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Healed from the London Tattoo Convention - by Chriss Dettmer

Just about every tattoo is better with flames.

I got a cobra wrapped around an ankh on Dec 29,2013 by Christine Vallieres at Old Town Ink in Scottsdale, AZ After my first tattoo, I thought about this one and what I wanted it to be. For me, it symbolizes rebirth of life and protection. I think snakes get a lot of bad rep but I think they are awesome creatures. I consider myself pretty spiritual so the Ancient Egyptian symbol of life fits with the snake imagery. Some people think it's an evil snake but it's not :p This tattoo, along with the one on my back of a scorpion and some Arabic script do mean quite a lot to me. I got them a year after I had a near death experience. I was hospitalized for a long time and lsot my job and almost had to return to living with my parents back in Connecticut. I beleive that I was given a second chance and was being watched over somehow. It made me think how precious my life is, how strong I actually was and how much people cared for me.

This sounds great. You should do a little blog or video series of this trip ala True Love.

10 hours now on this piece, more to add!

Not for me, but my wife booked with Martin Lacasse at Olde City Tattoo in Philadelphia for a geisha 3/4 sleeve at the end of the month. He did her other arm a few years ago and she's been itchin to get this one done for a while. It's the same weekend I get done by Ron Henry Wells, so that'll be fun.

@jetwash Are you going to Frith Street ? If so just say you want a peacock they'll do the rest .

We've all made the slightly unusual choice to embed words, symbols, and images onto our bodies until the day we die. It's barely accepted by the mainstream in liberal western countries let alone other cultures. People are going to be intrigued and ask questions just as much as they are going to be offended or mesmerized. That's part of being (visibly) tattooed. It annoys me sometimes too but hey it's part of the package.

I love the way she framed that owl. Incorporating old tattoos into new tattoos is rad.

Hey Guys So i have decided to travel to the states from Australia around July/August for a couple of months possibly with another tattoo friend of mine and would love to meet a heap of you guys while I'm over there. We are planning to start in San Francisco and travel across the country to New York hitting a lot of shops on the way for walk-ins (not going with a plan). I just wanted to use this thread as a kind of home base for information for the next few months. Thanks LSTers Also i will probably be doing a travel blog thing aswell.

A longer wait-time gives you more time to save. It'll be worth it!

Not tattoos. You get what you pay for.

Suggestion,go here Immaculate Tattoo - Aaron Coleman - Tattoo and ask Aaron Coleman the same questions. You will not be disappointed.

just a little Indian action and tiger from Kemer here at Superfly tattoos in Leon Mexico

Got another 3 sessions on my front with valerie over the next month'ish!!

Another LST tattoo save. Nice, guys.

If you ate two meals at a good restaurant and weren't disappointed, would you never seek out new restaurants ever again? :) I am not sure of wait times, since I booked in about 3 or 4 months in advance because I was travelling. But don't worry too much about cost. Aaron Coleman tattoos extremely fast, so even if he has a higher hourly rate than what you have paid in the past I'd bet the cost would be very similar.

It seems to be the impossibility of having a visible placement that's the biggest obstacle to you. Would you maybe consider your sternum? That'd allow you to have a 'proper' tattoo that you could see often but would be simple to hide away too. - - - Updated - - - WRT 'hardship'- do people know how 'hard', generally ball breakingly tough and motivated a chick needs to be to make it as a professional ballerina? Sheesh.

Google maps tells me that your route should take you through Phoenix, AZ. If that's correct, I highly suggest checking out Immaculate Tattoo in Mesa. Anyone there will give you a great tattoo.

Had my consult with Dennis at Providence Tattoo on Saturday. Such a nice guy. He seems excited about my idea, and I am DEFINITELY excited. Just bummed I have to wait til August to get it done! He's booked solid til May, and I'm busy this summer. Is it too early to start a countdown? :/

Yeah we have a few on the list :Idle Hands, Rock of Ages, Hold It Down, Greenpoint Tattoo co, Smith Street, Ancient Art vb and I'm still looking into a few more.

Haha, isn't it a trip how experience shapes perspective! I think a lot of, if not most people experience somewhat of a more profound change within themselves. You will find many small anecdotes of that phenomenon through the forum. Welcome to LST! Can we see the tattoos you have?

Yes, definitely thinking of a couple of things to start up since I do have the appointments. Depending on how things go, one of the future slots might take a few hours for touch-ups but I'll discuss details with Rubendall.

Thank you! @ironchef, you would be absolutely correct. Laying down in his space was a great experience to be had. He's a very nice guy too. I'm not sure if it's been mentioned previously but both Horitomo and Yokohama Horiken have rooms to work in while everyone else at the shop works in an open plan. The rooms are raised platforms and you remove your footwear before entering. You lay out your towel on the floor and he sits to tattoo. Very traditional. Being able to lie there and see him work, see his drawings for ongoing or upcoming tattoos/paintings, seeing his reference materials, and the little sculptures of Fudo Myo-o was a great time and while laying there being poked on the feet may not sound fun, I'm pretty sure I was wearing a goofy smile the whole time. BTW, if anyone was wondering, to me, shading by tebori didn't feel as painful as by machine.

Got a this little wrist filler by Henry Wyatt at Inkies in Fremont, CA. Representing and supporting the Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda Relief... The design is a a guide taking the deceased to the Hereafter by canoe, based on an artifact known as the Manunggul Jar. #TattooForPhilippines https://www.facebook.com/tattooforthephilippines Needles and Sins Tattoo Blog | Tattoo for the Philippines

Pure awesomeness ! Memoir is such a great shop I think if I won the lottery the first thing I would do , would be to book a flight to see Shawn Barber his work is just mind-blowing. - - - Updated - - - Got my wife to take some photos of my latest tattoo all healed. The photos are a bit glarey cos of the flash. Tibetan Skull by Ema Sweeney at Custom Inc .

I like seeing the pics of all everyone's overall look, so here's my updated one: (ETA: now my right arm tattoo is going down farther than my left arm, so now I'm going to have to add more to my left. And so it goes...that's how they get ya.)

For your consideration. Just got this yesterday from Beau Brady while he was at Invisible NYC this week and a few forum members suggested I put it up in here. Thanks!

hello all, my name is scott bakoss and ive just signed up to last sparrow.

Cheers! Yeah I have been looking at his work for years, was a great experience to finally get something from the man, he is the nicest, most polite tattoo artist I have ever met too!

Me too. I love the design. I had Stewart Robson tattoo a version only last month. Needless to say it came out great.

@Diehardonvhs Always loved Chris Dettmer's skulls. Very nice tattoo.

go there. only way to be sure about waiting time and prices is to go there and talk to them. on this here forum we do not discuss prices.

If you come through Colorado on your way down to Texas you should check out Dedication or Lifetime Tattoo in Denver, Marie and Caleb just left Lifetime to work in Dallas but there's still solid work coming out of that shop.

I had the exact same experience as you Lance. Both Horitomo and Jill have used it on me, but not sure if it worked or not.

I'm getting tattooed by Hillary Fisher White in a few weeks when she's on the west coast. All sorts of excited.

going to la to finish this with bryan burk in a couple weeks. and i just booked a flight to austin in february emailed steve byrne! sorry if the pictures big

Haven't finished these just yet, but bad Instagram photos of a few new sheets I started a week or two back...

Got these swallows done by Jeff Zuck in Ann Arbor after a few forum members recommendations. Love it

nO regrets with tattoos! i did chest and both ribs first. i decided to go this route so i could tile the background underneath the ribs. which would have made sense if i went with a japanese motif full tiger but instead i opted for a neo-trad tiger head. the narrow space did limit placement. i.e. a little too narrow to line up the mouth with the belly button and make the rest of the cat head fit within. my tummy tiger ended up sitting low and goes below the belt line (no biker bodysuit ha). the tiger head ended up smaller than I had originally envisioned but overall I love it and think it's size compliments my physique and does not overshadow my chest bird. in the end I am quite happy with how the layout of my torso tattoos ended up. i like the space and think that i got a pretty unique end result. <pics in my gallery> and now that the big placeholders are done my plan is to tighten up, add contrast and darken the background neck-to-crotch to coalesce it all as it is several artists who have contributed to this bizarre vision I had/have for my front tattoos. someone once told me i looked like the backboard on a pinball machine (which makes me a laugh, take it as a compliment)! on the flip side, if you go tummy first you might limit space for placement of chest and sides. so it's all relative, really. just go with the flow and let the plan develop as you make progress. nO reGretssss!!!

My mother didn't find out until I was in my 30's. She came to visit and I had just jumped out of the shower when she knocked on the door. I knew it was her and didn't want her to wait as she drove from SF to Vegas. I opened the door and she said, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!?!.... I broke the news that I've had them since I was 19 and it's time she knows.... During my most recent and meaningful pursuit of tattoos she was supportive and knew how much I loved them... Funny how the relationship changes after time.....

Love Chris Brand's work so much .

I've been loving the Gibson girl heads Ron Wells has been doing lately and was wondering if anyone on here has an adaptation of a Gibson girl. I particularly like "The Eternal Question" based on Evelyn Nesbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, who has a pretty fascinating/tragic life story. I didn't used to think I'd want a girl head...

I finally bought an 8mm player. It hasn't arrived yet and I'm sure there will be problems, but the hope is that by middle of next week I can start capturing footage from tons of 8mm cassettes that I have. Most of the stuff isn't really tattoo related, but Im 100% sure that I have the 1995 Amsterdam tattoo convention video I shot, which includes 22 tattooers working on one (very blue) client. Seeing Alex Binnie, Horiyoshi 3 and Crazy Ace tattoo the same person at the same time...

Have to disagree with you there Graeme, looks pretty awesome to me. Maybe that person asked for a doily anyway ;) Another piece by Dotwork Damian Dotwork portrait by Zack Singer

Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines somehow pulls off way oversized, inside-out, ratty t-shirts, and terrible, terrible tattoos.

cool tan = oxymoron

I won't even get in to what happened after I showed Roy Cooper my Tiger collection.

jesus christ my back killed. i tried to brave it with a first sitting of 3.5 hrs for the outline and gradually those sessions tailed off to paltry 45min ones. if i had been my own customer id slapped me honestly haha. i didnt really plan anything artistically, i asked the tattooer for a design id had in mind for a few years and after seeing a few sketches the final design came thru, i feel like he wanted to show me the drawing thought process to let me trust him but i already did so for me, they werent so important, i just wanted to get it started! the only respite was the shoulder blades and even then they hurt, the worst for me was the butt and lower back towards the side, ugh. i have to admit i was embarrassed at how crap i sat sometimes and have been very sympathetic with customers of mine whose backs im working on since. my backpiece almost felt like the beginning of being an adult and getting serious about my job and getting serious about the tattoos i got. i think i'd been at Frith st for less than a year when Alex started it and it felt like an important step for me, it def marked a special time for me in life and work. so yeh, it's gonna hurt like a bitch so take painkillers, have a decent breakfast and take the rest of the day off, youll be useless afterwards haha