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Guess I'll throw in another Scott Sylvia... from richmond - - - Updated - - - How to I post the full pic instead of thumbnail?

if your going down 1-35 to ROA you should think about adding Pair-O-dice to your list Richard and Jennifer stells new shop in Tulsa oklahoma. You could also stop in Norman on way to austin and I could show you some good eats.

3.5 hours in the chair last nite at Studio 69 on Long Island, NY. The artist is Gina Sherry.

Finished my first tattoo 4 days ago. Second session was a nice 5hours of colouring. Sort of a bio-organic thing :) By Yliana Paolini

not the best picture but i got this from Josh Adams yesterday while he was guest spotting @ Old Soul

My sister asked me to touch her stomach tonight.... and I felt my nephew kick for the 1st time. I think I am the only person outside of my sister to feel him kick

I've flip flopped on getting a classic lady head, a bearded lady head, or just a man head with an epic beard (what can I say, I love beards). I love the soft vintage look of Tom of Finland's men, but would obviously prefer something less homoerotic. :o I'll probably end up going the safer route and getting something along these lines, I really love this Chris Conn lady: (Sorry the pic is kind of huge, but I think it's worth it :D)

To me the best lady heads (and the occasional mans head) are made by Guen Douglas:

Nathan Kostechko I fell in love with this the other day. I would totally consider doing something like this for filler, very neat!

Haha, I'm not sure how I'm all of a sudden an authority on good tattoos.

Healed from the London Tattoo Convention - by Chriss Dettmer

Just a quick intro, 24 years old and have been interested in tattoos since my mid teens. Have been getting tattooed for about 3 years now by Jun Cha. In the process of getting a left arm sleeve, a right arm forearm sleeve and a backpiece from Jun, if anyone knows anything about him you also know that this will probably take me 10-15 years to complete. Love all tattoo styles but have a particular interest in black and grey/chicano style. Have joined the forum to discuss tattoos with like minded people, especially those who have travelled far and wide to get tattoos from artists you love. Regards Josh

Was eating at a restaurant in Greenwich a couple of years ago and saw a woman with a full sleeve of lady heads and roses. Was clearly a few years old but had aged brilliantly. More importantly she wore them fantastically, I think a lot of subject matter in tattoos can really be gender neutral, as long as it suits the wearer. A gentleman with a ladyhead will still be a gentleman, a sleezeball will still be a sleezeball.

Booked in a few early February sessions with William Yoneyama to punish my ribs today, no prizes for guessing which animal I'm going with. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@graybones I forgot that there's another Dave Cummings! I hope you still have a job after finding the other one at work. But yeah, Dave's tattoos fucking rule and the pictures of them really do them no justice. @Diehardonvhs We'll go down to the back of my thighs. Right now, starting in July, I have monthly appointments booked until the end of 2014, but it will go into 2015 for sure. Yours looks fucking amazing from the little I've seen of it on IG. Who's doing it? @SStu We'll see. I was super into it with a snake but he showed me a drawing he'd done for a backpiece that somebody didn't get of one of those really wild Ed Hardy-style tigers and the drawing had so much power that I wonder if adding a snake to that would just confuse things. It's sometimes best to keep it simple.

A tiger, maybe fighting a snake, maybe not, from Dave Cummings at PSC Tattoo. We're scheduled to start at the end of July, maybe earlier if he has cancellations.

I can't wait to join the backpiece club. Still months to go until I start.

Healed pic of my Scott Sylvia (BlackHeart Tattoo - SF) roses from Dec 2013. Happy New Year, everyone!! :D

The thickest of the thick. Koji Ichimaru

Getting more tattoos somehow manages to be both the cause and solution of all our problems. But yeah, I can totally see that Conn lady I posted on me someday, I'll have to brainstorm more about the other ideas and see what sticks.

Updated--- 3.5 hours in the chair last night, same shop, same artist.

Well I don't doubt that the show is lame and shouldn't be watched and that the terminology is a little broad but the image of ganesha shows up as Ganapati and Vinayaka tantric buddhism. Or somethin like that, haha.

They look really awesome but how do you wash your hands and stuff?

I can honestly say my tattoo means absolutely nothing. I just like the movement and colours. Some people find that hard to believe/comprehend.

Had a few relevant looking 20's girls hanging about in my reference piles, here: Argentine film actress Mona Maris (“The Pride of the Pampas”), photographed by E. O. Hoppé in 1929 Anna May Wong c1920 Jetta Goudal Katerine Burke

^^^I think this really comes down to the wearer. There's the great old-school image of a tough sailor with a pretty woman on him as some sort of token, but several of my female friends have lady heads and/or pin-ups and they look fantastic on them (without being "too manly"). I guess this applies to most tattoo imagery as well. Roses (and flowers in general) are often considered to be "girly" in our society, but I (a man) can't get enough of 'em in tattoos!

@gougetheeyes yeah man was thinking about it, even if only to visit the shop

@iowagirl the lady head you posted is a painting by Lina Stigsson http://www.linastigsson.com/ who would be doing the tattoo? Just be wary as if you aren't able to get her to do it then maybe it might be an idea to get another tattooer to draw up a design as they may not be able to do that beautiful painting justice (not trying to be a douche, just saying)

Keep it dry and clean.

Great work! Who's the artist?

10 hours now on this piece, more to add!

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.

28th might be my last session with Rubendall. He thinks we're going to wrap things up in the 6 hours I have booked. I have additional appointment times booked so we'll see. :D

Tattooed by Tony D Chronic Tattoo Elyria Ohio. Thanks for letting me share!

Okay, per request, one Monmon Cat by Horitomo. HORITOMO (@horitomo_stateofgrace) | Just finished | Intagme - The Best Instagram Widget

How about some wind bars as background? It will fill in the space and you should be able to cover that arm band.... Just a thought.

This was done by Gina at Studio 69 Tattoo on Long Island, NY last month. Picture is right after it was finished. I have a follow up appointment on 1/8 to complete the forearm sleeve. Rob

I've just got back from Mexico, WOW! love that place, will definitely be going back for sure. Good food, Bad Alcohol (but lots of it!) I Also spotted Oliver Peck, met Liam Sparkes (nice guy) and physically bumped into Jared Leto. Crazy trip, Bring on the next one. Happy New Year!

Found another great Hardy backpiece on an old computer I haven't used for ages

Yeah, I'd be interested to see any work you have done as well.

Nope, you're welcome to join. My opinion is that tattoos posted early in the month have a slightly better chance to win though, so you might want to wait until January if you are thinking of posting today. Good luck!

Happy to be able to help @Jaycel Adkins

Friday the 13th tattooing at Kings Avenue!!! Sorta... Short 4 hour session today with Mike Rubendall at Kings Ave in Long Island. It's been freezing cold in NYC and I braved the train ride out to Long Island to continue work on my back piece. Added more color to the dragon. Here's the report. Enjoy! Alpha Omega original hanging in Rubendall's room. Details and colors are AMAZING!!! Straddling the chair and about to throwdown: And the results from today's work: Really digging the vivid colors: Slowly coming together: And of course I couldn't go home without grabbing these. I have a copy of the Fingerwave Book which these prints were made for. Saw the original hanging in the shop. LOVE the waves and happy that I own some Rubendall waves on my backside, hahaha

Can't remember who initially posted these, but I've had them on my phone at least a couple-three years. Not sure when they were done, but they're old, and by the man himself.

Marcus Kuhn is in town guesting and he lat me snap a pic of a back piece that he's starting tomorrow. He granted me permission to post...

Thou shalt post thine tattoos so we may gawk in appreciation and envy

@Graeme so you're saying that because it happens with everything on the internet, it's ok? I have no problem with people trying to do 'fresh' things. In my opinion, this style is still fresh, therefore how can anyone else do something new with it? Maybe it's different because I've been fortunate enough to see the seeds of this style develop from other things in a natural and gradual way that I feel uncomfortable when someone else hops on the wagon when the bumps have been ironed out. Yes it does happen, I know I can't stop it and I'm not trying to. The reason I take the time to post here is because Last Sparrow is different. It's better than that. This place is the real deal and I care about it. It may be just another forum to chat about whatever is on your mind to pass the time, for most here, but for the collectors and tattooers who post here there hasn't been anything this positive about good tattoos and tattooing on the internet, ever. There's been a machine forum that was good for a while and some kinda-sorta fringe industry sites and forums that were good for a while but there's never been somewhere online for just tattoos where quality matters and people who are respected in the real world are respected in the forums. Too often a post/blog count matters more than the quality of submissions and real-world experience. It's different here. Last Sparrow is having a real-world effect and I think it's up to us all to realise the responsibility we have and to try a little harder to be thoughtful and intelligent in our actions online and offline. While I wouldn't wear tattoos in the style Amanda Wachob does, I can see how they would appeal to some. I'm not even sure it appeals to 'tattoo people'. It's not really a new tattoo style either. It's based on a style of painting (wich was once new - over 70 years ago) Ed Hardy did some similar stuff in the 80's too. @TrixieFaux some of the people you mentioned do visit SF. I'm not trying to tell anyone who they should get tattooed by or whatever and I'm not knocking anyone specific. I'm sure 'new' guys give props or shout-outs to Hooper, Jondix, et al. But it still stands that without the guys who developed the style none of us would even want to get it tattooed.

I wish this style didn't have a name. As soon as a style is given a name, it seems to give others the impression they can do it too. The reason I don't do this stuff is because I like Hooper, Jondix and Albrigo as people and friends. They each seem to take direct influence from each other while still retaining some individuality and nuances of design and layout that make it possible to identify which one of them did it. The same goes for Binnie, Xed, Tomas Tomas, Mike from Athens and Curly. I love the work of each of those guys. I can't say the same for anyone else doing these styles. It seems to be a "Me too" attitude. They let the first few guys take all the risks and learn what works and find select clients who want to trust in something new. Then they make technically clean but hollow facsimile of something that was interesting. Maybe thats a bit strong coming from someone who doesn't have a style of his own, but I try to work in existing, classic tattoo styles and sometimes have a little fun with them. The reason I don't do this pattern/skull/mandala/pointilist stuff is the same reason I don't do Biomech, Pacheco painterly colour or straight-up cholo tattoos: They are styles that were developed by people with a specific set of interests and inspirations that managed to filter them into a style of design and execution. Also those pioneers are still alive and working. Maybe I've opened a nasty can of worms... How soon is 'too soon' so imitate an iconic style? Do we have to wait for the pioneers to die before crotchety fucks stop complaining? To be honest, I'm not interested in the answer. I just notice that every week the internet spits out a new guy who sticks a skull over or under a doily and it's held in the same regard as work by Mike, Jondix and Hooper. The same as we distinguish between Aaron Cain or Guy Aitchison Biomech, we shouldn't try to coin new phrases and just refer to Thomas Hooper, Jondix or Tomas Tomas Blackwork, dotwork or whatever. Use the name of the guys that made it what it is. We at least owe them that if we're gonna encourage other people to try it and get it tattooed from the rest of the pack. note: I'm certainly not anti-new styles and I'd like to say that I'm eagerly awaiting the second generation of artists influenced by these guys who take it somewhere new, now that there's a body of work by a group of artists. That could be exciting!

So after reading Iwars' San Fran travel blog, I'd made a comment a long the lines of "maybe I'll do the same for my next Japan trip..." I'm pretty sure the response from @Iwar was "you better blog the shit out of it". So, for Iwar & the rest of the LST crew, here is a blog/travel log of my last trip to Japan, in December 2011 to complete my sleeve by Horinao at The Cat Claw Tattoo-Z in Kyoto. And to catch up with my Japanese fam ;) (This is my first blog type thing ever so my apologies ahead of time if I waffle on or if it's boring as shit lol. You have been warned :) ) For those of you who just tuned in, I'll do a really quick (ok, not so quick) update to get y'all up to speed on where we are at :cool: In June last year (2011) I'd gone to Japan to visit and stay with friends in Osaka, and to do a few more things I wasn't able to do on my first trip the previous year (October 2010). Probably the number 1 item on my list was to get a tattoo while I was in Japan (I really love Japanese tattoos, so why wouldn't I want to get one in Japan?). I knew what shop I wanted to go to and who I wanted to get something from, so before I'd left I'd sent off a couple of emails to Catclaw trying to figure out if I could get a booking and when. Unfortunately, I never received a reply... but that wasn't going to deter me ;) Yosuke (My japanese friend who I knew from Australia and who was helping as my translator and local ye olde inn keeper) and myself set out to find the Catclaw and see what we could make happen... When we've walked in to the shop, Horinao was at his station painting and Hiro was working diligently on, funnily enough, another Australian. Speaking to Rina (pronounced 'Lina') the shop manager and Horinao via Yosuke (and my bad Japanese lol) we decided on a Hannya. Horinao asked what colour I wanted, and my reply was "Aka" (red) making a real emphasis with my body language to say "I wanted this baby really really red" (For those playing at home different colours represent different stages of transformation and different standings in society) Horinao got this cheeky little smile, nodded and knew exactly what I meant. And from pretty much from that point we where total BFF's... lmao. Rina said to come back in an hour and we could start, so Yosuke and I went and grabbed some food and headed back when it was time. 2 1/2 hours (maybe 3 including a break) I walked out with this: I was pretty damn happy to say the least, and at that point knew that I wanted him to finish the sleeve... IF it could be finished due to needing a cover up that wasn't going to be that easy. Well, there was that and the fact that I'd need to somehow figure out how to get back to japan for this to happen ;) I get back home and about 4 days later, without going into to much detail, I get some bad news from my Mum but with this news also comes some money and I can only think of one thing I really want to spend it on. I even jokingly said to Mum "You know what this is going on don't you?" and in typical Mumsie style, she responds with "Yeah, I kind of thought that. Just let me know when you book your flights" and that was that... The next piece of luck was that Jetstar where having another sale to Japan! It's the only way I've been able to go as often as I have - I've never paid anymore than $450 return ;) thank you Jetstar. So I emailed the guys and asked if Horinao thought the tattoo I wanted covered could be... This is what I wanted covered: Yes, it's Venom from Marvel Comics' Spiderman series. I'd gotten it when I was 19 I think if memory serves correct? It had a lot of black in it, as well as a nice assortment of colours, so I wasn't sure what could be done. Laser was an option of course, but I figured i may as well just spend that money on the tattoo. Horinao said it'd be all good and asked what I wanted. Although I'd never wanted a Dragon or a Koi as such, I also knew they where probably my only two options. Horinao agreed, and said that a Koi would work best and so thats what we agreed upon. I booked my flights for the end of August, booked 2 days in and after that trip I was left with this: August 2011 Day 1 (A little over 6 hours not including breaks): August 2011 Day 2 (4 hours not including breaks - Horinao had a gig that night lol) He drew everything directly on to my skin to make sure it all worked and flowed as well as possible. I have to admit I was in awe just watching him sketch onto my arm. I couldn't make out shit, but knew I was in safe hands ;) He also never shaved my arm (except for the first time with the Hannya) which I found on later isn't super necessary unless your quite hairy, and it helps lesson the itching during healing :) (hairs aren't growing back) I got back, twiddled my thumbs until Jetstar had another sale and the second they did, I booked my tickets back for December... Well, that pretty much brings everyone up to speed with where I was at before I left in December last year. I'll make this the first post, and do the next few as individual days me thinks? So if possible just hold off on any replies until I say "FIN" lol :D (don't worry, they're coming right now!)

Did I mention that the robe in question was fairly Lebowski-esque? And anyone that decides to tattoo his or her entire ass is already looney bin material. :)