Leaderboard

Same site has a bunch of other rad sweaters

i entered the top part last month now i am entering the bottom part. done by jeff gogue. sorry for the blurry pic and this pic was taken the day after so it wasnt "fresh"

Here is my back-piece from @Stewart Robson Started - 11/25/2011 Completed - 11/24/2013 The tattoo has 78 hours in total.

Holy shit the never ending stream of tattoos continue. Mind boggling. And to think I was even gonna attempt to enter one of mine. Keep em coming!

Funny thing is one time I was at a public function couple of years ago and there in my official government capacity. Think town hall style type of meeting. Most times these things are pretty civil with people inquiring about quality of life issues and who is responsible for such and such. This go around I get the luck of the draw and it's a tow truck driver (a business type which my agency regulates and oversees) and he's laying into me saying how terrible we are and I'm sitting up there all high and mighty and looking down on him cause he's an average working joe with tattoos on his arm. I told him he was wrong and we treat everyone fairly and he was mistaken if I'm judging him on his appearance. He continues to rant and said he noticed me sneering at him when he first walked into the meeting and gawking. I tell him if I was staring, it was probably more in admiration of the artwork on his arms and I basically tell him he is unfairly judging me based on my professional appearance to which I take off my suit jacket and role up one of my sleeves to expose my 3/4 sleeve. Couple of people in the audience laugh, some applauded. He catches me at the end of the meeting and apologizes for pre-judging me and states he's just frustrated with the regulations thats putting a strain on his business. I give him my card and tell him to call/email me so we can discuss his concerns further.

I got this from Chad Koeplinger earlier this year. I love it, and I want to share it with you:

Saw this on FB today.. Kick ass piece and awesome to see it getting recognition!!

Ha! Shredders is where my buddy/coworker scored a rad black metal snowman/burning church sweater. @cltattooing, now you know.

I was actually going to put an order in for one of these a few weeks back. I love that damn thing.

Krampus rules. Here's a cool Krampus tattoo by Steve Byrne:

Thanks mate, interseting stuff. I also really like the small tattoo under the sleeve. My tattooist told me about this tradition, not many people are aware of it so it is quite rarely seen especially by western artists. Here is mine Now I am considering these type of roasary/beads.

Hey guys, here is a link to the Catclaw Blog that shows the progress over the first two days if anyone is interested ２日続ã‘ã¦ï½œCATCLAW TATTOO-Z I'll wait until I get home and see if they have posted the final pick and I'll put it up :) After some sight seeing today I feel like a grandpa but I think I need a nap lol. I fly out tomorrow and should be hitting it, but I am buggered!

I sat in the chair for 4 hours last nite having an old fu-dog freshened up. My forearm is still swollen and bruised up here and there. I have the 2nd appointment for early 2014 to finish the whole forearm. Rob

First time posting hopefully I uploaded the image correctly. Finished this little guy in the summer.

Enjoy! Japanese Tattoos: From Yakuza to Artisans, Aesthetes - Scene Asia - WSJ Don't miss the links on the gallery and also I think the book is being released this month!

Its also on their IG feed.

Yes sir! Recognized it instantly!! That's fucking kick ass man!Lol you have arrived!

Oh shit!

My understanding of the shutdown in NYC from reading what has been said by a few tattooers that were tattooing back then is that it was due to to there being an outbreak of hep in the navy (nationwide according to Jerry) that the navy passed the buck on to tattooing across the nation. NYC tried to get the tattooers there to get together to come up with a set of reasonable health regulations, but since there was so much in-fighting and territorialism between tattooers there, that they wouldn't come together so the city just shut it all down. I believe it was both Crazy Eddie and Stan M that were quoted as saying that. Tattooing was regulated or shut down in many places across the country at the same time, which tends to support Jerry's story. Anyway, this guy in the article is a turd regardless, and is doing a dis-service to not only our trade, but to his "friends" as well.

A few more. Really considering having this done around my wrists, but can't decide if it would look right with what I already have.

Same artist. I've got four fairly large pieces from her so far and now she's working on my back right now. It's very important for me to feel comfortable with the person and we definitely have this kind connection.

When you really get off the beaten-path in the US, you either see people with bad tattoos or no tattoos. So anyone with good artwork on them stands out. My son went to an upstate NY school for a while. There were 2 tattoo shops in the town and we stopped in. Man... they were turning out some awful work, but they were busy all the time. Rob

Incense and green soap take me way back. Now they don't use the same type of green soap and the smell isn't nearly as strong. - - - Updated - - - My a-hole brother and his dipshit wife are in town and popped in on short notice earlier today. I have a very fresh tattoo on my forearm and the outline has some red around it in a few places. It happened seconds after the lines were done and the artist said it is bruising. It has gotten much better since Wednesday. So the dipshit sister in law is (was.. currently disabled) a nurse and starts telling me my tattoo is infected. I say no, she says yes. We go back and forth and I question her knowledge of nursing and tell her I do not normally discuss tattoos with those who are without them. This shuts her up somewhat and I ask her how long it takes for an infection to be visible. She goes into some clinical rant and I get her to agree it would take at least 12 hours to a full day. Then I tell her how they showed up. She had very little to say and her and my brother made an exit shortly after that. Rob

I used to see this guy years ago in unemployment. He had a big panther head on his cheek, real old school style. This was in 1980. Small wonder he was in unemployment all the time! Rob

Austria (and other places) have big Krampus parades with unbelievable costumes.. check the google image search: krampus parade - Google Search

Oh shit, those are cool. Might have to start a painting!

Living in austria puts me smack down in Krampus territory. In the bakery/cafe where I work we've sold hundreds of krampus cakes, chocolate thingies and whatnots. Some of the cakes were creepy as fuck and for some reason the little kids love them. They would make for good tattoos tho!

@TaeTae There's a cool one in Mike Rubendall's portfolio page 4 http://www.kingsavenuetattoo.com/artists/mike-rubendall-g4/

That turned out great, but I think the original looked really fuckin' cool for a thirty year old tattoo! I really dig how the long fur looks when it's a little "blurred" from old age too. I would definitely have kept it if that was on my arm.

Finished my first session with Katja Ramirez at Perfection yesterday. I'm super happy with the result and I'm going back for another round in February.

Imo it doesn't just demean the artform, but is a step towards undermining the whole craft. The more people who do this kind of thing, the more people will expect tattooers working for nothing. @Graeme noted earlier, that "Given that it's a pretty nasty feature of contemporary capitalism that it's even harder to make a living as an artist, illustrator, photographer, musician, writer, etc. because increasingly fewer people want to pay for that kind of work." Which is spot on. I make my living as an artist/illustrator, and I get request to do freebies all the time. Make me wanna fucking puke. Just last week a danish music festival contacted me: "We would love to have you decorate one of our bar areas, but unfortunately, we do not have a budget for this, but there will be lot's of publicity". Seriously - these guys have a million dollar budget, but expect me to work for nothing? Fuck that. It's come to a point, where I don't even write anything back - I just send them this:

Hector Fong

Amazing! I doubt I will ever do my hands but if I was going to do them I would want him to do them.

I just made my appointment to get my life-ruining hand tattoos from Thomas Hooper. It's gonna be way cool.

Just finished last night! Chris Garver , Invisible NYC Timeless tattoos Rock!!

Second session just finished on my thigh. 6 and a half hours in. Swollen, bloody and inky but here is a pic. Tried to get some details in on the right side pics.

I got this Cowgirl head from Rich Hardy while he was doing a guest spot at Third Eye Tattoo about a month ago.

Tattoo shops smell like the best smells in the entire world. Aaahhh, I miss the shop!

On my recent trip home I had the usual light-hearted debates w/my mom over tattoos. We were talking about me wanting to change schools and she said I couldn't get a job at another school w/these tattoos. I said that I keep them covered w/long sleeve shirts. She said, "You can't wear long sleeve shirts all the time in LA!" I explained that yes, I already do...we have air conditioning. Blah blah blah. So then later, she tells me that Adam Levine was voted the sexiest man alive. I asked her if she agreed with that assessment and she said, "Yes." I said, "But he has tattoos!" And she goes, "He's an entertainer, not a kindergarten teacher." Oh lordy. I knew she already had a double standard about it being more ok for men to have tattoos than women. Now I see, it's also ok if you are an entertainer. I told her he is a grown-ass man and I am a grown-ass woman and that my job requires me to be an entertainer most of the time, too. Then MIL told my hubby that if we keep getting tattoos we won't be able to move back to Boston. Oh parents. They are so silly. We are in our forties and these are the conversations we are having!

Cheers @Iwar it's good to be back my friend!! And since you asked so nicely, another travel blog it is haha. Well that was just over 4 hours of "fuck me" lol. 2 days back to back is no joke at all ( @Reyeslv you are a machine) but we got a lot done. Horinao thinks we might even be able to finish on Thursday if we make the session a little longer - and hells yeah I'm keen for that! He's kept the colour really traditional and no bells or whistles but that's fine by me, the original image is perfect anyway (in my eyes at least) @cibo y'all will have to wait until I at least get back home to be able to upload pics ;) but I won't keep you guys hanging. here's a link to the catclaw blog from yesterday http://ameblo.jp/catclaw-tattoo-z/entry-11716915808.html

Is it a LST record that a tattoo of the month contest only lasted 9 minutes?

Alright... here goes nothin. Pharoah's Horses tattooed by me, finished in October.

That's Fred. And Higgs, also by Hardy.

Opie G. Ortiz posted this 20 year old Hardy backpiece on instagram a few days ago

So the knee torture is finally complete. My knee/thigh demon by Matt Van Cura done at Invisible NYC.

I am a fairly social person but do not like talking about my tattoos with those that I feel are just being nosey. My standard answer... Them," Hey where did you get those tattoos?" Me, "prison" Although my work I think is exceptional and def not prison work(Ive never attended!) this response typically pushes people way from me while they make sure they still have their wallet and/or purse. If you want to be flat out mean and are in a bad mood....When they ask "Did it hurt"....just reply, "not as much as the sex I traded it for."

Last night a girl asked me why I had a butterfly tattooed on my hand, I told her "Because when you're an actual tough guy you can get whatever kind of girly tattoos you want."

Face tattoos can be the worst or the best thing ever. Just don't be the guy doing the type of shit in the first photo!

higgs is a talented, eccentric MAN. not a divine guru. this whole "cult of higgs" that has sprung up the last few years is fucking stupid.