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Got this today, Mimi Wunsch at Sea Wolf, great shop and couldn't be happier with her take on a classic. (Really hard to get a good photo of something that wraps over multiple bones!)

Perseverance lectures are up!!! Junii! Jill Bonny! I mean Horiyuki! I mean Jill Mandelbaum I mean Jill Halpin!... ;-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT1KpJ2O1mU Chris Brand! Horishiki! And there are more too but I'll try posting them later if someone else doesn't get to it first. A little bummed I can't watch these till I get home. They may not be safe for work viewing if you work with uptight folks.

I'm another person who joined this forum based on the maturity and positive attitudes of the people in this thread! Thanks a bunch :)

Because you're a proud parent and this was his first kill. Sweep the foot! Sweep the foot! :-) - - - Updated - - - I may be going to SOG too much for my own good, but I was half expecting everyone on this thread to own French bulldogs. It seems every time I look around another artist has a French bulldog for a pet.

I'll never understand why the community gets worked up or angry when people want 'meaningful tattoos' to commemorate events or periods in their life, I would wager the vast majority of tattoos(especially for first timers) carry some significant memory, I know mine did and I'd bet a lot of people hear are the same. Now I have some tattoos that I just liked, but tattoos being permanent reminders(good/bad) attract people. Everyone is different, like different things, like diff tattoos, get tattoos for different reasons? So what? If we all likes the same tattoos, same styles and got tattooed for the same reasons, that'd be the dumbest and most boring shit ever.

Greg Christian.

HULA BUG! She's looking far better than the last time I posted pictures. A lot of her yellow has come in and it appears as though she is a Super-Hypo. Short for super hypomelanistic leopard gecko, meaning that she has none of the spots that standard leos have, save for the tail and a few on the head/face. I'm thinking she also might be a carrot-tail (30% orange tail), cause with each shed a little more orange shows up. Basically she is an adorable tiny dinosaur. :o

Got these bonji from Horimitsu today! They were done by machine, too small for him to tebori. Still awesome and very pleased. Please forgive the pic, they are still fresh and only a few hours old. They represent the Buddhist's Bosatsu for protection from evil.

This is great! And kinda relates to something my artist did a couple months ago. I'm not heavy, but did carry some extra poundage for some years, and I'm older. So I've got the start of some sagging in my mid back - you know where I mean. So he was placing the stencil for a moray eel on my lower back and the shape of the eel was similar to the contour of my back there. And I jokingly said, how about moving the eel up a little? :-) Well, by the time he got it where he wanted it, it worked perfectly! The top dorsal fin of an eel is kind of wrinkly compared to its body, and heck, that's sure fitting the tattoo to the body, right? LOL! Get a great tattoo! Go in and tell them if you want to hide anything or accentuate anything - your mom and her friends were on to something!

Maybe this is why I love pussy so much??? OMG....tattoo pigments are why I am gay!!! Nothing in life is safe......and no one is going to tell you what is really in the pigments......I've been tattooed for a loooong time and other than it making me a lesbian and the total lack of filter on my mouth anymore....i think I am perfectly normal! ;) The unicorn tears are why the tattoos don't hurt so bad.....without them you could never tolerate getting tattooed.....

Another display option if you have the same ikea lamp:

This is why we can't have nice things.

Well, if the sessions on your back end up being brutal and you feel like you've been beaten up then I would just take a couple of days off and come back to it when the initial healing phase has started. If you're prepared to be flexible with your exercise selection then you can work around most things. Avoid elbow flexion when you've had your ditch tattooed... Avoid knee flexion when you've had your kneecap done... Common sense I guess. I can't really remember what I did when I was getting sessions done on my back, but I'm pretty sure I just took a few days off and then maybe made some small exercise substitutions. If you didn't want to lie on your back and bench you could shoulder press... If you didn't want to back squat you could front squat etc. I'm still healing that little navajo piece from a fortnight ago right now. The only thing I needed to do for that was wear pants to the gym in lieu of my usual shorts... Pretty handy compared to a newly healing backpiece! -- As way of a general training update, I'm still doing Westside for skinny bastards (I'm on my fifth week of it now). Lower body day was today. I'm doing three days of lifting only and I'm going to add in a fourth day of conditioning only (prowler, farmer's walks, maybe some KB or DB metabolic conditioning).

paragraphs are your friends! :cool:

@Lance I asked for the specific ones in red. Fugen is my birth year and guardian deity. I was born in the year of the dragon and I have a dragon 3/4 sleeve by Henning on my right arm. Made sense to highlight the Fugen on my right arm. For the left arm I chose Fudo Myoo to highlight in red. Being the immovable one and I also I like the flow and look of the written character a lot. The 8 Bosatsu together is a representation of all 12 Asian zodiac animals as well, a circle of life if you will and is basically protection from evil. I've always been superstitious (but not religious) so this all worked out. I know most collectors who get bonji, especially capping sleeves, get them in black. I went in with the traditional mindset but wanted something a little unique and different. I also chose red because I've seen large bonji characters shaded in red with a red outline and it always looked outstanding to me. Only thing I was bummed about is that I was looking forward to having these done in tebori but being that I have skinny arms and the characters stenciled out on the smaller side, he felt it best to do it by machine. I'm still happy with the results and experience and will definitely be getting future work from Mitsu sensei.

I've always been overweight, chubby or fat. I have both arms covered and quite a bit of each leg tattooed - I love my tattoos. And beautiful tattoos look great on any size body! From a personal standpoint, it is simply my vanity and insecurity that has kept me from getting my back, buttocks and ribs tattooed-- and that is because I wouldn't be comfortable naked in front of most people. My husband ( who is a tattooer will most probably be the one to tattoo my back and sides) As a tattooer, I like big people with big tattoos and small people with big tattoos too> Best of luck

+1 Well said.

Just might want to keep in mind that if she doesn't want to fix it, it might mean that she can't...and getting angry or trying to convince her might just make your tattoo worse. But hey, see what she has to say--you never know!

Give squats a miss if it's up on your upper back! I am in the same situation, healing my back while trying to maintain lifting progress - I haven't found any major problems after sessions on my back above the beltline (aside from squats), its when I'm healing the ass and back of thighs that I feel almost crippled - it cuts out a huge amount of exercises! This might not be the best advice, but I just hold off heavy lifting completely for five or six days, go for a couple of runs, then get back to it when I am healed up, maybe drop the weight a bit and carry on as normal!

The first bit of my new sleeve is booked in for the 5th of April. A big baphomet on my inner forearm. I have another tattoo further up my arm that I got about a month after I turned 18 and I've been planning on getting it fixed since about a week after I got it. Really happy to finally be getting started now.

The dream list, in no particular order: Seth Wood, James Tex, Matthew Gordon, Rubendall (how could you not?), Theo Mindell, Horiyasu (would love a sword as well) Chris O'Donnell, Dean Sacred, Geordie Cole, Jeff Gogue... And on and on... (Having made this list it realized how flippant 10 was, it's probably more like 20!)

She looks really happy! She's got that cute little smile... in the first one she looks like she's up to something. How cute.

I'm of the anal retentive personality type and did tons of research before getting a tattoo. I found very little evidence of actual problems. Even with red ink, most of the issues, that I found anyway, boiled down to it taking longer to heal rather than long term problems. I look at it like this - approximately 20% of the American population has tattoos. With more than 250,000,000 adults in the US, that's about 50,000,000 people in the US alone that have tattoos. If tattoos caused significant problems, we would know by now.

an investment in cadmium

Unicorn tears and the souls of dead cats

This is my homey after his first ever kill...not sure why I find this awesome. I'm a vegetarian.

This is mine from Fergus Simms. Legit one of the best people to get a tattoo from.

Finished my leg by Marius Meyer yesterday, we managed to finish it in only three sessions and I'm very happy with the result!!:o Cat lady on the front is by Chris Conn

You will look no more "ridiculous" with tattoos than anyone else! Get tattooed, get what you want, fuck the world. I don't tattoo so I can't answer your questions about working with skin and placement but I can't imagine it's that much of an obstacle. @Shawn Porter posted a video a while back on his OV blog, an awesome awesome Dave Lum video, where his shop helper -- a woman -- was talking about how she hated her legs and her butt. How she was self conscious and never thought she'd get tattooed there, but once she did get some coverage on those areas, she loved them. Maybe the only big folks you're seeing with a significant amount of work have some not-so-great tattoos.. or maybe you're just freaking out cause you've only got one so far. But if you've got the itch, you've gotta scratch it, and everyone else can go to hell. Truly. Apologies if this was too strongly worded.. I had the night off, some beers were consumed. The only people I don't like with a lot of tattoos are dickheads regardless of their tattoos.

hi everyone. You can call me ElDrago its perfectly fine. I wont say im new to tattooing, ive never had an aprenticeship. But what i dohave is 15 years drawing experience, and i started studying the tattoo medium around 9th grade. Got my first tat around 11th. Since then ive been studying, and practicing. i knew how to assemble and disassebmle, how to tune machines, all components that make a machine, all off my bbp knowledge and tons more stuff ive been studying for at least 8 years i would say. currently im 21 years old. just bought a tattoo kit for myself and my SO ( shes kinda following my route and learning through research and watching me). Also by the time i get home today our 3rd kit. the inkstar basic kit containing the brute coil gun and plenty of other supplys will be waiting on my doorstep. Now i wont play the know it all role. Ill admit im a scratcher. But point blank period. If i cant draw it freehand i wont tat it. I will only tat stencils. i am a scratcher, but as i said ive been studying for years i believe ive got all the theory i need so im on to practicing. practice skins, and if you check the practice forums you will see my lining practice technique. But all in all i just wanted to give a background and say hi, im currently 21 working full time and tattooing on the side. Hope nobody gets buthurt i may not have had an apprenticeship, but ive paid dues, and im still paying dues. ive studyed, and ive been coached by just about every artist that has tatted on me (11 tattoos so far. about 5 or 6 artist). So i hope ill be meet with respect and ill show everyone the same. but if not i wont trip ive been lurking here and i can go back to lurking, but my respect level for you all that do put out resources and tips for us scratchers will always remain top tier. peace.

@irezumi ahahahahahaha chortle cackle ahahahaha - I really did LOL in that sequence hehehe. - - - Updated - - - @CampB @iowagirl @Moreau @Synesthesia @graybones: I have also had that experience. For some reason it does seem specific to outlines and black. After reading the below explanation, I now consider it an early warning system! It happens to me a lot when it is really hot, too - but I think I have a bad reaction to heat (i'm sensitive, I guess :p), too. Go here: Microscopics and thank @else for the link! The important part reads: It seems to show you that you are having a slight histamine reaction, yes? So an antihistamine should help, as would a hydrocortisone cream.

Next session on my underwater back is the 28th of March. We're going to work up the right side. Two Moorish Idols are going on the middle - excited for bright colors!. I have an unfinished clownfish above my hip from a previous session and some moon jellies are going on near my shoulder. I never know what the plan is, I just show up and see what he wants to do next.

Yet another body-positive thread. This forum makes me feel warm and fuzzy :-) Can I ask a dumb question wrt thighs. Specifically, lady thighs that are prone to cellulite in the not so distant future (thanks mum!). How would tattoos be affected? Would developing cellulite ruin a thigh tattoo or would the tattoo hide it to some extent? Presumably something geometric might go a little wonky, but would something more organic hold up?

I'm not saying this speech was directed at me in particular (or that it doesn't apply to me at all). However, in my defense, I do not post for the purpose of upsetting others, nor does it bring me any sort of amusement or entertainment when someone does get upset by something I've said. I simply reserve the right to formulate my own opinions/conclusions, and I will defend that right, sometimes bitterly. As a non-conformist, the one thing I cannot allow anyone to take from me is my freedom to think for myself. Sometimes I will drop things because too many people are getting upset. I still have the right to my own opinions/conclusions, and I won't say I'm wrong if I don't think I am. I simply choose to keep certain opinions to myself when I find that too many others have become sensitive to them. But I will never change myself to please the masses, no matter how displeasing I become. However, rather than continue to be a bitter taste in everyone's mouth, I won't continue to force people to listen to my thoughts/opinions when many others find them to be offensive. And I do also attempt to make positive contributions to forums. What I think of as a troll is someone who has no interest in making a positive contribution, only in expressing their own point of view no matter who likes it or doesn't like it. And often it's not just the point of view that's being expressed, but how it is being expressed that's a problem. You can be right, but if not willing to engage in open dialogue with others who's point of view differs from your own, then you're a troll, methinks. Now, that doesn't mean that you have to change your point of view, it simply means that you're acknowledging that other people have a right to express a different point of view, and you are respecting them for it. I don't agree with certain points of view that are expressed on this forum, and I don't understand them and I may never understand them. But I respect people's right to have them, and all I ask is the same in return. We are all respecting each others right to choose how we express ourselves through the art we put on our bodies, why can't we respect each others right to express different points of view? That's all I'm saying. I've been called a troll by people who tried to force their expectations on me, yet refuse to respect the fact that I don't agree with them. I've had no choice but to protect myself from those people by placing them on my ignore list. I will not be forced into a way of thinking that I do not agree with or understand. If you can't or won't respect that, then it's paramount to me that I protect myself from you. People like that will turn the world into a wasteland one day. Everything we've tried to put behind us was brought about by those kind of people.

I too really enjoyed the first part and I think it really shows what FST is about. Need more films like this that demonstrate quality tattoo's and true professionalism.

Hard to view this thread without a little bit of back envy. @Wilhell @Cork @DevilMan in particular, can you guys explain to my fiancé why our house deposit should take a back seat to an amazing backpiece! Great work.

I'm jealous of all of you people getting tattooed by Chad! He seems like such a cool guy. Actually I'm watching his interview again because I love his story about getting tattooed by Ed Hardy. Enjoy your tattoos and please post pics! Can't get enough of his tattoos. I've got 2 days until Scott Sylvia does my rattlesnake and skull tattoo and 11 days until Dusty Neal does my grim reaper. March is going to be a good month for all of us it seems.

Probably caused by the mercury. Thats why the Mad Hatter was crazy.

Fucksake dont get tattooed then if your shitting it from the ingredients

a guy at work dosnt like my tattoos because they have no meaning then i got a rose of nomansland and because my gran was a nurse in ww2 told him thats why i got it (even though i would have got it anyway) and all of a sudden he thinks its great, another time the same guy was slagging off my tattoos for having no meaning so i apologised for not pretending my life was a episode of miami ink

It is a fun thread. Sorry, it's like chips...hard to post just one. I have an up-to-the-minute shot. I was lying on the couch and she came over to lick my hand while I had my phone in my other hand, so I had to take this pic...

@Aussie Tom I 100% percent agree, every time someone asks me where to get their first tattoo from I tell them to go to Fergus not only because you'll get a great tattoo but because it will be the most relaxed tattoo experience you'll ever have. also here's my latest from the man himself just on the arse end of healing.

After watching the new tattoo age video of Freddy and recently looking at the 222 Tattoo Shop thread I think we need a Temple Tattoo thread. Also for good measures let's make Tattoo 13 (Freddy's other shop with good tattooers as well) in the mix....For those who haven't seen it here is the interview Scott Sylvia did with Freddy Corbin for LST For me Temple Tattoo is where @Scott Sylvia outlined and did some of the shading on my lower left arm of a cobra with a Dia De Los Muertos mask on wrapped around a sacred heart. Also Freddy Corbin did the lettering on my collar bone which I've mentioned in the lettering thread was impressive to see him make a few lines on my collar then take the pen and start writing some amazing script straight on where within a few minutes said "take a look in the mirror", the man is impressive. But overall when I think of Temple I think of hanging out laughing with friends, after hours smoking inside, and shooting the shit. The beautiful religious art, altars, flash with very good and friendly tattooers inside. I remember in the early days trying to find something to eat close by on the weekends was a pain in the ass as the block/area used to be like a zombie ghost town on the weekends. For Tattoo Thirteen I instantly think of Chummy Alexanian and Hector Fong as well as the same vibe/atmosphere as Temple. Plus the infamous Friday the Thirteenth parties there. I've only been tattooed once there and it was by Freddy at one of the parties. I had a colleague with Parkinson's want to get tattooed so I gave him a list of tattoo shops to checkout and he decided on here so I went with him and Sonju tattooed him. The experience was great and Sonju was very patient and gave him a great tattoo which I can only imagine is no easy job in that situation and the uncontrollable moving. Lets hear your stories........

Way it always is...shit, if I had kept all my clothes from the sixties and seventies, I'd be all hip again!

Getting bigger tattoos is great advice; I don't know how many big guys I see at the gym with these tiny tribal bands or whatever that just look silly. The only thing I would consider is whether you plan on staying your current size or if you plan on losing. If you plan on losing, I'd wait to tattoo areas that could see lots of stretch marks like belly/lower back/thighs until after you reach a target size. Either way, we're built to fall apart ;)

Here are some more religious/spiritual tattoo pictures I found recently: Freddy Corbin (Temple Tattoo)- Jesus Head with crown of thorns Derrick Snodgrass (Temple Tattoo)- Jesus with I think character from Pirates of The Caribbean head???? Freddy Corbin (Temple Tattoo)- Chest piece with praying hands, roses, script, banner Freddy Corbin (Temple Tattoo)- Rosary, check out the cross....so amazing! Heath Preheim (Temple Tattoo)- Cross with skull & crossbones, roses...something about this tattoo just sits with me really liking it and I can't pinpoint it.?????. Mike Wilson (Inksmith and Rogers Tattoo)- Skull Guadelupe....the robe she is wearing is radicool. I always enjoy when tattooers put their own spin on the robe of this popular tattoo to make it their own. Mike Wilson (Inksmith and Rogers Tattoo)- Sacred Heart

Here are a couple I have. Im not christian or buddist, but I have a jesus and a rock of ages tattoo.