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This may be the greatest story ever told.

Generally positive but low information article. Only thing I object to is this notion that tattooing is somehow elevated because some fairly well-known artists are also making tattoos. Tattoo is its own medium -- and one that requires a good deal more technique and skill than picking up a paintbrush.

In LA to get my back finished by Eddy Deutsche and got this wolf from him and a color portrait of my wife by Bob Roberts.

Paul Dobleman just posted this amazing R.O.A. print on instagram, so good

the only things that have changed for me is when I was a teenager and had no tattoos all I wanted was to be tanned and impress girls and now that I have tattoos all I do is hide in the shade trying to keep my tattoos fresh. also when I get out of the shower I find myself staring at my body for ages just thinking "how fucking cool do I look" which usually results in me being late for work.

Got a dagger and snake from Steve Boltz when I was in Brooklyn recently, but I want to respect their request not to put pics of their work up on the interweb, so no visuals I'm afraid. Steve was a real gentleman- he's all about giving the customer a good tattoo, no fuss no messing around. Recommends a mean coffee shop too. Back in The Family Business week after next to finish my left arm, withMo Coppoletta. They just put a pic up on IG today- it's the double chrysanthemums in autumnal colours (for want of a better description).

In many years time, his friends will be telling tales of great adventures and all there achievements in life, and if nothing else Joe will be able to turn around and simply say "I got a walk in with Valerie Vargas". Win/end conversation.

While I am not hurting for money right now, if my employer offered the same deal (and I was in sales) I would jump all over this. Hell a dime sized tattoo could disappear among my other tattoos very easily. 10k extra a month could pay for...a financed Porsche 911, my rent, my bi-weekly tattoo sessions, and still have serious money left over. Plus remember if you ever leave there is always lazer! (or panthers)

Hi lovelies, no pics to profer as yet but hopefully Alec will post soon. Hate taking pics myself until they are healed. Kinda feel like they are their property until then lol! Went in expecting a ditch moth came out with a mandala on my upper bicep. I love Alec to bits and we have a great customer/Tattooer relationship because I love that I tell him I want something but he always comes up with something bigger and better. However this means I rarely know what I'm actually getting haha. I love it , it's beautiful but my arm is visibley bruised round the inside arm. Guess it's just where it's placed. So from now on I'm just goin to post the space we are filling. Next week we are doing the little gap at the top of my forearm between my swallow and my elbow. Sailor jerry heart with banner is the plan ! We are going to do another mandala with the centre on the 'wrist knuckle' to give it some semblance of cohesiveness ... Maybe :) pic will follow as / when Alec posts :) Just to add I'm really going to miss the wee bugger when he's off to the states. I hppe some of you might manage to catch him somewhere. He's a top guy , super quick and really down to earth :)

Got this from Valerie yesterday! Got it as a walk in, i had only gone in on the of chance somebody had space, Right place, Right time I suppose!

There's already some seriously stiff competition, but here's my entry for this month. Done yesterday by El Monga.

Ah ok so the fine line is also called single needle. I didn't know the lingo. It might not have been as bad if it weren't the last thing he did on me after already laying there for 5.5 hours, ha. And here is a cool pic of the face that I (my wife) took so you can see it more clearly.

Please re-read the newbie guidelines, especially the one in regards to getting to the 10 post limit as fast as possible to create a thread.

Visit Portland!! ;)

So here is my calf tattoo about 95% healed: Shitty webcam picture but hopefully you get the jist. healed nicely!

Found myself listening to Downward Is Heavenward today and thought I'd weigh in with the Hum love I saw earlier in the thread. "Isle of the Cheetah" still fucking wrecks me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5z_K63FVcU - - - Updated - - - Don't want to butt in too much and flood the thread, but I've been getting a lot of mileage out of this record of late. This track ("Yesterday's Fire"), "Teary Eyes and Bloody Lips", and "Heartbreaking Bravery" in particular. Cheers.

Next session done on my Dragon/Audrey Kawasaki piece. Wolf had 3 laser sessions and will be ready to cover in a couple of months. Im loving my first bit of colour in the phoenix which goes down my thigh and across my stomach. i'm thinking of a big colourful flower over the wolf what do you reckon ? Or maybe something from my left bum cheek up ? (Didnt want to put you off your tea so airbrushed my crack)

Done on 4/6/13 at Love Hate Tattoo in Rochester, NY by Joseph (Jet) DiProjetto: I will be adding to it at some point...

You should get a cat with a hawk tattoo on it.

Today's shenanigans in NYC or better referred to as tattoo fan Heaven! First a stop by Invisible NYC to check in on my friend getting work from Chris Garver: Then some work on myself by Mike Rubendall at Kings Avenue Tattoo Manhattan (more photos in the back piece thread): Finally, Chris O'Donnell working on a grim reaper thigh piece at Kings Avenue as well (Grez and Rubendall in the background:

Xam posted this sketch earlier, pretty sure the skull and snake on the left is going on me next Thursday - eep! Photo by xamthespaniard • Instagram

Big Rock of Ages with upside-down cross, tomorrow with Peter Lagergren. Super stoked!

I'm finally able to post my contest entry. Just finished up my back piece by Rodney Raines, Ace Custom Tattoo, Charlotte, NC. Sorry for the blurry pic, it's all I have. ETA: found a few more in progress shots on Instagram

heres mine by Rich Hardy

I am a moderator (and slayer fan) and I approve this message

I saw a midget piercer with "Bite Size"

@HaydenRose while I understand your logic, I cannot support it. Book something with Marie!

@Kahlan - they said in the video "any where, any size tattoo" - they showed one guy who had a dime sized logo on the inside of his ankle. They went on to say the one sales person had a commission that month of $25k with the tattoo, had they not had the tattoo it would have been around $15k. When you start talking about $10k a month extra, I think most would give up a square inch of their skin in a nondescript place

Been really in a Matthew Sweet mood lately.

I thought that it might be helpful to update my experiences with rewrapping tattoos. I've had mixed luck with healing my tattoos and need some touchups (I suspect my problem was likely that I babied my tattoos too much), but rewrapping plus a dry heal seems to give me great results. The first picture I attached here is of my elbow, healed about three and a half months after rewrapping, and I think it held the pigment really well. There was some light scabbing there that lasted a couple of weeks, but it kept the black and the greys healed, in Hooper's estimation, "beautifully". I'm also including a couple of pictures of my arm as it looks now, at three days after being tattooed, and four days, just to show the rate at which it's healing. Again, no scabbing, just that light flaky peeling.

I started wearing longsleeves almost year round to protect my arms. It's dumb, I know.

Healing is going well, but getting my forearm tattooed in the summer is goddamned stupid because while everybody is out wearing shorts and t-shirts, I'm sweating it out in long sleeves trying to keep a healing tattoo out of the sun.

OMG! You are so lucky!!! Great tattoo! :D

some more progress on my back. started coloring the face and sword. done by jess yen. no filter!

More from Rubendall at Kings Avenue on my back. Shaded in the rest of the back of my left thigh and added some color to the peony and dragon's tail!!! More pics when I'm all healed up! Enjoy!

Today at barcelona, From Jondix.

Peony from Nathan Kostechko at Will Rise in LA. Based on a design from an Ichibay book (I think this one if anyone is interested, looked awesome). To be honest, though, I hope that El Monga cat wins...that thing is insane!

After finished my leg with Chris, I kinda had planned on taking a break, but fuck that shit. PABST BLUE RIBBON! In two weeks, Mr. Andrew Conner is starting a flying tiger on my left arm.

I keep popping in and out of this website, but I do love that you guys keep at it! Anyway, here are a couple of photos of my front piece from Filip Leu & Sabine Gaffron, in progress. I'm adding a selfie taken close up while lying on my couch because it cracks me up how I look like a piece of fabric :))

This. So much this. I love your story :D Although nowhere near the same, I have some health stuff that's not fun (Fibromyalgia and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome). I felt quite negative toward my body, knowing I can't do the things I used to do, can't go out on a whim like my friends, can't run (used to be one of my big hobbies). Getting tattooed hurts like a mofo because of the hypersensitivity, but the achievement - getting to look at a part of my body and go "I sat through hours of pain for that" helps to pick me up on a bad day and remind me that I'm doing better than I give myself credit for. That there are still things that I CAN do, and having awesome artwork all over me is one. So yes, having tattoos has changed my life. In other ways too, of course - the way strangers interact with me has changed, but I can't say I have time or energy to think about that too much. Mostly they remind me that I kick ass.

i'm once again single, the amount of relationship's i seem to go through i might as well have the girls name's as a backpiece...!

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

I'm an apprentice... I started to learn from Richard in 2002, then we all got a long so much I bought his partner Stace out of his partnership, which was Skin & Bones, a completely different business in the same building... As a business minded person I had to set down the apprenticeship, and focus on the piercing business, but knew I would get to be around and maybe get to have time enough to pick up a few things... It never happened, we maintained a partner relationship from then on... In 2009, we were reunited somewhat... after about 6 months, I was his apprentice again, and still am... What I have gathered from my 13 plus years in the body art profession is this, Tattooers or some of them, are a lot like teenage couples that don't think about the big picture, they get all hot and heavy and forget to take that pill or wear a condom, and oops a baby is born, and they themselves are still children... Babies having Babies is not an ideal situation in population or profession control.... Especially if you care about people and people getting good work. And Richard has always ALWAYS said... Taking an apprentice is like getting married and someone taking your last name as theirs.... And there is no divorce, that's forever. Hence even too risky for him to teach or just trust even a friend to tattoo... They are bound to you for the rest of their career, and you want to teach good tattooing, and it's hard to teach something that we should constantly be learning about... especially if you love it.

Well,I've already voiced my opinion on this subject- but.... One thing nobody has mentioned is that there are still shops out there willing to take on an apprentice- for payment. In the 70s I knew of a few people that were charging thousands of dollars for the opportunity to learn and work at an established shop. ( Set up equipment usually went w the deal.)Today it would not be unrealistic to be asked to pay tens of thousands of dollars. Think of the money you would pay to attend a trade school or university. If a person is serious and committed, a financial obligation along with an agreed upon length of time/work commitment- isn't unreasonable. So find a shop that you love, get tattooed there and ask if they would be willing to take you on as an apprentice for 2-3 years, if you would be willing to pay them ( what ever amt) you agree upon, $10-$15,000 a year, let's say. Unless you just want them to give it to you, which seems to be what everybody wants.

@Kahlan No lecture here, everyone else seems to have done a great job of that. Just some straight up info: At the shop I work in (Which may or may not have a reputation on being harsh to 'wannabes') we get at least one person each week asking for an apprenticeship. In the summer months we get AT LEAST two per week, often more. Aside from the fact than none of them can draw and most haven't been tattooed at our shop, - I'm not even sure if any of them know what kind of work we do (hint: almost everything) they certainly don't look through any of our folios while they are in the shop. - There is no way that our city can support 52 to 104 new tattooers each year. I've been there since 2007. That would be over 800 new tattooers. But really, shitty tattooers should stop taking apprentices and helping them become shitty tattooers. If a good tattooer won't teach you, tough shit. If a good tattooer does teach you, I hate you because I never got that chance and I did a whole bunch of shitty tattoos while I was 'learning'.

Cheyenne Sawyer from Atlas tattoo in Portland Oregon. Not only is he one of the most unique human beings I have ever been friends and co workers with, he has the ability to make ANY idea look amazing. big or small. The man taught me how to be a real "professional" and I was his boss, lol! Cheyenne Sawyer :: Atlas Tattoo :: Portland, Oregon

Now that the scorching summer's in, I find myself playing these two on the reg:

Hum will always be one of my favorite bands. Along with Lungfish and Unwound. We can keep our little secrets.

I guess this has become my official thread. It's cool. I'll geek out on the stuff getting me through the tough shit.