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took a drive up to tattoo marks today and got this from lowercase j.

I posted this in my intro thread, but I wanna partake in the fun over here! by Beau Brady

Got this yesterday.

Just got these two from Dusto at Tower Classic in St. Louis as a Christmas present to myself

Me and my lady before a concert this summer.

Hoping everyone's Christmas was killer, and wishing everyone a happy New Year!

@Shaun1105 and @motsimus: that is truly bizarre. I never would have guessed it could be used that way. According to wiki, it comes from the Dutch "tap toe": Drummers from the garrison were sent out into the towns at 21:30 hrs (9:30PM) each evening to inform the soldiers that it was time to return to barracks. The process was known as doe den tap toe (Dutch for "turn off the tap"), an instruction to innkeepers to stop serving beer and send the soldiers home for the night. The drummers continued to play until the curfew at 22:00 hrs (10:00PM). Tattoo, earlier tap-too and taptoo, are alterations of the Dutch words tap toe which have the same meaning. OK, threadjack over. Go get tattooed by Soap and post it here.

hyvää joulua everyone! be excellent to each other! (inserted cool video of bill and ted here if i'd knew how..)

@Boiled Dove If you start an instagram account, look for the thread here - many of us are on it and post regularly. Sometimes tattoos, sometimes travel, always cats.

If you end up in Chicago go to Great Lakes Tattoo. Currently you could get tattooed by Nick Colella, Mario Desa, Mike Dalton, Erik Gillespie, Frank William, or Matt "Beatdown" Ziolko. That's six killer tattooers right there. Not to mention, it's one of the coolest shops I've ever been in. Check out their work on Instagram. If you have to wait a bit to save up for the trip, it will be well worth it. Good luck with your hunt for great tattoos. This forum is a great resource. And if you ever get a chance to cross the border, come visit The Pearl in Toronto.

I love this.

Yeah, Saved has all their artist portfolios available for viewing in the shop. While you're there, be sure to look at Anderson Luna's portfolio. He doesn't do the geometric thing, for that you'll need to talk to John or Zac, but he does a lot of black and grey and the tattoos he does are some of the best I've ever seen. He has the balance between tough and beautiful down perfectly and his tattoos are utterly spectacular.

I decided to add a little bit of color to my elbow. I have been piecing togather a traditional sleeve. I wanted to add a skull into the mix without it looking to deathly and dark. So to brighten it up a bit added it to a little floral arrangement. No better place to put it other than the elbow. Done by Tony D at Chronic tattoo in Elyria Ohio.

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

Hey, just wanted to introduce myself to all the members here. Just got my first tattoo in September and already have a half sleeve and a forearm piece done.

Muscle relaxers sound like a fantastic idea, and I can't believe it's never occurred to me before. However - be sure and do a test run around a friend beforehand. I've been given a muscle relaxer before - for recreation purposes - that I thought had no effect on me - I remember the whole experience - but from the perspective of the rest of the world I was on another level of wacky insanity. Slapping my face and saying I couldn't feel it and all.

Thanks!!! I will look up both of those shops. I've already heard about GLT quite a bit. I follow a bunch of tattoo blogs on tumblr (you really have to filter through those to not just get a bunch of Suicide Girls style pron though (not that there's anything wrong with that)) and they are in heavy rotation on some of them. Guess I will have to break down and make an Instagram account. Seems like every good tattooer puts their stuff on there, not that I need another online account but this one will be well worth it. Perhaps I will just drop my Lady Gaga fan club account.

I'm anxiously awaiting the new year so that I can finish up my chest piece. It will be very nice to finally let the hair grow back. Then hopefully at the end of January I'll get to the stomach piece I've been struggling to get done for the past year. I'm in no hurry to get back to work, though. So I'm torn.

I saw that piece when I was lurking around here and it rules! Anyway, I'm glad I found this forum. The Tattoos Subreddit was making me super depressed.

You are spoilt for choice in Edinburgh , Old town tattoo (nik especially ) or red hot & blue Paul slider is awesome (the shop Sara carter started in I believe) anyone in either of those shop will sort you out. If your looking for some real old school tattooage you can go see bill hooper I leith walk. He's been there about 100 years. Steven Kelly or soap at lab monkey do beautiful tattoos.

I was fortunate enough to get my Scott Sylvia tattoo on a cancellation. Saw an Instagram post and called the shop. Also, one of my Ron Wells tattoos was originally for someone else at the SFO convention, but he cancelled. Very proud to have that piece as it was his prototype for his super black black angular roses.

Me and @Pugilist just booked an appointment to get matching tattoos from Doc Forbes flash from Chris Hold at Sacred Heart in Vancouver on December 27. Stoked.

I just got this from my friend Matt Brotka at Salvation Tattoo in Richmond, Virginia. However his full time gig is at Left Hand Black in sunny San Diego. Pic pilfered from his instagram .

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"

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

Second best thing ;)

Hello, my name is junior Hernandez. I'm from Allentown pa, u.s. I'm 21 yrs old and I love tattooing! I love everything about it! There's just so much to learn. I'm joining the forum in hopes to find more people like me who have the burning passion to create and advance artistic ability! I've been tattooing for about 3 yrs now and I plan to continue for as long as I can. :)

@JoshRoss I've always avoided the tattoo subreddit. I don't know why, I just always suspected it would be depressing.

A. you can never get all of the glitter off. Ever. We have a saying at my bar: "Glitter is the herpes of the bar world". Then we usually amend it with 'well, after herpes." B. Life should always be constant party mode. - - - Updated - - - I like the return of the short hair. And I miss you. Also, 'round these parts, Ladyface is code for Inkmaster's finest. Lately I've been calling him 'Jafar'

I can think of one LSTer who has a killer Jill Bonny back piece. wink wink @hogg Great introduction @JoshRoss . I was just thinking the other day that a baku would be a addition to any collection.

My first is from my buddy who is an apprentice. Second is from Craig Brown at Historic Tattoo in Portland. And I just got this from Beau Brady at State of Grace in San Jose. That's the only photo I have uploaded at the moment. Jill Bonny at State of Grace. I'm counting down the days!

Happy Christmas and a big HAIL SATAN ! To one and all !

dan trocchio hands down! 3 kings

Welcome to the forum. There's nothing at all wrong with getting tattooed from flash, though from what you're describing here, I would suggest checking out John Sultana at Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg.

No idea, we'll see what feels right then.

Hahaha big pimpin...

Well since a lot of you have seen me on IG and in person, and not only do I look dashing in this picture (RARE!), but my arm and shoulder tattoos are visible... enjoy!

I got started on this tattoo by Ron Henry Wells last while he was guesting at Tattoomania in Montreal and we'll finish it at a later date. Sorry for the not great photo, it wraps a bit so it's tough to get a good one. As always, it was a real pleasure to be tattooed by Ron, and the Tattoomania crew were very gracious hosts. I love tattoos.

...so on wednesday i flew out from germany to poland to meet up with one of my favorites, rich hardy. he started my back piece...and i`am more than glad that i chose him - i`m absolutely in love! one the one hand it was such an amazing and satisfying experience for my mind but on the other hand it was so horrible for my body. i wouldn`t call myself a pussy when it comes to tattooing but this time i was almost ready to start crying and stopping this whole thing; but somehow i made it through. :)

Love these photos! Here's mine, taken around Halloween time.

First, I think there's a lot of truth in @JAllen and @10PieceNuggets suggestions. But, if you do find someone's work appealing that's out of town, why not travel? You might have to save up a little longer for the tattoo you really want, but isn't that part of the deal anyway? It's been my experience that you can usually get places on-the-cheap if you are smart about it and plan ahead. Most places are more accessible than you think... Here's a 'for-instance' for you: you live in LA which is EASY striking distance from San Diego and San Francisco/Oakland/Berkely/San Jose. LA to the Bay is 6ish hours, depending on where you're going/coming from. LA to San Diego is even easier. Between those three major metropolitan areas, it would be surprising if you couldn't find an artist to give you a killer tattoo in the style you want. Worst case scenario (going to SF or Oakland), you could leave early, be there in time for an early afternoon session, get a cheap hotel and be back in time for lunch the next day...not even a weekend trip! Hell, if you check around for flights and don't plan your trip during a major holiday, the entire west-coast can be accessible for a few hundred bucks. An early flight in and a late flight back makes a day trip for places like Portland, Seattle, anywhere in Arizona, Nevada etc etc etc. Hope that helps!

New overalls. - - - Updated - - - I almost went with this one, but that's more the fitness thread :D

I always explain that the dragon means I think that dragons look badass. Ditto for pretty much every other tattoo I have. Yes, a few of them mean something, but I'm not about to break it down for a stranger. And even the "meaningful" tattoos are on me because I think they look good.

How about just say, "It's open to interpretation. It means whatever you want." I think I'll go with that next time and leave it at that. That's art. What they mean or don't mean to you can be personal--you don't have to explain yourself to anyone. The last person who asked me why I got a tiger I just said, "I liked it." There are things that I associate it with but I just didn't feel like saying any more. Isn't that enough? That we get images that we like. Yeah. I think so.

Yuppies. I know this us a huge generalization, but they usually get the wackest tattoos!!!! They get super small super detailed crap in a super private spot. Coming into the shop acting like they are such huge rebels. Wanna be a rebel? Buy a Honda instead of a BMW. Reminds me of one of my favorite jokes.... What's the difference between a BMW and a porqupine? Porqupines have the pricks on the OUTSIDE. *nothing against BMW owners. Just yuppies