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We went out to eat tonight and someone paid for our meal. My husband had seen a woman in there earlier who had had a house fire last year and he was the responding officer. Everyone was sleeping and he managed to get them out. We're guessing that's who it was. Such a nice gesture-usually he has to hem and haw about where to eat in town so nobody spits in it.

@TrixieFaux - your experiences reminded me of this: so far, the least judgmental person at work to have seen my tattoos has been a very cool, take-no-bullshit older woman who I was expecting to have a strongly unfavorable opinion about them. Instead, she thought they were pretty and said, "I imagine you just forget they're there most of the time." She just got it, right away. (Meanwhile, a couple people who I thought wouldn't bat an eye have told me I was an idiot when I got the first one.) A good reminder that age often has nothing to do with open-mindedness, and that assumptions are usually about what's going on in my head, rather than the person in front of me.

Today I'm exactly 1 month away from my appointment with Seth Wood for a large thigh tattoo. The appointment is part of a 5-day trip to San Francisco, so I'm doubly excited for the tattoo and the vacation!

This one is about 13 years old. It was done by Milford Barnes in San Diego. Although I like the more detailed ones, there is just something about a nice bold traditional girl head.

Bit unsure whether to post this here or not as it's probably a little "unusual". But, anyway, here's my first/latest tattoo. It's based on the Apollo 8 logo - I'm an astronomer and was inspired by NASA's Apollo program as a kid.

Not sure if you guys know but I got cocky with my Remis piece and never bothered healing it properly. It got really infected and smelt like rotting flesh. I just had it recently fixed by Remis so thought I would share and see if anyone else has any works that they had fucked up and had fixed, interested to see how they came out after the fix. I am very happy with the way my turned out. :) This was when freshly done! This was my healing skills lol Fixed 2 days ago :)

Just an idea to consider; it's impossible to tell what the scar looks like without being up close on it. It's possible/likely you will be told by a tattooer that any more ink on top of that just won't take and scar heavier. Option/idea; leave the current part alone and make a 'stone' looking piece by using the area around it to look like the scarred part is carved out of a block of rock. Tattooer with better skills can make a nice black & grey wash tattoo around it, adding some cracks and chips, and I bet you'll like it a lot better than you do now.

An awesome thing @CABS did recently was offer me his Eli Quinters appointment at Temple because I couldn't get one with Freddy Corbin. I'm almost tearing as I write this. I was, and still am, moved by his kindness.

I kind of miss the days when tattooing was the underbelly of society. Tattoo shops weren't labelled "boutiques", they were found on the fringes of the city, down the backstreets & alley ways, well out of view of mainstream population. I became part of this culture because I didn't fit in with mainstream & nor did I ever want to. I loved the mysticism & the secrecy behind it. With it becoming so mainstream these days, it def has its benefits. There's no way I could be in the position of work I am now, 20 years ago. I can turn up to executive meetings with my hands, fingers & neck sleeved in & be judged on my performance, not my looks...so it also gives me the opportunity to educate mainstream pop in a round a bout way that tattooed people "do know their shit, & can talk the talk". I love blowing peoples pre conceived misconceptions. The side to it I don't like is that elitism status. The, "I'm too kool for skool" attitude I see a lot of these days. Once upon a time, tattooed people had that special understanding of respect. Now it appears to have created cliques. I believe that when I strip down at a show & am on stage with other tattooed people...we're all the same, no matter what the work is, no matter how old it is. I don't look at designs, I look at overall effect. I believe when we're together, we should be treating each other with that old time respect (old skool is used to loosely), that acknowledgement, that understanding that we've been to the "same place" that most citizens will never understand. I don't expect to be sized up & judged by my own, which sadly happens a lot these days. So, I'm kind of hoping that it takes a full circle. That the superstars, the beautiful people & sports stars don't find it trendy anymore, & we can give it back to the people who understand it. Just a bit of my 2 cents on how I kind of view it.

And the winner of April 2014 "Tattoo of the Month" goes to.... @KBeee for this amazing monmon cat tattoo by Horitomo. Congrats!!! Please PM @steve1461686340 with your shirt info (size and male or female) along with your address. Thanks to everyone for your submissions! New contest will be up in in a few minutes. - - - Updated - - - Oh, and you of course earn the title of "LST Ink Master Canvas April 2014" ;)

@El Dolmago and I went to The Pearl today and each got ladyhead tattoos from Glennie. Mine is the cowgirl, and hers is the profile with butterfly wings. You can still see the blood oozing out! Fresh.

Matt & Brady are both super rad dudes, I have some really early work from Matt when he was on the road, hah POWERLINES like whoa; and a skull from Brady from when he was at Jinxproof. Matt Rinks shirt, early/mid 90s

It arrived today. It's awesome! Thanks @Graeme and @DJDeepFried for the recommendation!

@Eilin and @taaarro, if you're still in SF, you should try to make it to this.

Passed my CDL test yesterday. I was really nervous; went first at 6am, and the tester was known for being a bit of a dick, but I passed. Orientation with an over the road company on Tuesday, then if all goes well I could be relocating to Cali somewhere and starting work within a month!

I meant it. You're coming from so far, it was the least I could do. At least you have the Eli pin!

Well what your describing sounds like an infection, but never having experienced any of this, I don't want to say yes or no. Did you go back to your artist and show them the final result or any of these pictures? If you followed those aftercare instructions, then my guess is something went wrong on the artists end. (However for your next tattoo or if you get this one redone, I may skimp more on the lubriderm--less is more, and too much can cause heavy scabbing). Also letting the tattoo completely dry out before applying any lotion will lower the chances of heavy scabbing. My advice is... go back to your artist and see what they say. If they know what went wrong and think they can fix it, then get it redone. But if I were you, I may hesitate to go back there... If you are still scabbing, you will have to wait to get it redone. Usually the minimum time between sessions is 2 weeks, but in your case it may be longer if you have scabs still. Hope that was helpful... And welcome, I hope you stick around after your tattoo issue is sorted out!

It would be interesting to know. Having grown up here (and hence, around a lot of Mormons) I do know that tattooing is quite taboo in LDS culture and I would imagine that tattoos are extremely rare among individuals who have always identified with Mormon culture. It's actually something that can be used as a cultural differentiator even here in SLC. - - - Updated - - - Mainstream LDS are definitely anti tattoo (I think it might be in their doctrine). Not sure about RLDS/CoC but I bet it's the same doctrine on tattoos.

The full back tattoo has always been the tattoo that had me awe struck from a real early age, and still does. Nothing quite like a photo of a handful of people together showing off their backs. Nothing quite like it.

Let out an audible "oof" at the infected pic.. Looks great now though!

My wife made chicken tostadas for dinner. Right now I am sitting on the crapper drinking a cold Lone Star.

Welcome, sounds rad. Check out Michael Aul's work. He works up in Michigan but seems he's on the road sometimes. At least for some inspiration.. love that guy's tattoos and paintings!

I feel that women should always have the best tattoos on them, just for the reason you illustrate. Everyone tends to be more critical of tattoos on women, from a male or female perspective. So give them something good to crow about. And people need to get out more... tattoos are no longer a circus side-show attraction. Rob - - - Updated - - - I caught a lot of shit when I was involved in Cub Scouts from ONE parent who thought it was inappropriate for me to be in a leadership position with having tattoos. But everyone supported me and I wasn't going anywhere. Long story short, where was this lady's husband? Doing a 10-15 for drug dealing. Rob

In terms of the people staring, or judging us just for having tattoos, I know for me one thing I am learning is NOT to have a chip on my shoulder...like, expecting people to stare and judge. I had two situations recently that made me realize--I'm the one judging them by thinking they are judging me! I saw an old lady at Trader Joe's. She was looking at me real funny and I was wearing a short sleeve shirt. I assumed she didn't like my tattoos. To my surprise she came right up to me, reached out her hand to lightly touch my arm, smiled and said, "Oh my! I thought that was a real baby at first, hahaha!" I was holding my daughter's doll in my arm the way you would hold a real infant and I guess it just freaked the lady out at first and then she was laughing about it. I started laughing and said to myself, man you just judged that lady as being uptight about tattoos and she wasn't AT ALL! Then like a week after that, yet another old lady was shopping at Albertson's supermarket. She was taking up a lot of room in the aisle, her cart was in the middle and she was on one side, not leaving me much room to get by. I tried to squeeze through, she glanced up and had a grumpy expression on her face and I immediately jumped to, "She's disgusted by my tattoos." No sooner did I think that when her face softened into a big smile and she said, "Oh look at me taking up the whole aisle, like I'm the only one in the store!" I laughed and told her not to worry about it as she pulled her cart out of my way. I walked away thinking what is the matter with me? Why do I keep judging these old ladies? It must be because of my mom. She is the only one who has ever actually said anything to my face about her disdain for tattoos. I need to get over it. Older ladies looking conservative, wearing mom-jeans, whatever, looking your way, looking grouchy....they don't necessarily hate tattoos! Some are curious, some think they are cool. I definitely receive many more compliments than disses, and seem to run into friendly people wherever I go. I'm trying to embrace it, and not expect people to not like them any more. If they don't like them, whatever, that's their problem, but I shouldn't expect them to not like them.

Don't miss the vast number of LST butts in there. The exhibition's great too -- but very far from NZ!

Hi there and welcome aboard. Always nice to more VA residents on here.

With areas I get hit hard & cop bruising, redness & inflammation, I hit 2 pumping hot showers a day. Hand wash the area with a soft body wash, pat dry & then just the lightest application of paw paw cream, which has a local anaesthetic & reduces inflammation. If I don't swell too bad, the same application as above minus the ointment. Just let it dry heal. I had a solid hand piece done 4 days ago. The hand got slammed! Did my usual for the first 2 days. Now, leaving it flake dry heal, & it's healing a treat.

We all need hobbies.

Thanks! I'm not sure where I came across that style of tattoo first, though Rich Hadley does some of the best I've seen like that. I think its been around for a while. I described what I was looking for and we poked around for a bit, and the tattooer who did it came up with the actual design. I can barely draw a stick figure.

@irezumi I just got in touch with Dave for when he is at Classic Electric in Fredneck. Now I just need to figure out what I am going to get.

I'm a magazine hoarder. I have kept practically every interesting mag ever since I was 14. The amount and weight of books is absurd. Even after donating boxes and boxes of books to the public library I still fill over 2 huge bookcases. My friends hate helping me move.

Yes, I co-sign 100%. This same line of thinking and appreciation of tat family lineage is how I got meet Thom, Higgs and Bubash, and was lucky enough to get tattoos from Thom and Dan. I'm hoping to get the time & money to get something from Nick as well this year. - - - Updated - - - Not precisely 'lineage' but more like crew/family pictures from a 20 year old magazine. Close enough to be post-worthy. I'm sure some of you have seen it but I'm fairly positive plenty of you haven't. Horiwaka family, no names were listed or mentioned. TC picture and GTC pictures are definitely my favorites, especially with Harrison throwing what looks like mystical esoteric gang signs. Kind of wandering off from the thread title so here's this, from a different 20 year old mag.. I posted it somewhere else a few months ago, so if you've seen it already then yeah whatever. Ed, Nick, Thom & Tux

I had a friend that got tattooed when he was 16, and he had no idea what to get. He just went in one day and came out with a tribal tramp stamp... What I'm trying to say is that I agree with mister j here about going slow. And also, welcome to lst! Do you know snooky? Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Let me add this dynamic to the whole conversation I started...... Over the years....30 of them now....I have had to deal with the judgement of others....and have endured true discrimination at places I have worked....and "circles" I have traveled in! Even my kids paid the price a little because other parents didn't want their kids going to "their house....their parents are tattooed" LOL It was fine because I look back now and see how far I have come compared to most of those people and I am far better off than they are on just about every level as are my kids! ;) Here is my point though...... I made the conscious decision to alter my body at the time in a way I KNEW was not accepted by the society around me and as fucked up as this may sound.....I never blamed society for their ignorance or the discrimination! I took what they threw at me and turned their garbage into my gold! Yeah....I had to work twice as hard to get where I am in life....but it made me a much stronger person! My point being is.....people can cry about discrimination all they want.....BUT it's not like they were born deformed or a certain race....sex...genetic factor.....or some other thing beyond their control! WE have chosen this....knowing inside there are people who do not agree with us....and full on knowing that there could be some backlash for doing it! So me personally......I have never taken it too personally when people have placed discrimination upon me! Is it ever right? Hello No!!! But I personally do accept some responsibility only because I knew society wasn't going to agree with all of my decisions! Much like @TatsNCats......I just never gave a shit....LOL

I just watched the Bourdain Parts Unknown: Tokyo episode and it blew my mind and really really really made me what to visit there some day. I've never been to Asia (besides like, a day in Turkey) and I can only imagine what that experience must be like. We have a vacation booked to Zion and Bryce and some other places in Utah for June with a couple friends of ours. This is my first camping trip/hiking trip/outdoor adventures, gotta be one with nature trip. Will probably be just as confused as if we were going to Tokyo.

Just pulled the trigger on flights to Tokyo in September. The wife and kid are coming along this time and we'll make a bit of a family holiday out of it. I'm going to get two days in with Tomo at Yellow Blaze to chip away at some more of my front piece. Then, bar an unforseen change, another day on it at the London Tattoo Convention, which will be interesting. Not my ideal place to get work like that done, but I'll take any opportunity I get to make headway on it. I don't think three more days will finish it, which is kind of a relief, because then my wife would tell me I have to take a break from going to Japan for a while.

My tattoo artist had a moment of inspiration and made one of my moles my buddha's bindi - which I thought was awesome.

welcome welcome, my only advice is to go slow, research, and learn all you can to make the best decisions about your future art.

Here's some teasers of some of scrolls that will be there

It's a beautiful book.

I've learned to never say never. A couple years ago I said I would never tattoo my legs. I currently have 4 on my shins. Ten years ago I would have said I'd never be heavily tattooed "2 is enough!". And now I have more than I could ever count. At this point I'm just letting my tattoos flow with my life.

So good. Gives me hope that I can still learn kickflips.

It's not in the same league as some of the beauties in this thread but here's a little black and grey number I did last week.

Here are a couple of lady heads that I have. The first one is about 11 years old in the picture. The second one is a couple of days old and healing in that picture after I picked it up last summer (as you can tell by the scab on her upper lip). Both were done by Robert Frazier from Winston Salem, NC.

@Reyeslv has himself a full page spread so we can see every detail of that piece. And who can forget @cvportagee's kumonryu flanked by sparrows, on the opposite page before me. anyone else in the catalogue? I feel there's someone missing.

Don't forget @Reyeslv's ass on page 121 of the Perseverance catalog.

Yeah, or in documentaries. Spencer Briggs's arm briefly flashed across the screen in Tattoo Nation, because it was done by Chuey Quintanar. I saw Spencer last month and told him how cool it was that his arm had a starring role in the movie, and he said, "My butt, too!" I had no idea, never having uh seen his butt while he was tattooing me. He said a client took a screen shot and texted it to him.

I Would say it mixes pretty well i got some dotwork On my leg. With some oldschool conecting next to it. Also on my throat I got dot work connecting to realism and old school roses Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met behulp van Tapatalk