may have sympathy or empathy with the concept of being the vessel for divine power or lineage. Also this symbol can have an added element of sadness because we know the eventual sadness and loss of a mother witnessing her only son be sacrificed for the good of mankind - possibly a greater sacrifice than Jesus, some might say. 3a) It's Batman, he's fighting the Joker. 3b) Batman is a symbol of vigilante justice. He works outside of recognised laws to bring justice to a world crippled by wrongdoing. 3c) This scene is a metaphor for the darkness of repressed homosexuality and it's power to overcome the sinister flamboyance of non-hetro feelings. etc, etc. In short, think about what you want your tattoo to 'mean' or 'say' - tell that to a tattooer who knows his stuff and let them find a story or theme that fits your idea. Or just pick one you like from a woodblock print. I try to tell people all the time that western traditional tattooing has just as much symbolism and poetry but nobody will listen. It's all sex, death and the struggles of humankind. Good luck.

I sat through a four hour session recently I didn't think it was too bad, mind you afterwards was pretty tender (upper arm) and it healed within the week. I'm 55 years old.