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Beautiful. Don't forget to add the part about "setting" the new tattoo immediately after removing the plastic wrap. To set your new tattoo, simply have a friend or acquaintance open their hand, place it over the tattoo, raise the hand in line with their shoulder, and, rotating at the elbow, bring down hand with as much force as possible onto the new tattoo. This will ensure that your tattoo will be permanent. It may take as many as three times.

I've wanted a tattoo for years, but never thought I had a good enough "reason". Well, I finally have that reason. All my life I have been extremely overweight. I'm talking 5ft 8in and weighed 330lbs. My wife and I had our first son, and when he was 1.5 years old we were talking about having a second baby. It finally sunk in that if I didn't do something I was going to have a heart attack/die and wouldn't be around to take care of my wife and kids. So with the support of my wife, I went on a diet. From July 31, 2011 to July 31, 2012 I went from 327.8 lbs to 206lbs. Over the last year I've kept the weight off, and I finally decided I had my "reason" to get a tattoo. After doing months of research, I decided Kore Flatmo was the person I wanted to tattoo me. I went through his consultation process and I have been put on the schedule Aug 16 and 17. I decided if I do this, I'm doing it right and doing it big. I'm jumping in with a full black/gray chest piece. I gave Kore a couple ideas I would like in the tattoo, but left the rest up to him. I haven't seen his completed study yet, but this is what he was thinking. One side of my chest will be a skull draped in linen. The other side will be two sparrows interacting with each other. Then right in the middle will be a portrait of my wife's eyes. He said he'd use the gray scale to show depth and make it appear like the eyes are in the background and the sparrows are the first thing your eyes see. Sorry for the long winded post, I'm just excited to get this going, and see what Kore comes up with. After talking to him, I know he's the right man for the job. I'll post pictures once I get started.

Yesterday was a good day. Got some sweet filler tattoos from Alex Wild

Just returned from Scotland. Here's what I got on Tuesday from Joe Ellis (his IG pic):

My daughter and I made a secret surprise karaoke youtube video of "Solid" by Ashford and Simpson to post on @DJDeepFried 's facebook page for our 6th wedding anniversary. We had a very small window of opportunity when he left for meditation class Wednesday evening and surprised him with it today! I got my kindergarten students to paint backdrops for it, and I made a beard and mustache attached to a tongue depressor to put up to my face for the Ashford parts. Stella was amazing at keeping a secret for a 5 year old... DJ knew there was a secret but she didn't say what it was. She kept dancing around him and winking at me Wednesday before he left... haha. It was fun.

I agree @else, guys with tattoos are definitely hotter than plainskins. Dh was a already a good lookin' guy BT (before tattoos), but now...

Got questions about your tattoo with regards to aftercare or possible issues? If so, this is the thread for you! Questions surrounding your new tattoo are common, and we have covered several questions you might have. Think of this thread as your one-stop-shop for all the questions you're dying to ask. In other words, before you start a thread, please read the following. These topics have come up several times in the past, and this will probably answer any questions you might have. FAQ Q: Is my tattoo infected? A: While tattoo infections are fairly rare, strangers on the internet are not the people to ask. If you're wondering if it is infected, it would be best to ask the tattooer who applied the tattoo. They have all types of knowledge about the various stages of a healing tattoo and would be glad to help you. You are their customer. If it looks really terrible or is very painful, consult a physician. Q: What is the best aftercare for my new tattoo? A: There are a variety of effective aftercare methods. There is no "one size fits all" approach, but there are some good guidelines that have been discussed in previous threads here on LST. The best person to get aftercare advice from is from the artist who did the tattoo. (Are you starting to see a pattern here?) Q: Can I go swimming (or engage in other activities) with my new tattoo? A: While everyone has their own opinion about this topic, the way to think about it is this: you have a large, fresh wound that you really, really want to take very good care of. (Hell, you paid for it!) It would be in your best interest to keep it free from water, sweat or contact with not-so-clean areas (like gym equipment). Q: Is my tattoo healed yet? How long does it take to heal? A: This comes back to what was said before: everyone's body reacts differently. There is no "one size fits all" description for what a healing tattoo looks like or how long it takes. Even on the same person, the area of the body can effect how long it takes to heal. For example, tattoos on the lower leg often take longer to heal than tattoos on the upper arm, but even this varies from person to person. That being said, there are some loose guidelines to follow to understand how the healing process is going. Generally, it goes like this: after leaving the shop, your tattoo might be swollen, red, and oozing plasma/lymph/ink. After this phase, you'll transition into the peeling/scabbing phase. The area can become very itchy and it might look like you have sunburn on your tattoo. After this, the tattoo can look faded or glazed over. It may even have a "waxy" look to it. This is normal. Eventually, the tattoo will settle and look pretty good. The length of time from "fresh" to "looking good" can take anywhere from two weeks to a few months. Again, this depends on several factors, including diet, lifestyle, area of application, and too many others to list here. Q: Can I and/or should I put sunscreen on my tattoo? A: After a few days, it should be OK to put sunscreen on your tattoo. During the healing period, you should really try your hardest to keep it covered and out of the sun. Afterward, try and apply high SPF sunscreen to your tattoo as sun can quickly fade the original image. Q: Am I having an allergic reaction to the ink? A: If you have any allergies, it would be in your interest before you get tattooed to tell your artist. Having said that, most people are not going to have a reaction. As I've seen here on LST and in my travels, people sometimes attribute a rough session/swelling on their first or second tattoo with an allergic reaction. Repeat: when in doubt, see your tattoo artist or your doctor. Helpful Links http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/558-tattoo-outline-raised.html http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/32-best-post-tattoo-care.html http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/2567-beach-pools.html http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/1022-itchy-tattoo.html http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/4262-does-your-skin-break-out-after-being-tattooed.html http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/2887-tattoo-scars.html http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/tattoo-after-care/715-little-bumps-under-6month-old-tattoo.html If anyone has suggestions to be added to this thread please feel free to either PM me or tag me in a post and I will add it. Edited by @hogg

Displayed method especially effective for those who get the ever-popular, "new boyfriend's name on your face in giant font" tattoo. "

Wash your fresh foot tattoo in the toilet. It's the perfect hight and the flushed water is guaranteed to be clean. Also if your fresh tattoo is a bit tacky a sunlamp will dry it out real nice. About 4 hours should be enough.

This backpiece by Marius Meyer is on a guy from this forum. Amazing piece!

@else @CultExciter brb...getting bars....

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the support. Life is kind of crazy, a couple years ago I hated running. Now I'm waiting to see if I get picked in the drawing to run in the NYC marathon. We'll find out what happens in about a week. I said in my introduction thread that I think I might be a little crazy. I haven't even got this tattoo started and I spent a few hours today dreaming about and looking at ideas for a tibetan skull back piece.

Had to go out of town for a bit found this in the bush got the peeps to Kauai and lots of lounging good reset now time to help some friends pick up the pieces from the tornado

To me, the difference between a collector and the average client is that the collector does their research... They have plans for what they want and where, and when they plan a vacation they probably visit a shop or two if funds allow. I like the term, personally; I'm actually surprised so many don't. I guess I just never considered that people might find it a snooty term. Someone mentioned an artist feeling pressured/nervous tattooing near existing top notch work... The other week I did a tattoo on a talented tattooer (already stressful!) about six inches above a full lower leg piece by Rubendall. I was simultaneously stoked and sweating like crazy. And damn, that Rubendall piece looked PERFECT... Absolutely stunning. I felt privileged just to get to see it!

I would like to add this very fresh skin decal by Greg Christian. My thigh never looked better, STOKED! The pic is from his instagram page.

I have tattoos on both arms ,my neck,and both legs from the knee down, I can control the pain factor pretty well like most of you I'm sure, my problem/question is this,on my legs,especially lower on my legs when getting work done,I get these involuntary jerks of my leg, it's not pain,it's like when the needles hit the right spot my leg jerks, I feel terrible for my tattooer,I have a real hard time stopping it,if I press my leg down and curl my toes it helps a little,but WTF ? it never happens on my arms or neck.

My wife's dad hates my tattoo's because instead of 1 big "nice" sleeve he'd feel is "cool" or even "classy" (pardon my quotes) I have a bunch of random ass kinda trashy tattoos patched all over. She digs it that way though, me too. I'll always like that trashy kinda punk-tattoos-all-over look. I'm glad she finally started getting some. It make me think the person is more of a fun spontaneous thinker vs. an over-thinking planner, which I actually am so I guess my way of venting some spontaneity is via tattoos.

I think for me tattoos are part of a larger thing that changed my life...not caring what people think. I was a really nerdy kid -- like cartoonishly so. To a great extent I still am it's just less evident at a glance. You have to wait til I open my mouth. I was a bullied, targeted kid with more heavy problems than I care to share. I did not fit in...anywhere...but something happened when I was young. Punk rock. Changed everything. I was never going to be a part of the group. I was never going to be accepted or acceptable and more than that, I didn't care to be. If you're going to keep me on the outside, fine. Now I have no reason not to just go about the business of being true to myself. There's something liberating about removing yourself from the struggle to be accepted...outwardly sending the message: I don't need you to be ok with who I am. Flash forward to today and my tattoos are just one way that same mindset shows through. I know tattoos are going to keep me out of certain social circles...and they're the ones I don't want any part of. It's less about defiance and more about a disregard for convention. That's not why I get tattooed really. I get tattoos for their own reasons or none at all...but there is a reason I have "Outsider" tattooed across my chest and "Stay True" on my knuckles.

Tell you what. I'll get some mini ones just for you. ....and everyone who would kill me if they knew I don't have any.

@else, the bars will automatically make me drop my pants.

you got any black flag bars @Brock Varty ??? ;) I'm a sucker for the bars!!! (again, y'all can thank "punk rock Chris"!!)

If proper setting can't be obtained by the common "Hand Power" method, there are a number of other methods to try. 1. Have a friend hit you with a 2"x4" piece of wood until said wood breaks in half. 2. Have a friend hire Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick the new tattoo. 3. Have a friend find other friends to form an assembly line of slaps. 4. Run as fast as you can into a sturdy brick wall(being sure the tattoo makes contact with said sturdy brick wall). 5. Build a trebuchet at least 37 feet tall. Load one end with a VW Beattle and the other with a large rock. Practice until you know where the rock lands when trebuchet is activated. Stand in that spot. 6. Call me for further instruction.

I just got back yesterday from a week at PluraBella. Worked on my back and a good friends back. I have about 20 hours into mine...i'll get some current pictures soon.

I think to some degree you have a point. At some point you probably would come across the "you don't love me more than tattoos" argument. I will try to say this without sounding like a chauvinist pig, but the problem I find is most of the girls I find that are truly are into tattoos are tattooers are tattoo collecters and they are so few of them, there are plenty of girls who have tons of tattoos, but they are either groupies who only date tattooers (Nothing like a STD from your competition) or part of a scene or they just have tattoos and maybe aren't that into hanging in shops or studying tattooing. I guess my point is I think if you find someone who can understand your passion and maybe has one of thier own, even if that passion isn't tattooing it could work out just as well.

2 awesome things! First, I managed to re-pack all my belongings right where they go, right where everything fits... see! Everything I've had with me for the past 3 months *still* fits into the containers it came with me in!! AND!! Nailing down the details for a contract in Klamath Falls Oregon to start in the late summer/fall!!! Hooray!! Back to the PNW!!

I had never heard the term before tattooers used it in regards to me. That's why I don't find it offensive.

It could be worse... ...people could be called a "Canvas" ;-)

tattood by me (mike harris) at churchyard tattoo studio in hitchin, hertfordshire englad

besides getting tattooed, which is also awesome but that's for a different thread. Just got back from a guest-spot at Godspeed Tattoo in Breckenridge Colorado, where everybody are the friendliest tatbros. Did a early morning/sunrise canoe trip on a mountainside lake, skated at several different skateparks, several mountain trail bike rides, camped out for a few days way high in the mountains with good friends P Wee, Miho, and Joel Long, did some 4 wheeling in a jeep in same area, and had a campfire drawing session with P Wee & Joel. Can't wait to go back.

I have a couple silhouette tattoos... my two old ones... planning to cover them with something *much better* one of these days, but I do still kinda love them. They for sure represent a specific time in my life... (and I want to see pictures too!! where's the bars?????)

Fuck yeah, dude!! Nice job. @kalknis that Higgs mummy pops up more and more each year, I swear. Dig that tree stump, too! - - - Updated - - - From Kore or from someone else? Saw one Dana Helmuth did five or six years ago that always stuck with me.

I really don't refer to myself as anything but I guess I do collect tattoos intentionally from different artists that I like so technically, I guess I could be called a collector. The term doesn't offend me, what else are you supposed to call it?

That will vary between tattooer and shops. Some charge a drawing fee and others don't. Often a drawing fee is a way of keeping them from wasting time on a drawing and then having the client bail out. Edit: I saw you were thinking about a tree. Trees are really cool and work well as tattoos in most cases. I wanted to give you a heads up, that depending on the style of tree, some tattooers may prefer to draw it on your skin so that it fits the form of your body properly. Be open to that idea.

@Brock Varty I think you meant Woodchuck Norris...

yeah... but in my mind, men without tattoos just aren't as *hot* as men with!!! They don't even have to be good tattoos (although good is better!!) I just don't find plainskin men as sexy. (blame it on my very first boyfriend "punk rock Chris" LOL!!)

Is that first pic what I think it is, @Scott R? You gonna get sleeved out now? :) Also, look at those top abs pokin' out!

The tattoo is bad enough, but reading the replies on Facebook made my soul hurt.

Birds and roses are pretty, sure, but why should we have to limit ourselves to stuff that's "pretty"??

When Grez told me I had a nice collection started, I was like "hell ya!" I never gave much thought to the term, but the fact that he liked the tattoos I was getting I figured I must be doing something right. It's nice to have great tattooers appreciate your involvement in the culture. I think being called a "collector" kind of brings us more into the fold.

Idk, all the shops where I live will ask you how much you have to spend. So that they can work accordingly. They only have a shop minimum, not a price per hour. For example, I went and got my most recent tattoo, brought x bucks of bday money with me. They asked what I wanted, where, and how much I had to spend. I told them. I expected a small tattoo, because x bucks isnt shit. They gave me a very large tattoo, because they really wanted to do it. But, i wouldnt go in there and ask for a large tattoo, only having certain amount of bucks. I wanted something small, that would fall within the budget I had. They went above and beyond. The exception, not the rule. It's totally douchey to ask for something big and amazing when you have no money. I went in there expecting a palm sized tattoo, now I have one that takes up half of my calf. Btw, I totally swapped all prices paid with an X. as to avoid talking about price directly.

this^ In my mind, a "collector" is someone who is serious about what they get and who they let do it. And as far as I have perceived regarding the artist's perspective on the term, when I've been in a shop and showing my previous work - when one artist said the word "collector", two other artists stopped what they were doing to come over and see. They were genuinely interested.

I don't mind the term at all, it only gets douchey when you act like a douche about it, as if having tattoos from only big name artists makes you better than other people, or means you know more than them. I collect tattoos, from people I've worked with, some big names and other artists who are just starting out.

Another aspect that has not been discussed. The eyes are drawn to a person's tattoos. It's just natural. If you don't mind the "boobs first, then face" greetings you will undoubtedly receive....

I just wanted to quote this and thank David for posting it. It's a great example of what I love about LST: it's not preachy or condescending, but it is sound, thoughtful advice. Thanks for posting it.

I've heard this same sentiment echoed many times, especially by women. I started getting tattooed the minute (ok, a month or so later) after I turned 18.. without getting too sentimental, I think that in a way it did help me figure myself out, even if for the first four or five, I didn't really know what I was getting in to. I've never had to grapple with any body issues but internally.. it seemed to level me out a bit, if that makes sense. Glad your changing skin is literally changing your life!

I found this photo the other week, but forgot to put the artists name etc on the file before I saved it so if anyone knows so I can give credit please feel free to give the heads up! I should also add it's most likely NSFW, but it does show that with some good placement, a young lady could easily get a bad ass Pharaoh's Horses ;) - - - Updated - - - While I'm here... This was done recently by Dan Bursell at Westside Tattoo - Brisbane, QLD - Spa, Beauty & Personal Care | Facebook This was the kids second tattoo. Doing it right and winning at life.

Rassier: Robson: Preheim:

I seriously covet this women's chest piece, by Michael Bennett.

I stay pretty busy trying to make sure that my five year old daughter, and two year old son don't grow up to be assholes. It is not glamorous but I like it.