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I went to Chicago (first time!) for a very short work trip. However, I did manage to squeeze in an appointment with Nick Colella: He wedged my wife's name into a little spot below my left knee ditch and right under a girl head I got that looks just like her. I didn't tell her I was going to do it; when I got home last night, I said, "My leg hurts. Can you look at it for me?" Fortunately, she loves it as much as I do. Nick was awesome. He did the whole thing in about 15 minutes, then I hung out and soaked in his beautiful shop for a while. Nick, Erik, Frank, and Matt were all super gracious and chatted with me for a long time. I can't recommend Great Lakes Tattoo highly enough. And they take walk-ins all day!

Uploaded some photos to my gallery...now let's see if I can get 'em here? For whatever reason, we started this kind of piecemeal and have worked our way both up my back and down my thigh. It has worked out very well for both of us. We are adding some snakes at the convention! Some big ass snakes! Started with the big, orange peony, added another spray of peonies next sitting, added a pair of karajishi the next two sessions, and a smattering of clouds and rocks throughout. And, of course, more peonies. We only connected the back and the bottom stuff at the last session! Sorry for all the butt and uncropped instagram images. I cropped them but failed somewhere because they are still instagramy screenshots.

Finished this babe last week. All I got was a crappy cellphone pic before it was mailed off.

Yesterday my wife had her 4th session on her backpiece, and the background brought it to life and we are so stoked I just had to share it with you all :-) The piece is made by Bonel from Corazon Santo in The Netherlands, which also did both of my sleeves and chest pieces :)

messing with ink & charcoal lately.

One time I was tattooing this girl's ankle and she meowed her way through the whole tattoo as her 'pain management.' It was a trial.

Honestly I couldn't care less about tattooing's PR. I wouldn't blame some dude saying tattoos give you cancer for 20 bucks just to keep the suckers fool enough to believe it out of this already (debatably) over-inflated industry/community. Maybe that's only because I wasn't around when things were 'worse' and mothers hid their children from tattoos. I'm no authority on whats best but thats my two cents. Also journalists are bloodsuckers. There is no integrity. But journalism is the only industry that self-regulates. If this gets out I can almost guarantee that it would get a retraction, or some other publication eager to throw this asshat under the bus (less competition is never a bad thing), flack against the organization claiming it, and in a best case scenario the medical community fighting back. I can't imagine, in a world where everything gives you cancer, that the medical community would be okay with some dumbass crying wolf with this shit.

I found out today... I am going to be an aunt as of late april or early may. Very very close to my 21st bday when i will meet my neice or nephew

I haven't really posted anything here...y'all who follow me on Instagram usually see my drawings or my cat. My mentor asked me to paint him something he could hang in his station...no pressure right? I came up with this.

Ashley Love at New York Adorned gave me this badass mermaid and anchor this afternoon at New York Adorned. I would see her again in a second for any traditional work I was looking for. Love her line work and her tattoo demeanor. Seek her out if you're in NYC and want quality traditional work, or phenomenal chubby girls - her chubby girls rock the house!! - - - Updated - - - Ashley Love at New York Adorned gave me this badass mermaid and anchor this afternoon at New York Adorned. I would see her again in a second for any traditional work I was looking for. Love her line work and her tattoo demeanor. Seek her out if you're in NYC and want quality traditional work, or phenomenal chubby girls - her chubby girls rock the house!!

whoa! just smoked tooo much afgahni hash....whilst being pretty drunk....this might be interresting...better watch story of ricky...yes.

cats are jerks :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2vfq-KTx8Q

I don't mind people staring at my tattoos sometimes I catch myself staring at theirs. I am a father of 2 severely disabled children so it's a different matter when we are out and they get stared at , dependent on mood , but most of the time if people are staring at them, i'm usually straight up in their grill (as you say in America :D) asking them what the fuck they are staring at.

I'm actually so narcissistic and passionate about tattoos, that I take every stare for envy, admiration or blatant sexual desire.

Skull and Peony on the inner side of my elbow by Chris O'Donnell. Future appointment to add leaves, water, wind bars, etc. to tie it into my existing half sleeve.

Made a new one. Sorry about the bad photo.

I'm new LST. Totally enjoying the interviews. My first tattoo was by Greg Kulz in 1990 & my last tattoo was by Juan Puente last month.

I have Swans.carcass.melvins.neurosis tattoos. I'm general the older I get the less I like band related tattoos. Even tho i still love the bands music

Throwing in the towel at the end of a long session on an area like the back, ribs, front is one thing... 'Backing out' while you're early into a piece is another proposition. 'Backing out' is marginally better than not showing up at all, but only in the sense that at least the tattooist has a chance of being partially paid for the wasted time and effort. Let's not normalise or excuse behaviour which leaves people with half finished work and screws up bookings and a studio's working day. If you aren't sure you can finish what you start, then holy Christ... don't get in the chair.... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

@Mark Bee @Gregor Thanks guys! Iain is such a rad tattooer and person. Even besides the art he is very inspirational. Anyone who has a chance should get at least one piece from him. He's coming to the scottish convention ;) edit: to early for spelling

@ironchef, But your cat is so awesome (judging by Instagram, haha)! My wife loves Rubendall's work, so I tried to her your back. She ended up distracted by cat pictures.

@9Years Before I started my backpeice I talked with my tattooer about what would go best with what I had already. Had a few ideas about what I would want and he said all of them would fit relatively well and wouldn't say one is better then the other. He told me to think it over and which one I wanted. I settled on Monju bosatsu, cause it would work with the space I had available. While the other tattoos would look fine, they would look best when done down to the mid leg area, and I only had till the end of my butt. So it was just talking it out with my tattooer and having a few ideas in my head. I just wish I would have started my backpeice first. Which in japanese tattoos is the normal approach, back, arms, chest, ribs, legs.

I have really been digging on Adam Guy Hays' tigers.

Here's a nice video I found on John entwistle , a tattooer from Melbourne who started in the late sixties and is still tattooing today. Hope you enjoy. Johnny Dollar | Read It And Weep

Is that on Saturday? If so, I'll say hi!

Remember to snap a group photo you guys!

uggghhh, you guys are killing it

I'll take one. Also- my wife's mom, upon hearing we planned to get some new tattoos, commented that she would regret it when she was 80. Hell, if I make it to 80 I will be pretty damn happy. People need some new material.

This isn't an insect, but it does fall into the tiny tattoos that make me happy every time I see them category: A tiny baphomet by Seth Wood, done a little over a year ago. He did a Necronomicon on me previously and I saw him after it was finished and he said he wasn't satisfied with the tattoo because the pages in the book were blank and he wanted to put some illustrations in them. I suggested a twenty-sided die and he did the rest, including that little baphomet that he drew on with a sharpie...I didn't even know what it was going to be until it was there. It makes me happy because it's this kind of secret tattoo that not many people know about. It's one of my favorites and I'd love to get more little things like this.

When I was getting my first tattoo, for months beforehand, I wanted to get a phrase taken from a John Cheever quote -- "write to make sense of life" (full quote: "The need to write comes from the need to make sense of one's life and discover one's usefulness.") -- AND I wanted to get in Latin. This was only six years ago, but I don't even remember what my reasoning was for the whole Latin thing. Anyway, after stressing over the correct spelling for the Latin (seriously. wut.), font options for the script, etc., I finally decided the reason I was dallying on actually getting the tattoo was because I didn't really want to get words written on me. I wanted an image. I wanted something that would look beautiful. I wanted art. So I found the ibis, the bird that represents the Egyptian deity Thoth, who served as scribe to the gods. As soon as I stumbled upon it, I knew it would be the image I got tattooed on me. It held the meaning I wanted, that was important to me, but it was also a beautiful image of a lovely bird (my ibis is in flight). Now that I have three more tattoos, I feel confident saying I don't think I'll ever put text on my body. I think script can look really great incorporated into certain designs, but what I personally like about tattoos is that they are mobile art that I get to carry with me everywhere I go. It's a bit ironic given how much I clearly value the written word, but hey, a time and place for everything, right? :) Side benefit -- there's more ambiguity with pictures. They feel more personal to me. I know what my ibis means, and if someone who sees it asks me about it, I can tell them. For everyone else who doesn't ask, they'll just see a pretty bird in flight. And that's cool, too. Anyway, good luck with your tattoo -- I hope you get exactly what you want.

@mmikaoj goddamnit, your collection fucking rules. way to do it right, hahaha also @BrianH oh my god, that PINK

Should we start a new hashtag? #lastsparrowcats ??

I live and work in China and got my first tattoo here this summer. Although more popular with younger generations, in China tattoos carry a much stronger stigma than in the west and are associated with prisons, crime and lack of education, in a much more narrow view than in other countries/cultures. I started a full sleeve and and the general response of my Chinese colleagues in the office (I'm Caucasian) was one of total silence, except for two younger girls, who asked if it hurt and said it was cool. Old ladies in the bus are scared of me now. Man I'm such a badass.

you must feed the tattoo photo gods or your firstborn gets eaten!!! (p.s. congratulations! and welcome to the horde :) )

They do this every few years. Army, police depts., etc.. This will change once we need more recruits again.

Finally got a new laptop, so guess who can finally start being a part of the forum again?! It's nice to actually have a computer again

Still not gettin my cock done no matter how deformed and unsightly it is :)

Great, now Freddy is stuck in my head singing, "I want it all"... Well done sir.

Hey fellas, hope you don't mind me entering since I'm new :O Tattoo done by Nathan Herbert out of Austin, TX

One I finished last night.

Old tattoos are way cooler than liver spots and varicose veins is my usual response to that question.

Heres mine by Kevin Marr. We're not done yet and probably wont ever be but we are havin a fun time getting there.

Here are all the photos printed in George Burchett's posthumously published book, Memoirs of a Tattooist. The book has been out of print for a long time--my copy was published in 1958 and there was an American paperback version published in, I think, 1961, and there have been no reprints of it to my knowledge--and it's very possibly even in the public domain at this point which is why I'm posting it. Admins, if this isn't okay please feel free to delete this post because while I think this is worth sharing, I don't want to step on anybody's toes here. Apologies for glare, shadows, etc.

Hold it. Are you trying to tell me that you don't want to hear about how their faded tribal koi fish riding a unicorn the size of a dime on their shoulder blade reminds them of the frog that ran away when they were three years old????? You probably don't want to hear about their plans to get "tatted up" with a full body suit that they are planning to get done by the guy that does their brother-in-laws next door neighbor's scratching in his basement weekends when he's out of prison on work release. What kind of heartless person are you? :-)

The Bible does say you should not mark your skin. Next time tell them it also says "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned," "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." and "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?" These hypocrites only read the part of the bible that allows them to be judgmental blowhards. As to the stares, I'm 6'2" 195 with hair halfway down my back. I stare back :-)

Probably on one of the Spice Girls. ...yeah.