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A relatively recent one - from Deno when he was visiting Tattoo Paradise last year. Picture borrowed from his Instagram.

I looked at some other online discussion tattoo forums for a while, and most of them were just filled with negative rude people, online discussion forums are not new to me,I have belonged to computer/home theater/audio video/canine,etc,etc,a couple for 10 years now, so thanks to all here for making this one a friendly,enjoyable,& comfortable place to hangout.

Best advice I got.

bump scorpionfront.com - - - Updated - - - also, there's this

Got this on my arm last week from Joe Ellis: Done at Lab Monkey Tattoo in Stirling, Scotland although Joe now works at Sacred Electric in Leeds.

Agreed! And the level of discourse around here is uncommonly thoughtful, I find, in addition to the general friendliness. Go LSTers ;) Go team!

Heading back to Dana on June 10th for some ass line work. It's bound to be an exquisite experience. I'm tempted to get some painkiller, but I just feel like that would be a cop out. More importantly, you'll all get to see my ass.

last week I had some blood drawn for a routine test (i'm perfectly healthy so don't anyone worry) and when the phlebotomist asked if I preferred one arm over the other I rolled up both sleeves and said "well you can either poke this hannya in the face or you can just poke this empty skin on my right arm." She then remarked that since I have tattoos I must not be worried about a simple blood draw and I agreed I wasn't worried. But in my head I was thinking "How many years experience do you have drawing blood?", "Do you have a portfolio of your previous work I can look through before I choose you as my phlebotomist?" Strange that people have asked me if I'm worried about getting infections, diseases, viruses, etc from tattoo artists that have 15+ years experience but no one is worried about the phlebotomist that might be fresh out of training with only 6 months experience.

I had to add this - This is from a Jenny Clarke flash sheet, and is supposed to be a chest panel/half sleeve design, which the artist clearly didn't understand, and copied it, very small, onto a forearm. I don't think I have ever seen a tattoo miss the point as much as this one.

I agree that there's a pretty significant difference, but for some people just the idea of needles can trigger a panic attack. a woman recently fainted at the shop where i work, not because she was getting tattooed, but because she was watching her friend get tattooed. she's lucky she didn't get a concussion falling and hitting her head on the floor! phobias are irrational, so even if it doesn't make sense to us, it could be terrifying to someone else.

Get more tattoos around it.

Strange that I never posted mine to this thread; I must have thought I already had(?) According to Steve Byrne, I was the first person to ask him for a RoA (in 2011 if you can believe that), so I guess that's my claim to fame:

Mostly Jinx Proof and Tattoo Paradise. Can't say enough good things about either shop. I've gone to the Baltimore Tattoo Museum a couple of times, too.

Couldn't agree more. I'm a type 1 diabetic on an insulin pump (essentially a little robot pancreas...it's pretty rad), so I'm pretty comfortable with needs of both the injecting medication and placing ink varieties. That said, there are new nurses at my endocrinologist's office and they are fucking horrible at drawing blood. The last three times I've been in they've either pressed the syringe right through the vein, or rolled the needle while it was in. I end up with a bruise for a few days at the site and look like I have a different sort of problem all together. I'm actually getting tattooed this Sunday after a doctors appointment on Saturday, so my hope is that they've improved so that I don't have to awkwardly explain to the tattooer that the needle mark and bruise are from an indelicate nurse, not some questionable extracurricular activities. Might be time to ask the nurses for a blood-draw portfolio.

gettig a traditional butterfly on monday

part of my back piece skull action.

Eddy Deutsche finished mine a few weeks ago. Terrible pic of the whole thing and one of the mini ROA in the book at the bottom. Four total in the piece ;)

wear a feather boa.

It is really cool. It was great finding a cool community like this that's so helpful, welcoming. There are some real dorks in other online forums...

Hate to be the guy, but the silence should be deafening.

I have been getting a lot of acupuncture lately, and my acupuncturist always asks about tattoo stuff, and those needles vs. these needles. I told her acupuncture is like, a freaking treat compared to getting tattooed. Interestingly, she was saying that she imagined the places that she finds acupuncture needle insertion hurt the most are also the places where getting tattooed sucks the most, but it doesn't seem to correspond at all. Like she says forearms are generally a rough spot (although I have not found that to be the case, with the exception of my wrists). And like, she sticks needles right into my forehead and stomach and I don't feel a thing. So all that to say: duh, different needles feel different. Also, I have a sick fascination with getting my blood drawn--its kind of cool to watch!--but last week I went for a routine blood test and they took EIGHT VIALS and it kind of freaked me out when the damn process would not end. I have no idea why. I suspect vampire nurses.

i tell people it's more like being cut. because that's what's really happening. not sure if this helps there fear at all.

stole this from sonju's injungram

Got a Garver tattoo at invisible.. will put it in the contest for next month..

Chris Garver at Invisible NYC

My wife picked this out for me last night. Done by Jason at Taylor Street. Good times were had.

Go this sunday from the Awesome and generally super cool Beaux Brady on sunday to go with my other hand he did.

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

4th session with Filip :cool:

Definitely. I moved here from a different tattoo forum, it's miles better in every single way. The fact that rude and insulting people aren't tolerated here means everyone is well behaved and polite on the whole - which is refreshing for the internet!

Yep, lines will spread and small details will end up bleeding together. There's a great new instagram account called vintage_tattoos run by Steven Wrigley, a tattooer from Glasgow, and it's worth looking at if only to get a better idea of how tattoos are going to age and look 30, 40, 50 or more years down the line. I think you'd be far better off breaking the design up into different elements and getting a geisha girl as one tattoo, a koi as another, but that's a discussion you should be having with your artist.

I hate hate hate getting blood taken. I hate needles. That being said, I have pierced myself, and get tattooed regularly. The biggest problem with getting blood drawn for me at least is my veins damn near don't exist. They always have to draw from the hand but they always still try to get it out of each arm.

Awesome, Deno's tattoos all have that certain something to them.

not an idea for you,this is just what I have. my mom got sick with cancer in November of 1994,she passed away in January 95,you can see the date,I got the heart/banner/MOM while she was still alive so she saw it,then I added the RIP & date of course after she passed away,it took her fast. :( it's very old & very traditional ,my arm tattoos aren't "world class",but their mine and I like 'em.

Haha, thank you! It was really fun. I had her practice the design on pigs feet for a few hours to get a sense of how a machine runs and feels. It took about half an hour, she was really proud of herself and I could tell she enjoyed the experience a lot.

Dammit, I'm still trying to figure out why I awoke with a black eye and a broken pinky the day after I joined up.

Stu at Progression Tattoo finished my Medusa last night, I'm really stoked with it!

Had a DAMN good time with the Stells and the folks who showed up at Pair o Dice to wish Richard a Happy Birthday and shop opening. That shop is going to push out some killer tattoos.

I'd planned to start working on ideas to connect my arms across my back and then be done for a while and now after looking at pics in the gallery and shop websites I'm trying to think of something to go around my ankles, around the other stuff I have there. Bad influences, the lot 'a'ya.

Ok, I dont know if you all remember my thread, Fat people and tattoos, but ever since I have gotten more tattoos, I feel better about my body. No, it doesnt negate the fact that I am obese, but at least I have something on my body that makes me feel positive, instead of making myself feel like there is nothing good about me. Plus, people love my tattoos. gives me a little self confidence boost on the days I am especially hard on myself about my looks

Thank you for the link, I love Thai tattoos, and the whole culture, I want to go on a trip there one day, it's on my list of things to do!

here's a preview of my back from Björn Liebner at Red Chapel Tattoo in berlin.

Delicious, I can only say the same to you as I said to someone else. Get what you want. If someon else doesn't like it, tell them to sod off. If your family has superstitions based on the belief of the cult they beling to, THEY are the ones that need to deal, not you. .02

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.

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

Joel Long. That man is fast on the hills of Trevino, but no one ever talks about him.

Just my little 2 cents... I'm 57, put my first tattoo on myself when I was 12. For me, every piece has had a meaning, whether it was jailhouse hand-needle, or sitting for one of the greats. I never went for coverage, and some of the pieces I got along the way are fairly pedestrian...for someone else! What I mean is, I do have a few pieces of flash from the wall at the original location of Chicago Tattooing Co., but even the panther head cover-up on my wrist has a special meaning for me...the roses I got when I was engaged to my first wife, the dragon and dagger I got during a particularly iffy stretch of running and gunning, they all meant something TO ME, even if they were "just" flash off the wall. Other pieces I got with varying deegrees of thought, but always for a reason...mostly cover-ups of jailhouse work, but always with a meaning to me. The demons head on my left forearm is a cross between a standard Japanese demon that was pretty common in the '70's and the album cover of King Crimson's "In the Court of the Crimson King". The cloud dragon on my upper left arm is another cover-up, lots of black, and pieces of a dragon from flash, along with a LOT of hand-drawn stuff from Dale Grande. When I did finally, about 6 years ago, decide to finish up my right arm, it was with designs that I researched and picked for their relationship to me ancestors. The Runes tell the story of my lifes journey, the knotwork shows the complexity of life, the world-serpent is there, and Wotan supervises it all. To tie all that together with the work I already had took, if I recall, 5 sittings of 5 or 6 hours each. Thing I'm getting at is I can't even come close to understanding someone who would go out and toss a few grand on the table and say "sleeve me up" to an artist. It's kool, if that's your gig, that's your gig, but for myself, I want to be able to look at every inch of inked skin and remember... That said, yeah, I have plans for more, but money, don'cha know!!! 6 kids...it really cuts into your ink budget! I have a full backpiece planned, and some other, smaller pieces for my chest, then who knows, maybe someday I'll get ambitious and have Nick take a look at that left arm, see what else could be had there. As far as keeping fit, well, it doesn't cost anything! I still teach and work out at least 3 days a week. Can't lift as much as I used to, a long life of martial arts and motorsickles has seen to the arthritis thing being there, but I can still get in a ring with the youngsters and hold my own. Give it a try-nothing like the martial arts to keep you going! .02