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got this lined up yesterday by Antonio Roque @ Black Label Tattoo Company in Frederick, MD.

It's a big step no doubt, I would say getting a chest piece is almost like getting a neck tattoo for a girl, in the sense that it's going to be visible the majority of time. I don't know if drawing stuff on you will give you the full effect of what it will be like. I would say if you do do it. (Yes I know I said do do) push it out a little bit, maybe make it a next year goal to get started. I know I don't really know you that well, but I can tell you have been on a terror to get tattooed because of personal things in your life, and you have been getting some really nice ones. I am not one to talk about getting tattoos on a whim, but visible spots deserve some consideration. If time passes and it still seems like a good idea, then it was probably a good idea all along. Regardless you seem to do good picking tattoos and tattooers so I think the piece will look good. I have been struggling similarly with getting my hands done. I toy with the idea of doing my knuckles and then I was convinced I should do the spots above my thumbs and then I was like well I might as well just dive in and not half ass it, but as of right now I am not doing anything cause I am not 100 convinced. Plus most of the people who tattoo me, either have no hand tattoos or have had them lasered off, maybe I lack balls to ask them to tattoo my hands.

I'd suggest that if you're not willing to abide by the rules of this board and take the very good advice you've been given that maybe you should stop posting because this sort of thing isn't tolerated around here.

But if you want something that's going to stay perfect forever, get a print or a painting, not a tattoo.

The best advice I ever got was from my 10th-11th grade French teacher who told me that the greatest thing keeping me from speaking French comfortable was my own self-consciousness about my accent. No one else actually cares. I think about her words constantly, because she was right. The more you just let yourself talk, and don't worry about your accent, the better you will get! I'd also definitely recommend doing some kind of immersion program in a francophone place - nothing will improve your conversational skills better than that! - - - Updated - - - Also, I constantly mix up Polish and Hebrew in my head. Go figure.

Hey I thought that people with tattoos were supposed to be cool.

I have a pharaoh's horses chest piece! I worried vaguely about the change in appearance, too--and honestly it kinda does drastically change the way you look. It's a really eye-catching location, and was definitely the piece that made me consider myself heavily tattooed. That said, it didn't take me any time at all to get used to it--I'd wanted it for ages, so it just looked natural to me. May have taken other folks some getting used to. It is also hard to cover (mine hits above the collar bones) without looking a little conservative. I fucking love it, though. I also definitely drew on a stick figure pharaoh's horses a couple times, too.

Well, at least the design won't end-up lower than it started! Positive, yes indeed...

Reminds me of a joke I heard once: What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages? ......... Trilingual What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? ......... Bilingual What do you call a person who speaks 1 language? ......... American :(

I live just 40 minutes SW of where it started. I drove right through where it touched down about 5 minutes before. All my friends and family that live in the area are accounted for although a couple of my friends houses where right in the path in the worst hit area. They lost everything, but are still alive.

I'm in Texas right now but my family and home are in Oklahoma - all of my people are well and accounted for, but it wasn't until late, late in the night last night that I knew for sure. There are a few other Okies here... I hope they were all as fortunate as I was.

So many haters in this thread. Bad tattoos are poorly done tattoos, styles of tattoos you don't like is merely your own preference and opinion. I love doing fancy lettering. I'll do the block of text in nice fancy cursive and have a great time doing it and knowing that it is a good composition and looks good on the skin. Just did a quote on a young lady's forearm and it looks perfect for the spot and not cheesy/lame/etc. Late last year my lady friend and I went to see Mike Wilson to get some work; I got a bad ass bird and she got a quote from a song and it looks great and he had a good time doing it. She had thought long and hard about an image instead but went with what she knew she wanted. Everybody gets different tattoos for different reasons. I too will sometimes try to talk someone into an image vs a wall of text but in the long run its their tattoo. Don't hate because its not your style of tattoo.

@semele that's really helpful - thanks. I don't have a desire to appear untatttooed and work self employed and anticipate doing so for my whole life. Being the only trade I have ! I've seen a few pharaohs horses design that come down between the breasts to the sternum and up to kind of should/collar. I'm gonna go buy me a sharpie tomorrow. Might try and persuade my ten year old to draw it for me haha - - - Updated - - - @David Flores yup I totally hear ya. It's not something I'm aiming for in the next while for sure. I was actually just talking to the guys in the shop I go to today and the verdict was I'm definitely trying to completely disassociate from my 'old self' and it's definitely time to stop and enjoy the ones I have without always healing new ones.

Yeesh. Stopping tattooing is the best after care advice. You'd have a better chance asking an actual tattooer whos tattooing you this question. And technically, it is a technical question because the lack of technique probably caused the blowout, technically speaking of course

I am totally getting my knee webbed, just decided.

I wouldn't advocate this or make it a habit cause chlorine is nasty, but I have swam in chlorinated pools twice in the last year a couple days after getting a tattoo and they both healed fine. Keep in mind both were palm sized one shot tattoos, and I could tell right away I wasn't going to have much issue. I made sure to put some aquaphor to create a barrier and wrapped with saran then put a head band over saran to keep in place. In hindsight that was complete overkill and unneccesary. In fact the spider tattoo on the IG feed was healed in less than a week. Like said before if you are a mess of scabs, best to stay out of the pool, but I have always found the sun to be more of an enemy than the water. That being said, everyone heals different and every tattoo heals different, but once you have a few tattoos, you get to know at what point your tattoo is done being vulnerable to the elements, there is nothing magic that happends two weeks after your tattoo.

Curious - what is your grudge against Spanish? As a Poli-Sci major, certainly you recognize the advantage if you intend to enter public service? (It's either that or Mandarin!) Assuming of course that you are North American.

I feel inadequate with my two languages. :( @Delicious the best way at overcoming your self-consciousness about your accent is by getting drunk! Well, maybe not best but easiest for sure!

@Graeme, languages ARE fucking cool! You need to know how to discuss tattoos with whoever, wherever!

they did a weekend pass 2 years ago but decided against it last year, it just turned out to be too much work. It's only a $10 savings and way. It could be worse, Ink N Iron is $60 per day plus a $7.50 fee and the line up for SFO blows away INI by far INI is such a 'scene' where SFO is just a bunch of dedicated tattoo collectors/nerds :D

Last Sparrow Tattoo - Newbie Guidelines

I totally had a mid grad school slump!

If you're good at language but don't like speaking, give Latin a try. No speaking, just reading and writing comprehension. Inflected languages are a challenge if you don't have any experience with them, but you'd have a leg up since you already know one Romance language. It's fun, and there are definitely uses for it, but it's not so great for say, going abroad and trying to figure out where anything is. I wish I had a couple more of those speak-y languages under my belt! I didn't have a mid-college slump, but I definitely had a mid-grad school slump. Of epic proportions. I believe there's still a seminar paper I owe someone from 2008, and every time I see that professor at a conference I give him the guilty face.

There's a lot to consider...? I kind of wish I had read through a thread like this before I got one or two of my older tattoos... LST--guiding us to better tattoos sometimes by talking about bad ones, other times looking at great ones.

We all know I'm just pretending to be tough, though I don't think I'm really fooling anyone.

Bob Roberts panther tattooed by Hiro at Spotlight Tattoo. His photo.

Terrible cell phone picture, a little red n bloody, but you get the idea. Yesterday was a blast -- ran into @Perez and an hour or so later got one knee webbed. Hopefully we can knock out the other one next week or soon.. Thanks again dude, you're the best.

I am curious why bad tattoos are so popular. I mean, I can understand that someone who knows nothing about tattoos goes to a bad artist and gets a badly done tattoo. I did that myself. What I don't understand are why tattoos lacking any creativity or art are so popular. For instance, why do people want to put typewriter text on themselves? Why do they want so much text but no images? Why do they want flowery, descriptive text but not an image of what that text is describing? This makes absolutely no sense to me. I've been as dumb as anybody regarding tattoos but one thing I've never had pop into my mind is to want words describing beautiful things rather than the beautiful things themselves. Another one are the fads like the inifinity symbols, the text on the wrist and the exploding birds thing. Back in the 90s when I first got a tattoo the fads (the fairies, the curly tribal stuff on the lower back) at least were flattering. The current fads are so ugly. I saw a girl with the exploding birds and it looked like someone had attacked her with a marking pen. The small crap on the wrist thing looks like you're trying to sneak crib notes in to the test. The straight lines of text tattoos are so unflattering to men and women alike. I just don't understand. Am I just an old fuddy-duddy complaining about the youth of today? Has there actually been a real change in the culture to prefer ugliness over color, shape, texture and art? Any ideas?

@CultExciter Those names are music to my ears, huge fans of both their work! Thank you

like empires, tits will fall. but, you still have many years before that happens and when it does, you can either get them put right back up where they were, or enjoy the fact that at least you had fun doing your chest tattoo while you were young

As a side effect of my work I've seen the fronts of many, many an aged woman and I'd have to say that you're out of luck here. Gravity will win in the end every time. Sorry.

Copy that. - - - Updated - - - Fuckin' A Right!

Ah, someting about a Lady with a full chest-piece...

We have friends who have trilingual kids, because most kids here are raised speaking English and French, and their mom is Brazilian, so they also speak Portuguese. They are amazing because most of their social circle is the same way (speaking at least English, French and a third language due to an immigrant parent or two) so they think this is the norm. When I was visiting here once while I was living in the UK, one of the kids asked me what the weather in England was like and what languages they spoke there. I said it was cold and that they spoke English. The kid exclaimed, "Oh, just like Brazil!" and I was baffled, until he explained, "They only speak one language there, too!" like it was the most curious thing in the world. <3

I've heard the same joke, but with "Un Gringo" instead of "American" as the punch line.

Not interested in having Chris extend it or perhaps reaching out to Henning now and try to get an appointment when he comes to NYC in the fall?

You take Ancient Greek, duh! Learn whatever you want to learn: another Romance language might be easiest since there'll be some overlap in structure/vocabulary, but it's really interest or usefulness that will get you through the tedious memorize-y beginning part, so that's probably more important than ease. If you're a college student you might have free access to Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone through your library too. If I'm focused on something/thinking in that language I don't get them mixed up, but if I'm trying to say, come up with one specific word, I'll have to go through the list and probably still not come up with the right one. Or if people around me are speaking something I don't understand, then I'll think in every language I know simultaneously. It'll just be babble, too, like Greek "thank you" German "eggs."

Saw this on TAM Blog, just passing it along. Richard Stell Benefit... Richard Stell Benefit | TAM Blog

Why are threads about bad tattoos so popular?

I am getting a doc Forbes panther head from Fergus Simms in a month and might even sneak a pharoahs horses piece on my shoulder by daniel octoriver but well see

Um, I love language nerdiness that just went down in this thread. As a reformed linguist, I just needed to give props to @else and @semele on this one!

You got your knee tattooed, so I guess you're a tough guy now? ;) Looks super cool!

This is getting into a lot of things... meaning vs. no meaning (personally I don't care either way but sometimes when people insist on the meanings of their tattoos it does sound cheesy to me), content (too much lettering & bird silhouette explosions vs. battle royales or skulls)... whether people like their tattoos or not being all that matter... But a bad tattoo is a bad tattoo and everybody knows it. Look at the "worst tattoo ever" thread or whatever it's called. Shaky lines, blow outs, bad proportions...those are bad tattoos. I think it's kind of pointless to make fun of the subject a person chooses to get. But, take music--put two people next to each other, one who is tone deaf and can't sing and one who can belt it out from the soul... nobody would say the two are equal. If someone wants to get a lot of text, whatever, that is up to them--I just hope they get it done by someone good. When I was getting my tiger worked on a couple weeks ago, Shawn Barber was next to us doing lettering down a guy's side. It was a LOT of lettering. He did a great job, the guy was stoked. Could I read it? I don't know, probably not, I don't think it was even in English, but in that case I do think all that matters is the guy got what he wanted. I don't think it would have been any cheaper than getting imagery though. Text tattoos seem to take just as much time and effort--they still require excellent line work. As for getting something because it's cheaper, I think that is just sad. It's your skin for crying out loud! Save up...pay as you go...it's worth it!

By Phil Hatchet Yau at Master Tattoo in San Diego, CA. What a rad dude to get tattooed by. I met Drew Linden there too, she's super chill! I thought Phil switched to a rotary at one point, but he was using lidocaine instead (which was awesome). I've met only one other tattooer that uses Bactine during tattoo sessions.

Jason Kelly at Live Free in Atlanta, GA. Nicest dudes. My girl got a sweet hour glass from Miguel O. Back of thigh is by far the worst tattoo pain I've felt. Goes right on to my ass cheek with the tongue, but Jason drew it straight on and was super fast and a true dude to the tradition of tattooing. Walked away with a cool tattoo, some prints from Miguel and a cool ass experience from all of them. Oh yea my appt got delayed because Myke chambers was getting tattooed by Jason. NBD Also, a drunk chick asked to watch me get tattooed so I said yes. She then proceeds to massage me and tries to cop a feel under my shorts all while getting tattooed. Thankfully Jason kicked her out. Fuxking weird

I'm just much more of a whore than you are, @Lance. And here's the little tattoo I got from Horimasa (at the State of Grace Convention in 2006). He lined it by machine, but shaded it tebori (by hand). Still looks great.

Welp... I haven't posted on here in forever and cant figure out how to post a proper fucking picture of this little banger from today. Tom Waits inspired tattoo from the song Lucky day. - - - Updated - - - That looks retarded.

@Badtaste & @Chelsea Shonek, I love both of your work! This is where the term "hipster" gets confusing for me. I used to think of a hipster as just a hip person...a cool person, creative, artistic, musical, whatever. The term has definitely taken a turn and these days it seems to mean: a douchebag. Anyway, the people you guys tattoo seem pretty cool to me. They get good tattoos.

Hard to get a good photo and lighting but here is a healed shot of my front, does need some touch up work on it but I am in no rush to get them done hurts to much! Artist, Tristan Bently

I agree with the comment about people being too timid and living life in fear. I quit a pretty good programming job to do this: Got the commemorative tattoo a year after I completed hiking the trail. Spent two summers hiking that trail and the months in between and right after working some interesting and unusual jobs. In fact, even though I have gotten tattoos that didn't turn out that well, I never regretted them because I have always valued living life to the fullest, just doing things that make life more interesting. Even if they don't always work out. Even if that means I've never been much of a career-oriented person.